Letter vs e-mail vs phone

[rachelholladay]

Every year we visit our sponsors to meet with them, thank them and give a commemorative plaque. We find that the sponsors really enjoy a visit and often a robot demonstration. Sometimes as we walk through their building we see how they have displayed our previous plaques. So I would second the idea that personal contact is best. Unfortunately, for one of our sponsors (SAIC) we couldn't meet with them in person. We wrote several letters that summarized our grateful sentiments and mail those with our plaque.
Year around, as we communicate with our sponsors about our progress and inviting them to places like our regional, we do so through email. In fact, three times a year we email out a newsletter. We find that email is good for quick communication but when it comes to important meetings, we prefer to visit or send a letter.