MMP1: Marketing and Communications in Higher Education IT Organizations — Nuances, Challenges, Successes

PRESENTERS: Karen M. Hackett, Penn State University
Jim Leous, Penn State University

This session is scheduled for Mon, Oct 15, from 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM.

Marketing and communications for Penn State's Information Technology Services is a crucial activity, but it can be an enormous challenge to consistently deliver a coherent message about what "ITS at Penn State" really means, and what it represents more universally. Communicators in college/university IT organizations often have extraordinarily multifaceted—and thus challenging—responsibilities to bear, especially in light of the rate at which technology and its audiences continue to rapidly develop and change and the conditions in which they change (taking into consideration the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech and related emergency response communications). Despite the challenges, workloads, responsibilities, and surprises, how can we improve and streamline communications without overlooking the very important and fundamental "Five Ws" — who, what, where, when, and why — and their partners, the "Five Cs" — content, context, clarity, credibility, and consistency. The intent of this session is to serve as an open discussion for IT communicators in higher education: come share the nuances, the challenges, and the successes of what we do, and learn about some of the tools we can leverage to effectively communicate the messages for which we are responsible.

MMP2: Using Interactive Technologies and Social Media in Higher Education

PRESENTER: Matt Herzberger, Texas A&M University—College of Engineering

This session is scheduled for Mon, Oct 15, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

Matt and Karlyn are going to "tag team" this presentation on the use of interactive technologies and social media in higher education to engage and communicate with both internal and external audiences. Karlyn comes to it from a recruitment prospective. She will discuss the importance of email, the Web, student blogs, message boards, and instant messaging in the recruitment process and how to integrate them seamlessly with traditional communications strategy to increase online applications, data integrity, attendance at admissions events, and general prospective student knowledge about your institution. Matt will cover the use of social media in the higher education landscape and how they can be integrated into the overall marketing strategy. Social media is not something to be feared – it creates new marketing points with which you target students where they actually are. There will be discussion of where to begin, how to start small, problems that may arise along the way, benefits to the organization, and a working demonstration of various social networking tools, including Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, etc…

MMP3: I Don't Speak Geek!

PRESENTER: Sarah Schroeder, Texas A&M University

This session is scheduled for Mon, Oct 15, from 1:30 PM to 2:00 PM.

This session covers a variety of Web tech terms for the not-so-tech-savvy in non-geek speak. It is intended to help those who hear these terms everyday in their workplace, but don't know what they are, what they mean, or how they relate to the Web.

MMP4: 12-Step Program To Better Blogs

Karine Joly, collegewebeditor.com

This session is scheduled for Mon, Oct 15, from 2:15 PM to 3:15 PM.

More and more universities and colleges have started to use blogs as communication channels to engage prospective students or alums; inform current students, faculty and staff; promote special events; and even to communicate with project stakeholders. While it’s very easy and affordable to set up and launch a blog, good and effective blogging requires a lot of work. From the best approach to deal with comments to practical tips on search engine optimization, promotion and writing, this presentation will help you make the best out of your blog(s). Whether you are already a blogger or plan to launch a blog soon, you will learn how to avoid common pitfalls and achieve blogging bliss by applying a 12-step program developed by the presenter – a higher ed blogger - for higher ed bloggers.

MMP5: Recruiting 2.1: An Update on the Revolution in Student Recruiting and How You Can Help

PRESENTER: Brian Wm. Niles, TargetX

This session is scheduled for Mon, Oct 15, from 3:45 PM to 4:45 PM.

This session is an update to last year's popular presentation when we introduced the Recruiting 2.0 Revolution -- a fundamental change in the way students learn about colleges, requiring a revolutionary change in the way colleges communicate with prospects. The goal of this session is to help college Web managers and marketers understand the needs and challenges that undergraduate and graduate admission offices are dealing with in recruiting today's Web-savvy, marketing-averse, instant gratification and connection seeking generation. Recent research highlighting these characteristics and suggestions on how you can help your colleagues will be a significant part of this lively discussion.

MMP6: Making the Case for Resources for Web Services

PRESENTER: Doug Ruschman, Xavier University

This session is scheduled for Mon, Oct 15, from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM.

We’ve all heard the scenarios: I’m just a Web team of one. We do not have the resources that we need. Times are tough and we just have to make do with less. When Doug Ruschman started as the Director for Web Services at Xavier University in the summer of 2005, most website work was outsourced, the Web had limited significance in the overall success of the university, projects were very reactive, and the office had an opening for another staff member. Just over two years later, the Office of Web Services boasts a talented team of eight Web professionals and an administrative assistant, is at the table for just about every major discussion about the future of Xavier including marketing, technology, enrollment, development and more, has the support of the university’s Board of Trustees, and now has enough resources to be proactive and lead Xavier’s Web initiatives. Having adequate resources is a big deal in the success of Web initiatives. Find out how Doug and the rest of the Web Services team have positioned themselves as a major asset that directly supports Xavier’s overall initiatives and learn practical tips that you can take back to your campus to advocate for the resources you need.

MMP7: You Are Not Your User! Using Personas to Guide Your Web Design

PRESENTER: Michelle Mierzwa, Datatel
Matt Dempster, Datatel

This session is scheduled for Mon, Oct 15, from 5:45 PM to 6:15 PM.

Every designer knows that “knowing your user” is the key to a successful Web site. All too often, though, we fall prey to assuming we know more than we do about our visitors. Personas help us stay ahead of the game by putting a face on our visitors, and giving us a common understanding of their goals. In this session, we'll cover the basics of user research, and approaches for developing personas that your whole team can use to create a truly user-centric experience. Have you or someone on your team made the statement “Our web site has to target everyone”? We’ll explain why that way of thinking causes frustrating and confusing Web sites, and how you can create much more user-friendly experiences for your constituents with a little research and planning. With careful and thoughtful questioning, we will present a technique to gather that information and present a real persona in iconic form. Using that named persona as a reference, conversations about targeting content and designs come much easier.

MMP8: Higher Ed Web Development Gets Flattened, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the New World Order

PRESENTER: Mark Greenfield, University at Buffalo

This session is scheduled for Tue, Oct 16, from 8:15 AM to 9:15 AM.

What happens when Web development becomes a commodity? Globalization 3.0, the arrival of the technically adept Millennial Generation, and the ongoing Communications Revolution will create a perfect storm that will forever change the college campus and the way we work. The services provided by Web professionals will be disaggregated, distributed, produced and reassembled with amazing efficiency. It may well be that many of our services will be outsourced in the relatively near future. This presentation will explore the forces of globalization and free agency and the changes in what we call work, how and why the higher education Web profession will get flattened, and provide guidance on how to not only survive, but thrive in this new paradigm.

MMP9: Building a Cohesive Website through a Collaborative Process

PRESENTERS: Robert Crisler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Seth Meranda, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Brett Bieber, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Aaron Coleman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

This session is scheduled for Tue, Oct 16, from 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM.

The development of a coordinated website at a large state school like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a unique—and daunting— challenge, involving technological, political, and logistical issues. Recognizing that the Web had become the best way to reach prospective and current students, we began the time- and labor-intensive process of creating a redesigned and unified Web presence. At the outset of the overhaul, we worked with hundreds of different developers on over a million Web pages, and although site templates had been available for use on a voluntary basis for several years, many departments chose to "do their own thing." We realized that a standard look and feel across all colleges and departments was essential to creating a consistent user experience. With the backing of UNL's senior administration, we began the process of unifying the campus Web pages under a standard design concept. Drawing on a group of Web developers from across campus — the UNL Web Developer Network — an open and collaborative development process began. The new website was launched in August 2006. Throughout the coding process, the Web Developer Network continued to work together to develop tools and styling for the new site. We will discuss the process of our site redesign and development, including the politics of creating a unified website at a university, fostering a collaborative development process, the logistics of deployment, and challenges encountered along the way.

MMP10: Technology and Emergency Communications

PRESENTERS: Mark Lawrence, Cornell University
Mark Greenfield, University at Buffalo
Steve McConnell, UC Berkeley
Chris Nixon, University of Arkansas

This session is scheduled for Tue, Oct 16, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

There are many technical mechanisms (each with their own inherent challenges) available for communicating in an emergency - bulk email, text messaging, RSS, central contact databases, streamlined homepage, etc. Some institutions engage 3rd-party vendors to coordinate these channels, while others "roll their own." Web leaders from several diverse college environments will participate in a panel discussion to share their experiences and lessons learned.

MMP11: Email Marketing That Works

PRESENTER: Sharaf Atakhanov, Temple University Fox School of Business

This session is scheduled for Tue, Oct 16, from 2:15 PM to 2:45 PM.

Email marketing is one of the most common and easiest methods of selling, informing, and inviting target audiences of your institution. However, email marketing has many problems today both in design and in deliverability. This presentation will explore how to design and deliver successful email marketing campaigns that work and how to avoid most common mistakes in email marketing.

MMP12: Negotiation

PRESENTER: Steven B. Lewis, SUNY Brockport

This session is scheduled for Tue, Oct 16, from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM.

Negotiation comprises a set of important professional skills that can be used to help understand nearly every human interaction. This showcase will focus on preparation for negotiation, strategies for expanding the pie, and the war between human nature and rational decision-making.

MMP13: Giving Effective Presentations 101

PRESENTER: Rob Hornberger, Missouri State University

This session is scheduled for Tue, Oct 16, from 3:45 PM to 4:15 PM.

The more IT blends with the normal processes of an organization, the more techies are called on to perform non-techie duties. A growing common duty and responsibility of an IT employee is to give presentations. This requires a blend of effective communication skills, IT knowledge, and basic presentation skills. This session will cover some of the basic principles of communication and public speaking to help IT professionals prepare and deliver more effective presentations.