Wednesday, April 8, 2015: Impact Summit Impact Summit Overview: For the first time, PetSmart Charities hosted the first Impact Summit where four key accounts where invited to share with PetSmart vendors their experiences in working with PetSmart Charities to increase customer loyalty, drive brand awareness, strengthen vendor relationships and engage employees moral. Results: The event was a huge success thanks to our panel of speakers. The event hosted over 100 attendees and we received an overwhelming response that they wished the session was longer and had a deeper dive into each topic. Thanks to our speakers participation and the success that accompanied it, we will be continuing the Impact Summit for future years
Survey Fact: 92.31% of vendors who participated in the survey rated their experience at the Impact Summit as Excellent or Good.
Julie White, our Sr. Director of Programs, Grants & Research, started with a discussion of 3 important topics: 1. How the animal welfare field has made great progress in addressing the homeless pet problem in recent years
2. PetSmart Charities spay/neuter initiatives
3. How we’re addressing the issue of free-roaming cats with our Community Cats program
Panel of Guest Speakers
Phil Pastis: Cardinal Logistics Scottie Sparks: WellPet
Amy Bolend: Bayer Animal Health Andrew Baldwin: Blue Buffalo
Vendor Feedback
• “Was fantastic!” • “Need more rooms at the JW Marriott” • “It would be helpful for the sponsors to receive the list of attendees ahead of time so that we can know who to meet up with/look for at the events. It's a great opportunity to meet more PetSmart employees and, without knowing who is attending, we don't even know who we are looking for. As a sponsor, the expectation is that we will have time with our clients.” • “The registration process was a challenge, the event information was too far down on the page. There should also be a field to permit company's who cannot participate but want to donate to be able to enter an amount of their contribution. We had a partner sent a check for $500. They were unable to do it on line as the lowest amount was $2,500. Suggest you add a field for companies that would like to donate but can't attend or have internal donation limits.” • “Love the golfing event.” • “It was such a great event!! I especially enjoyed my time with the Charities team rafting.” • “Congratulations on a wonderful event!” • “I wanted to thank you and your team for putting this wonderful event together. It's a pleasure to attend and support each and every year.” • “I have been participating in this event since its inception and I believe you have it down to a science. I would not change a thing.”
Volunteer Feedback
TOPIC PRO’S CON’S SUGGESTION
Volunteer
Captains
Volunteers were enthusiastic and
eager to help, lots of people with prior
golf experience to help give history of
event.
The use of captains was helpful in
having a point person and keeping the
teams organized. This made for a
seamless day.
Training was hard for volunteers who
were on multiple “teams” and led to
some day-of confusion
Have volunteers stick with a specific “team” so that they
have the fewest amount of captains/sub-captains
Only 1 sub-captain per task and don’t have same sub captains
both days.
Registration
Registration was inside and at the
registration desk which was
professional-looking and easy to
navigate
Not having a room for volunteers.
Crowding Judy and event planning
team’s space
Have a volunteer specific room for them to work on tasks
and meet at.
Registration Starting registration too soon as the
Impact Summit ended early. Guests
saw the signs and volunteers there
and they wanted to register.
Volunteers were not scheduled to
start for another 30 minutes and
were not prepared.
Start registration volunteers 1 hour before. Have them
review all pairings and sponsorship levels in advance.
Registration Not having enough up to date copies
of pairings to check guests in.
Have registrants ordered by alphabet for pairings, have sign
at registration desk stating the time registration opens, have
a FAQ sheet for volunteers to help answer questions
(changing excursions, vegan dinner, etc.)Need to highlight
when they check in or cross them off a master list. Use of
laptops would be great.
Registration Having volunteers out in the atrium to
answer questions and guide guests
Add 2 more
Dog greeters were a hit Add 2 more. Be sure to have some large dogs there for
increased visibility
Day 1: Registration and Welcome Reception
Volunteer Feedback
TOPIC PRO’S CON’S SUGGESTION
Captains Use of sub captains to greet all the
volunteers per task. This was helpful in
reporting to 1 person with all the
information.
Have a centralized meeting location or designated room
Captains 2 captains Only need 1
Registration Had more than enough volunteers
Registration Registration volunteers arriving too
close to registration. There was not
enough time to get them trained.
Have registration volunteers arrive at 6 AM. We only need
about 6 people. We had 10.
Registration Not having enough up to date copies
of pairings to check guests in.
Have registrants ordered by alphabet for pairings, have sign
at registration desk stating the time registration opens, FAQs
for different golf changes (changing excursions, vegan dinner,
etc.)Need to highlight when they check in or cross them off a
master list. Use of laptops would be great.
Registration Confusion on use of lanyards or not.
Who gets what shirt, etc.
Clarify day before. Have updated lists and registration by
alpha.
Rafting Rafting had enough volunteers. Sub
captain did a great job with keeping
everyone on track.
Putting
Contest
Putting contest volunteers had too
long of a shift.
Break this shift into 2 parts so we switch out the groups.
Photos The speed of printing and packaging
was great
Delivering photos to teams did not
work.
Have a table for photo pick up and announce this to the
teams for them to retrieve. Or use an online digital content
sharing company. That would be sweet.
http://www.tagkast.com/
Registration T-shirts – just more info on the shirt process. Some were
given to the wrong vendors/PETM associates.
Pasta
Competition
Interactive, competitive, with plenty of
wine, learning and some goofy awards
All the eating did have people a little
lackluster when moving straight into
lunch
Maybe make the giveaways easier to pop into a carry-on bag
to ease shipping costs but really everyone loved the pasta
event
Day 2: Registration and Golf
Golf Classic Take Away’s: Lessons learned in 2015
• Bloody Mary’s were a hit with our golfers! Next year, Tequila Sunrises? • Our top-tier sponsors LOVED their recognition surprises…what can we do for next year? • If we have to use a third golf course, have golf start earlier at that location • Make sure to have golf marshal's again next year – they helped with the rate of play • Make the putting contest easier • More umbrellas at Awards Lunch (if outdoors)
Things to Consider for 2016
• How can we make the registration process smoother for our valued vendors? • What are some new revenue streams to consider? Sponsorship of Welcome Reception or Awards Lunch? • How can we convey PetSmart Charities mission even more strongly to our guests?