The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is one of the largest student-governed organizations based in the United States. NSBE, founded in 1975, supports and promotes the aspirations of collegiate and pre-collegiate students and technical professionals in engineering and technology.
With more than 600 chapters and more than 24,000 active members in the U.S. and abroad, NSBE’s mission is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.
List, List
Through the understanding NSBE gained from this research project, they can construct a map of the distinct journey prospective members and partners take to align with their organization.
And because they have a deeper understanding of their members, they can create conversations, both offline and online, from a position of empathy and strength, speaking to them with relevant content and in ways that inspire them to:
BizStream was great at listening and interpreting what we needed and how we worked as an organization to create custom solutions. They didn’t put us into a cookie-cutter option.
One of the largest student-governed organizations in the world, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), has empowered students and leaders in engineering and STEM fields with access to academics, peer support, and innovation since 1975.
As they approach their 50-year anniversary, NSBE has put in place a strategic plan for its ongoing evolution. A significant part of that strategy involves transforming their online presence to better serve their members and extended communities.
NSBE’s executive team recognized that to reach their strategic goals and get meaningful value from the changes they would make, they needed to start with a deeper understanding of the people at the heart of their service.
They turned to BizStream for a research project that would bring their membership a clear voice in the evolution of the society and guide future marketing and website changes.
BizStream designed an interview-centered research project to reach all of NSBE’s major stakeholder audiences and document key aspects of their relationship with the organization.
We structured the project around a phased process that would enable us to connect with a wide sample of stakeholders across multiple segments of the organization.
Our team worked closely with NSBE’s executive team to identify six member and influencer personas, then developed detailed questions for each persona segment.
NSBE provided contact lists and sent email outreach, and our team leveraged an online scheduling tool to automate interview setup. Over the course of 6 weeks, we conducted nearly 60 recorded interviews, and documented and analyzed interview and survey responses.
With an enormous amount of information in hand, our team set to work sifting and consolidating responses, taking care to include a full range of feedback and preserving interviewee voices in both summary statements and direct quotes.
For projects such as this one—designed to integrate with and inform further efforts—delivery never means “handoff.” We took the time to present our findings to NSBE’s team, provide context, and include recommendations for making the most of this valuable information.
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