Outline for group project

Outline of the group project

Introduction

I. Attention getting statement about the Pink Heart Fund, Something about how much hair is donated or how much hair is needed to make a wig, or even that it takes$220 dollars other then the hair necessary to complete one wig for donation.

II. Thesis statement- This is where we explain what the presentation will be about.

III. Preview statement-This is where we explain that there will be three sections of the Presentation. They will include the brief background of the organization then the event we proposed with some brief information, followed by the explanation of our technological component. 

Body

I. Background (might be useful to have a power point for this)

A. What is the Pink Heart fund.

1. Year Started?

2. Where is it?

3. Who started the organization?

4. What does the organization do?

5. How can someone support the Pink Heart fund if they were interested?

II. Our Event

A. What is the Event?

1. Explain rather thoroughly what the proposed event would include. Use visuals of the T-shirt design through this portion.

B. Explain the event Planning guide. And how it can become a useful tool. Maybe a PowerPoint with this information on it.

III. Technology portion of the project

A. Explain our technology part of the project.

B. Present our technology portion of the project.

Conclusion

I. Summary statement – Review all of our main points (History, Event, Technology Portion) We provide a lot of information to our listeners and we want to review the information that we gave them highlighting the important factors.

II. Concluding statement – prepare a closing statement that also has an attention getting closing remarks. This is important because since this is the last thing that we are saying we need to make it something our listeners will remember. 

Blog: 7 Editorial- "r-word"

“Your so retarded.” “You are a retard.” “That was retarded.”

There are not many things that make me mad like those three statements.  Through Push America; a non-profit organization supporting people with disabilities, I rode my bike from San Francisco to Washington D.C. I did this to raise money and awareness for people with disabilities, and I do not take kindly to the word “retard(ed).” Neither should you.

You may not mean any real harm or hurt to someone when you use the “r-word”, but that is exactly what your doing to millions of people with intellectual disabilities. It not only offends them, it also offends their family and friends who hear this derogatory term.

Many people around the world are taking a stand against the dehumanizing effects of the “r-word.” Special Olympics and Best buddies international have teamed up on a campaign called “Spread the Word to End the Word.” Their main purpose is to spread the hurtful nature of the “r-word” In a recent commercial for the campaign, actresses Jane Lynch and Lauren potter spoke out of the issue. Jane Lynch said, “The “r-word” is the same as every minority slur, treat it that way and don’t use it.” Most people do not think of it this way, but it is very true. Like these two actresses, many actors, singers, and athletes are helping in the efforts to end the word using the social media venues. 

Three percent of the world’s population has an intellectual disability, that is 200 million people. In efforts to help eliminate the “r-word”, on October 5^th 2010 President Barrack Obama signed a bill called “Rosa’s Law.” This required to federal government to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability.” It got its name ;Rosa’s law, after a nine year old that was born with Down Syndrome’s mother was an advocate for the removal.

People with Intellectual and developmental disabilities; to me, do not even have DISabilities. I believe that they just have different abilities. I learned this on my bike ride. Many friends that I met while on my journey have taught me things that I never could learn before, such as how to “moon walk”.  Those same people with different abilities are very capable of attending school, playing video games, watching movies, competing in athletics, working, getting married and contributing to society. Why would you want to demean them and use the “r-word?” If you do not believe me, attend or volunteer at your regions next Special Olympics. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are some of the hardest working, most resilient people that I have ever met.

Visit www.r-word.org and take a pledge to no longer use the “r-word” in a derogatory sense. I have taken my pledge, along with over 200,000 others, have you? Remember; Spread the Word to End the Word.

The purpose of the above article is to make people realize if they already do not that the term “retard(ed)” is very hurtful to millions of people, and they need to no longer use this word. The intended audience is anyone really. This is an issue that everyone is faced with. Even if they do not use the “r-word” the article may be of assistance to explain to a friend or someone exactly why it’s not nice to use the “r-word.” I believe the voice of my article is one of anger and compassion. I made it clear not only by writing the article, but also by stating clearly the stance that I took on the issue. The social context is one that I believe most people have heard about.  I would definitely say that the call to write is both school and public sphere. I am writing because of an assignment, but am also writing about an important public issue.  I believe I made it clear by only using the actual word “retard(ed)” a few times. I did this because it is important that the reader sees that I have even switched to saying the “r-word” in the article rather then the entire word.  I believe I did accomplish what I was trying to do. I provided a sense of compassion so the reader will try to no longer say the word, or suggest to friends and family members to not say the word anymore. I gave facts while also making the reader think deeper on the things. I ultimately hope it has sparked enough interest in some people so they go look up more information on the cause.

Progress Report

    This Blog will report my thoughts and reporting on my groups final project. It will announce how I think we have been doing as well as maybe things my group could have done better. This is still the semi early stage of the product. We have three weeks left which seems like a lot, but it is not. Along with a good bit of time, we still have a good bit of work.
   
   This past week my group submitted the proposal. I think it went well. I was actually really confused at all of this because, the Wednesday of the Skype conference with our professor, I was out of town and unable to get to a computer therefore I missed the Skype call. Luckily my group members were able to attend. We had a proposal to turn in on last Thursday, which consisted of a few different parts that ultimately created a report. I talked to my group members and got to information that I had missed and what I had to do to benefit the group. I believe my group used the distribution of tasks for this part. One of my members definitely took the leader role and explained exactly what was needed to complete the assignment. I did what she asked me to do and it made things a lot easier on me from not knowing anything to be being brought up to speed with the project. I believe my group is on schedule, but we have a lot of work to do this week. Last week was crazy with the Fourth of July holiday and one of my members is in Europe for the summer. This week we need to sit down and figure out exactly what we want to do. We gave a rough draft type of ideas with the proposal. I like to finish all of my work with some time to re do them if needed. I do not believe we encountered any major problems other then me missing the Skype and being completely clueless as to what we needed to do, but we go that figured out and are now rolling along. For this week, I would like to work on our event multimedia portion of the project. I would also like to look over the remaining timeline and remind my group of the deadlines we had set for ourselves. I believe that this week is less hectic for everyone and will give us time to complete these weeks’ assignments as well as get a head start on next weeks.  As far as communication issues, I do not believe it has been a problem. I communicate with one of my members; the one in the U.S. by telephone, and I communicate the member in Europe by email. They have both been very responsive which makes it easier to complete the tasks at hand.

     I believe things are going well. This is a new experience for me to work collaboratively via Internet. It really is teaching me different lessons to learn that I believe will be useful in my major. It keeps me checking my email, to make sure that my partner in Europe is not in need of assistance with something she is working on. It is a little easier to use a phone to communicate, but we are making it work.

Researching in Your Professional Context

Harrah’s New Orleans Guest Attendant
http://harrahs.hodesiq.com/harrahsiq/job_detail.asp?JobID=2516734

Responsible for providing friendly, courteous service to guests every time and cleaning 16 rooms up to Harrah’s standards within assigned shift.

-Must be able to get along well with co-workers and work well as a team member.
-Must possess excellent customer service and communication skills.
-Must be able to work any day of the week.  Must present a well-groomed appearance.

Hilton New Orleans Overnight House Person
https://careers.hilton.com/psc/hrprd/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?JobOpeningId=68007&SiteId=&Page=HRS_CE_JOB_DTL

Cleans and maintains all hotel public areas (to meet established cleanliness and quality standards. Delivers items to room/suite attendants upon request and assists in cleaning guest rooms/suites as needed.

-Work Overnight Hours
-Work well with others
- Follow instructions well
- Service base attitude

Front Desk Supervisor Holiday Inn New Orleans
http://ihg.taleo.net/careersection/all/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=598307&src=JB-10920

Responsible for the successful daily operations of the Hotel Front Desk, Reservations, PBX, Bell, Valet and Transportation departments. Must strike a balance between guest satisfaction and effective business management. Must ensure each team member meets or exceeds guest service expectations and ensure team members work well together.

-High School diploma or equivalent
-one year front office/guest relations experience including some supervisory training/experience.
-Some college is preferred
-May be required to work nights, weekends, and/or holidays

Room Captain at Intercontinental New Orleans
http://ihg.taleo.net/careersection/all/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=586589&src=JB-10920

Deliver and serve food and beverages to hotel guest's room. Complete customer payment transactions as outlined in cash and charge procedures. Perform set-up and closing side-work; stock service station, make coffee, etc. Assist in the scheduling and training of room service staff. You may also answer room service phones and record orders; utilize up-selling techniques to increase sales and may assist with other duties as assigned.

-    Knowledge of Restaurant services
-    Customer service attitude
-    Friendly
-    Work oriented




    The Position that I am interested in is the Front Desk Supervisor at the Holiday Inn New Orleans. This is the position, that I became a tourism management major. It really seems like something that I would enjoy doing. To begin with, I have had two jobs dealing with customer service. My first job was a birthday party host. This was a very important job because if I did not meet the standards the customer was expecting, I could ruin the party and make a bad name for my employer. I was to make sure that whatever the customer expected, I went above and beyond. My second job is my current one that I have worked for two years. I am a front Desk assistant in the residence hall. Each week new camps come in, and I check them in, and ensure that everything goes just as they had expected. This is most like the position because it makes me think quick and on my feet. Our employer gives us the freedom to make things right if a guest is having a bad experience. He always harps on the guest having a great experience so that they come back. It is so true.

    I was a very involved student in High School, and continued this trend into college. However in college, I took part in less but invested more of myself into the organizations that I was involved with. I was a member of the SGA for two years acting as a member, which shows that I am able to work as team member and as a worker rather than a leader. I also am very involved in my fraternity. My junior year I ran and won a position on the Executive Cabinet for my fraternity of 80 men.  I then took it a step further and was voted the fraternity member of the year by my fraternity.  I believe this says that I am not only a leader, but a leader who works well with members and does not burn bridges.

    Another one of highlights is the Journey of Hope, which is a 3500-mile, 2 month long cycling trip across the country. This shows that I am dedicated and motivated because this was an incredible feat to accomplish. I had to raise $5,000 dollars, get into cycling shape, and stay involved in all my organizations, all while maintaining my 3.5 GPA. I believe this highlights not only my work ethic, but my multi tasking skills as well.

    My resume and cover letter would go as follows. It would start by saying my objective. It would then show my college degree, followed by my experience within the workforce. I would then put my extracurricular activities. I believe that will show all the qualifications needed to attain this position.

#4 Web evaluation

The website that I m critiquing is Supplement Warehouse. It can be found at Supplementwarehouse.com

Dear Webmaster,

    I have a few suggestion on how you can make your website better all around. The first move I believe will help is the alignment of the whole page. It is very messy upon first look. There is also so many different pictures on your home page that it can become overwhelming to a first time user. On the home page I noticed that it is the “clearance” portion of the website. It may be useful to remove the pictures and put them in a tab on the side. This will make the home page a lot less congested already. If you like having it on the home page, maybe display four or five items and then have a “click here for more deals” link that would lead the customer to the “clearance” area. There are so many clearance items; it takes a minute to scroll through all of them. Think about also maybe replacing that section with a small about me section. 

    The feeling (pathos) of the website is one of get in quick, save money, and get out. There is no comfortable feeling. I understand that you want people to get the items quickly and also save money, but there are ways you can change that while still representing the same meaning. On the first page you can explain your lowest price guarantee, so that people are not confused about what the box next to the item is that is asking for the competitors price. It is also very boxy. Maybe some soft round edges would change the feeling of intensity and make it more relaxing. There is also a lack of color on the background, adjusting this might add new feeling to the website as well.

    There is also a line of graphic adds on the right side. It might be good to have these in a rotating box maybe in the bottom of the scrolling area, that way all of the ads will get seen. I like what you have done with your logo. Giving away free shakers and pill cases, really imprints the orange and purple “SW.” This is a unique combination that really associates the colors with your website.

    A few pointers are that to just double check the pictures that are getting posted, they are sometimes stretched out and the wrong size. The “find products box” could be adjusted a bit. Its very boxy again and it is very long lists. It is overwhelming when you are looking for a type of product rather then a certain product. Maybe tabs on the  top leading you to the different types of products that are being sold would help someone who is not yet up with the vocabulary of a supplement company.

     The overall effectiveness of the website is descent. It provides supplements at a cheap price, that is what people want, it makes people more forgiving. I just feel like you lose business, because people judge the security of websites by how they look. If it looks as if someone through it together, then people often do not want to shop there.  As far as usability, I think it is definitely usable if you are familiar with the products, if you are not as familiar with the products it might be a little difficult. There are also so many products that it is overwhelming. I would definitely say that it is very persuasive. Before you check out, you go to a screen and it says “great deals. ” This is where it tells you that with your order you get a free shaker and vitamin holder and also gives a lot of other options. It has a lot of individual packet of things that are normally priced at 3 dollars, and it offers them at 50 cents or $1. When I checked out I actually added $5 dollars to my order, if every person does this, I am sure it will add up. 

Blog 3

    I am a Hospitality and Tourism Management major like I have stated in my previous blogs. I found a link; http://hospitality-1st.com/PressNews/Schools.html, that had a lot of the major universities direct links to the their Hospitality and Tourism Management programs. These are the some of the schools I looked at.

Southern Miss
Http://www.usm.edu/undergraduate/hotel-restaurant-and-tourism-management-bs

Purdue
http://www.cfs.purdue.edu/htm/

College of Charleston
http://sb.cofc.edu/academicdepartments/hospitalitytourism/index.php

Penn State
http://www.hhdev.psu.edu/shm/

South Carolina   
http://www.hrsm.sc.edu/hrtm/

    Each of these schools had good things about their website as well as bad. One of my favorite websites; besides Southern Miss of course, was Purdue University. They had so many neat aspects of their website including providing emails of some of the students actually enrolled in the program under a tab called, “Talk to Current Students.”  Other parts of their website that I liked were the rotating pictures of their students in different situations involved within the major. From first glance Purdue University’s program is a very hands on one. This would interest me immediately. There is also an scrolling news bar with the latest news from the major. This is very good item to have, if it is properly kept up with. If it says the latest news is from January 2011, it will lose the effect of having it. I also like the fact that after clicking undergraduate, you can locate a lost of all the classes that a required for the major. This is something that might be helpful to an interested student.

 

    I really did not like College of Charleston’s website. It did not look like someone had spent very much time. There was not very much color, and it was not at all inviting as a perspective student. It was very box like and did not provide much information on the home screen. It gives a generic definition of the hospitality program and then a few ways to contact people within the major. Unlike Purdue’s website that suggested emailing the students, this had the contact information for the office, and dean. It did not even imply that it was worthwhile emailing them it was just listed. It also did not have an individual header for the Tourism and Hospitality program, it had the same picture from the normal College of Charleston website. 

    I think the three things that are most important to designing a web page for my major would be the course requirements, pictures that show my program is interactive and career opportunities. I am writing to design website that will attract students to come to my school based on the Hospitality and Tourism Department. Hopefully the outcome will be that a student looking to get into the Hospitality field will want to participate in my program based on what they see on the website. My reader will desire a knowledge of the type of things my university does. My primary readers will be perspective students of my major. My readers relationship to me will not be personal, it will be informational. A number of people might read my website. Parents of the students would be the main one. The reader could be anywhere on the spectrum of familiarity with my subject. It can go anywhere from a student that has researched multiple universities or a student who knows nothing about the program.
My reader will probably prefer to have an Internet communication type such as email, in the event that they do not, I would provide a phone number as well as directions to the office for the Tourism department. I should take into account that my reader will be very judgmental of first appearance.

    I believe that because my readers might not all know college terminology or even hospitality terminology, I should take special care to explain exactly what everything is.  A key question that most readers will ask is what careers will Hospitality Management majors go into.  I believe that Southern Miss did an excellent job at this; on the home page it says “Career Interest” and lists some jobs that people often go into after graduation. My readers’ attitude would be one of interest. If they are looking at my web page, they would be wanting to learn about the hospitality program at my university. There are a few constraints. They would be to not have an information overload so that there is too much for a person to decipher.

    What I have learned from step one is that you can tell when someone has not put much effort into a website. I do not want to have the first impression of my website to be one of bad taste.

Blog 2: Rhetorical Analysis

Courtesy of www.chinahotelsreservation.com/hongkong_travel

    Do to the fact that I am a Tourism Management Major, I am assigned to read a lot of newspaper or online articles about the tourism industry. Within the last decade, the spike of international travel was ignited, therefore we study much more United States tourism, but we also do a bit of research on international tourism.

    In my Quality Service Management class we were assigned to read an article about the new system of tour guides that the Travel Council of Hong Kong was implementing. The name of the article is Hong Kong tourism cracks down on tour guides. The tour guides in Hong Kong had no special certifications or licenses so there was no way to police what type of service they were providing. Tour guides were bringing tourists to their own communities and harassing members of the group when they did not purchase jewelry and souvenirs from their community. The Travel Council has come up with guidelines and rules, this is a way of controlling how safe using a tour guide is and to guarantee quality service.  The system they will be executing is a demerit system and all tours guides must be licensed. When a tour guide has received 30 demerits his license will be suspended.  The punishments will be worse if the actions continue, ultimately with the revoking of licenses.

    I believe the reason for the piece is because so many people already have the negative image of traveling international travel. This is do in part to people making movies such as “Hostel” and “Taken” as well as people having bad experiences such as those spoken about in the article.  While I am not familiar with the author, it is a credible source. It is from a journal for the tourism industry called The Standard. They would not publish things that are not credible. The call to write is definitely workplace. This is so useful for members within the tourism industry. This will affect travel agents, to students, to employers. The new system will make it more inviting of tourist to visit Hong Kong. The writer definitely makes it clear that there was a problem and that the Travel Council is taking means to secure it. I am not sure if the writer is taking a position in the matter. They might be neutral. I really like the way the author presents the significance of the issue. It is very indirectly. He explains what is going on in Hong Kong; the harassing and scamming of tourists, and lets the reader realize that it is wrong and needs to be fixed. I believe the purpose of the article is to assure people that it will be a safer environment now in Hong Kong when it comes to tour guides. Like I stated earlier, I believe the author; Thomas Steinmintz, call to write was the workplace. This does not mean that the readers are only using this for work purposes. Many travelers will now feel safe traveling to Hong Kong knowing that there is one large city they will not be worried of getting scammed. The author really wants the reader to trust that he is providing them will real and reliable facts. I believe the language was very professional. This is an article in a tourism Journal, therefore it will be used academically on top of all those other reasons. The writer’s word usage promotes that the reader should have a little knowledge of tourism and traveling.

    I believe the author got his point across very well. I think something that would add to his article would be an interview from a member on the Travel Council on how these changes will affect the tourism in Hong Kong. This would be a reassuring factor for the people once again.