The purpose of this project was to evaluate the State Bar of New Mexico's (SBNM) new podcast series, SBNM is Hear. The podcast was initially developed as a member outreach tool and a new platform for professional development and survey questions were developed to gauge the podcast’s effectiveness in these two areas. An electronic survey was deployed to active members of the SBNM through email. Respondents were asked questions regarding their demographics, whether they had listened to the series, and what content they would like to hear in the future. The survey resulted in 103 responses, of which 60% indicated that they had not listened to the podcast. The results showed that listenership was evenly divided between generations and that more females listened to at least one episode. The open-ended responses indicated that the two cohorts of respondents (listeners and non- listeners) viewed the podcast a potential connection to the New Mexico judiciary. Future recommendations include conducting an annual survey to continue to understand the effectiveness of the podcast and solicit feedback for continued growth and improvement

This applied project investigates the methods, modes, and tools used to communicate between different audiences at Divine Unity Community Church (DUCC) to create a communication guide. Communication is an integral part of the church’s function and effectiveness, not only externally to the congregation and surrounding community, but also internally to ministers, leaders, and volunteers. As the church continues to grow, it has struggled to maintain a consistent, efficient, and scalable communication culture. To document and sustain the communication culture, I drafted a communication guide that provides a comprehensive explanation of the church’s culture and tools for communicating in different contexts. The guide was developed with feedback from focus groups and observations of DUCC’s communication practices, and is being used as a training resource for leaders and volunteers.

This report aims to provide The Arts Partnership, an arts-based non-profit organization in the Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MN area, with recommendations on improving its “Connecting the Dots” weekly e-newsletter. The research was conducted using three separate channels – a quantitative survey of the current e-newsletter recipients, a qualitative coding exercise to uncover themes in each e-newsletter, and an analysis of the top-clicked links in each e-newsletter. The original research, combined with information gleaned from the literature review, results in seven recommendations The Arts Partnership can implement into its current program. These recommendations include reducing the amount of HTML in each e-newsletter to avoid SPAM traps, keeping the email as scannable as possible, maintaining its subscriber base to eliminate waste, ensuring its e-newsletters are mobile-responsive, improving the subject line of the e-newsletters, and finally, considering using a different email program that provides more features The Arts Partnership can use to continue to improve its newsletters.

In this case study, the formal feedback process of the PCC was researched to determine if the process causes a potential threat state within PCC representatives, and, if so, identify aspects of the process that are potential causes of the threat state. Researched was complete via survey, and data was analyzed using open coding and various quantitative methods. Based on the data obtained in the survey, a threat state was determined to exist due to the feedback process, and two potential causes were identified. A recommendation report was built from the data, and two recommendations were presented. The first recommendation was to adjust to process of how feedback is sent to a PCC rep, and the second was around how often that feedback is delivered. Also included in the recommendation report was discussion around limitations to the research and how those are potential options for future research.

Operational materials--the procedural guidelines provided to front line employees of Banner Bank--act as a guide to completing complex banking transactions. Being able to successfully navigate these materials and complete the complex transactions are essential to meeting both the client's expectations and maintaining federal regulations. However, employees have noted a lack of usability with these materials, resulting in confusion and frustration while trying to navigate the operational materials to successfully complete client requests. Employees who try to use these guides commit errors that result in negative client impact, as well as putting the bank at risk for being out of compliance with federal regulations. To analyze and address this situation, I designed a usability test and deployed a survey given to division branch management.