Sorry for posting again about Higher Ed Experts, the new social networking website targeted to higher ed professionals and executives working in admissions, web, marketing and PR, but I need to share a few important updates.
If you haven’t registered yet, you might want to do it ASAP at www.higheredexperts.com/register as the website already counts 189 registered members (at the time of this post) based in the US, but also in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Spain, Sweden and Egypt. Besides, the membership is open to people working in universities and colleges, free and you get to network with your higher ed peers.
As I explained in my previous post about HEE, a dozen of vendors, consultants and other people working in other organizations (associations, medias, etc.) have tried to set up an account with HEE last week. Since this new website is really meant to be a vendor-free zone where people working in institutions can freely exchanged, I suspended these accounts and asked the community to weigh in on the following question: should HEE be open to vendors or consultants?
Some registered members commented on this issue in the forum confirming the necessity for HEE to be a place reserved to professionals and executives currently working in universities and colleges. However, a few also explained that some kind of interactions with these other higher ed professionals might be helpful to the community.
That’s why I’ve decided to test an associate membership for vendors, consultants and other interested people who don’t qualify for the regular membership. They are now able to set up an account — or use the one they already created last week — and have access to their own profile page as well as a reserved conference room in the forum: “The Higher Ed Mall,” where exchanges with regular HEE members can take place.
Associate members don’t have access to the HEE directory. They will be able to access a regular member’s profile (and send him/her a private message via the HEE internal messaging service) only if this person posts or replies to a discussion thread in “The Higher Ed Mall.”
If you are already a HEE member (sorry, the offer isn’t open to associate members) and want to attend the inaugural free webinar on June 14 about YouTube successes in higher education, don’t forget to register before June 1st! The event will only be free for the first 300 people who become HEE members AND register for the webinar.
Last, I’m currently putting together the HEE webinar program (the paying ones priced at $150 for a series of three 1-hour webinars – a 50% discount available to registered HEE members in 2007) for the remainder of the year. You can have a look at the list of future topics as well as a description of our unique webinar concept.
I’ve already received a few proposals from potential presenters, but would like to make sure everybody is aware of HEE current call for speakers. You can get more information about the requirements and the benefits (including a straight 20% commission on all paid fees from people attending your presentation) at Higher Ed Experts.
If you have any questions, just email me at karine@collegewebeditor.com or even better send me a private message (or post on my profile message board) once you log in at HEE.