A dynamic and interactive session unpacking the powerful concept of 'glocal' - a hybrid approach to education brand building which maximises both global and local engagement and reputation to create a coherent brand narrative to enhance an institution's standing and impact.

We will explore good practice from within the education sector and in health and retail sectors to exemplify the approach and outline to tools delegates need to enrich their own institutions' brands.

Our planet is facing a climate crisis. We urgently need to re-evaluate every aspect of society to reduce our carbon footprint.

In the education sector, we monitor the impact of our content on student recruitment, research impact, alumni fundraising…but how often do we review the impact of our content on climate change?

In this session, we’ll show you how to:

1. Calculate the carbon footprint of your school, college, or university content.
2. Decarbonise your content by applying the 5 Rs of the waste hierarchy: refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, retire.
3. Create change personally and across your school, college, or university.
4. Spread the message of content decarbonisation throughout the education sector, so more students, alumni, professionals, and academic colleagues cut their content carbon footprint.

If a beautiful story is what you seek, dance this way and take a peek.
Together in tango, we will move, to discover what makes your content groove.
Grab my hand, I’ll lead the way, and show you how your brand can slay.
I want to make your mind shift, a twist of perspective will be my gift.
You know it’s no longer what you share, but that you convey it with care.
It’s time to step in a new direction and change your concept of perfection.
For it is always a story with soul, that will end up stealing the show.

Supporting your academics to build a social media profile not only enhances their research and international network but is also an important aspect for recruitment and rankings. In this co-presentation Dr Hilary Young (448 Studio) and Dr Sean Morrissey (University of Strathclyde) will discuss successful techniques and strategies that they have implemented to support and encourage academic social media communities that thrive.

Higher education isn’t immune from the basic marketing premise that getting your product offer right is just as important as anything you do to promote it – which for universities means ensuring a course portfolio that meets demand.

This session will explore the insights you need to understand opportunities for growing, contracting or changing your course portfolio. Does your portfolio reflect student demand and market needs? How to evidence something you’ve suspected for a while? What does it take to get organisational buy in to a review of what you are selling to an increasingly discerning market.

We’ll take you through 5 key stages of portfolio review and hear from Birmingham City University about the work underway there to review and overhaul its portfolio.

Our marketing efforts are most often dependent upon winning hearts and minds, what better time to do this than at Christmas – that is what John Lewis tapped into when they created their legendary Christmas TV advert series. This formula can also work for higher education as well. In this session we will explore how one university, Bangor in north Wales, took inspiration from John Lewis and told a very personal Christmas story which reached target audiences in an exceptional way.  

Campus events are some of the most important tools for a university marketer and some forward-thinking institutions are now capitalising on new trends to engage with students online before and after their in-person events. Find out more about how they are using the opportunity to boost interest and applications, and why incorporating a virtual experience into your marketing plan the day before and after your event should be an essential part of your strategy. Revolution Viewing are in the unique and privileged position of having significant amounts of data about how prospective students and other stakeholders are interacting with universities online. We’ve spotted user trends and peaks in website traffic around key university events and we’re here to show you insights and learnings from this. Find out what users are looking for and engaging with, and how to capitalise on this. We will look at recent data from real university virtual experiences, showing you the sort of content that students are consuming, what is working particularly well and how you can use these insights to boost engagement and conversion on your own university website. There are some quick wins to make a difference as well as some longer-term actions that we’ve proven to increase performance across key website metrics. There will also be the chance to discuss best practice ideas with colleagues and friends in Higher Education and to speak to us about the kinds of ideas that would best align with your resources and approach. Leave with some best practice suggestions for combining the strengths of on and offline student recruitment along with up-to-the-minute insights into user behaviour online before and after some very recent Open Days.

University research communication has changed. Press officers and news are out, in favour of communications business partners and multi-channel media campaigns.

Yet, Covid has shown the value in specialist science journalists and news media in holding governments to account and helping the public distinguish fact from fiction. University press officers help journalists to find stories and find experts to scrutinise developments.
Fiona Fox, chief executive of the Science Media Centre, will present a new SMC report into the future of university press offices. She will argue that specialist press officers are vital in the advancement of education, research and society.

Pete Castle, from the University of Reading press office, will describe how today's university comms priorities can coexist with traditional media relations.

I will be dealing with mechanisms on how the University of Navarra has been listening to stakeholders based on the data that we collected during the last 5 years, consisting of roughly 26.000 participants (prospective students, students and alumni). We will then share some learnings from this project and how our own stakeholders at the university perceive us, and how this knowledge can also be transformed into meaningful actions that will lead to an overall improvement of our core activities. I am certain that the session will generate a meaningful discussion about how these insights are relevant to other universities as well, towards a common understanding of metrics for measuring and managing university reputation.

In a post-pandemic world, the expectations and demands of students in relation to their learning and student experience has shifted significantly, Meanwhile, within our own institutions a drive for student-centred decision making and more authentic engagement with myriad student communities is accelerating. This session will explore how brand and communications professionals can navigate this challenging terrain, exploring brand propositions and narratives, student values and charters, engagement strategies, and evaluation frameworks. Brand & Reputation founder – and former University Executive Director – Michael Lavery will steer you through a fast-paced session, highlighting his work with institutions from across the globe.