From vendors and colleagues to boards and volunteers, special event planners have a highly collaborative role. Join the faculty for an introductory panel and discussion on partnerships – the good, the bad, and the peculiar. All Tracks

Attention campers! How a pop-up summer camp harnessed the power of experiential events to re-engage donors and alumni. Experiential. Immersive. Activation. We’ve all heard these terms around the event world but they are more than just buzzwords. What do they mean and how can they inform event strategy? What kind of budget do you need? What key moments take an event from ho hum to humming? How do you get buy-in from leaders, donors and alumni? We’ll break down the buzzwords, tackle those questions and walk away with a simple framework to bring elements of experiential to your own event portfolio. We’ll also learn how, with a modest budget, VCU incorporated experiential, immersive and activation elements into a pop-up summer camp that celebrated giving and built affinity through a new and unexpected shared experience. Intermediate Track

In this session you will hear relevant examples of how The University of St. Thomas maximized a non-conference football game against the Harvard University at the historic Harvard Stadium to engage multiple audiences including alumni, mid and principal level donors for a weekend of activities and high-touch events resulting in an incredible ROI. Foundational Track

In this session, you will learn about practical and data-driven strategies that have been proven effective in promoting collaboration and trust-building between event and development professionals, resulting in tangible outcomes. By sharing ideas, information, and perspectives about alumni, you can create a more effective engagement strategy for current and potential donors, providing them with unique, impactful, and donor-centric special events and experiences. Come learn how alumni relations and special events teams can identify major gift prospects for development. Advanced Track

Do scholarship recipients owe donors their stories? Is it the institution’s or the student’s responsibility to steward donors? What is higher education’s role in ethical storytelling? Questions like these, in concert with this important moment in time for our industry—when admissions policies and the cost of education are creating debate and disruption—signal a necessity to evaluate scholarship recognition practices and reconceptualize scholarship celebrations.

In this session, learn how Harvard University audited and reimagined its annual scholarship event to create an experience that put students and donors on equal footing, allowing them to come as their whole selves, while achieving the goals of the organization and its administration. From discovery, to strategy, to execution, to post-event analysis—learn which adjustments worked, which didn’t, and what Harvard learned in its first year of offering this reimagined event. Intermediate Track

See how the latest innovations are changing special events forever and engaging even the most strategic donors in new ways. Learn how organizations are leveraging personalization to engage strategic donors and analytics to meet goals. Clemson innovated their Homecoming weekend event experiences for donors with personalized digital purls for their top giving societies (up to $10 Million donors). They sent a unique invitation to each donor, a personalized reminder, and a weekend itinerary they could save to their phone. The results were incredible and deemed “a smashing success”. Key donors raved about the experience.
See examples of these experiences and where you could use them for special events. Intermediate Track

There are companies all over the globe that are renowned for their customer service, but none more so than the Disney Corporation. “Being Disney” takes careful planning, attention to detail, and most importantly the desire to make each person feel like you planned the event just for them. This session will explore key steps for creating magical moments. Foundational Track

For over 15 years, the Alamo Colleges’ only large fundraising event was more of a friendraiser: a brunch that garnered great community visibility but had low ROI and was not fully tied to the institution’s core mission. Then, in 2023, the Alamo Colleges launched its first ever signature fundraising gala, overcoming years of pandemic delays and institutional challenges, grossing over $800k for our Promise program. In early 2024, the gala raised $1.2 million. Find out more about how both events have evolved to complement each other, incorporating industry best practices and building on support from diverse constituencies in the community. Advanced Track

Your event has it all – food, drinks, décor, and entertainment, but is it inclusive and accessible to all attendees? This engaging session will discuss considerations and techniques event planners can include to ensure their events are meeting the mark when it comes to attendee inclusion and belonging. All Tracks

Every institution has their own premier programs, rockstar faculty, groundbreaking research, and best of all—brilliant students. This session will outline how you can highlight these points of pride and communicate their impact for your audiences through signature events. Attendees will take a deeper dive into one specific (scalable) event that has proven to be tremendously successful in engaging donors and helping to solidify their philanthropic intentions. Advanced Track