UK universities have grappled with the concept of branding and marketing as a credible discipline over the past 15 years. This session will showcase numerous examples of how UK HEIs have tackled rebranding repositioning their organisations. Striving to create a 'unique selling proposition' has evolved over these years which has been challenging as the discipline of marketing as a strategic driver has evolved.

Alumni relations professionals know that building a life-long community of alumni and engaging them strategically can benefit our institutions and our alumni. The challenge, however, is understanding our institution’s community and creating an alumni program that reflects the values and needs of both the institution and the community. Creating a proper value proposition helps not only to develop a successful strategy and program, but also to gain supporters and advocates for the alumni cause.

Hear from new and existing members of University of Brighton's Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement Team about the opportunity and obstacles that forming a new small team of almost all new members has brought for everyone. We'll share reflections from all the team on dealing with disruption and how we found ways to empower new and existing team members to work together towards whole team goals. We welcome questions and open discussion from the audience on what went well, what hasn't worked as well, and how they might apply some of this learning to their own teams.

How can you deliver the art of relationship management at scale? In this talk, we will explore how you can harness the power of personalization to boost your alumni and supporter relationships. We will explore how personalised content can add value to your alumni and supporters, how to meaningfully segment your audience, and what you need to do to implement a modular approach to building more targeted campaigns. Join us as we break down the process and provide practical insights on scaling personalised communications effectively.

The discussion will address purpose, content and design, recruitment of mentors and mentees, pairing the students with mentors, overcoming obstacles and how to facilitate good mentoring with or without positive personal chemistry between mentor and mentee.

The session will help senior communication professionals delve into university reputation and undertake an action plan to improve the reputation in their universities. It will bring ideas and experiences that can be used to design an operating model of university reputation management and will consist of 4 parts: what is university reputation; how is university reputation built; what actions should be part of reputation management; and how is university reputation measured.

In our energising closing keynote, Esther will take you on a journey exploring the transformative power of joy. Why do we do what we do and what ignites the fire in our bellies? Is finding joyful work a big ask? What does joy actually do for us? Drawing on some super cool human stories as well as research and psychology, we will unpack the essences of what it is that really makes us tick in our day-to-day work. You will also hear about how to prioritise self-care (unapologetically), reactivate purpose, and navigate challenges by unleashing the moments when you know you are truly revelling in what you do best. Get ready for some new discoveries, aha moments, liberating questions…and a bit of playfulness along the way.