Autism Speaks U September Facebook Q&A Transcript 

In general, how long do these facebook q&a's typically last...

Kaplan U. Melanie Fernandez, President. Soon to be.

Kaiti, President (Duke) Official Chapter

Penn State

Mary Baldwin College

The Ohio State University

Texas A&M University

Virginia Tech

University of Michigan-Dearborn

UNC Chapel Hill, Sarah Chaisson, President, Official

West Virginia University

DePaul University

University of Michigan

SUNY New Paltz

University of South Florida

Texas Christian University

University of Minnesota

Miami University

Towson University:

Kaplan University

University of Wisconsin La Crosse

Slippery Rock University

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Armstrong Atlantic State University

Miami University

Autism Speaks U @ FGCU

University of Texas

Elon University

University of Northern Colorado

Duke University

West Chester University

Gettysburg College

University of Utah

Byron Viets, President, Official

University of Michigan

Boston University

Syracuse University

Boston University, Jaclyn Sessel, Vice President, Soon-To-Be official

Philip Bender, SUNY Albany, Vice President. We are officially recognized!

University of Arizona

East Carolina University, Kylie Streng, President, Getting Started

University of Texas. Hillary Contreras (treasurer). Official.

Towson University; Kayla Carter - President; ASU chapter is official

Kaplan University, vice president, soon to be

UCI

Western Kentucky University. Meredith Coleman Recruitment chair. Soon to be.

Virginia Tech. Amanda Qadado--Treasurer. Official Chapter.

University of Michigan-Dearborn, Amanda Bower, Treasurer, Official

University of Northern Colorado - Vice President - Getting Started

Elon University, Britt Mills: co-president. Official Chapter

Penn State, Andy Byun, President, Official

West Virginia University. Nel-Sylvia Guzman, Vice President.Official

Madeline Ogden. President. Official

University of South Florida, Kayla Chesanek - President, Chapter is Official

Wilkes University, Nicole Weaver, President, Soon to Be.

Texas Christian University. Megan Pruitt-President. Soon to Be

Marywood University, Lauren Olsen, President, Official

Armstrong Atlantic State University, Olivia Singleton Vice President, Official

Hannah Khederian, Director of Advertising

West Chester University, Samantha Sallade, Vice President. Soon-To-Be

Kaplan University online, Heather Whitley-Recruitment Chair, soon to be

Univ of Connecticut! I'm Alison and I am the CFO. Official

Madison Economos, SUNY New Paltz, Vice President. Official

Slippery Rock University. Kaleigh Gontis. Recruitment Chair. Soon to be.

Binghamton University, Jen Schwartz, Secretary, Official

Pittsburg State University; Amanda Ravenstein, President; soon-to-be.

Mark Tapia, position unclear as of now (hopefully president); autism speaks u geting started soon...

UW-La Crosse Devin Minor Secretary, recently official

Emily Riepenhoff from Xavier university, President, getting started

The Ohio State University, Olivia Thiemann, Secretary, Official

Stonehill College, Brooke Lessard (Treasurer), official

Katie (President) University of Arizona. Getting started

Manhattan College , President, soon to be

University of Minnesota- Twin Cities. Michelle Todd, Co- President, Soon -to-Be

Slippery Rock University

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, official

Autism Speaks U Milwaukee. Heather Salvo, Vice President. Soon to be.

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Virginia Nemath - President, Soon to Be Chapter

whoops, University of Utah, Aubrey Cooper, Vice Pres, Soon to Be

Cal State Fullerton

Jennifer Bennett , Autism Speaks U at Mizzou chapter president (University of Missouri); official chapter

IPFW, president, official

Ithaca College, Fundraising Chair, Official

UCI, Jigar Shah, President, Official

Julie, DePaul University, PR Chair , Official

Slippery Rock University , Jessica Smithson. President

Boston University, secretary for the soon to be Autism Speaks U Boston University

West Virginia University, Kristyn (Secretary)

Tulane University. Awareness Chair. Provisional Status.

Leanna Gonzalez John Carroll University Recruitment Chair Official Chapter

Oops! Dan Barbour, president, Official chapter, Florida Gulf Coast University

Syracuse unviersity, Fallon Martinez (President), getting started

Elmhurst College, Tracy Hefferan Co-President, Official

East Carolina University, Kylie Streng President, Getting Started

Xavier University, President, Getting Started

Univ of Connecticut

Binghamton University

University of Michigan, Hugo Le Du, Social Media Coordinator, Official

St. Louis University

Cal State Fullerton, Ray Sadri, Vice-President, Official.

Boston University

Montgomery College William Clements (president ) we are getting started

Rebecca Cook, Manhattan College, President, Soon to be

Marywood University, Lauren Olsen, Preident, Official

University of Wisconsin - Whitewater Vice President - offical Chapter, hows everyone?

Texas A&M University, Blake Hartgraves, Membership, soon to be official

western Michigan university, president

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, VP, official

Ashley Finch, treasurer of the Liberty University chapter

SUNY New Paltz: We have a club and involvement fair at the beginning of each semester, and our e-board has a table for people to sign up and leave their e-mail. Then we follow up with e-mails about meetings and future events.

We have participated in a couple of activity fairs on campus! (University of Minnesota- Twin Cities)

Stonehill College. We have also used candy as an incentive.

Billboards and radio IPFW Lisa Quach

University of South Florida promoted by using our tvs located around campus with flyers, we also were active at the Week of Welcome for new and returning students.

Cal State Fullerton, we found a small bakery to sponsor our first event and in return we advertised her bakery. She baked us cupcakes and cake pops!

UNC: We had pizza at our interest meetings. For one meeting, we were scheduled a room in a really bad location (in a new part of a building on campus and nobody could find it), so afterward we took the leftover pizza in the middle of the pit (high traffic area) and gave out pizza and fliers, inviting people to come to our meeting the next night.

Our recruiter is going to classrooms and talking about the organization.

We are having a profit share at a popular restaurant near campus to raise funds and to spread the news that we are a new organization on campus. (Texas A&M University)

Stonehill College. Also, we set up a table in the dining commons from time to time and pass out flyers.

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee- We emailed professors of courses we thought may have students interested in joining and asked if we could come speak to their class. We are still working on this but I believe it will be successful.

UW-Whitewater has LCD televisions throughout campus that we were able to make powerpoint slides for that run on and off throughout the day. Best of all it is free and is helping us maintain a consident Brand on campus.

Western Kentucky University- emails and texts

Miami University - Going around to freshman/sophomore residence halls and even classrooms and talking and encouraging people to come join us. It's much more personal!

University of California, Irvine- We poster around campus with meeting times and have information tabling once a week where we promote meetings for new members to stop by. We also place posters around the dining areas on campus.

Slippery Rock University. We have a bulletin board in our education building where we post about meetings and events.

SUNY Albany: Dorm storming, contacting departments to use listservs (education, psych, etc.), a LOT of tabling in/around/near dining areas at high traffic times. Texts, e-mails, and personalized invites (similar to the candy idea used in above picture, but we hand them door to door/tape them up with meeting info)

Gettysburg College. We have a Student Digest that gets sent to all students every day through email that we can promote our meetings through

Pittsburg State University We have posted flyers around campus and had chalk writing on the pavement.

University of Wisconsin La Crosse, We are currently doing many of the things you are suggesting, and so far it seems to be going well. We'll have our first meeting tomorrow.

Case Western Reserve University, sending out an informative newsletter to our mailing list that is easy to read and gets straight to the point

Mark Tapia, like I said other than flyers, nothing much. A very slow process

Xavier University; Facebook/Twitter/Emails. Table passing out information with cookies!

madeline ogden-mary baldwin college-make announcements at student senate every week

Florida Gulf Coast University: We have found that working with other service oriented organizations on our campus has inreased our own membership.

Elmhurst College - for our first meeting, we partnered with our Best Buddies organization and had a pizza party information session. This gave us an opportunity to recruit members from people interested in both of the clubs and as it was said, who doesn't love free food?

University of Michigan- Email current members, ask professors to make announcements in class and the use of activity fairs on campus

Kaplan U (we haven't had any meetings yet, but we have used email to promote our first meeting)

Armstrong Atlantic State University: we have set up tables in high traffic areas on campus and given out candy as well. We also give out information about meetings at every event and/or fundraiser that we hold.

Towson University - We used the Daily Digest, an email that updates the campus about events

At Wilkes University, we passed out fact sheets and blue cookies for our university's Club Day. We had over 70 people sign up for our club! We also had students bring their friends to our first interest meeting.

From Montgomery College and you can successfully promote by submitting an article to the school newspaper

University of Utah- We have done mass emails and used a website called whenisgood.net to determine the best time for a meeting. We have gotten some ppl to attend, but would like more

We have printed out facts and talked about all the different ways to get involved with Autism Speaks at our campus Activities Expo. There was also candy. [Tulane University]

I know our chapter discussed going to class rooms in the Speech & Path and Special Education departments and writing on their board a small message announcing meeting dates (WVU)

East Carolina University, we have recently reached out to the various clubs and teams we are all individually involved in and have gotten the word out that way!

Cal State Fullerton, We made labels about our club and our events and put them on water bottles and handed them out to students.

(Manhattan College) We had great luck at our activities fair as well and also bold flyers around campus worked well!

Western Kentucky University- we are also going to all the sorority and fraternity meetings on campus to talk to them about joining

went to few first year student events and follow with an email to the people who came.

UIUC: we attended a freshmen welcome fair, as well as the university's quad day. We also contacted department heads to send emails out to students.

Texas Christian University- We are planning on making announcements in classes and club meetings that may have people in them that would be interested

Texas A&M University. We contacted a campus fraternity whose philanthropy is Autism Speaks and invited them to our first ever general meeting. Also, our advisor teaches in the psychology department and informed her students about the organization, and many were interested. Regarding the funding, for those campuses who are big on football games, our campus has a clean-up program where student organizations can help clean the football field the day after a game for a few hundred dollars. :)

Virginia Tech--We have had Autism Speaks U bracelets at our recruitment table in the past.

University of Northern Colorado - Facebook, emails, school fairs. We are playing with the idea of Twitter hashtags and school advertising on TVs and computers

John Carroll U. We have also set up tables with candy!

Slippery Rock University. We also had a booth at an organizational and passed out cards listing our first meeting time. It was small enough that students could easily carry it away and mark it on their calendar.

University of Texas: We go to organization fairs that our schools holds. We're trying to get on email servers for our school to increase membership, and the school newspaper.

Elon University: among other things, we found that by partnering with Disability Services and the Special Education department, we have gained a lot new members

SUNY Albany: We also reach out to the Greek orgs that have Autism Speaks as a philanthropy!

University of Michigan-Dearborn--go to professors and classes to announce especially the professors in biology

At UConn were making use of academic list Servs to send emails out to specific colleges and majors we think would be interested. We had a really great turn out just for that at our first meeting last night

Boston University, we use Facebook to promote events, e-mails as reminders, and plan to promote at student tables and fundraising events within the area

UW Whitewater - we are also targeting greek life organizations that need to fullfill community service hours and are inviting them to join our organization, he have got a lot of new members from this, I recommend everyone look into this

Liberty University: We made announcements in our classes announcing our meeting, and we also sent out a mass email the day of the meeting to everyone who put their name down for more information. We also contacted a few different departments to get the word out about our meetings. We also set up a table at the club fair and passed out candy and information.

Mizzou - this year we're volunteering with some local autism groups; we also dedicate our last meeting of the year to helping members find out how they can stay involved in their hometowns.

mary baldwin college-consistent meeting times and frequent events to keep interest high

University of Michigan-Dearborn--we have year long pen pal activity where each member writes and keeps in touch with an autistic child in high school

duke-keeping them updated with what eboard is up to,making them apart of club decisions

East Carolina University, Since we are just starting out, the members we currently have are very enthusiastic about staying on board and recruiting new people!

Slippery Rock University: We have found that a great way to get students to come to our meetings (only had one thus far this semester) is through email, text messages, and our FaceBook page.

University of Texas: Facebook! I think that's our biggest tool in keeping in touch. We also have weekly meetings even if it's just to say hello and catch up.

University of Michigan- We supply food and drinks at our meetings and have many events that engage our members such as basketball tournaments, bar nights and karaoke nights that also double as fundraisers

We break up into committees and make sure that everyone has a specific job after the general body meetings. Everyone feels like an integral part of the club that way, and feels like they're contributing to the success of our events.

SUNY Albany: Social events (food, hang outs, moviE nights, whatever), a lot of follow up and contact. We are trying to bring in some engaging speakers (researchers, CARD members, etc.) We also try to get out on campus, as a group, so that members feel involved in the org

SUNY New Paltz. We have monthly meetings and try to have events that follow up the meetings. This way, we are planning for something and it gives them something to look forward to. Also frequent e-mail updates and facebook page updates

Western Kentucky University- we are just starting out, but so far we have had several meetings about recruitment and getting our name out there! we have also created a facebook group

USF - we have a consistant schedule and we also speak over our Facebook page and through activities on campus.

Tulane University. We try to provide many different opportunities to get involved, based on what members are really interested in, i.e. advocacy, baby-sitting/working with kids with Autism, bar nights, movie nights, Autism Speaks walk, etc.

Binghamton University: this is our first year, but I think making the meetings fun instead of work-like is really important. Also try to get to know people in the general body, don't make it like eboard Vs. the rest of the group. If people are happy at the meetinvolved.ings they will probably stay

Gettysburg College. We update our facebook page so that they will keep getting notifications about the club or organization even when there is not a meeting that week

Virginia Tech--we send out many email reminders and keep our facebook page up to date.

UIUC: this is our second year as an official organization. we are sending out emails and updating our facebook page as much as possible. interested to hear how other schools keep members involved!

Miami University - I know last year we did a Baseball Game fundraiser where we sold hotdogs. It was a good way to fundraise and get our organization out there, but you also get to go to the baseball game with all the members and increase group bonding.

Stonehill College. We participate in local autism groups, hold events that provide entertainment for club members in support of Autism speaks, and let each club member openly suggest ideas for new things to do and try out either at the weekly meetings or through email.

Boston University - keep members as informed as possible, take member's feedback on events they would like to be a part of, attending big group events for a sense of unity and smaller intimate ones for bonding

Western Michigan University - we send out email regularly to update people on events. We have at least one event a month.

University of California, Irvine- We provide food at meetings, we hang out and have socials with the members. We also have speakers come in and speak as well as parents who have children with autism.

Elmhurst College - we're keeping our meetings to 30 minutes and having a google doc to share with all members to have them choose the tasks they are helping out with for each event. We're hoping this keeps our members more engaged and responsible. We also have some unique volunteer opportunities to get involved with.

Armstrong Atlantic State University: we have created a position that we call fellowship chair who is in charge of planning and coordination of all social activities so that all the members can get to know each other more personally. We also give out raffle tickets when a member comes to a meeting or event and at the end of the year we will have a drawing. Its gives an incentive to come to meetings and events because the more you participate the more tickets you receive and the better your chance to win.

Pittsburg State University. We are a new chapter but as of right now it looks like, with the activities that are planned, that we will not have a problem keeping members interested.

Slippery Rock- We are planning to have meetings and an event once a month to keep members active in the chapter. We also have 4 different committees that have their own meetings which also helps keep members engaged.

We are just starting out at the University of Minnesota but we are looking to start committees. We will have each member choose what committee they would like to be on and that way they will feel like they have a crucial role in the planning of events and other aspects of the group.

Cal State Fullerton, we have a point system. To remain an active member they'll need to acquire a certain amount of points. And instead of doing a lot of different events, We're having one big event and two small ones.

University of California Irvine- We have some speakers come in that can provide internships/volunteer opportunities to the members, because that is what a lot of members want (experience).

We send out emails and keep the facebook page updated with what we are doing.

penn state: we have events, such as hayrides, outside of our general mission events

This year at UConn being our second year we are going to create committees to keep members constantly involved and involved in an aspect they want to choose

UW - Whitewater is going to be having a Pancake Breakfast at a local church close to campus that will double as a funraiser and interest builder

Wilkes University: We will hold meetings every other Tuesday until we are closer to events. We plan on volunteering in the community with a local autism organization, and reaching out to other clubs on campus.

University of Wisconsin La Crosse-- we have speakers who are affected by autism come in. We send email reminders a few nights before meetings.

Gettysburg College. Icebreakers are cheesy but they usually work to help new members learn each others's names.

SUNY Albany: We like to recap the last meeting, and then we go into upcoming events. Then we like to throw it open for questions/comment/suggestions from the general membership.

Armstrong Atlantic State University-We always have some sort of refreshments at meetings so this gives people some time to eat and socialize. And before getting into the business side of the meeting we have either guest speakers, a video, or interesting facts.

duke-video/news/go ahead and asking our members to like something on fb go to a link on their laptop

Slippery Rock- We opened our very first chapter meeting this year by introducing ourselves, telling a little bit about who we are, our positions and what our duties are. I (president) also said the Autism Speaks U mission for those new members to learn a little bit more about what we do.

Tulane University: We also start out by going around the room and introducing ourselves (name, year, major, connection to Austism/reason for joining the club), before going into our goals for the semester.

University of Michigan- We typically start our meetings by asking new members to introduce themselves and explain why our club is interesting to them before listing the agenda for the rest of the meeting

SUNY New Paltz. We have not done this in the past, but are going to start by having an e-board member share a story or fact about autism. This way, the members can really feel a connection to what we are about to discuss. We may play video clips or just summarize an article.

USF - we created a discussion board thread on our page. This allows students to write down their major and year in school and to get to know members. We start the meetings by revisiting our goals from the previous meeting to see if we accomplished them!

John Carroll U: We start meetings with an Ice breaker too then recap of the last weeks minutes to inform anyone who might have missed the last one.

Kaplan U--most of the students are online and usually show up about 15-20 minutes prior to any kind of meeting and we have "chat" time to get to know each other and find out how everyone's day/week has gone

Ohio State University- We start with pizza and pop and introductions. Most of the time we say how we are affected by autism and how long we have been a part of the organization. Meeting new members is best in committees or small group activities during meetings.

Stonehill College- We take attendance and then ask any new members to share their connection to Autism and state the reason they wished to join the club or how they heard about us.

University of Wisconsin La Crosse- We've started our meetings with ice-breakers to get members interacting with one another.

University of Northern Colorado - For our first meeting, we went around the room stating our name, our year, some people stated their major, their personal connection/why they wanted to be a part of this group. we also asked people what they would like to see this group do.

mary baldwin- casual start of meetings lets everyone chat for a while before starting into the work service events throughout the year let members bond

UIUC: at our first meeting - we took a poll of how many people knew an individual with autism, worked with individuals with autism, and/or entering a career working with individuals with autism. at our next meeting - we plan to play a video for out members

Western Kentucky University- introductions of everyone in the room, talk about what we have all been up to, then fill them in about future events. ask for suggestions/comments

University of California Irvine- We have ice breakers, we go around asking each member to state their name, major and how they heard about our club, and sometimes we play a quick jeopardy about autism (have two teams and the winning team gets candy).

We've only had one official meeting so far, but we had the exec board introduce themselves and then everyone who was at a table introduced themselves to one another and share what they knew about autism. We also plan on having two members or exec board members share what inspired them to be a part of Autism Speaks U at each meeting.

Western Michigan University- we do meet and great.

Elon University: we have always started our first meeting by having all new members introduce themselves and tell how they are affected by autism and/or why they chose to join the organization. We also include an interesting article or video to stir discussion within the group

Texas A&M University. A small ice breaker such as a short "speed dating" questionnaire with silly questions such as "if you were a flavor of ice cream, what would you be and why?"

Virginia Tech -- we begin with updates on all our fundraisers/volunteer opportunities and typically have a guest speaker talk.

Utah- We started our first meeting with the ready made powerpoint on autismspeaks.org/u. That gave everyone a better idea of what autism speaks u is about

Elmhurst College: for our first meeting we had all our members share their year/major, connections to autism, and any resources they may have to help us network to different organizations (on campus or in the community). We also do a recap and are going to try an "Autism in the news" beginning. Then get into the tasks we need completed for our events.

Kaplan U, Because we are an online establishment I think it is great to start off by asking a "getting to know you" type of question and starting the meeting off that way

Texas A&M University. We'll start off by introducing the organization (since we're new on campus), introducing ourselves, and then presenting a short ppt on autism/the organization/etc. Afterwards we plan on having an icebreaker!

Mizzou - we have new members and old members share their personal connection to autism

Boston University - for our first meeting we will do introductions w/ autism connection & then maybe a fun icebreaker or an inspirational video! I really like the PPT idea. Food always helps meetings

Penn State: for our first meeting, we asked members about their concerns and comments, and we are planning on beginning each meeting that way