Sponsors
Seven Common Redesign Pitfalls… and How to Avoid Them (COR1)
Monday, Oct. 17 8:30 - 9:15 a.m.
When redesigning a website, the focus usually centers on a modern-day look that delivers a great user experience, and rightly so. However, while working with colleges and universities across the country, we have found that many client-defined project scopes routinely overlook important steps that are essential for great higher education websites. These misses can threaten 508 compliance, damage the institution’s hard-earned search rankings, cause Google Analytics errors & inaccuracies, and even lead to a negative user experience. If you are planning a redesign or have recently launched a new website, don’t miss this presentation! Gus will address seven of the most common redesign pitfalls so you can make sure that your website is working on all cylinders.
The Art of Texting Students (COR2)
Monday, Oct. 17 9:30 - 10:15 a.m.
Leaving voicemail is considered rude and email is for old people. 98% of students use texting as their primary form of communication. With texting, institutions are able to efficiently increase engagement throughout the student lifecycle. We have helped over 100 institutions implement texting on their campus. We are here to share what we have learned along the way. In this session, we will explore: - the legalities of texting. - how to gracefully manage opt-in, opt-outs. - recommendations for governance. - proper content/copywriting.
Pics or It Didn’t Happen: How to Get the Most from Your Photos and Videos (COR3)
Monday, Oct. 17 10:45 - 11:30 a.m.
You need images and videos for every aspect of your school’s online communications, but the process of finding, organizing and sharing your visual assets can be challenging. Join Libris by PhotoShelter’s Martin Vloet and Kristin Twiford to explore how universities and colleges across the country get more value from their photos and videos on social media, their websites and in marketing campaigns.
Don’t You Forget About Me: Building a Site That Serves Your Campus Community’s Needs (COR4)
Monday, Oct. 17 11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
A shift has been happening in college and university web experiences. Higher Education has embraced marketing, dedicating much of their site’s content to recruiting students. This adoption is revolutionizing the way we recruit students, but does little to increase and strengthen our communication with enrolled students and alumni. All too often we see just a simple network of links meant to help enrolled students find and interact with the myriad applications that help them manage their day-to- day needs on campus. For alumni, our communications often fail to engage graduates or never even reach the intended recipient. We can do better. In this session, we’ll take a deep dive into what students want and need to communicate with applications, faculty, administrators, and other students. More importantly, we will cover what information needs to be stored where, and how to access this information. From there, we’ll take a look at ways to bridge the gap between enrolled student and alumni, methods for engagement after graduation, and tools to create long-term bonds.
Numbers Game: How Dartmouth & Marquette Measure Social Success (COR5)
Monday, Oct. 17 3:00 - 3:45 p.m.
Your goals on social are varied: raise brand awareness, recruit new students, engage alumni and even increase donations. How do you define success on social and ensure that your efforts make an impact across departments, schools and organizations? In this panel discussion, Tim Cigelske (Director of Social Media, Marquette University), Erin Supinka (Social Media Manager, Dartmouth College) and Patrick Cuttica (Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Sprout Social) will talk about using analytics to inform your social strategy, secure buy-in for new initiatives and move beyond vanity metrics to measure what actually matters to your institution. Bring your questions and experiences to share for an interactive discussion.
Personalization on higher education websites – the new competitive advantage. (COR6)
Monday, Oct. 17 4:15 - 5:00 p.m.
If it’s not personalized, it’s not engaging. The idea of making the website experience for your target audience both personalized and targeted isn’t a new one. It is however one that has eluded many higher education institutions. This is often down to time, skill or technology. This presentation will outline how higher education can apply ecommerce and online retail techniques to drive website improvements. How to plan for personalization? What works and what doesn’t.
Designing for the CMS (COR7)
Tuesday, Oct. 18 8:30 - 9:15 a.m.
From the beginning of a web design project, designers (and those who approve the designs) need to consider content and the way it is managed. The design should reinforce the content strategy while also accommodating the necessary edge cases. We can ensure the design intention becomes a website reality by creating a solution that focuses on site governance, brand compliance, and the user experience of the content editor. Drawing on the recent redesign and content management system (CMS) implementation of simons-rock.edu, Michael will examine successful tactics and pitfalls. Subjects include pattern libraries, CMS functionality, dynamic content, and agile development.
It’s the end of the WYSIWYG as you know it ... and I feel fine (COR8)
Tuesday, Oct. 18 9:30 - 10:15 a.m.
The evolution of content marketing and the increased importance of developing and executing an iterative content strategy has necessitated significant changes to the way that higher education approaches content management. As a result, content management systems continue to have to accommodate this paradigm shift. In her session, Kat will discuss the evolution of content marketing in higher education and what it means for your content management system. Topics covered will include COPE (Create Once, Publish Everywhere), targeted content delivery, putting more ownership on your content contributors, and measuring and maximizing the effectiveness of content. Note that this session will be product agnostic.
Accounting for Website Security in Higher Education (COR9)
Tuesday, Oct. 18 10:45 - 11:30 a.m.
Online threats against web applications are growing at an exponential rate and is estimated to continue to grow in the coming years. Higher education finds itself in a precarious position trying to balance the need to provide services like external websites to it's various functional groups, while working to stay ahead of such threats. This is further exasperated by the adoption and deployment of open-source CMS applications like WordPress and Drupal. In this talk, we'll explore the latest tactics, techniques and procedures being employed by cyber criminals, their threats to Higher Education institutions and provide a security framework from which organizations can expand on within their own organizations.
Decentralize your creative files and collaborate your marketing efforts (COR10)
Tuesday, Oct. 18 11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Higher education institutions have heaps of valuable marketing content (think your photos, videos, audio, PDFs, creative files, website images, user generated content, presentations, and more), but are often disorganized and being used blindly by multiple departments. Join Dustin Pence and Sam Schnepf with Widen to showcase how higher education institutions are planning for and implementing DAM (digital asset management), as well as their approach to taxonomy, content management, creative workflow, metadata and more. Learn the stories of how digital asset management is helping other higher education institutions decentralize their digital assets, gain visibility into their asset usage, track what works and what doesn’t, become more transparent and collaborative across all departments, streamline workflows, and achieve a professional level of university brand consistency.
How the Rapid Evolution of Technology Changes the Way Students Interact (COR11)
Tuesday, Oct. 18 3:00 - 3:45 p.m.
Digital experiences and the way we interact through technologies are evolving faster than we can keep up with, with some even taking it as far as calling it a 4th industrial revolution. In this session, Ben will speak about how established and new technologies can work together to create unique experiences like never before and how the future for Higher Ed in the digital space will look. With a specific focus on website search, he will explain concepts like machine learning, proactive search, personalisation, insights engines - and how the advancements in technology will change the students experience forever.
Hub Projects: Influence Across Your Institution (COR12)
Tuesday, Oct. 18 4:15 - 5:00 p.m.
Your digital project is important. Perhaps it is more important than you have imagined. It might be a Hub Project, one that impacts the lines of business of multiple stakeholders. If you are at the helm of a Hub Project, you have the opportunity to chart a course toward the positive change your institution needs to navigate the years ahead. And yeah, some changes are needed. Higher education is facing down many challenging new realities. It is harder to find students who can pay for tuition that covers increasing operational costs as funding sources diminish and society questions the value of the traditional model of higher education. A Hub Project can invite stakeholders out of silos and into a collaborative change process. In this interactive presentation (yep, participation is welcomed) we will explore some of the attitudes and tools that will make your digital project a hub of influence. You will walk away knowing: How to determine if your project is a Hub Project - The Hub Project formula and its variables - How to use a SNAB Card - A silo can be busted