WELCOME CENTER VOICE
Vol. 5, Issue 1, January 2004
Contact Phone: 970-491-3583
Contact Fax: 970-491-3389
www.geocities.com/cowelcomecenter
Email: [email protected]
Congratulations To: 1200 Mary Farrell 1000
Sally A, Dale B, & Wayne L 700 Art Wilcox 600 Claire M & Dottie M 500 Ken Ashley For earning a new star!
January Birthdays: 3 Joe Anderson 5 Bea Mohr 6
Carma Johnson 7 Miriam Moreng 11 Dorothy Clark 13 Sally Anduss
21 Darleen Mihulka 21 Carolyn Andrews
22 Betty Riddle 22 Lois DeRaadt 30 Al Pettine Happy Birthday
MEETINGS AND IMPORTANT
DATES
Monthly Travel Counselor
Meeting
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
at 10 a.m.
Please come and join us for the latest news, changes
and updates. As always, these meetings are a great source of knowledge for all
travel counselors and we encourage you to attend when you are able.
NOTES FROM HEATHER
December went by in a flash and I hope that your Holidays are/were happy
ones!
I know that many of you are looking forward to seeing the end of 2003. I
hope that you are doing well as the New Year starts and I look forward to
seeing you at the center in January.
We have had a lot of interesting updates and changes take place over the
last month so please be sure to read this newsletter carefully.
Best wishes and good luck to all
your endeavors in 2004 and may all your New Year’s Resolutions be upheld!
Saying Good-Bye
Andra Berryman, who has been a friendly face in the
Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau for the past four years, has taken a
new position with the state doing Program Support. Her last day will be January
2, 2004 and we will all miss her here at the Welcome Center. If you see Andra,
please be sure to let her know how much she will be missed and wish her luck in
her new position. Congratulations, Andra!
The Lock Box Code Has
Changed! Due to suspicious activity, the code has been changed. If you have
email, you will have received an email with the new code. For those of you
without email, please call or contact the manager to get the code. Thank you.
Bored? Need A Little
Something To Do?
There is a list of important to do items on the back counter in the atrium. If you are someone who would like to take on some additional responsibility and keep busy during the slow months, come and see the manager or work on the items on this list. Some tasks are hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly—regardless they all need to be done and with your help they can be. Your help on these items is greatly appreciated.
New
Schedule Policy
In recent months, several substitutes and floating
travel counselors have asked that we set up a policy regarding when they can
fill in for a permanent shift and how they are bumped. In the past, if a
substitute or floater signed up in a permanent shift that was empty before a
permanent shift travel counselor had had a chance to sign up for their regular
shift, they would be asked to move to a different time as the permanent shift
counselor has priority. The floater stance is that some permanent counselors
are signing up so late it is making it difficult for them to plan doctor
appointments and vacations. During the December Staff Meeting, a new policy was
introduced, discussed, voted on, and put into effect. Beginning on Jan 15, this
policy will go into effect, please make a note of it.
All permanent shift travel
counselors have until the fifteenth of each month to sign up for the following
month for their shift before it is made available to all travel counselors
within the welcome center system. This does not mean that you cannot sign up
for your shift after the fifteenth.
All floaters and subs must wait
until at least the fifteenth of the month to sign up for any shifts not already
designated as available by a highlighter or by a note on the left side of the
sign-in book.
After the fifteenth, you are
eligible to fill in on any shift available regardless of permanent shift
status.
Please
contact the manager if you have any questions or concerns regarding this new
policy.
What are you
missing out on?
Staff
Meetings—That’s What!
The most
important meeting of the month!
Staff
meetings are an important component to the travel counselor position. As a
travel counselor, you are required to undergo ongoing training in the form of
Spring Refresher Training, Study Trips, and Staff Meetings. I understand that some of you have family
and health commitments that keep you from being able to participate in the
study trips and have excused this requirement. However, in recent months, the
numbers have begun to dwindle at our staff meetings and I am requesting that
you all take a look at the calendar for January and make every effort to attend
the meeting in January. These meetings are important for many reasons.
At staff meetings, the manager tells
you about policy changes, updates, and upcoming information. Oftentimes, there
are items on the agenda that are put to a vote such as the study trips,
scheduling changes, and more. Three to four times a year, we have guest
speakers that come to visit and talk about their region of the state and
occasionally when the budget allows special goodies are offered to those who
attend.
I know that there are several
important items on your daily schedules and I am asking that you add one more. Most
meetings last about an hour or an hour and a half. The meetings rotate day to
day through out the year providing you with an opportunity to find at least two
days that will work for you. So I encourage you to make every effort to attend
the next meeting at the Colorado Welcome Center. I am working on getting a guest speaker for the day and will provide
refreshments for all who attend.
As an added incentive, if at least 35 of you attend
the staff meetings for the first five months of the year (yes, this is possible
as we have 90 volunteers) I will hire a band to play at the summer barbeque in
May/June. I hope to see all of you here on January 20th at 10 a.m. Happy New Year!
1000 Hours Earners Pay Special Attention To This!
Everyone knows that you earn
a star for every 100 hours. But did you know that after earning 1000 hours you
get your name on a plaque that will be hung next to the large wall map? On
December 24, 2003, all 14 travel counselors who have earned their tenth star in
2003 will have their names added to the plaque and the plaque will finally be
on display.
If you do not have 1000 hours, your name and the year
will be added when you do.
Congratulations to all 1000-hour earners in 2003!
Scheduling
Scheduling—Have
you signed up for January—February? The schedules are online or you can come in
and take a look at what is available. Please sign up for your permanent shifts
if you have one so that the substitutes can fill in their times. The new
scheduling policy will take affect on January 15.
Brochures
Please
count all old brochures (be sure to check the front, storeroom, and shed),
record them in the black binder, and then place them in a cardboard box in the
recycling area next to the lockers before counting the new brochures. For the
new brochures, they should be counted, recorded, and stocked in the shelves in
the front, in the storeroom, and then the remainder can be taken out to the
shed or left in the manger’s office.
Bookstore
1.
Please be sure to make change
from the bookstore change bag in the lower left hand drawer of the desk.
2.
Any voids must be kept
and placed in the cash drawer. Please put your name on them and attach any
explanation you feel is necessary. The second tape is a backup. If you throw away
the actual void, it makes it harder for me to find.
Surveys
1.
Do NOT interview anyone
from Fort Collins. This includes the 80521-80528 zip codes. If you can try to
avoid interviewing anyone from the Loveland, Windsor, and other surrounding
cities as well. But at the very least, do not interview anyone from Fort
Collins.
2.
You cannot fudge a
survey. All surveys must be filled out in their entirety with factual
information.
3.
All names of
interviewers and interviewees must be real. (See rule #2)
In
the slower months, it is important that you ask every person that comes in if
they will complete a survey. We are having days where there are ten surveys to
do. Please do your best to do all of your surveys on your days so that the next
days do not have to do their surveys and yours. I appreciate your dedication in
getting them done and your hard work has helped to make our center and the
centers around the state a higher priority among the Colorado Tourism Office
Board. Thank you and Keep Up the Good Work.
Miscellaneous
1.
If you haven’t been
checking the mail basket at the end of your shift, please start checking it
again.
2.
Outside Rack Brochures
need to be written in this format 0—0—2 in the black notebook in the manger’s office
and in this format Outside 2 on the guest register on the counter. Please be
sure to write this information down in both locations as it is written here
when you arrive upon opening for the manager to accurately turn in the
visitation report.
3.
Please start bringing
your nametags with you to the staff meetings. Now that the manager is no longer
working on Saturdays and Sundays it is getting harder to give out your stars.
You can check on your stars earned by checking the lists taped to the manager’s
desk in the office.
Spring Party & Cleaning
Over the week before
Christmas, several travel counselors and I rearranged the welcome center. This
is a preview of what we will be doing during our spring-cleaning and party. I
hope you will all join me for a small party and redesign of the center. We had
redesigned the center to see how the new set up will work with traffic flow.
The design will hopefully aid in access to the restrooms, stairs, and increase
view of the desk from the door. Please take the time to familiarize yourself
with the new set up of the brochures. Some of the brochure regions had to be
rearranged to facilitate the new set up and some may still be adjusted due to
the popularity of that particular region (Front Range for instance). At the party,
we will be adding some plants (suggestions are welcome) for the tops of the
brochure racks, dusting the racks (talk to the Thursday crew they will tell how
badly it is needed), and generally getting ready for this summer. With the talk
of the rest area move becoming more and more a reality, we will be busier than
ever and it is our hope that his new set up will greatly increase the flow of
traffic and the amount of available standing room in the building.
Gossip
Any comments, suggestions, or
any other constructive criticism is always welcome by any travel counselor or
visitor. Please feel free to come to me with any concern you may have and be as
honest as possible. Gossip and talking out of turn does not help any
organization and can only hurt a group of volunteers and co-workers. Thank you
for being a part of our center and we look forward to your participation in
2003!