Re: Appointments

["Clinton Gardner" <gardnedu@email.msn.com>]

-----Original Message-----

>Dear WCenter Friends:
>My center has grown so much that I have questions about a good thing--too
>many writers for the number of tutors.
>
>In the past, we have allowed mostly drop-ins, but now we find the need to
>encourage appointments.   We have some unhappy procrastinators, but we
>manage better when we DO ask people to make appointments by phone or email
>or when we must turn them away.
>
>The questions:
>1)Do your centers insist upon appointments?  Why or why not?
>
We have always had an appointment system because 1) we started with a very
small staff, and 2) we wanted to assure the student writers who came to us
that their sessions would not be rushed by the appearance of a drop in.

>2)Do you mostly have drop ins, or do you balance the two?
>
We mostly have appointments...but it depends on the time of the semester.

>3)And do you hire someone simply to "person" the desk and control the ebb
>and flow of humanity?
>
That would be a very nice luxury--but now that we have a bigger staff, we
usually have one person who can handle drop ins.

>4) Hhow do you handle the panicked, the frantic, the upset, the angry, the
>hurried and the harried?

If there is no one who is available, I try to designate (if I'm not there
myself) someone to talk to the people and encourage them to make an
appointment, or to wait for a while to see if someone becomes
available....the harried are a tough crowd...usually they are stressed and
have not planned their writing well...


>We end up trying to fit people in because they "didn't know" they needed an
>appointment.
>
That is true for us, as well.

>5)Will people eventually accept this change?  Is this just a growing pain
>or a mounting problem?
>
I think they will...we are facing the opposite problem...we have a well
groomed appointment system, yet because of our expansion we have been able
to see more people....thus we have people who habitually drop in and don't
make appointments.  That gets tough during the packed times of the
semesters.

>6)And if we do change to appoinment only, how can we spread the word most
>effectively?
>
I would be sure to put it on every scrap of adevertising you do.  Visit
classes and let people know they must sign up for an appointment.  Make a
big sign!


I don't know if I had much advice, but I think letting the student writers
know that they are important and deserve a specific amount of time with
their consultant is an important point to make.

--clint gardner

>I really need your input for this thorny challenge.
>Thanks in advance for your help.
>Sonja
>
>Sonja S. Bagby
>Director, University Writing Center
>College of Arts and Sciences
>State University of West Georgia
>Carrollton, GA 30118
>sbagby@westga.edu
>770-830-2258
>