For restricting schedules/budgets, Academic Impressions has developed a series of web conferences: two-hour, focused presentations concerning today's latest topics, accessible from anywhere the Internet is. From your computer, you will be able to access presentation slides, chat with the instructor and other participants both publicly and privately. Receive the audio via the phone and ask questions at any point. The instructor can take you to web pages, poll the audience and instantly publish results. |
Because Academic Impressions realizes this may be new technology for many of our colleagues, we have taken several steps to ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience for everyone. And if web conferencing is second nature to you, we still think you'll be surprised by our thorough preparation and technical support. From our investment in leading web conferencing technology (Adobe Acrobat Connect), to courtesy phone calls a few days before your event takes place, we pride ourselves on taking every step necessary to make the event a success. |
July 8 & 10, 2008 :: 1:00-2:15 p.m. EDT
Advancement is about building relationships, whether you're reaching out to engage alumni or cultivating a donor. This two-part webcast will offer advancement professionals a variety of communications tools to create more meaningful conversations through targeted networking and storytelling techniques.
You will receive detailed examples of networking communications skills and exercises that you can use on a daily basis to improve your efforts. We'll also provide instruction and inspiration for helping your volunteers and staff build a stronger advancement structure.
July 28, 2008 :: 1:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
Poorly designed special events can make your institution look unprofessional and can lead to confusing messages or duplicated effort. And as you involve more of your personnel in event planning, the potential for disorganization increases.
Join us to examine Georgia Tech's online solution to this challenge and to improve your own event planning. You will learn best practices in event planning, including how to provide consistent, branded events that will ultimately help lead donors to make future gifts.
You will learn how to:
- Use pre-event questionnaires to determine event purpose and audience
- Write welcoming invitations and manage your guest lists
- Script your events down to the minute
- Effectively brief important stakeholders, including your chief executive
- Develop vendor relationships and resources
July 22 & 29, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
North America has long been a destination of choice for international students, but competition is increasing and foreign students now have more choices in their home countries and abroad. Successful international recruitment is still possible, but it requires a coordinated approach. Each tactic must be planned and executed so that it resonates with your target markets and makes the most of your limited resources.
This webcast series will provide you with an overview of tactics and best practices you can use to bolster your international recruitment efforts.
Session 1 - Armchair Recruiting
You'll learn how armchair recruiting methods - print publications, electronic and web-based communications, and existing agencies - can be used to cost-effectively reach prospective international students.
Session 2 - International Travel
You'll learn how international travel can be used to recruit international students. Topics to be discussed include the pros and cons of tour organizations and established recruiting fairs, working with third-party agents, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations, and tracking your efforts.
July 16, 2008 :: 1:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
To excel in an increasingly competitive market, you need to be innovative in how you use store space to drive sales, maximize opportunity, and compete with online bookstores. Creating a sense of space - a well branded experience - in your store will help maintain sales throughout the seasons, help your customers connect with your products, and establish your store as a integral part of the campus experience.
Join us to learn innovative techniques for organizing your store including:
- How store look and feel influences customer decisions
- How to increase efficiency by turning around unproductive areas/times of year for your store
- Ways to connect with your campus and community and stand out as unique among their options
July 23, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Crisis communication is often reactive - efforts begin only after a crisis develops. A proactive issues management framework, though, can help keep events from becoming crises and issues from becoming emergencies.
Join us to learn how to proactively monitor potential issues on your campus and address them before they can escalate.
July 24, 2008 :: 1:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
Determining whether your annual giving office is meeting its dollar goal is relatively easy, but there is no traditional way to gauge engagement or relationship development for larger future gifts. This leaves fundraising managers struggling to assess annual gift professionals' overall performance.
This webcast will provide solutions by examining how to measure annual giving personnel beyond traditional yearly dollar goals. This event will help you:
- Critically examine a current measurement solution
- Identify the pros and cons for other possible metrics
- Understand how technology can be used to ease measurement demands
- Gain upper-level implementation buy-in
July 28, 2008 :: 1:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
Poorly designed special events can make your institution look unprofessional and can lead to confusing messages or duplicated effort. And as you involve more of your personnel in event planning, the potential for disorganization increases.
Join us to examine Georgia Tech's online solution to this challenge and to improve your own event planning. You will learn best practices in event planning, including how to provide consistent, branded events that will ultimately help lead donors to make future gifts.
You will learn how to:
- Use pre-event questionnaires to determine event purpose and audience
- Write welcoming invitations and manage your guest lists
- Script your events down to the minute
- Effectively brief important stakeholders, including your chief executive
- Develop vendor relationships and resources
July 30, 2008 :: 1:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
Town/Gown relationships can be a struggle, especially when your institution is starting new construction or development that will affect the surrounding community. To improve town/gown relationships, institutions need to take a hands-on approach that includes a clear planning process, including proactive outreach and a broad approach to creating a participatory process that seeks and supports consensus and clear communication.
August 7, 2008 :: 1:00-2:45 p.m. EDT
Not every university has a full-time speechwriter; you may be called upon to craft a speech for your institution's leaders. Writing high-level speeches that communicate your institution's messages clearly can seem like a daunting task, but it needn't be.
Join us online for practical tips and tools to create ideal messages for your next speechwriting assignment. You'll learn how to:
- Understand and articulate your institution's strategic messages
- Effectively incorporate the technical aspects of speechwriting
- Find your voice and match it to your speaker's style
- Start with a blank page
- Be prepared - what you should draft in advance
August 12, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Effective speechwriting is more than just sound mechanics. Even if you've mastered the basics, creating a speech that will move your internal and external stakeholders to action can be a challenge that even the best how-to books cannot help you overcome.
Join us online for an interactive look at real speeches from around the higher education industry. Our expert instructor will help you identify areas for improvement and discuss ways to address them.
For this hands-on conference, you will:
- Be required to submit samples of speeches that you've struggled with
- Learn about the problems your peers encounter
- Have your speech analyzed to identify issues common among your peers
- Get an expert response to the common issues each of you face and discuss possible solutions with your peer group
August 13, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Most career service offices employ disparate outreach efforts to businesses that result in gifts and sponsorships to run their programs. Those that take a more strategic approach to corporate relationships can yield partners that produce greater rewards for the institution, students, and the partner organization. Join us for an introduction to taking a holistic approach to business partnerships.
August 13, 2008 :: 1:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
The historic building renovation process is filled with unique development and financial challenges including the risk of cost overruns, design constraints, and difficult-to-understand tax credits and financing options. However, with careful consideration and solid understanding of what and who is involved in the renovation process, the benefits can outweigh the frustrations.
August 27, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Parent giving can offer a significant contribution to your annual giving program, but it is frequently overlooked because annual giving professionals assume that since parents are paying tuition for their child, they will not be willing to invest more in the institution. Many parents, though, are happy for a chance to volunteer or contribute monetarily to ensure their child has the best college education possible.
Join us and learn the process of setting up a parent giving program. Topics include:
- Identifying parent prospects
- Developing an appeal for parents
- Reaching out to parents
- Getting started
August 28, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
In order to ensure you meet and exceed your campaign goal, you must maximize the contribution of each level of your giving pyramid. Incorporating your annual giving program at the start of your campaign planning process gives you the best chance to make the most of all your donor groups' potential and set up years of increased post-campaign gifts.
Join us online and learn key high-level considerations for making your annual fund an indispensable part of your campaign. You will learn about:
- Placing your annual fund efforts within and along your campaign’s lifecycle
- Segmenting your annual gift donor pool for campaign success
- Addressing the complicating factors a campaign presents for gift solicitations
- Using annual giving to gain and boost total participation
- Addressing and surmounting post-campaign challenges
September 9, 2008 :: 12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT
Athletic scandals can pose a significant threat to an institution's reputation and financial health. Schools dealing with scandals see drops in financial support from alumni and friends, decreased response to athletic recruitment efforts, and drops in applications for admission.
Student athletes and coaches need to be aware of potential media threats and how to handle them. This webcast will identify traditional and new media hurdles and outline how to teach your student athletes to cope with them. We will also discuss a series of techniques for preparing athletes for all types of new media.
September 10, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Mobile learning (m-learning) is receiving serious attention in the higher education community today, especially as access and mobile device capabilities improve. How much is hype and how much is real? Is it time to integrate m-learning into your institution's offerings?
Join us to review the current m-learning landscape and examine the decisions that need to be made when building and implementing m-learning from institutional, technical, and instructional perspectives. We will also identify resources you can use to get started.
September 16, 2008 :: 1:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
Studies have shown that institutions' overall landscape and architecture affect recruitment, retention, and alumni engagement efforts. A strategic approach to landscaping can help create a sense of place that connects people to the campus and strengthens the campus's overall character.
Join us for an overview of campus landscape master planning that will help you clarify your approach and understand key steps in the process.
September 22, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Faculty evaluation is a complex process that affects institutional quality and individual careers. But in practice, day-to-day evaluation does not often reflect what has been learned from years of research or what can be done to best make use of the data collected.
Join us and discuss how to use the collected data to improve evaluation practice and for career enhancement for faculty.
September 30, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Most college and university libraries make reserve readings available electronically, but many do not have a deliberately crafted e-reserve policy. Join copyright law expert Lolly Gasaway and learn why you should have and enforce an e-reserve policy.
We will briefly cover the background of reserve readings at higher education institutions, then discuss in detail a number of different approaches to e-reserve policy drafting and enforcement.
October 14, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
Your website navigation is clear. Your content is on target with what interests your audience. But your website still isn't engaging your visitors in the way you'd like. If the writing style on your site is not web friendly, your most important audiences may not be receiving your messages.
Join us to explore the common pitfalls of web writing and how they can derail your site's effectiveness. Throughout the program, examples from higher education websites are used to highlight best practices and demonstrate the value of a designated web editor to your online marketing team. You will learn how to use web writing principles to increase your site's effectiveness and search engine visibility.
October 16, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT
One of the best ways to attract students to your institution is to offer high quality academic programs that lead to the jobs and graduate schools that they want. Yet few colleges and universities capitalize on this important marketing opportunity.
Join higher ed marketing expert Bob Sevier and learn 13 strategies for maximizing the marketing potential of your academic and co-curricular areas. Topics to be addressed include:
- Identifying your most important asset
- Understanding the relationship between strategy and tactics
- Practical pointers for using the 13 strategies at your institution
November 4 & 6, 2008 :: 12:00-1:30 p.m. EST
In order to retain your institution's online and commuter student population, you need to engage them from the start. A thoughtfully designed and accessible online orientation can get students connected with campus services and with their peers in those critical first moments of their experience at your institution.
Join us and learn what it takes to develop several types of online orientations - from the most basic text-based website to an advanced, socially interactive experience. Whichever type is right for you, this web conference will offer you the information and resources you need in order to:
- Structure and deploy your orientation
- Know who to involve and when
- Measure the orientation's success
- Maintain and improve your program
- Avoid common pitfalls
Session I will offer a primer on getting a basic orientation up and going, looking at combinations of text, video, and audio. Session II will offer key steps to develop a more advanced orientation using interactive Web 2.0 technologies.
December 9 & 11, 2008 :: 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST
Donors are increasingly interested in finding philanthropic projects representative of their values to bear their names. To capitalize on this trend, institutions must develop procedures and policies for establishing, managing, and marketing naming opportunities.
Join us and learn how to develop a naming policy appropriate for your institution. Using current institutional examples and case studies for addressing naming dilemmas, you will learn the fundamentals of:
- Developing a policy creation timeline
- Differentiating between policies for different naming opportunities
- Calculating space values
- Procuring board approval
- Marketing available opportunities
- De-naming and naming length considerations
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