UTMB Voice On Hold System
Overview and Submission Guidelines

 

Overview

The Voice On Hold System is a telephone-based communication tool available to UTMB entities to promote and increase awareness of the university's business-related activities, opportunities or events. The system offers recorded voice messages (intermixed with music) to internal and external callers while they are “on hold” on the campus telephone system. Due to hardware and system configuration issues, the system presently serves only UTMB’s main campus and Galveston-based facilities.

 

Originally piloted in 2006, the service is a collaborative effort supported by Information Services-Voice Operations, UTMB’s Business Development and Marketing, and Public Affairs.
 

Audience

The audience for the messages posted to “Voice on Hold” is broad: it includes people internal and external to UTMB. Listeners will be faculty, staff, students, patients, visitors, business partners, contractors, family members, prospective students, future patients, potential recruits, and many others who interact with the university.

 

Communicators using this resource should take the needs and interests of this broad audience into consideration when considering a message.

 

System Operation
The UTMB Voice On Hold system is operated and maintained by Information Services-Voice Operations, UTMB’s Business Development and Marketing, and Public Affairs.

 

* Messages may be submitted for consideration at any time (see below).

 

* The messages are converted to scripts, professionally recorded and digitized for playback.

 

* Recordings sessions are held once a month (usually in the last week of a month).

 

* Messages are updated on a bi-weekly basis.

 

* Between 6 and 10 messages can be rotated in the system at any given time. The brief messages are       separated by several seconds of music.

Guidelines for Messages

 

* Messages should be brief, ideally no longer than 12 to 15 seconds, or about two complete sentences.

 

* Messages should have a broad scope/be of interest to a wide cross-section of the audience (messages intended for an internal audience, as an example, are not appropriate).

 

* Messages should have a long shelf life or be submitted well in advance of a scheduled date or deadline (for example, promotion of an upcoming event should be submitted early the month before the event).

 

* Every message should contain a web address or contact number that the listener can follow up with for more information.

 

* Messages may be edited or modified for clarity and length.

 

* Not all submitted messages can be used; a follow-up with explanation will be delivered when a message is not picked up for broadcast.

 

How to Send in a Submission

Messages may be submitted as text via email.
 

 

Email your proposed message with the subject line “Voice On Hold” to:
Erin Swearingen.

 

Submission Deadline

Messages should be submitted by the 15th day of the month prior to the month the message should begin to play (e.g., by June 15 for message to run in July).

 

What’s Playing Now?

If you or a caller miss part of a message and wish to hear it, messages are available online as text and audio files. See and hear messages...

 

For More Information
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Erin Swearingen in the UTMB Public Affairs at (409) 772-2618 or via email.

Message Scripts

June 2008

UTMB is bringing medical services to Bay Area residents. With 14 clinic locations to serve you, chances are we have a clinic right around the corner. For a list of our Bay Area locations, visit www.utmbhealthcare.org.      LISTEN

It's easy to make an appointment at UTMB. To schedule your appointment, call our Access Center at 409-772-2222 or 1-800-917-8906. Or, you can do it online at: www.utmbhealthcare.org                                                  LISTEN

Congratulations to the 2008 graduates of UTMB’s four schools. In its 100-plus years of service, UTMB has trained and granted degrees to more than 28,000 health professionals.                                                                      LISTEN

UTMB's Medical Discovery News airs locally on KUHF, 88.7FM every Saturday morning at 10. These two-minute programs provide insights into a broad range of timely biomedical science topics such as steroid abuse; Botox; Diabetes, Alzheimer’s and many more. Tune into 88.7 FM Saturday morning, at 10.                                         LISTEN

The Primary Care Pavilion on Harborside Drive provides free parking and easy drive up access to many UTMB primary care and specialty services. including Renal, Gastroenterology, Hematology/Oncology, Chemotherapy and Cardiology services.                                                                                                                                         LISTEN                       

UTMB takes tremendous pride in its strong legacy of service to Texas, the nation and the world. Born of a pioneering spirit that said no challenge was too great, that spirit flourishes today among the world-class educators, researchers and clinicians.                                                                                                                 LISTEN

The UTMB Texas Transplant Center is part of the Southwest Transplant Alliance and the Life Gift Network. Our world-class surgeons and medical specialists work together with these groups to ensure that our transplant patients receive the most advanced treatments possible. For more information visit www.utmbhealthcare.org. LISTEN