We are not technically in Higher Education but we do work very closely with all the Texas Schools of Architecture and they are involved in our conference.
1. Have you executed a virtual or hybrid event? If yes, please explain the type of event and the strategy you took to take it virtual.
Our virtual event officially starts on October 28th! Switching to virtual was painful - we had to keep it very hush hush for way too long and it caused a lot of confusion between staff, speakers and other stakeholders. If we did it again, I'd opt to be much more transparent with everyone - Turns out, everyone else was having the same kind of internal conversations internally as we were and had we all opened up about it, we could have pooled our resources!
2. What is the most creative and engaging experience you have provided to students/Alumni virtually?
For our virtual conference, we have had 4 of the 8 Texas Schools of Architecture sign up to host an alumni event during our conference. Each event has been setup through Cvent as a session and we are sharing the attendee lists with the alumni planning committees for each school. The events they are hosting all vary a little. One school is sending out party packs to each person who signs up, another is inviting some attendees to attend an in person happy hour during the same time as the virtual event (this one makes me SO nervous!) Whilst another has a "House Party" setup where guests will see a birds-eye-view image of a house with no roof and they can click the different rooms of the house for different experiences: Kitchen = drinks and casual chats, Library = alumni come together to discuss literature or study in general, Drawing Room = Architectural Talk, Garage = Classic car talk. This should be a fun networking session and people can move around the house as they please.
3. With the school year kicking off, share one "win" that you have had with this pivot to virtual!
More people are able to attend our events than would normally. The schools are able to reach more people to invite as they can use their own alumni lists instead of relying on our conference registration lists like they would for an in-person meeting.
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Sharna Pascolo
Program Director
Texas Society of Architects
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2020 15:30
From: Lauren Donaghue
Subject: Higher Ed Huddles: Virtual Event Strategy - Networking Opportunity!
Hi all!
Our Higher Ed Huddles: Virtual Event Strategy sessions have finally kicked off and will be hosted Tuesdays at 3PM and Thursdays at 2PM ET through October 20th. We had great conversation in our first round of huddles in August and are looking forward to having additional networking sessions in the coming weeks. We wanted to share these insights with the Community and give the opportunity to continue the conversation. We hope these Higher Ed Huddles along with the open forum discussions allow you to connect with one another and learn from your industry peers.
To help us focus on Higher Education engagement in this new world, we would like to hear from you. Copy the question below, click reply, paste the questions and provide your responses.
- Have you executed a virtual or hybrid event? If yes, please explain the type of event and the strategy you took to take it virtual.
- What is the most creative and engaging experience you have provided to students/Alumni virtually?
- With the school year kicking off, share one "win" that you have had with this pivot to virtual!
Now that you have attended a huddle, if you have any other additional thoughts or questions please reply on this discussion to ask the Higher Ed Community. We encourage you to continue to network and further discuss your Virtual Event Strategy.
If you would like to sign up for a Higher Ed Huddle, register now for an upcoming session. We look forward to seeing you there! #HigherEd
#ManagingVirtualEvents
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Lauren Donaghue
Client Success Manager
Cvent
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