MOVE TASK FORCE UPDATE, JUNE 8, 2018
We are moving closer than ever to CAC. Decisions are being made right now on which specific date we will begin departing tours from 111 E. Wacker. Here is a round-up of some of the changes that will be happening between now through early August:
• Retail sales will continue at 224 S. Michigan through July 15. CAF is pulling the inventory down as is obvious by looking at the quickly emptying shop, and through the 30% off all items, 50%-75% off selected items sales going on right now. If you were not aware, CAF will no longer be operating the retail store. We will be outsourcing that function to a specialized firm, Event Network. Retail sales will open in 111 E. Wacker at the same time tours begin departing from the new location. A new line of CAC-branded products and products exclusive only to CAC will be offered from the new location.
• An orientation committee has been set up that includes staff (Caroline and Erin) as well as a docent-representative and a guest services volunteer. They will be scheduling orientation tours and any other help needed as we prepared to give tours that depart from 111 E. Wacker. We will be doing tours from the center with only the retail shop open to the public. The same committee also will help in the transition when the entire center, meaning the exhibition areas, is open to the public.
• Once the center is fully open, there will be new branded apparel for staff, docents, and volunteers to wear. Branding will be for the CAC – no longer CAF. Nametags will be issued with the new logo and name. Once we get information on what this will look like, we will pass it along. In your opening intros, tho, you should begin to talk about CAC’s mission to help people discover why design matters.
• A group of Education Guides participated in the first of two training options as the Education Department rolls out their new field trip portfolio. These Education Guides will conduct complimentary ‘test’ field trips over the summer and report back to Education with successes and suggestions. All current Education Guides will be trained on new CAC field trips in August.
• Some of the newly created core tours – such as Chicago Architecture: A Walk through Time as the manual calls it – are going to get tweaks on their names. Most have too many letters to fit in the message board space and on the Web site. We will alert you on the new nomenclature, again, before you sign up for August tours.
Finally, and even though they are last, these are KEY issues:
• It is no longer easy to say, “I’ll get to that certification next week, next month, whenever.” NOW IS THE TIME TO GET YOUR CERTIFICATION DATE SET.
• As of now, we have trained almost everyone in the tours they chose. Only two more training sessions are left. Yet, only 43% of those who have trained have certified. Again, NOW IS THE TIME TO CERTIFY.
Once more into the breach, dear friends, is the quote from Shakespeare (Winston Churchill?). As we enter the last two months of transition, just remember:
• We are accomplishing a major task – and doing it well. It isn’t easy to retrain 400 people on 10 new tours, and yet we are making it happen with aplomb and without many problems;
• Docents have shown that they “step up” when asked and so many have done so we have gazillion thank you-s to say – to the Tour directors who began this process, to the people who trained early so they could be certifiers, to the Move Task Force team, to the staff, to everyone!!!
• We have so little time now, it is truly happening “within our lifetime.” We just need one more spurt of energy for the remaining certifications and we are done.
Take a bow everyone, and let’s march forward.