Managing Adult Education: Staffing, Budgeting, and Marketing
From Adult Education
Created by Curtis Fisher Fall 2007
Edited by Laura Ewald Fall 2009
Contents |
Intro
Program planning has many different elements to ensure that it satisfies the adult learner and the host of the program. Most of the time people do not realize the importance of the staff, budget, and the marketing of the program. It takes an educator to execute of the presented information and not waste the time of the audience. It takes a staff to bring everything together to make sure this happens. They also must present a budget to make sure that they do not overspend on the presenter and the marketing of the program. Depending on the size of the audience and the importance of the program should determine the size of the budget. This should be carefully thought out when doing a program. Staffing, budgeting and marketing are all very important when managing adult education and each of the items compliment one another.
Terms
Benefit-Cost Ratio: The presented value of an investment's future cash flow divided by its initial cost(Ross, 2007).
Creative Strategy: An outline of what message should be conveyed, to whom, and with what tone. Within the context of that assignment, any advertisements that is then created should conform to that strategy.
Target Market: A group of individuals, whom collectively are intended recipients of an advertiser's message.
Staffing
During the beginning process of planning a program, staff is a key element to a successful program. In many programs, the staff is usually the most expensive item of a budget. From Building a Staffing Plan[1], it is explained what to think about when you are developing a program. The program director should document the missions of all the staff. This would consist of the goals and responsibilities of the staff. This would also clarify the agreements that the staff is committing to. Finally, you should create a grid that represents who the staff is and what is there position in the program. The staff should be leaders that are responsible, know how to coordinate a program, and have a great interest in the program topic. Getting staff that understand the topic will make the program as professional as possible. Experienced staff is useful for the program, or hire an outside crew to do the planning. This will probably be more expensive. In most cases we all have been to a program that was done by a professional crew or a handful of people. A chair person would be important and useful to delegate tasks to the staff. This way if something goes wrong then, you will not have everyone blaming someone else. When there is a chair person, make a few smaller groups but not too many. The less is better and the planning will not be spread out to a point that it is hard to delegate everyone. Once everyone knows what they are doing, make sure you have a deadline of when a project needs to be done. Make sure to have a staff that are leaders. Have meetings or checkups to make sure that everything is going smoothly. Once everything is setup, go through the program a day or two before the program begins.
Budgeting
A budget determines the amount that is available for the program, it also prioritizes the needs for the program. "The budget is evaluated for its effectiveness in attaining the organization's stated goals and objectives" (NCES). An excellent way to keep track of funds can be a budget spreadsheet. Write down all expenses that will be needed then you can go back and estimate the costs. Some of the costs are the presenters, instructional material, equipment, facility, food, and other items depending on your program. After you have list the cost, try to determine how much that each item will cost. More detail is better and try to get as close as possible. The budget is an important tool that controls and evaluates the sources used in the program and it helps to control activities that the budget approved (NCES). For instance, if the cost of the building or facility is hourly instead of daily, then this needs to be label hourly so everyone will know how much time for the presentation and the time to set up and tear down. In some cases the employer will pay for their employees to attend workshops and seminars (Staff Development Program). Make sure that the budget is easily understood and practical. In all programs, budget guidelines may be different and depending on the mission of the organization, the program budgeting will be practiced differently (Hagen). After the funding has been locked in, development of the project's budgets should begin, in detail (NCES).
Strategies to Reduce Cost (Caffarella, 2002)
1. Substitute less expensive instructional materials or eliminate certain materials altogether.
2. Change the program to a date when the prices for the facilities, meals, and so forth are lower.
3. Shorten the program and have less down time between points of the program.
4. Reduce the number of participants. (If there is a lot of interest, make people reserve a spot or pay to go.)
5. Make promotional material less elaborate.
Marketing
Marketing can be very simple or extravagant. Knowing the diverse background and experiences of potential audiences or customers is one of the first steps in developing a marketing plan (Caffarella, 2002) If you are going to have a meeting that will benefit teachers, make your marketing plan that will target teacher. Marketing tools can be the internet, posters, flyers, newspaper, radio, letter, or word of mouth. When creating a program, you will first need to find a niche market. You do not want to sell your program to everyone because that is the quickest way to fail (Lake). After you have your target audience, the second thing you need to do is to produce the marketing material. Be creative in what you are promoting. You want to catch the audience's attention but not to tell them the whole program's story. The third step is to distribute the material. Depending on your marketing tool, you want to deliver your material to the audience two to three weeks before the program. Most importantly, you should give your participants what you tell during your marketing process and you should take care of them (Lake).
Additional Information
- Microsoft excel is a cheap and easy way to have a budget spread sheet.
- 80% to 90% of the handouts can be done via e-mail and/or a collaborated website.
- Food is a good addition during breaks. Provide snacks that are healthy and easy to eat.
- Market the program in a unique, catchy way that will attract adequate adult learners.
- Do not have meetings in the dead of winter. No one want to get out of the house.
- Be creative, but mostly stick to the basics.
- When you are finished with this section, make sure your program has support. [2]
Internal Links
Staffing[3]
Budgeting[4]
Marketing[5]
External Links
Staffing:
Staff Development Programs [6]
Building a Staffing Plan [7]
Budgeting:
Program Budgeting [8]
Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems [9]
Marketing:
How to Create a Successful Affiliate Marketing Program [10]
References
Caffarella, R.S. (2002). Planning programs for adult learners: A practical guide for educators, trainers, and staff developers (2ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Hagen, John. Program Budgeting. Dec. 1968. 24 Nov. 2009. http://books.google.com/books?id=7Mx0SLObMHcC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=program+budgeting&source=bl&ots=veBuki4Q-o&sig=geMcxwE9Y9X9eJaLYc0btBWgLgw&hl=en&ei=QAcCS96BAZTDngeZjuCdCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Lake, Laura. How to Create a Successful Affiliate Marketing Program. 24 Nov. 2009. http://marketing.about.com/cs/internetbasics/a/createaffiliate.htm
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems. 24 No. 2009 http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/h2r2/ch_3.asp#1
Ross, Stephen A. (2007). Essentials of Corporate Finance: Glossary. New York. McGraw-Hill.
Shaw, Rick. Building a Staffing Plan. 1 Feb. 1998. 24 Nov. 2009. http://asumag.com/mag/university_building_staffing_plan/
Staff Development Programs. Sept. 2009. 24 Nov. 2009 http://www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/R007.pdf
