Overview and Process
First Impressions Program
Corridor/Byway Program Overview and
Process
Program Overview:
The First Impressions Program – Corridor/Byway is designed to give you insight into the success of your tourism efforts by providing a first time visitor’s impression of a selected corridor or byway in your community. These insights, provided to you in the form of a written report and presentation, can help to evaluate ongoing tourism efforts to build on your existing assets and correct those shortcomings that may limit your corridor’s overall impact. Your corridor will be matched with another, similar corridor that is also interested in obtaining information on the effectiveness of their tourism efforts. Each of you will identify a team of volunteers who will visit the other community anonymously and complete a survey of their impressions of your corridor.
The information provided to you through the First Impressions process will help to:
► Evaluate the successes of your tourism efforts by gaining insight into the effectiveness of your corridor
► Identify ways to improve and strengthen your corridor’s image to tourists
► Focus your corridor improvement efforts
► Assess the ease with which tourists can take advantage of visiting your corridor
Steps in the First Impressions Process:
Before beginning the program, choose a sponsoring organization or agency and an individual who can manage the process, train the team, accompany them on a visit, and prepare and deliver the final report. Specific steps are as follows:
1. Form a visitation team of 4 – 5 community volunteers. Try for diversity in this team if possible; male/female, professional/lay person, and political leader/community resident. Choose persons who, because of their recognition and respect in the community, may be able to encourage the taking of survey results to the next step of actual development and implementation of strategies to improve the corridor.
2. Train the visitation team on what is expected of them and acquaint them with the survey. Sometimes the distance from one community to another will require this to be a two-day program, so the visitation team members must understand this time commitment.
3. If it is a two day program, allow someone from the visitation team to make the needed arrangements for accommodations. Their experiences encountered in doing this will become part of the survey and report.
4. Make sure that at least one visitation team member brings a camera and takes pictures during their visit of points they want to emphasize.
5. Visit the corridor. Have each visitation team member fill out a survey.
6. Write up the results in report form and attach photographs. Send this report to your First Impression Team contact (see below). Design a presentation to share your results with the other.
7. Present the survey results and your First Impressions Presentation to the other community and arrange for their presentation to you. One of the volunteer visitors should be chosen to attend the report presentation with the coordinator. Their role will be to assist the coordinator with the presentation and verify the team’s impressions.
8. Evaluate the effectiveness of the First Impressions Program and keep track of the follow-up that is generated.
1. Provide your community with promotional materials and information listing the benefits and outlining the process of the First Impressions Program.
2. Provide a list of other interested communities and provide guidance in pairing your community with another suitable program participant. Maintain schedule between communities so that final reports are available to each around the same time.
3. Provide the surveys and instructions for the visitation team. Instruct the coordinator on preparing the team of the visit.
4. Once the survey results are completed they will be put into a final report format by the coordinator and provided to the FIT for review. The FIT will suggest OSU Extension and other programs that may help the community in addressing the issues that arise from the report. These suggestions will be offered as a written addendum to the report.
5. Provide assistance to the coordinator in the preparation of a presentation to the paired community. Suggestions regarding the presentation approach and points to cover will be provided to the coordinator.
6. In some cases a community will seek further assistance in the use of the First Impressions Program results. They may want to engage in visioning and/or strategic planning. Extension and the FIT can provide assistance in this area, either directly or by referral to other Extension resources.
7. Conduct a follow-up survey of the sponsoring organization and local coordinator to determine the usage and long-term effectiveness of the First Impressions Program in your community.
First
Impressions Team Members:
East
District Office,
Phone: 740-732-2381 or email: moss.63@osu.edu
Bill Grunkemeyer, Program Leader,
Community Development and Community Economic Development,
State
Office,
Phone: 614-292-5942 or email: grunkemeyer.1@osu.edu
Terry
Tamburini,
Phone: 740-373-3504 or email: tamburini.1@osu.edu
Mike
Lloyd,
Phone: 740-732-5681 or email: lloyd.4@osu.edu
Amy Grove,
Phone: 740-962-4909 or email: grove.68@osu.edu