Pre-Conference Sessions
Day-long Forum for Enrollment Management Professionals
Wednesday, July 10, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
The cost of the day-long forum is $100.
Forum: Meeting and Exceeding Your Enrollment Goals
Recruiting your class and reaching your enrollment goals is more complex and challenging than ever. Practices and approaches to recruitment that were successful just a few years ago no longer have the same impact today. What does it take to manage your way forward? It takes the vision, persistence, and understanding of what students and parents want and need to hear from you along with the ability to deliver your message wherever and whenever families are ready to engage with you. In this full-day workshop you'll hear from peers who are thriving in this competitive marketplace. The presenters will share the latest proven Search strategies for creating and growing interest in your school, connecting with students and parents, establishing new markets, increasing applications and campus visits, and growing net tuition revenue. From practical advice on topics such as timing, medium and message to philosophical discussions on meta topics such as modeling, discounting and application platforms, this workshop hits all key aspects of successful recruitment. Whether you are a new enrollment leader or a seasoned professional, you'll gain insights needed to help lead your campus to even greater success.
You will learn effective strategies for targeting, timing, creative and analysis. Generating interest is the first step but keeping families engaged is a year-round job.
Rhonda Russell, Director of Admissions, Montana State University
How to Decide which Application Strategy Is Right for You: Using Your Application as a Strategy
You will learn how to determine which kind of application strategy is right for your institution. We'll review what you should consider from the vantage points of marketing, data collection, processing, and awarding.
Paul Marthers, Vice President for Enrollment, Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
What Students and Parents Prefer: Tips for Building and Growing Relationships with Prospective Students
We will look at the latest survey research on how and when students and parents prefer to hear from colleges so you can create the ultimate engagement plan.
Pamela Kiecker Royall, Head of Research, Royall & Company
Managing Expectations: What Matters Most in Predicting Enrollment Outcomes
This portion of the forum examines how our ability to predict student behavior is changing. Topics include which data we should be paying attention to and how to manage expectations on campus.
Scott Verzyl, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, Executive Director of Admissions, University of South Carolina
Wednesday Morning Sessions, July 10, 10 a.m.–12:00 noon
The cost for each pre-conference session is $50.
TeensTALK Live! Panel Discussion
July 10 is the last day of the Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference, also being held at the Marriott. Teenstalk Live! is being offered jointly by both conferences. In this session, Stamats will take you on a fascinating journey into the minds, moods, and mental meanderings of college-bound, Chicago-area high school students. Through a lively dialogue with a panel of talkative teens that ANY college or university would welcome with open arms, you'll learn what works (and what doesn't) in terms of brand and recruitment messaging. Discover the real story behind communication channels that do (and don't) work for connecting with teens, and begin to understand the impact of peers' perceptions on a student's college selection. We will unravel the mystery of how teens narrow 3,000+ college options down to a short list of schools to consider. We'll probe the makings of great (and terrible) campus visits, discuss the relative influence of multiple factors on the final college decision, and collect candid feedback about the state of contemporary recruitment marketing from a student's-eye view.
Eric Sickler, Vice President, Stamats
Advertising Online: Wise Ways to Spend $10,000 for Student Recruitment Success
How can you best create an online advertising budget for maximum impact on inquiry generation from potential undergraduate and graduate students? To help answer that question, we'll review (1) the mechanics of target selection for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Adwords to outline the relative merits of each, (2) examine banner advertising, retargeting, and "co-op" advertising techniques, and (3) review the critical landing page components that can boost or sink your advertising efforts. The workshop includes examples from higher education and also reviews successful techniques and future trends outside higher education as marketers search for a path to success. Return home better prepared to work with your agency or your in-house team to craft online advertising to boost inquiries that are most likely to help you meet your marketing goals.
Bob Johnson, President, Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
Coaching Your Team: Managing Different Personalities to Achieve Unified Success
One of the greatest needs of today's organizations is to channel their various functional departments work toward one goal. In order to achieve success, managers must be skilled at motivating staff from various departments to work as a unified team. But how does this work when each team member brings their own strengths, weaknesses, work styles and personalities? Using a “coaching-the-coach” perspective, this session will use sports theories and practices to share how a large team in one of the largest universities in California developed a department-wide mission statement and a set of core values and then used these and other tools to advance their goals over a two year period that included challenges such as budget reductions and changes in leadership. Attendees will learn how to coach and motivate different personality types to deliver their best work and contribute to the team's overall success.
E. Dwayne Cantrell, Director, Student Outreach and Recruitment Services, California State University, Northridge
Developing a Strategic International Recruitment and Retention Plan: The Seven Phases of a Successful Plan
Most colleges and universities in the United States consider international students as an important and necessary cohort for future enrollment. During this session the presenter will outline the seven necessary phases and elements of creating an effective and sustainable international recruitment and retention plan. The presenter will outline the 50 questions every school should ask and answer before developing a program, the 10 essential elements of a successful plan, the necessary expenses and the 14 pitfalls to avoid. The session will also outline the necessary pre-enrollment, post-acceptance, post enrollment and post-graduation strategies of a successful strategic international plan and offer suggestions for international fundraising and creating international alumni clubs.
Marguerite Dennis, President, MJDennis Consulting
How to Leverage the Power of Customer Service to Grow and Control Enrollment
Delivering unexpected, unprecedented, and unparalleled customer service to students before and after they enroll. That's how a growing number of colleges are differentiating themselves in an increasingly competitive marketplace. They know that it's not what you “have” that makes your institution stand out. It's how you make students and parents “feel” that sets you apart. In this session, you'll see shining examples of how colleges across the country are translating great customer services strategies into everyday actions that make prospective and current students feel great. You'll learn how your peers have found ways to engage everyone on campus (yes, everyone) toward putting their focus on the student experience. After this session, you'll go back to your campus with ready-to-use ideas.
Russ Kreager, Director of Admission, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
Bob Longmire, President, Longmire and Company, Inc.
Student Success and the Community College
How can a community college connect external drivers (state, community), internal drivers (students, faculty, staff) with accreditation, vision and mission, assessment, and the student success concept? This interactive session helps you refocus your campus on students and create a road map that addresses these and other community college issues. Begin the process by a review of community college history and focus. See the bigger picture through national initiatives and legislative action, and the call for more accountability and effectiveness. Look at challenges and solutions that change brings, and be able to take back to your campus data, information, ideas and suggestions to help you create a campus focused on student success.
Kevin Pollock, President, St. Clair County Community College
Taking Recruiting Mobile at Western Michigan University
Using in-house resources, WMU assembled: 1) a responsive mobile designed Admissions website, 2) iPads with a Mobile Counselor web application, and 3) recruiting tools on the Android and Apple WMU Mobile app, to achieve the trifecta of mobile recruiting. This presentation will share how WMU uses a responsive mobile Admissions website for recruiting; how Admissions counselors use iPads for presentations and a homegrown web application to save student and counselor data, update event visit schedules, and more. We will share how WMU's Enrollment Management unit partnered with the Computer Science department and students to build the University's first Android and Apple mobile apps. Finally, we will demonstrate how the app is used for recruiting students.
Scott Puckett, Web Developer, Western Michigan University
Michael Sisk, Web Analyst, Western Michigan University
Scott Hennessy, Associate Director Outreach, Western Michigan University
AIM (ACT Information Manager®) User Meeting: Tips, Training, and Best Practices
This workshop provides an opportunity for all AIM users—from the new to the very experienced—to share ideas and learn new strategies for making AIM an essential campus resource for recruitment and retention. The presenter will share insights and strategies that have helped campuses become successful AIM users. Selected topics include: (1) recruitment and marketing uses of AIM data, (2) using AIM data for advising and academic support, and (3) using AIM data for student engagement. Methods for using AIM among multiple users will also be presented. Participants will have an opportunity to share their own tips and best practices. This session is also appropriate for institutions not using AIM but who want to make better use of ACT student-level data.
Victoria Thompson-Campbell, Client Relations, ACT
Wednesday Afternoon Sessions, July 10, 1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
The cost for each pre-conference session is $50.
Strategies for Recruiting Veteran Populations and Being a Veteran Friendly Institution
As more of our armed service members return home from overseas deployment, or end their term of service, many of them will begin their search for 2 and 4 year degree opportunities using their G.I. Bill benefits as a part of the new Chapter 33 package. Combining the best approaches from two institutions, this session focuses on successful strategies to recruit veterans and make your campus a veteran friendly institution. The University of New Haven, recognized as a military-friendly institution by G. I. Jobs magazine, will share multiple new initiatives they developed to increase support of veteran students and strengthen internal and external partnerships across the UNH community. The results include expanded recognition programs for veteran students, increased student mentorship through faculty connections, club activities, and a radio speaker series, as well as enhanced academic support through the creation of academic service learning courses. Capitol College will focus on the importance of developing new methods of application review and transfer credit evaluation for veterans. In addition, they will examine how and where this new wave of non-traditional applicants are entering the pool and how colleges can better market to and recruit veterans.
Christie Boronico, Associate Vice President for Retention, University of New Haven
Jim McCoy, Vice President for Enrollment Management, University of New Haven
Joe Frederick, Coordinator of Veteran Services, University of New Haven
George Walls, Director of Admissions, Capitol College
How Do They Do It? Balancing Work and Life
This session is about you! How do you get your job done while still having a life? We have so many responsibilities, but so little time. During this session you will complete some activities, learn some tricks from experts and each other, and leave with ideas for how to prioritize, strategize and find balance in life.
Carrie Carroll, Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Students, Luther Seminary
Innovative Strategies for Solving the China Conundrum
The New York Times recently put a name on what so many American universities had been experiencing and attempting to understand- "The China Conundrum." In the middle of a major U.S. recession, and in an effort to continue to stabilize revenue, raise quality and diversify student populations, high-scoring, full paying Chinese students have become an attractive enrollment solution for many universities. However, attracting larger numbers of Chinese students to campus or to cross-border programs creates challenges in classroom dialogue, housing and student services, as well as in the initial admission/selection process. In this session, two institutions will present very different but equally successful approaches to expanding their brand, increasing revenue, and achieving success in the Chinese market. Georgia Tech, which has seen its Chinese applicant population grow from 32 to over 1,000 in five years, uses a Beijing-based third party to interview Chinese students to differentiate quality and to emulate a classroom setting to see how students will function. In addition, the presenters will share reasons why information beyond standardized tests is critical for finding best fit for the selection of Chinese students. Using a very different approach, Fort Hays State University is partnering with international universities to recruit students for cross-border, dual bachelor's degrees in their home country so the students don't have to leave home to get an American degree. Working with partner institutions in the People's Republic of China, Fort Hays State today has over 3,600 students enrolled in China. Throughout the workshop, the presenters will cover the landscape of secondary education in China, the benefits of assessing non-cognitive skills and how to engage and synergize your campus to effectively solve the China Conundrum.
Rick Clark, Director of Undergraduate Admission, Georgia Institute of Technology
Cynthia Elliott, Assistant Provost & Dean, Fort Hays State University
Terry Crawford, CEO/Founder, Initial View
Using Google Analytics as a Science to Impact Enrollment
The days of sending out a viewbook and hoping students show up is long over. Educational marketing has evolved to art and science. Online user experience impacts whether a student inquiries, visits, or applies. Join us for a session in which we walk through real case studies of schools that are using Google Analytics to better inform their recruitment funnels and marketing strategies. From these examples we will leave you with strategies that allow you to (1) ask the right questions, (2) set up the right dashboards, and (3) explore with your enrollment team the actions that can be taken today in order to impact next semester's class.
Ann C. Oleson, Founder, CEO Converge Consulting
Tying it All Together: Community Relations, College Transition, and Completion
Compared to four-year institutions, the success and impact of community colleges requires collaboration and partnerships with local businesses, neighboring colleges, and local school districts. In this session, presenters from two year institutions in very different environments will discuss how they create community partnerships to promote student access and success. Presenters from Eastern Iowa Community Colleges will discuss how small and large scale collaborative enrollment events, such as “The Next Big Thing: A Successful Transitions Event for High School Juniors and Seniors,” aid in the recruitment and retention of prospective students and help students understand the significance of college completion. Presenters from Wake Tech in North Carolina will focus on the efforts of the Admissions and Outreach Department at Wake Tech to develop relationships with a diverse group of community partners. These relationship building efforts have focused on enhancing existing partnerships (Wake County Public School System, Wake County Human Services, Capital Area Workforce Development Board) and developing new partnerships (Raleigh Parks and Recreation, Raleigh College Center, Wake County Public Libraries). These efforts include a wide range of on-campus events, servings on advisory boards, and conducting Guiding Prospective Student sessions at community centers and public libraries.
Brian Johnson, Coordinator of Recruitment and Outreach, Wake Tech Community College
LaDrina Wilson, Assistant Director of Enrollment and Customer Service, Eastern Iowa Community Colleges
Heather Mohler, Admissions Officer, Clinton Community College
Erin Snyder, Associate Director of Enrollment Management, Eastern Iowa Community Colleges
How We Removed 1,500 Pages from Our Website... and Lived to Tell About It
It's not a mystery that higher ed web professionals swim in the deep end of content management. With incredibly diverse user needs, an ever-increasing set of user devices, and multiplying pages of Web content, our site was struggling to tread water. Something had to be done while there was still a chance. From political battles to limited budgets, we fought the fight and learned many lessons along the way. We are still learning and improving, but we see the path forward. This session will help you better understand the role of content, focusing your goals, and finding a path back to a better Web experience for your users and you.
Chase Replogle, Web Designer, Evangel University
EIS (Enrollment Information Service) User Meeting: Tips, Training, and Best Practices
This workshop provides an opportunity for all EIS users—from the new to the very experienced—to share ideas and learn new strategies for making EIS an essential campus resource for marketing and recruiting. The presenter will share insights and strategies that have helped campuses become successful EIS users. Selected topics will include: (1) using EIS data to assist upper-level administration with strategic decision making, (2) using EIS data to identify new markets where students have a high probability of enrollment, (3) applying EIS data to manage existing markets, and (4) using EIS to identify your competition. All participants will have an opportunity to share their own tips and best practices. This session is also appropriate for institutions not using EIS but who want to make better use of ACT data.
Joe Cruse, Director, Client Relations, ACT
