Enrollment Marketing for Higher Education

Cathy Donovan [00:00:00]:

In an age of distraction and isolation, events can create powerful moments of connection and expectations have never been higher. Gen Z is especially engaged in experiences. In fact, more than 70% said they’d rather spend money on experiences than on things. And we know it’s not just Gen Z attending Taylor Swift concerts, everyone attending enjoys that experience.

And when the value of a college degree is being questioned, student experiences need to live up to that investment from day one.  And as those prospects enroll to students and hopefully become alumni, establishing their brand infinity with your institution is key. Regardless of the size of your school, your audiences expect meaningful brand experiences and smaller budgets can’t be an excuse.

I’m Cathy Donovan, Agency Marketing Director at Paskill, a higher education enrollment marketing firm dedicated to improving the higher ed experience for institutions and students alike. Today, we’d like to help you look at your institution’s events from recruiting through graduation to alumni receptions through the lens of seasoned events professionals tasked with innovating and engaging across budgets, venues, and goals.

With the help of our special guests, we’re going to take a look at what makes an in-person event or experience emotionally engaging and meaningful and what’s really needed to make them happen. With us today is Stevie Henderson, who has over 20 years of experience overseeing and marketing corporate sports and entertainment events for companies, venues, and teams like the Sacramento Kings, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

She is currently leading events and live experiences for Paskill’s parent company, JPL. Recent higher ed events include Gettysburg College’s Summit for the Future and its commencement, as well as a high-profile new school year kickoff for a local private K through 12 institution. She is joined by our colleague, Jeff Haskett.

Jeff offers nearly two decades of experience in production management, lighting, design, sound, talent, booking, and event planning. As manager of event production, he serves as the project lead, guiding technical, creative, and logistical decisions for meetings, events, and experiential installations of all sizes and complexities.

Welcome to you both. That’s quite an intro.

Stevie Henderson:
It is. It is for sure.

Cathy Donovan:
Okay, Stevie, let’s start with you. What are some of the core elements that create a great live experience?

Stevie Henderson:

Okay. Well, first of all, Cathy, thanks so much for having us and asking us to join you today. So core elements, this is going to sound a little odd, but to create a great experience from the planning side, my perspective, you need to start with the outcome and work backwards.

 

So what’s the purpose of your meeting? What do you want people to do once they leave? Is there a planned takeaway from your meeting? Who’s your target audience? And what’s the best way to reach them to get the best attendance? So once you get all of that planning information, you can really tailor the experience and message to the audience.

Through a variety of elements. I’m going to throw it over to Jeff as production. He’s our expert here today.

Jeffrey Haskett:

Yeah. So for me, I boil it down to four real core elements. I mean, you could name dozens probably. And, but I see four where, where they can all kind of ladder into. And the top one, it’s got to be engagement and, you know, many, when they first hear engagement, at least in, in my world of production, they immediately think about, oh, well, that’s social posts, that’s, that’s doing gamification at an event or, or using some, you know, technology like polling or, or kind of like phone stuff that you can do at the event to, to engage with people.

But it really starts much sooner than that. It starts with the invite where you’re actually reaching out to your audience and it needs to continue with consistent, clear communication leading up to the event and on stage, you need a knowledgeable and that passionate person to connect to the audience.

That’s engagement just as much as an app that you use on your phone during it. The next one would be a cohesive theme. You know, it’s more than creating a logo or picking colors. It’s, it’s a theme, a roadmap for all the decision making that goes on during the prep, uh, to the event. It ties together the elements like decoration, food, the entertainment you might bring in.

And all that messaging, making sure that you have a consistent look and feel throughout. And when you have that, the participants feel more connected and they’ll remember your event, which leads to what Stevie said, what they walk away with. Going a little more technical, maybe, uh, more in, uh, the, the actual on site kind of stuff, uh, production value, that could mean, you know, the difference between two projections and screens, uh, versus a huge, massive 40 foot LED wall that just, like, takes over the room.

But it can also be all the little details. Can’t tell you how many times people don’t realize how important audio is in an event. It’s more than just being able to hear a person in the back of the room. You actually need to be able to understand them. And, I’ve seen many audio vendors come and go where they just have, you know, Oh, well, we’ll just put in speakers.

You’ll just lie in the room and you’ll hear us. And then you have the great audio engineers that we work with that dial in everyone. They worry about the microphone they’re putting on people on how many mics and how spread out is the audience? Because it’s more than just the noise in the room.

It’s like actual intelligible hearing, but then also you’ve got the really minute details that you could get way in the weeds with like furniture, drapes, uh, the ambient lighting, all that kind of stuff that just helps that tie in. And, finally, I think the venue is the most important last element that we can cover and it’s probably the biggest impact for higher ed because most of the venues in the higher ed events world are they own, they have.

And. I think there, you have to think for most audiences, too hot, too cold, where the restrooms are, you know, does it feel old? Does it, is it a little run down around the edges? Those are all things that can take you out of an event. I do remember an event earlier this year where the venue was great in all aspects, it was a beautiful venue.

The staffing there was great. And the room was well kept and everyone was happy in the event. And we had a really engaging guest speaker and we went for break.  The restrooms had a problem. One of the restrooms had to be closed. And that meant that the 20-minute break turned into 35 minutes with many people not being able to get back in the room when we picked up the session and the mood for the rest of the day was thrown.

It just took everyone out of the event. It’s little stuff like that. For higher ed, when you own your venues, you know, that’s where companies like us step in and we can really help transform a room into your event space. And that’s kind of like, for me, that’s what I get excited about because I can take a room that’s not meant to be an event space and turn it into something completely different.

And you might have guests, alumni, or students walking in the door expecting something and immediately they’re transformed into some other place. And that takes you a long way to that first core of engagement.

Cathy Donovan:

Let’s keep going. So a big part of events is obviously that emotional connection. And, you know, we know Gen Z needs this emotional connection, but a lot of audience demographics expect that today. I just want to talk to you both about suggestions that you have for heightening the emotional connection at an event.

Stevie Henderson:

Yeah, absolutely. So what do we know about Gen Z? So we know that Gen Z has a strong desire for authenticity, right? It’s hard to BS a Gen Z, they see right through it. It’s important to choose presenters or storytellers who can share personal experiences that really resonate with the audience.

We recently were lucky to take part in a commencement, and one of the commencement speakers was a young man who had a very challenging life story. And I will tell you, there was not a dry eye in the house during the time this young man was speaking. And he was very quiet, it was clear when he came up to speak that he was a very popular young man, but the heartfelt message that he was delivering was the perfect message for that class of folks.

So that, that person, you know, the storyteller, the presenter, whomever you line up to be in front of your audience needs to be compelling. Choosing a meaningful theme is another way to emotionally connect. Is it related to a social issue or innovation or something that aligns with the values of Gen Z?

 

That’s crucial for engagement and connection as well. Jeff, what do you, what do you think about that?

Jeffrey Haskett:

Yeah, I mean, I look at some of  the industry trends that we, \ we’ve been looking at, uh, recently in a study that was released. And, um, there are, I think three that come to mind that really kind of dial in on Gen Z and, and one of them is, uh, creating a VIP experience.

Making them feel extra special by just these little add-ons now, maybe everyone gets an add on, uh, of some type and they don’t have to know that it’s via, you know, it’s not technically VIP, but adding that little extra something that on top of the normal, the expected experience that will help make them feel special.

And when we have feeling, you have that connection. Another one is having interest or emphasis on a planet protecting or health benefit initiatives built into some of the activities or the messaging, that is, something that, that is really of interest to that generation. And if you can somehow carry it in, that will help build that connection.

And another one, which was really surprising to me, um, uh, in a research study. Because we mentioned that the generation wants to be in an event, they want to have real events and be in person.  Take it a step further, they want to be in the moment, away from their technology. So maybe concentrate on elements of your event that are technology free and are old school analog, and that will get them away from their phones.

Or away from their devices and that’s a step and I was really shocked because I felt like that generation, they lived on their phones. Why would they want to be away from it for a second? But apparently, it’s too much at times and they really appreciate it when they can be pulled into a moment away from it.

Cathy Donovan:

That’s my goal as a parent of a teenager is to get them off their phones and have fun again. So I appreciate that. I’m glad that research supports it. So let’s talk a little bit about the elements of an event that maybe may surprise your clients of what actually helps deliver a successful event.

Stevie Henderson:

Yeah, that’s a great question.

That one, you know, relates to a lot of the elements talked about earlier. So I’m just going to throw that one right back to Jeff.

Jeffrey Haskett:

I guess music is what constantly surprises me. That the clients are often commenting, Oh, this was so good. This made the event, particularly the walk-up music for a presenter.

 

They constantly are like, that walk up music selection was amazing. Or that playlist was amazing. It just made our event. And I’m like, really 10 seconds made your event?  Okay, good. But it really speaks to how music can affect overall feeling and how we connect feelings wise through our music. So I think if you extract that into what, how that can impact an event from the planning side and execution, like event wide, not just walk ups, would be maybe the use of live music, a live band, even live DJ, if you can’t afford a live band.

Finding a way to introduce them into your event as a MC or host, or a live band, if you have an award show, have the live band do your walk up there, have them interact like a live night show or something. Even having a band, a quartet or someone play on a walk in, before the event that can make a connection to the audience and ease the mood.

Cathy Donovan:

Well, and I guess you’re planning to not have surprises if you’re super detailed and you know the goals you’re trying to just execute a flawless event and just ride on those moments, but it sounds like creating those connections come from all that planning and listening and really delivering an exceptional experience.

Jeffrey Haskett:

Yeah, I mean, there are, we want surprises for the audiences, but we do not want surprises for ourselves.

Cathy Donovan:

I hear you. So can you share some examples of events that have been particularly successful with college age or school age attendees and what you think made them stand out?

Stevie Haskett:

Yeah. So with that demographic, interactivity is a must have.

It keeps things fluid. It serves as a conduit between presentations and the presenter and the audience themselves. This demographic loves active involvement. So events that include them as a contributor, rather than just a spectator are far more effective.

We recently used gamification. Very successfully in the form of an interactive game that captured real-time results. So as we were polling the audience the results were showing on the screen. We used a leaderboard to promote it and it gave it a bit of competitiveness with different segments of the audience as they were answering the questions.

So that was really fun. We also curated an event to be a journey. So it started in one place. In this case, it was a trolley journey throughout very prescribed landmarks that built on top of each other historically to tell a story throughout the entire event. At each stop, the audience was asked to participate in that stop with a passport, and they had an activity to do at each stop.

They received the passport when they came into the event, so they had some anticipation that they were going to be involved. And then each stop also provided a clue to solving at the end of the journey, so they have reward at the end as well, so the enthusiasm was off the charts by the last stop, the audience was buzzing, the venue was full of excitement and anticipation for this final answer that they’ve been waiting for the whole time. So I think that interactivity really stands out with this generation. And we went so far as to, um, scent the lobby when they came in. So it’s not just about what we see and what we hear. We added scent for the smell of it too.

So that was very successful. And we got a lot of really positive feedback on that.

Cathy Donovan:

Jeff, did you have anything to add on that question?

Jeffrey Haskett:

It’s an interesting topic. And I, I would like to also look at maybe less of an event and more of an experience option. And I would love to see more colleges and campuses do or focus in on little experiences like the marketing big ad agencies do for products.

Like maybe they could look at that experiential stuff. And we’ve done a little bit of that. And we’ve had some success where we went out with two cases. One was an experiential booth. It was kind of a wraparound booth, 270-degree projection screen inside the booth and it would house 12 audience members at a time and inside was a custom created choose your own adventure, a story where each individual would have like a little remote.

And as the story was played out, they’d be given games or choices to make, and that would affect the outcome and they could fail that there was a potential that they would not get the outcome they wanted. And it made for a very interactive way to introduce those students to the programs that that college was offering.

And, we toured with it and it was basically a way to get students to apply. Another one that we did had a very similar idea, but it used the headsets that you could put on your head and experience the world in that way. So it was a combination of headsets and chairs and it was kind of a trade show kind of thing where he’d roll in.

Very easy, very portable, and, you’d set up the headsets and the chairs for the potential students to sit in. They would put on the headset and experience a set of curated videos or three dimensional world experiences that they could look around. And on a big screen, others could watch them experience this.

That’s how we got to more than just two or three people at a time. And that was combined with a CRM to kind of collect their data and their experiences. And that is how that group got their contacts for possible students.

Cathy Donovan:

So cool. It’s fun to hear about all the technology you can use and how exciting that could be. And then also, you know, just hearing live music, it seems like there’s such a range of possibilities with events, depending on your goal and what kind of space you’re working with. That’s really cool. I’m curious though, how you both measure the success of an event. What’s an example of really earning a client’s trust to be given a very special event opportunity. So just curious how you measure and then how do you know when you really earn their trust, Stevie?

Stevie Henderson:

So there’s a few ways to measure success. I mean, we can do surveys and we can ask them how happy they are. And we can look at data and metrics. Post-event surveys are very common. And we can count interactions on a custom meeting app.

We can look at social posts with a true measure of success is really emotional. You know we got to help one of the local colleges celebrate a very large endowment to the school. And it was a two-day event. And the first night was kind of a little nightclub setting, you know, with high tops and some fun seating and things like that.

And then the second night was an actual sit down dinner where this endowment was announced. And this is a client that Jeff knows really well and has actually been doing events with for many, many years. So he started the relationship, but then they were really blown away by what they saw. So we literally took a basketball gym and turned it into a nightclub one night and then a dinner venue the second night.

And if you hadn’t known it was a basketball gym, you wouldn’t know from the pictures that it was a basketball gym. So being able to deliver that for the client and having them tell us how much that meant to them, that’s the true measure of success. And I know Jeff has a lot of background to speak to this as well.

Jeffrey Haskett:

Yeah, I mean, metrics, it’s hard to assign metrics to this kind of stuff. And coming from a background of theater, I certainly measure the success by that response of the audience. When, in the days where I managed the theater, I would be out in the lobby as the event was ending and their reaction as they were leaving is how I knew whether or not that was a good show.

And it’s very similar for us in events. If we’re able to connect and drive some sort of emotion, you know, get that idea that sticks in their head as they leave, then I feel like we’ve succeeded and you can tell that in the closing moments of an event, if you’ve succeeded, you can really feel the energy in the room.

And of course, if the client tells you afterwards and brings you back, then obviously that just affirms what you know, kind of at the end of the event.

Cathy Donovan:

So, as you know, the name of the podcast and Paskill’s tagline is Innovating Enrollment Success. I’m just curious what you both think is innovative in events today.

Stevie Henderson:

So, I would be very remiss if I didn’t mention AI. AI is taking everything by storm and there’s so many uses for it. And, you know, as an agency, we’ve been using it for several years now, very responsibly, and learning with it as it grows in its capabilities. We had a kind of challenging situation and we were able to use AI to look at old material, such as radio interviews and things like that and recreate the image of a person who is no longer with us. And it literally gave everyone in the audience chills when they heard the voice and saw the images and they were actually moving. And this is all thanks to the innovative stuff that we do with AI and motion graphics and all of those things.

You know, innovation can come in a lot of forms. It can come in experience. It can come in learning, it can come in a lot of ways, but anything that’s new and exciting is innovative. And that’s what we want to be doing for our clients. Jeff, what do you think?

Jeffrey Haskett:

I would agree with that statement. I feel like LED Technology has been a huge focus over the last several years. It’s not new, but it is still constantly innovating and, and the industry is still kind of learning how it can affect and help us. And it’s changed the way we use video services we can wrap around people, we can make them expansive.

We no longer have to stick within 6 to 9 ratios. We can just make a wall and do everything kind of wrapped into one. And, you know, it also affects lighting and effects because power draws and, smaller budgets aren’t as challenging now that we can have smaller lights that do what you used to have Taylor Swift tour in order to justify some of these effects and lighting experiences.  And now they’re in smaller packages and take a lot less power. So, that’s certainly been one technology has helped, but I tell you, it is so much fun to be able to go and see the annual improvements in a show.

And we try very hard to keep up with it and bring them to our clients regularly. And hopefully, you know, next year we’ll have a new set of tools that we’ll be able to work with. And it will be another learning stage for what’s next.

Cathy Donovan:

Well, thank you to those listening to our conversation today.

I so appreciate the time and insights of our guests, Stevie and Jeff. If you’d like to connect with them, check out our show notes or find them on social. To ideate on how your institution could benefit from some new thinking on your campus events, please reach out to us at Paskill, where we believe an exceptional higher ed experience is worth the investment.

Thanks so much, Stevie and Jeff.

Stevie Henderson:

Thanks for having us.