Home >> Chapters and Groups >> Chapters >> Handbook >> Web site and E-mail Guidelines

Chapter Handbook

Web site and e-mail guidelines

1. Submit Web site information to your Association liaison via e-mail: Danny Lewis, Heath Peterson or Jill Simpson Miller.

2. A member of our communications staff will review the information and edit for spelling, grammar and style. If you’re not a great writer, that’s okay. Our staff is happy to help polish your messages.

3. Web site Updates: Please check your Web site at least once a month to make sure that timely information such as comments about the seasons, sports and future events are not outdated. Remember, we want to keep these pages current, and our system makes updates easy. Submit opening message changes often to your staff liaison.

4. What’s Happening: Submit news and events at least 48 hours prior to the event.

5. Events: Please include the following information.
Time
Date
Place
Contact Name (If a specific person is not listed, we’ll post KU Alumni Association)
E-mail
Phone Number
Event cost (if applicable)

Event description (optional): If you regularly hold Watch Parties, we typically do not include an additional description. The Watch Site portion of your page should include all the information alumni will need.

6. News and Event Formats:

  • E-commerce: We can collect money for your events with our e-commerce forms. Discuss this with your staff liaison to make the proper financial arrangements. Alumni will be able to pay via credit card.
  • E-mail response: This is how we take RSVP’s for events. These are typically free events for which alumni just have to sign up for. An e-mail will be sent to your staff liaison each time an alumnus signs up. Your staff liaison will collect names and numbers for your chapter.
  • Simple: This is a regular old link. This is for simple notices and events for which RSVP’s are not needed. The majority of news and events are posted in this way.

7. Chapter Volunteer Forms: This is an easy sign up process for interested parties. Each time someone fills out the form, a message is sent to the KU Alumni Association. Your staff liaison will either contact the person or forward their information on to you.

8. Chapter E-mail Updates:
a. HMTL Blasts: The Association will work with you to send up to four e-mail HTML blasts yearly. Kansas chapters, the Association will package all Kansas chapters together for HTML blasts and send up to four e-mail HTML blasts to the entire state (not individual chapters). These will go to all member and non-member e-mail addresses in your target audience. Be advised, events must be scheduled in advance. Event information is due two weeks prior to delivery.

b. Opt-in Lists: The opt-in lists are designed to facilitate informal communications amongst chapter and club members that have elected to receive all e-mails for their area or designated audience. With growing spam and virus concerns in the digital age, it is important that alumni are not overwhelmed with e-mail and choose to receive this additional information. Through our experience, this method is an effective way to address privacy concerns and has led to improved open rates with both the HTML blasts and opt-in list e-mails.

When you want to send out a quick message to your group, access the list through your staff liaison. These messages are typically informal updates about events and gatherings. For example, they might be a reminder message the week of a local event, or might update members on details like event location, time and price changes. These quick updates that you would like to send will go to only those who have opted-in to receive chapter leader updates.

After you submit copy to your staff liaison, the Association will send all messages on your behalf to ensure the confidentiality of e-mail addresses. Our e-mail addresses and records database is one of the most valuable tools the Association has at its disposal. We must work diligently to protect this information and the privacy of all alumni who have updated their records with us.

Please do not use or create your own e-mail lists. We strongly encourage all chapter leaders to gather and forward addresses to the Association. We will enter these into our database and add them to your opt-in lists, so they may be as complete as possible. All messages may be edited for style, spelling and grammar at the discretion of the Association.

9. Collecting e-mail addresses: Your staff liaison will provide you with sign up sheets to collect e-mail addresses. Pass them around at your events. In order to add alumni and friends to our system, we will need full names, e-mails and addresses.  Fax sign up sheets back to us. Our records department will process them as quickly as possible. Please allow up to one week.

10. Photo Gallery:

  • Send us your best photos with caption information. Include event name, date, and names of pictured alumni from left to right. (Please spell carefully) Helpful hint: carry a note pad with you and hand off to alumni to sign right after the photo is taken.
  • Two or three photos with ID’s is better than 20 without names.
  • If the photo is of a very large group (10 or more), we will not require photo ID’s.
  • Photos will be posted at the discretion of the KU Alumni Association.
  • Horizontal photos work best
  • Three photos will be used for the front page of each chapter’s Web site. Additional photos will be posted in the gallery.