Opening General Session- Open: Education, Innovation, and Design
Columbia 5-8

• Christofer Nelson

Increasing Retention and Student Success: Building an Intrusive Student Service Department
Columbia 1-2

Retention continues to be a struggle for most institutions. Retaining adult students is just as difficult as retaining any other students on campus. Whether you are retaining traditional or non-traditional students, the focus and strategy remain the same. An in-depth systematic for building an intrusive student service unit that helps institutions improving student success and retention will be discussed during the presentation.

• Long Huynh, Kansas State University

Moderator:

• Dave Jarrat, InsideTrack

The New Digital Landscape
Columbia 3-4

Digital media is relentlessly evolving. Digital publishers roll out changes every week to meet the needs of their users. Having a sophisticated baseline with proactive enhancements and testing is paramount to achieve optimal results. In this session, we will outline the 5 most impactful adjustments you should be incorporating into your overall digital marketing strategy.

• Jeremy Schoen, Keypath Education
  

Moderator:

• Josh McCarthy, Johnson & Wales University

From Antiquated to Automated: How to Break Up with Excel and Still Get Engaged
Columbia 9-10

Becoming a leading major-university provider of high-quality online degrees requires a robust, efficient prospect communication plan – not manual processes. Learn how IU Online turned a fragmented prospect workflow into an automated communication stream that generates focused and branded content for six unique campuses and over 100 programs. Using open rates, click rates, and other metrics, learn how we are assessing our efforts as we work to track our funnel and build out Phase II.

• Kayla Miller, Indiana University
• Mitchell Farmer, Indiana University

Moderator:

• Donna Jennings, University of Virginia

When Inquiries Are Up but Web Visits Are Down: Discovering Different Ways to Report Good News
Columbia 11-12

Beginning in 2016, the School of Professional & Continuing Studies (SPCS) at the University of Richmond experienced monthly website visits flatten or decline compared to prior years. At the same time, SPCS saw monthly inquiries for its degree programs increase, most from web-based inquiry forms. This presentation will discuss the marketing team’s approach to explaining the apparent contradiction: Considering ways extensive multi-channel marketing efforts may be focusing the destination of organic and referral traffic.

• Daniel Hocutt, University of Richmond
• James Campbell, University of Richmond
• Phil Melita, University of Richmond
• Vivian Marcoccio, University of Richmond

Moderator:

• Tomea Knight, University of Pennsylvania

Vendor Relations 101 CANCELLED
Gunston

Effective vendor management is an essential piece of any marketing program. This session will provide an overview of best practices and tactics related to the selection, contracting, and management of external vendors. Topics include how to wade through “sales speak” and the aggressive rep during the selection process; specking out an accurate and complete SOW during the contracting process; and, managing and evaluating the vendor day-to-day, including when and how to let a vendor go.

• Stacey Childress, California State University, Bakersfield

Moderator:

• Steve Shotts, Educational Testing Consultants

Marketing/Enrollment Working Together
Columbia 1-2

• It's Not Me, It's You: Bad Work Relationships & How To Fix Them
  
  Enrollment hates when marketing campaigns generate a bunch of unqualified inquiries (and lots of unnecessary work). Marketing’s ready to pull their hair out when programs with strong inquiry numbers are cancelled for low enrollment (“It just wasn’t marketed enough.”) Most bad working relationships stem from poor communication. At Georgetown CCPE, communications expert Tanya Ilse helps both teams build better working relationships. With humor and horror stories, Tanya shares practical solutions you can use right away.
  
  
  • Tanya Ilse, Georgetown University

• Marketing and Recruiting: Are You Working Together?

  When enrollments are down, marketing is always blamed. But marketing is only half of the equation. In this presentation we’ll explore how marketing and recruiting can and SHOULD work hand-in-hand. We will look at what every recruiting plan needs to include to be successful. We will also examine ways in which marketing should be working with recruiting to create a virtuous circle that improves both the quality and volume of leads for programs.
  

  • Anna Behar-Russell, California State University, Long Beach
    
  • Nicole Foerschler Horn, JMH Consulting, Inc.

Moderator:

• Jeremy Davis, Michigan State University

Marketing Automation
Columbia 3-4

• Extending Your Marketing Reach With Marketing Automation
  
  Marketing automation tools customize messaging to match your prospective student, based on actual behavior. This session explores marketing automation possibilities and the value of mass-customizing your marketing. We’ll discuss creating a more realistic marketing funnel, automating communication, designing nurturing campaigns, developing lead scoring, and customizing messaging. Gain an understanding of marketing automation best practices and lessons learned, based on recent integrations of two of the most popular platforms – Marketo and Pardot.
  
  
• Coreen Geary, Western Michigan University
• Johnna, Weary, JMH Consulting
  
  
  
• Emory Executive Education’s Marketing Automation Journey
  
  What does it take to get your unit to marketing automation fluency? Learn from one marketing manager about Emory Executive Education’s journey from desire to efficacy in running marketing automation (MA) campaigns – from creating an internal business case for MA to selecting the right technology to driving implementation, optimization, and results.
  
  
• Lee Maxey, MindMax
• Maleah O'Neal, Emory University
  

Moderator:

• Regina Cohen, University of Pennsylvania

Deep Dives

• A Deep Dive into Enrollment Management  
  Columbia 9-10
  

  Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) is vital to the growth and development of an institution. Whether you work with an entirely undergraduate population or with adult learners; the strategies are very similar. A strong strategic enrollment plan includes the use of data, trends and market analysis to illustrate how to achieve institutional enrollment priorities.  In this workshop you will learn the right questions to ask to inform your strategic plan, the infrastructure and support needed to achieve goals and ways to present this to senior leadership; attendees will be able to learn from an industry professional that has worked within Enrollment Management for almost 30 years. 
  

  • MJ Knoll-Finn, New York University

  Moderator:

• Mike Merriam, Framingham State University
  
  
  

• A Deep Dive into Collaborative Team Leadership
  Columbia 11-12
  
  

  Discover how using the skills used in improvisational comedy and its basic tenet of “Yes…and” can apply to your everyday work and life. Through helping people discover their senses of purpose and value, role and contributions, and creativity you can build stronger relationships and help your team collaborate and problem solve by entering accepting environments to move things forward. By leading with a constructive mindset and understanding the improv approach to work and team building, you can achieve both tangible and unanticipated goals for you and your organization. This interactive workshop will also teach you some of the exercises for staff and team development and force your innate ability to think about your work and interactions differently to light.
  

• John Chenier, Framingham State University

Moderator:

• Amy Heitzman, UPCEA

New Research: What Today's Students' Need to Enroll, Engage, Graduate and Succeed
Columbia 1-2

Recent research conducted by Blackboard and UPCEA shows that learners of all ages have varying expectations as they pertain to the overall student experience and journey. Join Jason Smith, Executive Director of Enrollment Management, School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University, and Christina Fleming, Vice President, Marketing and Enrollment at Blackboard, as they share insights from this research and how this manifests within Georgetown's School of Continuing Studies. The study included reaching out to thousands of current and prospective students of all ages and demographics about their education preferences, expectations, and obstacles. Learn how Georgetown School of Continuing Studies is responding to their unique student body through the use of personalized enrollment coaching, communications, and outreach and hear how student groups across the generations from Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen Y differ, and often times line up, when it comes to their education experience.

• Jason Smith, Georgetown University
  
• Christina Fleming, Blackboard

Lessons from an Ad Launch
Columbia 3-4

When launching a new advertising campaign or a branding initiative, how do we ensure effective content is delivered to prospective students? With qualitative and quantitative data! Learn how the University of Denver’s University College used focus groups, surveys, and research to craft a new campaign to improve enrollment. From the initial idea to campaign assessment, hear about the entire process as Victoria shares the lessons learned along the way.

• Victoria O'Malley, University of Denver

Moderator:

• Jeremy Davis, Michigan State University

Marketing with Faculty in Mind
Gunston

In professional and graduate marketing, our most precious resource, and often the most difficult to work with is the faculty. They carry in their decades of instruction and research, information that is vital to our mission of attracting an ever growing, higher quality, and more diverse student body. But what happens when what the right or the left side of their brain insists the program teaches doesn't match the required outcomes needed in the market?

• Brandon Boulter, Johns Hopkins University

Moderator:

• Carol Fleming, James Madison University

'More Leads' Isn't Always the Answer
Columbia 9-10

Working with programs, marketers often hear ‘we need some marketing’, or ‘we need more or better leads’. However, it’s not always the top of the funnel that needs attention. In this session, attendees will discover how one institution is working with programs to help them shift from a top of the funnel focus to a more holistic view of the entire marketing and recruitment ecosystem.

• Laura Wiese, University of Nebraska Online
• Jill Bertsch, University of Nebraska Online

Moderator:

• Regina Cohen, University of Pennsylvania

24 Ways to Create a World Class Enrollment Process
Columbia 11-12

As leaders, we aspire to have our Schools recognized as world class. Tiny changes in the Enrollment Management process - all student touch points from interest to lead to prospect to student to grad - can propel your school forward toward that goal. In this talk, Enrollment Resources will explore how you can make your Enrollment Management process world class through up to 24 thought starters on marketing, admissions retention and grad services.

• Gregg Meiklejohn, Enrollment Resources
• Andrew Dixon, Colorado State University-Global Campus
• Aaron Edwards, Keypath Education

Moderator:

• Irma Skaggs, Southern Methodist University

Noon - 1:45 PM

Marketing to 100 or 100,000
Columbia 1-2

Professional, continuing, and online units no longer market to just their community. The expansion of the potential student base has extended from just a few miles to anywhere in the world. Come learn marketing techniques to grow your targets around the city, state, country, and globe and the technologies that keep you streamlined and organized.

• Ali Abbassi, University of California, Los Angeles
• Meni Sarris, Jenzabar

Moderator:

• Tomea Knight, University of Pennsylvania

Leveraging Ad Technology: How to Drive Enrollment in the Digital Era
Columbia 3-4

The shift to digital has happened. Now, higher education institutions – and their marketing departments – must innovate to remain competitive. The University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies has capitalized on digital's ability to track, measure and target its students, shifting over 80% of our budget from print/traditional to digital advertising. By describing three use cases, I'll discuss how The School has leveraged digital ad technology to drive direct revenue for the School.

• Nicholas Hinsperger, University of Toronto

Moderator:

• Victoria O'Malley, University of Denver

Strategic Enrollment Campaign Management
Columbia 9-10

By implementing Campaign Management to Strategic Enrollment Management, UMUC has shown positive growth, term over term, year over year. This summer was UMUC’s best summer ever, with an 8.7% growth over the prior summer’s returns. Strategic Enrollment Campaign Management employs the best practices of direct marketing: planning, executing, tracking and analysis with a direct focus on what is best for students' success and still increasing enrollment numbers and stabilizing institutional revenues.

• James Rossi, University Of Maryland University College
• Becky Crosetto, University Of Maryland University College

Moderator:

• Jason Smith, Georgetown University

Innovative,  Unconventional, and Successful Alternatives to Just Another “Open House” Event
Columbia 11-12

It's no secret that new student recruitment continues to become more challenging. Breaking away from the traditional "Open House" model, Regis University will share how effective and somewhat unconventional recruitment events for specific adult and graduate audiences have resulted in much success and become part of their strategic plan. Shared examples will include both on and off campus events for various academic disciplines and the keys to making these events successful with a positive ROI.

• Cate Clark, Regis University

Moderator:

• Josh McCarthy, Johnson & Wales University

• Allison Chaney

Get to know other attendees and show your school spirit by wearing something from your current institution (or your alma mater)! If you prefer, feel free to represent your college or university by wearing school colors. Thursday is a casual day.

8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

General Session - The Coming of Age of Generation Z
Columbia 5-8

• Jim Fong

Developing the Marketing Process for your Organization
Columbia 1-2

Learn how to implement best practices in managing small to large sized marketing projects. Find out what makes a good marketing process, and how to develop a good relationship with your agency or vendor. Topics will include: - Key frameworks for pre-planning and strategy development - The kick off document and/or the creative brief - Marketing execution & project management - Project launch - Wrap up, analysis and recommendations

• Farzana Crocco, York University

Moderator:

• Mike Merriam, Framingham State University

End the Madness of Complexity: Create an Actionable Strategic Enrollment Management Marketing Plan
Columbia 3-4

Countless strategic enrollment and marketing plans are born from a daunting and laborious process that, all too often, results in a document that sits on a shelf. This presentation will provide tangible approaches to developing a strategic plan with immediate takeaways that everyone attending can put into action immediately. Session will be a combination of presentation, shared dialog, individual exercises, and Q+A.

• Kim Frisch, Regis University
• Jeff Johnson, Primacy

Moderator:

• Jason Smith, Georgetown University

Improve Your Advertising ROI Through Measurement & Optimization of Media
Columbia 9-10

Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies along with Media & Creative Agency, DMI, will present a framework, developed over the past five years, for tracking, measuring ROI, and optimizing advertising to grow prospective student pools. We will cover the importance of including both upper and lower funnel tactics, and the relative differences in performance metrics for each.

• Stacey Corcoran, Georgetown University
• Yoohie Kim, DMI

Moderator:

• Josh McCarthy, Johsnon & Wales University

Take Your Videos from Good to Great
Columbia 11-12

Video is a powerful medium for emotionally connecting with your audience. As a higher education marketer, it offers an opportunity to tell prospective students compelling stories that inspire them to take action and work toward their career and life goals. We will demystify the process of producing videos, dive into best practices, offer production checklists and interview tips for working with non-professional speakers, and share inspirational examples demonstrating the effectiveness of quality videos.

• Dan Miles, Oregon State University
• Heather Doherty, Oregon State University

Moderator:

• Cindy Dolan, University of Delaware

One School’s Journey to Expanding International Reach
Columbia 1-2

The internationalization of York's School of Continuing Education is profiled from the initial use of agents for all international students to the evolving of the department after bringing in StudyPortals, an online study choice platform. The larger volume of traffic necessitated York to make department-wide adjustments that will lead to being better prepared to move forward with other internationalization initiatives. York and StudyPortals journey will resonate with other units looking to expand the international reach.

• Christine Brooks-Cappadocia, York University
• Andrew Johnston, Study Portals

Moderator:

• Tyron Harris, University of Chicago

Developing a Winning Video Strategy
Columbia 3-4

By 2019, video is projected to account for 80% of all web traffic. To meet this trend, marketers must efficiently develop content that not only helps conversions but also improves user experience throughout the student lifecycle. But doing this with a high level of quality at scale can be difficult. In this presentation we’ll review a basic strategy framework that can be applied to the creative process and share production and publishing best practices.

• Bill Bailey, Georgetown University

Moderator:

• Josh McCarthy, Johnson & Wales University

A Branding Success Story: Working Effectively With Your Central Marketing & Communication Team
Columbia 9-10

Over the course of this session, branding and marketing leadership from The New School will share insights from the collaborative process that led to the relaunch of their continuing education brand and the birth of their new continuing, professional and online education unit, Open Campus. After presenting a short case study, representatives from the initiative will guide participants through the process, modeling proven techniques and providing tips to kick-start their own strategic branding initiatives.

• Morgan Ersery, The New School
• Sephora Markson-Hartz, The New School

Moderator:

• Jeremy Davis, Michigan State University

Strategies to Dramatically Improve Online Education Marketing
Columbia 11-12

Online academic programs are the fastest-growing offerings in higher education, yet many marketing teams struggle to reach and engage prospects to meet enrollment projections. This session will share strategic marketing best practices to solve the problems of decentralized vs. centralized marketing, renaming/rebranding within challenging constraints, provide solutions to creating value propositions that differentiate programs yet build the brand, and provide cost-effective marketing solutions that meet tight budget constraints to reach and engage student prospects.

• Kay Zimmerman, North Carolina State University

Moderator:

• Tomea Knight, University of Pennsylvania
  

Bites and Byes
Exhibit Hall (Columbia Foyer)
Grab a snack for the road and say goodbye to all of your new #MEMSinDC friends!