I attended the eduWeb Conference last week in Boston, MA — and I got to say I really had a blast: 2 great keynotes, too many really good sessions, fantastic conversations, amazing social events and really lively backchannel on Twitter.
Conferences are always a great opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones – and this one didn’t disappoint.
Now, if you didn’t attend (or didn’t attend everything), this post is your chance to catch up with some of the great sessions and interesting resources shared last week in Boston.
Opening keynote: Santa Ono, the tweeting president from the University of Cincinnati
President Ono (@prezono) is an amazing, engaging and fantastic speaker. He also is a very skilled twitter user celebrity with more than 19K followers at the time of this writing.
#eduwebconf @prezono is a great example of the president of the future – got on twitter thanks to students pic.twitter.com/aRSPygNxGx
— Karine Joly (@karinejoly) July 29, 2013
What’s the big secret to President Ono’s Twitter success?
He and his team are always listening to/engaging with followers (students, alums, etc.).
Yep, really caring and interacting with your target audience is the secret formula :-) Simple, but often forgotten.
Success on Twitter is all about the people — but can be amplified further with a dash of science. That’s the reason why the president’s team keeps a close eye on analytics data.
“I wake up at 3AM and I tweet, but it’s not when people act” says @prezono – Tuesday 9PM is best for HIS followers Data FTW! #eduwebconf13
— Karine Joly (@karinejoly) July 29, 2013
President Ono explained at the end of this keynote that the University of Cincinnati was about to start to work on a data project to tap further into the great community that gathered around his account.
Tuesday Keynote: Jeffrey Selingo on the College of the Future
As I mentioned in a my review of his book, College Unbound, Jeff Selingo had an important message to share at eduWeb about the future of our industry.
I’ve looked online for Selingo’s slides, but haven’t found them yet.
Fortunately, I managed to snap 3 great shots during the presentation as I was sitting at one of the 2 reserved tables for Higher Ed Experts alums (a perk from sponsoring the lunch keynote ;-)
Fewer and fewer full-paying students left for #highered (bottom of graph) says @jselingo #eduwebconf13 #eduwebconf pic.twitter.com/Pj4n7mjZ50
— Karine Joly (@karinejoly) July 30, 2013
This where #highered institutions can make a big difference for college students #eduwebconf13 #eduwebconf pic.twitter.com/w7AWrfV0Tb
— Karine Joly (@karinejoly) July 30, 2013
Risks and opportunities for #highered institutions #eduwebconf13 pic.twitter.com/oAOSOzW9MP
— Karine Joly (@karinejoly) July 30, 2013
At the end of his talk, Selingo gave a very useful and practical piece of advice.
Track as much as possible what your alums are doing and share this with your prospective students as this is going to become more and more critical in the college decision process.
A short selection of other #eduwebconf13 presentations
I gave my presentation on the terms of service and other policies from the top social media platforms for the second time at eduWeb. Some of the guidelines had changed since the first time I gave it in late June (things are moving so quickly). I’m scheduled to give this presentation (well, an updated version as I’m pretty sure the social media platforms will come up with new things by then) again at High Ed Web in Buffalo in October. I’m still working on a comprehensive online resource about these guidelines as I can’t share my slides that include some examples of institutions breaking the TOS.
Anyway, some eduWeb presenters have already made available their slides, so here is what I was able to collect through a quick search (feel free to add a link to your preso in the comments as I’ll be happy to update this post)
From “mobile last” to “mobile first†— a Pragmatic Approach to Responsive Design by Tatjana Salcedo & Megan Hack
Using Instagram to Encourage, Capture and Increase Social Conversation by Gretchen Edwards
How to Measure Everything: Analytics for Content Creators by Mike Powers
The Scroll: Hamilton’s Social Media Strategy by Jess Krywosa
Out of mind, out of site: Engaging with your Alumni online by Penny Richards Fowler
Driving Enrollment Results with User-Centered Design at Bentley University by Valerie Fox
Designing & Developing an Agile Web Eco-System by David Stevens
The Art of Going Mobile by Laura Caruso
By The Numbers: Using Analytics to Support Web Design Choices by Nick Valentino
Advertising Online: Strategy & Tactics for Enrollment Success by Bob Johnson
Improving the Top Five High Value Pages of Your Website by Jeff Johnson
Hot Or Not? Social Media Trends in Higher Education by Angela Yang
Keep Printing: The Importance of Printed Materials In Recruitment by Aundra Wessert
Re-thinking College Admissions by Embracing Social Business
Data-driven Design for Higher Education to Increase Applicant Engagement and Conversions by Sean Rusinko
Social Media 101 by Kayla Patterson
Other posts and resources about the eduWeb 13 conference
- #eduwebconf13 presentation by Gretchen Edwards
- EduWeb 2013: A Web Yankee in King Marketing’s Court by Mike Richwalsky
- Educating the Educators (presentation & resources download) by Lindsay Nyquist
- A Mobile Solution for the #Underdog (presentation download) by Sylvia Nicosia
- Elements of a Great (Institutional) Social Media Strategy by Jess Krywosa
- eduWeb13… 6 Higher Education Marketing notes that linger by Bob Johnson
- Ok. We’re Responsive… Now What? by Chris Hartigan
Karine, this is a wonderful resource, specifically for those of us unable to attend EduWeb this year. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for compiling this. I just spent the morning reviewing many of the slides and other posts and am feeling very energized and inspired. Wish I could have been there in person, but this was an excellent boost without having to get on a plane!
Thanks for the really useful round-up!
Cheers!