Exercise $1\mathrm{.}13$: what's the Big Idea $($this time$)?$

Let's do another practice run with the Big Idea worksheet.

Imagine you're a rising university senior serving on the student government coun$-$

cil. One of the council's goals is to create a positive campus experience by rep$-$

resenting the student body to faculty and administrators and electing represen$-$

tatives from each undergraduate class. You've served on the council for the past

three years and are involved in the planning for this year's upcoming elections.

Last year, student voter turnout for the elections was $30\%$ lower than previous

years, indicating lower engagement between the student body and the council.

You and a fellow council member completed benchmarking research at other uni$-$

versities and found that universities with the highest voter turnout had the most

effective student government council at effecting change. You think there's op$-$

portunity to increase voter turnout at this year's election by building awareness of

the student government council's mission by launching an advertising campaign

to the student body. You have an upcoming meeting with the student body pres$-$

ident and finance committee where you will be presenting your recommendation.

Your ultimate goal is a budget of $$1,000$ for the advertising campaign to increase

awareness of why the student body should vote in these elections.

STEP $1$: Considering this situation, complete the following Big Idea worksheet,

making assumptions as needed for the purpose of this exercise. $($Don$\text{'}$t overlook

Steps $2$ and $3$ that follow it$.)$WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?

$(1)$ List the primary groups or individuals to

$(3)$ What does your audience care about?

whom you'll be communicating.

$(4)$ What action does your audience need to take?

$(2)$ If you had to narrow that to a single person,

who would that be$?$

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

What are the benefits if your audience acts

What are the risks if they do not?

in the way that you want them to$?$

FORM YOUR BIG IDEA

It should:

$(1)$ articulate your point of view,

$(2)$ convey what's at stake, and

$(3)$ be a complete $($and single!$)$

sentence.STEP $2$: Let's suppose you've just learned that your intended audience$-$the

student body president$-$will not be attending the upcoming meeting due to

a scheduling conflict. The vice$-$president will cover the meeting and approve or

deny your budget request. In light of this, answer the following:

$($A$)$ You don't know the vice$-$president well. What could you do to get to know

her better? Identify one thing you can do immediately$-$before the meet$-$

ing$-$to better understand what she cares about and one thing you'll do over

your tenure on the council to better understand the vice$-$president's needs for

future communications.

$($B$)$ Revisit your framing of the Big Idea. Did you write it with a positive or

negative focus? What may cause you to change to the opposite framing given

this new audience?

STEP $3$: You'd like to solicit feedback on your Big Idea. You are deciding between

two different people from whom to potentially get feedback: $(1)$ your roommate

or $(2)$ a fellow council member. Answer the following:

$($A$)$ What would be the advantages or disadvantages of each?

$($B$)$ How do you anticipate the conversations would be different?

$($C$)$ Who would you ultimately choose to solicit feedback from? Why?