Outreach Objectives

By considering the overarching goals of your project or center and reviewing your template answers, you can bring all this information together to create outreach and dissemination objectives. Once you have your objectives, add them to your template (several examples of objectives are included in the template for you to help you get started).

Need help creating your outreach objectives? Utilize the SMART method which helps you create measurable goals and objectives.

TIP: As you work on your outreach plan, consider how you can involve your external evaluator. They can help you put measures in place that provide you with data about which activities, pathways, and events are most impactful in reaching your audiences. This allows you to make decisions about which outreach activities to sustain and expand going forward.

SMART Goals

SMART goals or objectives are an effective way to clarify your brainstorming and ensure your goals are clear, attainable, and that you can recognize success when you see it. Each goal/objective should be:

• Specific. Make your goals specific and narrow. Consider who will be involved, what you want to achieve, and why the goal is important?
• Measurable. Define how you will measure progress. Consider how you will know that your goal has been accomplished.
• Achievable. Consider whether your goal is realistic and can be accomplished in reasonable time.
• Relevant. Your goals should align with your mission statement and values. Consider how the goal will impact the success of your project or center’s work.
• Time-bound. You should define a realistic timeframe in which you will carry out activities to accomplish the goal. How long will it take? When should you check your progress?

Here are a few examples of SMART Outreach Objectives:

• The outreach team will create 2 blog posts a month that will share information of interest to the ATE community including reports, student success stories, and relevant tools and resources.
• The PI and project manager will work with their college marketing team to ensure information about the project is included in the college newsletter, blog, and other marketing materials at least three times a year.
• The PI will work with industry partners to create 2 industry tours each semester (4 tours per year) for college and high-school students, parents, high-school guidance counselors, and educators.

Outreach Activities

Once you have a set of objectives you can begin to add the specific activities that will make those objectives happen – always double checking that they relate to larger goals listed in section one. Use the planning table in your template to add your activities – there is also space for you to add items like due dates, a point person, partners, pathways, and resources. Remember that this table can be adapted to meet your specific needs so edit the headings as needed to ensure it’s useful and usable for you and your team.

Here is one of the SMART objectives from above – followed by some of the activities that could help support this objective.

• The PI and project manager will work with their college marketing team to ensure information about the project is included in the college newsletter, blog, and other marketing materials at least three times a year.
  • PI to contact campus marketing team and identify correct person to work with – set up call or meeting by xx date
  • PI and project team to brainstorm some key ideas or pitches for stories prior to meeting
  • If meeting is successful, set up schedule for number of items wanted by campus marketing team with deadlines included
  • Identify someone on team as primary writer and another to proof/edit
  • First drafts of materials due by xx date
  • Final drafts due to campus marketing team by xx date

It may be helpful to prioritize your activities and objectives. Consider which are most urgent, important, or will need to be completed first, and make those your highest priority, then the next most important after that, and so on.