Session Topics
Summary
- Collaborating with key university divisions: development, central alumni relations, program offices, career services and admissions
- Evolving from transactional relationships to engaged relationships (breakouts for full-time MBA alumni, part-time and international MBA alumni, and undergraduate alumni)
- Events that inspire engagement and giving
- Data directories
- Engaging faculty and staff in alumni relations
- Insights from a LinkedIn executive
- Social media best practices and ROI
- Successful strategies for alumni giving participation
- Email/online communications: managing lists, content, integration, measurement and metrics influencers
Descriptions
We are still finalizing the conference session descriptions. Check back soon for more details.
New Member Orientation
If this is your first ABSAP conference, whether you’re new to business alumni relations or an older-timer who has never made it to a conference before, please plan to attend this brief and casual session. An overview of the ABSAP website will be provided, and at the end you’ll be connected with your “buddy” for the conference, if you’ve requested one.
Moderator:
Janice Headley, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
---
Session #1: Collaborating with Key University Divisions
Be prepared to share your successes and funniest stories in this interactive and engaging session! There will be a quick brainstorming discussion, followed by group discussions sharing best practices for collaborating with key constituencies within the University, the School (Admissions Offices, Program Offices, Executive Development, Faculty, Centers, Student Groups, Career Management/Services and Dean’s Office), and Alumni Relations (Alumni Affairs, Annual Fund, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Major Gift Officers, and Alumni Council).
Moderator:
Meg Roundy, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
---
Session #2: Best Practices in Engaging Different Degree Constituencies-Comparing Apples to Airplanes
Panelists will facilitate round table discussions regarding the differences in relationships, community and giving levels in three major key degree constituency groups:
- Undergraduate
- Full-time MBA
- Part-time MBA
Round tables will focus on sharing best practices on engaging these constituencies, and will also concentrate on evolving transactional relationships to engaged relationships.
Breakout #1 – Full-Time MBA Alumni
Moderators:
Christopher Harrer, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
Sarah Marchitto, Stern School of Business, New York University
Breakout #2 – Part-Time And International MBA Alumni
Moderators:
Lisa Brown, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
Meg Roundy, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Breakout #3 – Undergraduate Alumni
Moderators:
John Pine, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
Rosetta Clay, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland
---
Wednesday Lunch Roundtables
Facilitated Table Topics:
- Reunions
- Alumni Chapters
- Building successful events
---
Session #3: Best Practices in Engaging Different Degree Constituencies-Comparing Apples to Airplanes
(See Session #2)
---
Session #4: What’s the Deal with Alumni Data, Anyway?
"Those pesky alumni. They move, get married, start new companies-- and don’t even get me started about email addresses! And if one more faculty member tells me I should just look them up on LinkedIn..." Don’t get mad-- test both old-school and new-school channels to communicate to your alumni. Don’t rely on one solution-- your alumni are not homogenous, so don’t expect your data solution to be! These three panelists will explore the challenges inherent with business alumni.
Moderator:
Keary Kinch, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin
Panelists:
Mark Werner, Director of Product Management, iModules
Rex Petrasko, Executive Vice President, PCI, Inc.
Brent Grinna, Founder and CEO, EverTrue
---
Session #5: Events that Inspire Engagement and Giving
Our moderators tee off an interactive discussion of event models that correlate directly to giving. Beyond the donor dinner, group discussion will address how creative combinations and innovative twists on traditional alumni and student events can yield meaningful financial results. We’ll also discuss qualities and techniques to leverage engaged alums as high-impact event planners and fundraisers for your school.
Moderators:
Tracy McCabe, College of Business, University of Illinois
Rochelle Reeves, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
---
Session #6: Engaging Faculty and Staff
We spend time developing strategies to engage alumni and students - from events to career services to mentoring and meaningful volunteer roles. We try to build pride and raise money. Then a board member asks "What are you doing with faculty? staff? parents? prospective students? the daughter of a friend of my sister's who needs a job..." Let's tackle faculty and staff this year. They can be a valuable resource to us, when they understand the valuable resource we can be to them. Be prepared to discuss what works and what doesn't, perhaps building on challenges and opportunities identified in the Session #3 breakouts.
Moderators:
Rochelle Reeves, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
---
Wednesday Lunch Speaker
John Hill, LinkedIn
John Hill is the Higher Education Evangelist for LinkedIn. Hill speaks internationally to Higher Education professionals, students and alumni on how to utilize social media effectively. He's given 500 presentations over the last four years on social media's impact on the job search, networking and personal branding. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Hill was the director of alumni career services and internship development at Michigan State University. He also worked as associate editor/online editor for Athlon Sports and market development manager for Gannett.
---
Session #7: TWEET This, LIKE That, FOLLOW Us: #SocialMedia Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Nowadays, social media is a tool that can no longer be ignored—but it can be challenging to identify a path to success. How do you monitor and create all of that conversation? How do you keep your community engaged? LinkedIn or Facebook? From apps to tweets, this panel will provide an overview of best practices and perhaps more importantly, lessons learned regarding social media usage within the alumni community and how to yield the best ROI. Got questions? Share them in advance! Tweet all of your questions using #iABSAP or email tresheaw@andrew.cmu.edu.
Moderator:
Treshea N. Wade, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
Panelists:
John Hill, LinkedIn
John D. Pine, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
Benjamin H. Simmons, The George Washington University School of Business
David Wenger, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin
---
Session #8: Before you hit the “Send” button: Insights on engaging with email
There’s more—much more—to a strong email campaign than good copy and a compelling subject line. We’ll explore usability, segmentation, analytics, and additional factors you can use to maximize your email campaigns. And, we’ll look to each of you for examples of successes and lessons learned from your own outreach with technology’s old-school form of communication.
Moderator:
Krista Peterson, Foster School of Business, University of Washington
Panelists:
Andrew Magnuson, Senior Strategy Consultant, Blackbaud, Inc.
---
Session #9: The Final Word: The Best Takeaways from ABSAP 2012
Don’t miss THE FINAL WORD – a wrap-up of the Big Ideas from ABSAP 2012! You can only attend
one session at a time – come and hear from your peers about the sessions you missed, share you
own thoughts. Go back to work on Monday energized and armed with all of the big ideas from the conference!
Moderator:
Keary Kinch, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin