DELIVERY OF THE PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE PROGRAM AT THE PCC Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) The Professional Certificate Program was developed by the United States Postal Service in conjunction with industry leaders and nationally recognized postal consultants. The Professional Certificate Program is designed to provide opportunities for Postal Customer Council (PCC) customers to receive training through the PCC and achieve the recognition that comes with continuing education. PCCs that offer the Professional Certificate Program will find that it provides a ‘value added’ for the customer and may result in increased interest and customer attendance at events. The program was originally offered at the National Postal Forum and was received very positively by customers. The Greater St. Louis PCC piloted the program in April, 2004. This was immediately followed by a full implementation at the Caribbean PCC, and at the Mid-Missouri PCC. The Professional Certificate Program can be as complex or as straightforward as the sponsoring PCC elects. There are many choices and the PCC has a significant amount of flexibility in producing the optimum program for their customers. This SOP can be used by PCCs as a guide for the Professional Certificate Program. Workshop Selection: Topics for workshops are chosen from the National Postal Forum workshop listing, the Workshops-in-a-Box Program, or selected by the hosting PCC. A good place to start is to logon to www.npf.org to get a current listing of workshop names. Workshops are organized by Track, or general subject area. Key subjects change over time, but as an example, workshops eligible for Professional Certificates are found in the following tracks: Address Quality Colleges and Universities Mail Center Management Mail Center Safety and Security Mail Marketing Mail Production Mail Technology Nonprofit Package and Shipping Workshop Offering: PCCs have found that providing certificates for customers that attend a certain number of required workshops serves as a value-added and increases the customer interest surrounding an event. The PCC may offer any number of workshops at an event. For example if the PCC is featuring an event, a good place to begin is with answers to the following questions. How many days will the event last? How many customers do you anticipate will attend? What time do you plan to start the event? What time do you plan to end the event? How many rooms will you have available? Will there be exhibits at the event? Will there be food available throughout the event? Once these questions are answered, you can begin to decide how many workshops you will want to offer. Example: How many days will the event last? One Day How many customers do you anticipate will attend? 100 customers What time do you plan to start the event? 9AM What time do you plan to end the event? 4PM How many workshop rooms will you have available? 3 Rooms Will there be exhibits at the event? Yes Will there be food available throughout the event? Yes In using the above example, you realize that you are constrained by the number of rooms that are available to you. Since there are three (3) rooms available, you are limited and can offer a maximum number of three workshops during a workshop time period. But, is three the correct number? If you are anticipating 100 customers, it is fair to estimate that at any one time, there will be 20 percent of the customers that are not attending workshops. These customers may be looking at the exhibit, responding to phone calls, or otherwise engaged in other activities. With a base of 80 customers, the maximum number of workshops offered during each period should be two, (2). However, would you want to offer two workshops during each period? Simply because there is a choice during period 1, does not mean that there needs to be a choice during all periods. The PCC needs to look at the workshop offerings and decide what works best. For purposes of this example, we will plan 2 workshops during each period. If registration begins at 9AM, then the first period should not start before 9:30 giving customers a chance to get settled. Possible timeframes would be as follows: * 9:30AM-10:30AM Period 1 * 10:45AM-11:45AM Period 2 * 11:45AM- 1PM Lunch * 1:PM - 2PM Period 3 * 2:15PM - 3:15PM Period 4 * 3:30PM - 4:30PM Period 5 In deciding upon workshop offerings, the schedule allows for 5 time periods. The location allows for 2 classrooms. This translates to choosing 10 workshops. As you are marketing this event as an opportunity to earn a Professional Certificate, you want to make sure that customers can earn a certificate. For this reason, you must review the requirements for earning a certificate. These are as follows: Sample Certificates Credits Required Mail Center Professional Certificate 6 credits Mail Center Safety & Security 4 credits Mail Piece Design 4 credits Periodicals Professional 5 credits Professional Package Shippers 4 credits When selecting workshops, select a minimum of four (4) in one subject area. This will give the customers an opportunity to walk away from the event with one certificate. For example, select 4 workshops in the Mail Piece Design area, or in Safety and Security, or Packaging, etc. Using the above example, you could offer a maximum of three (3) certificates at your PCC event. You could offer 4 workshops in the Safety and Security Area, and 4 in the Mail Piece Design Area. Holding 2 workshops in each time period would result in a maximum of 10 choices. A customer that attended all 5 workshops would be able to earn a certificate in one track, (ex. Safety & Security), as well as one (1) credit towards a certificate in Mail Piece Design, and five (5) credits towards a Mail Center Professional Certificate. At the next PCC event, the customer would need to attend three (3) more workshops in Mail Piece Design, and would automatically, receive both a Mail Piece Design Professional Certificate, and the Mail Center Professional Certificate. Keep in mind that all credits earned in any track count towards the Mail Center Professional Certificate. For this reason, you should always offer the Mail Center Professional Certificate at every event. However, due to the 6 credit requirement, customers will need to attend more than one event to earn this certificate. This will serve as motivation for the customers to attend more than one event. Professional Certificate Recordkeeping: The Professional Certificate Program is attendance based. This means that PCCs must track the attendance for all workshops. Costs: There are no costs associated with the Professional Certificate Program. PCCs are free to set their own fees based on the event and their costs for administering the event. Responsibilities: Customer and Industry Marketing will provide the following: * Workshop contents * Assistance in selecting workshops * Assistance is planning certificate offerings * Assistance is selecting presenters * Issuance of Professional Certificates The PCC will provide the following: * A location for the training * Promotion of event * Refreshments based on the event * Presenter needs (Audio / Visual etc.) * Tracking attendance Advertising for the Program: Key steps prior to advertisement are as follows: Make certain that you have an updated database with all the customers within the geographical area served by the PCC. Make certain that the database contains an accurate listing of the addresses as well as phone numbers and email addresses. At regular PCC meetings provide a 10 minute briefing about the program to see whether there is interest among the members. Follow-up the meeting with a direct mail piece describing the program. Include a registration form. The registration form can model the attached. Sample Mail Center Professional Certificate Registration Form Name Title Company Address City/State/Zip+4 Phone Fax Email Industry: Years of Experience in the Mailing Industry: Mailing Associations You Belong to: Mail Related Subscriptions: List Business Sessions and Track Name for the six sessions you plan to attend.): Workshop Name:_____________________________________Track:_____________ . Workshop Name:_____________________________________Track:_____________ . Workshop Name:_____________________________________Track:_____________ . Workshop Name:_____________________________________Track:_____________ . Workshop Name:_____________________________________Track:_____________ . Workshop Name:_____________________________________Track:_____________ . Note: Return this form to the Registration area by (insert a date), listing those business workshops you plan to attend. For verification purposes, you must (sign in, or whatever other method you choose to verify attendance).