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.

The history of how universities formed is almost certainly shaping your fundraising programme, and maybe not in a good way. Listen to best practices in Strategic Initiative fundraising and prepare your whole institution to give the donors what they want and achieve the impact you’re really capable of.  Challenge yourself to be a leader and do the evolution of fundraising – because if you want to solve 21st century problems, you might need to break out of some 11th century silos first.

Do you tune out when people are talking? Do you listen without judging? Do you create the space for people to feel heard? The reality is we hear less than 50% of what is being said in any conversation. When we listen and truly hear what is being said we build trust and a safe space for conversations to flourish.

Are these skills inherent or are they developed? How can you develop and enhance your listening skills to engage more effectively with your donors and others? Good listening practices can be learned and are the key to developing fresh insights and ideas that have impact and fuel success.

This session will touch on the theory and practice of effective listening, bust some myths and share some realities, warts and all, and will be interactive with stories and audience participation that will demonstrate how we can create a greater awareness of our own listening skills, through tried and tested coaching techniques.

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.

Whereas theories and practices of fundraising have largely emerged in the English-speaking world, there is no doubt that higher education advancement is now a global phenomenon. Adjustments are made to create relevance and impact in different cultures, and solutions are developed on the go – often with small teams and no previous guidelines. With examples ranging from the governmental matching funding campaign dynamics of Finland to grand challenge fundraising in South Africa, we look at how fundraising is shaping into culture-specific forms that may challenge traditional theories and practices. In this interactive session, you will also be provided with sufficient space to reveal your own creative fundraising on the go! We invite you, therefore, to bring your cultural observations and experiences to the discussion, for the continuous advancement of the advancement profession.

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.  

Covid, lockdown and the war in Ukraine have tested alumni and volunteer communities like never before. Now, join me and explore ways that we can capitalize on the new reality to continue inspiring unique and meaningful alumni engagement. We’ll examine how over the past two years Central European University's Alumni Relations office met these challenges by creating meaningful programming and volunteer opportunities, allowing it to engage its alumni and student communities in new and powerful ways. Through this we’ll see how by using its strategic position, ARO not only created new engagement opportunities for alumni, but increased fundraising and affinity building as well. We’ll close with key takeaways plus potential ramifications for the future of alumni engagement.

Faced with an ongoing global pandemic and a zoom-fatigued audience, the CERN Alumni Relations team was tasked with designing an engaging, three-day, virtual reunion event. Our mission was to showcase the impact of CERN alumni on society, build networks between alumni and stakeholders, whilst renewing their deep connection with the Organization, adding a sprinkling of gamification. The foundation for 'CERN Alumni Second Collisions' was a bespoke, virtual CERN environment, which enabled guest to roam freely around iconic CERN buildings and grounds, to visit our underground experimental facilities, network with other participants and be inspired by our alumni speakers. Join me to find out if it was 'Mission accomplished' or 'Game over'.

Session description for follow shortly.