2017 UC Berkeley Brand Award Winner: Print Category /  by Ashley Villanueva

On Tuesday, June 13, I won an award at the annual Berkeley Communications Conference (BC2) in the Print category for my Bears Got Your Back campaign.

Ram Kapoor, Chief Marketing Officer, Communications and Public Affairs

Ram Kapoor, Chief Marketing Officer, Communications and Public Affairs

Bears Got Your Back is a campaign from the Violence Prevention Collaborative focused on enhancing and normalizing protective behaviors within the UC Berkeley community. We ask ourselves: How can we make this campus a more caring community? We invited campus photos of students, staff, and faculty to take photos with us and share how they support their fellow Bears! Materials will be featured in Golden Bear Orientation's Bear Perspectives gallery for incoming students, campus flag poles, and other campus promotion launching in August 2017!

More about the 6th annual Berkeley Communications Conference (BC2) >> 

Case Study: How to Use Metrics in Communications and Decision-making /  by Ashley Villanueva

Today, I had the honor and pleasure of presenting to UC Berkeley's Cal Assessment Network (CAN), a community of practice for analysts. I was able to speak about my experience in both Admissions and at the University Health Services about serving up metrics about my work and creating change in my organization. 

How to Use Metrics in Communications and Decision-Making:  A Case Study
Create metrics that matter to your organization.

Date:   Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Time:  10:30am-12pm  
Place: 150 University Hall

Presenters
Ashley Villanueva, Digital Communications Lead, University Health Services
Kim LaPean, Communications Manager, University Health Services

Session Description
This session will help you identify a strategy to create metrics that matter to your organization through a few case study examples and an idea share exercise.

At UC Berkeley, staff and faculty are asked to wear many hats. One of those hats may be to collect data that proves the value of their work and trends they are seeing. This session will illustrate different ways to gather data and how to present it in a helpful manner.

In particular, this session will:

  • Explore different ways to gather data and successful strategies at UC Berkeley
  • Provide an overview of a campus metric trends and no-cost tools
  • Share two case studies of how metrics were collected and how the unit/department made changes based on the data
  • Facilitate an exercise to see what types of steps you need to take to make this successful in your unit/department

The summary of my tools and tips were as follows: 

Tips

  1. Measure results against your organization’s goals

  2. Define what success means to you

  3. Gather data regularly

  4. Review your data and refine your strategy

Tools

  • Monthly reports

  • This week in social media

  • Competitive analysis

My key takeaways were as follows: 

Create a list of your accomplishments and deliverables

  1. Highlight accomplishments and deliverables

    1. STAR method

  2. Identify the period you want to highlight

  3. Establish a baseline or benchmark

  4. Check to make sure audience needs are being met

  5. Demonstrate commitment to change

  6. Drive accountability

  7. Plus! Helps build your portfolio or resume content

Self-assessment

  • Does my organization have a mission statement, goal and/or vision?

  • Who is my audience?

  • What do I want to communicate to them?

  • When do I want to share this resource with them?

  • What types of messages should they take away?

  • Do I need any training?

  • How much time do I have to spend on this? How much time do I want to spend on this?

  • Who do I need on my team to accomplish this? Work study student, data analyst, graphic designer

 

My vision for 2017 /  by Ashley Villanueva

I made this vision board earlier this year to set an intention of strength and serve as a reminder of my goals. It hangs now in my living room, across from my bed, so it's one of the first things I see in the morning. 

My biggest goal is to stop doubting and second-guessing myself. As I'm approaching five years in the "working professional" world, I find myself having strong confidence inside my mind and body. But I also find myself hesitating to share my thoughts. Perhaps a fear of failing or being wrong? Or maybe worrying about what others will think.