In response to the “New Member Integration” thread ( https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/t/new-member-integration/13493 ), I mentioned the following:
Down below is the text from the original e-mail that I had sent to PR with my suggestion a couple of years ago. There were a handful of messages in response, and then I even printed up some mock tags to take to a member (or board?) meeting (Don’t laugh at the samples too hard ~ I never claimed to be an artist! hahaha…). I still believe that we should do two things at least…
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Have some type of way for new members and visitors to identify volunteers who are willing to answer questions and provide guidance, as well as a way for new members to be able to identify members of the Board of Directors (and optimally committee chairpersons). This could be done be accomplished by having the willing volunteers wear “something” (badge, sticker, shirt, hat, pin etc…) that easily identifies the willing volunteers as approachable.
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Have some way for current members to be able to easily identify new members and visitors. This would probably still be best approached by having stick on labels in the lobby with “Visitor” or “New Member” printed on it (and possibly a place for them to write their first name…).
As far as the ‘design’ of whatever is chosen to be worn?
I would like to suggest the following as guidelines:
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It would be best, in my opinion, if the most prominent words are “Ask Me!”, “Just Ask!”, “Have a Question?”, “Got Questions?!” (something along those lines…).
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Even though the new members / visitors would already be in the building (presumably), I still believe it’s best to avoid using “DMS” - because it may not be as obvious that the shirt/tag/hat/pin is actually being worn as a Dallas Makerspace item (While “DMS” is usually quickly learned; it may not be obvious to someone on their first/early visits). I believe it would be best to either put, “Dallas Makerspace” and/or a simple copy of our logo (the same logo that they see when they enter the front door).
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Other than including a large “Ask Me!” type statement, along with either the words “Dallas Makerspace” and/or the logo… I would suggest keeping the rest of the design very simple… as in - probably not much else, other than perhaps a “Welcome” (which could be something like, “Welcome to Dallas Makerspace!”). The point being to emphasis that: We are members of Dallas Makerspace; and, We would like to help You!
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Consider putting a sign in the lobby that says something along the line of "If you have questions, look for volunteers wearing “Ask Me!” (along with photos of some of the more commonly used options that the volunteers decide to wear)
I’m going to pull the rest of the related responses out of the original thread, and put them into this one - to keep the “Ask Me!” topic from cluttering up the rest of the primary “New Member Integration” thread.
Thanks to everyone who is working toward making something like this finally happen!!!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lisa Selk
Date: Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 7:52 PM
Subject: Name Tags
To: PR
I’d like to suggest name tags be available to be voluntarily worn… [NONE on chain, etc… that could get caught in any machinery/tools]
Perhaps semi-permanent ones for the Board of Directors, Lifetime Members, and general Members interested in having a semi-permanent name tag. We could even have some “Ask Me!” tags created to have on hand for members to wear to allow visitors and new members an easy way to locate someone for help. By semi-permanent, I mean perhaps heavier stock paper, plastic or even regular paper with a clear plastic cover.
Perhaps self adhesive stickers for temporary ones to be worn by visitors and “Ask Me!” tags that allow a space for a handwritten name…
Attached are some examples.
Thanks!
NOTE: I am attaching some of the ‘samples’ that I had created at the time I sent the e-mail above; however, some of the ones I’m uploading are being swapped out for others - since members of the Board have mostly all changed since then - except Robert. 
Again… These were just examples to get the concept across.
The colors were selected at the time for the following reasons:
“ASK ME!” = Blue - because we used to have a photo in the kiosk that said, “QUESTIONS? FIND MEMBERS WITH BLUE FRAME NAMETAGS!” (that I have been told was taped up for an event one time… )
[center]
“VISITOR” = Green - because green is often used to signify newness.
“MEMBER” = Purple - because that was the color that we used on our logo a lot of the time back then.
“BOARD OF DIRECTORS” = Red - because we had started using red on our logo around this that time (give or take a few months… I’ve blinked since then… )
All that being said, I don’t think the colors matter all that much at this point. It was just my attempt at being creative at the time… hehe…
At this time, like I mentioned above - it would be nice to have sticky tags for both visitors and new members; and, something that says, “Ask Me!” (or some simple variation) for volunteers, in our efforts to better integrate our new members.
Some of the Examples I had created back when I first mentioned doing something like this…
