BODY POSITIVE PROJEC T MEMO

TO: PROFESSOR OLSEN

FROM: INNA GRANT

For the Body Positive project, our team narrowed down on several key pain points for the club:

1) Recruiting new members to come to events and weekly meetings

2) Converting students on ListServ to more “loyal” members
3) Spreading the right Body Positive messaging across Cornell

We believed that Body Positive needed a way to engage current students on their ListServ and
recruit new members in a scalable way to be able to spread their message. So, we presented to
Body Positive only from our blog, where we put all our ideas, our team member and their bios,
and our Canvas business model on which we based our recommendations.

What I Would’ve Done Differently

Looking back on this project, I would have done several things differently if I were to submit the
assignment again. For one, I would have made and presented from a PowerPoint presentation
like the other groups did instead of presenting directly from our blog. While we originally
wanted to present from slides, we thought it may be easier and more creative to present directly
from the blog, and we thought it would allow us to show them how easy our blog was to use and
teach them how to navigate it. However, what ended up happening was that the presentation
itself was actually more difficult to follow since it wasn’t as clear as the other groups’, and we
didn’t have a chance to talk about how we viewed their business model and why our ideas fit
within that frame. It also prohibited us from being able to put our own words onto the board for
the members to be able to review afterwards, which was certainly a disadvantage.

Additionally, I would have had more than one person present to the board. We thought at first
that by having one member present, it would be easier for the board to follow, especially since
we were presenting solely from the blog, and while that may have been true, it also made it
appear as though none of the other group members were involved with the project or as if they
didn’t care. It also looked strange that there were so many people standing up there but only one
person really talked, and the Body Positive board pointed this out to us. It would have made us
look like much more of a cohesive group if more people had taken a turn to present, and it also
could have opened the floor up to new perspectives and ideas that they would bring during the
presentation. I also think it would have made it easier for all of us to then answer questions and
convey to the Body Positive board that we were all serious about this project.

Finally, I would’ve come up with better survey questions and actually have created a survey that
Body Positive could distribute as soon as they wanted to, as well as have brainstormed some
ideas with how they could analyze the survey responses. They seemed to have really liked the
idea of our survey, but the questions we presented them with could not really be reproduced and
did not necessarily help them come up with their own. If we had created a survey on Qualtrics
and told them “We have this survey for you, if you want us to share it with you, we can and then
you can send it out to your ListServ”, it would have been much more impactful. Also, it would
have been even better if we could then have talked about what different responses could indicate,
how to quantify qualitative responses, and how to move forward after the survey and follow up
with ListServ members. If we could have given them a direct-action plan moving forward, I
believe our ideas would have been that much stronger and helped them that much more.

What I Learned
I learned a lot about working on a team and for a “client” from this project. This was the first
time that I truly got to experience the “consulting” lifestyle, and it wasn’t easy trying to navigate
all the different viewpoints, opinions, and leadership styles of the group. I learned how
imperative it is to keep an open-mind, especially during brainstorming, to allow everyone in the
group to say their piece and feel like they are heard. This is especially important because if you
start shutting down ideas right at the beginning, people will be afraid to speak up and you will
stifle the creativity that can really make a winning team. I also learned about juggling different
personalities and expectations, as well as learned how to become a leader in a diverse group and
get everyone on the same page. There were some people who wanted to put effort into this
project and others who did not and trying to get everyone to agree on a recommendation and to
work on this project was challenging. I had to learn how to step up and approach people without
stepping on any toes and without making them defensive, and I am grateful, because I know this
will be invaluable in my career as a consulting analyst moving forward. I also learned how to
temper my frustrations and not take it out on the group, because I know how unproductive that
can be and how that will only harm the atmosphere instead of changing people’s attitudes.

I also learned a lot about working with a client from this project. I realized that the client is
actually usually made up of a board of several people, and those people may not always be on
the same page with what they’re trying to achieve or what they think the main problem is. It was
interesting trying to analyze what each person had to say and then decide for ourselves what the
biggest issue at hand really was, while also trying to balance each person’s wants and needs for
the club going forward. I also learned that asking the right questions is the most critical part of
working with a new client, and it’s something that I definitely have to work on. You have to be
able to pick up on things the client may not want to share or read between the lines, and then be
able to ask direct questions (nicely!) that can get to the bottom of it. Additionally, I learned how
imperative it is to really be there for the client and present them with an impactful and feasible
solution, along with steps about how they can implement it. There is a lot of hand-holding
required, and it’s important to know how to do this in the most effective manner for both you and
for the client.

MannUFactory Experience
My experience at MannUFactory was interesting, considering I didn’t even know it existed
before we had to go there and come up with ideas for Body Positive. I thoroughly enjoyed
learning about all of the cool projects you could do there from Camille, and also having her talk
about other makerspaces all around the world and how they are helping to foster creativity and
bring people together. For our idea, we utilized the sticker space because we figured this would
be a cheap, easy, and appealing way for Body Positive to use Cornell resources for marketing
purposes and to recruit more people. I didn’t realize how easy and cheap making stickers could
be; once we came up with the design, actually making them in the MannUFactory lab was easy,
especially with all the staff there who were willing to walk us through the steps and help in any
way they can. I also really enjoyed how the staff was trying to get us to be as creative as
possible, and that we had all kinds of tools to play around with and design ideas with. Overall,
our experience with MannUFactory was a positive one, and actually allowed for growth,
especially because I don’t necessarily see myself as a creative person.

While our group only made small stickers, Body Positive Cornell can definitely leverage more
tools within the makerspace for marketing and recruitment purposes. For one, they can build
upon our ideas of stickers and make laptop stickers, which students definitely enjoy and can
actually help get the word about them out there, since it’s an organic marketing technique. When
stickers are put on a laptop, every time that laptop is opened, someone will see that sticker and
someone new will learn about Body Positive. These stickers are more than just accessories; they
are conversation starters. If Body Positive wants, they can even make stickers with quotes or
body positive statistics, which can be even more useful in spreading the message that they want
to spread and recruiting new members to come to events and learn more about the club. They can
also try and utilize the 3-D printing available by making phone cases or phone wallets, or
something more intricate, if they want to spend that time or money, in order to really make
themselves stand out on campus and use their efforts on that grassroots marketing campaign.
Like the laptop stickers, these 3-D printed designs would be conversation starters and would be a
great way of getting their name and club out there on Cornell’s campus.

More Questions
Knowing what I know now, there are several questions that I would have asked upfront to the
Cornell Body Positive Team that would have helped me make an even stronger recommendation
and would have helped with decisions along the way for our project. Here are some of them:

1. How many people from the ListServ actually come to meetings?

2. How often do you use the ListServ, and what do you usually use it for?
3. How many members came to the last event?
4. Have you ever tried to do a General Body meeting, or has anyone ever approached you
asking if that was something that could be done?
5. What have the responses to the events been – have you ever tried to reach out to members
and ask for their opinions on the event?
6. What has been your best way of recruiting new members so far?
7. What are ways that you have tried to recruit new members and failed?
8. What are some events you have that failed?
9. What do you think is the best thing you’ve tried so far, and you wish you could expand
upon?
10. What do you think has been the worst move the club has done so far?
11. How many new members are you looking to try and recruit?
12. How many loyal members would you like to consistently come to events – and how do
you define loyal?