Can’t join in person? Follow along on Twitter: #ccMKTGconf

THURSDAY, MAY 5

5:30-7:30pm   Networking Meet Up @ Bleacher Bar
Sponsored by uConnect
Join us for networking at one of Boston’s most iconic bars, overlooking Fenway Park’s outfield. Substantial appetizers will be provided, cash bar.

FRIDAY, MAY 6

8:30am   Breakfast & Check-in

9:15am   Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:30am   Session I: Keynote Address
Communications Strategies for Mobile-First Audiences
Dan Rowinski, Editor-In-Chief, ARC from Applause
(slides)

10:15am   Session II: Presentations
Student Partnerships To Drive Engagement
The Endicott College Internship & Career Center has engaged student organizations and clubs to drive interest in career center events. The model focuses on meeting students in areas where they have already demonstrated interest, such as the Marketing Club or Biotech Club, and helping them draw connections between their passions and potential career opportunities. This strategy of event promotion has not only led to increased attendance at Career Center events, but has also increased the quality of student engagement surrounding each event. Student sponsors have realized the benefits of partnering with the Career Center and have supported event activities by reaching out to companies, introducing employers at events, moderating panel discussions and joining the employers at dinner in the dining hall. (slides)
PRESENTER: Helen Eaton, Internship & Career Center, Endicott College

Marketing Analytics: Where To Start & What To Do Next
Wrapping your head around data can be overwhelming, but you are not alone. The presenters will share how they think about data, including examples of where they have started and what they’ve done with their findings. (slides)
PRESENTERS: Eleanor Cartelli, Center for Career Development Boston University & Erin Gallagher, Career Center, Boston College

Curating Careers: Engaging Fine Art Students
The University of Connecticut Center for Career Development (CCD) was seeking to develop a recurring program with the School of Fine Arts that successfully engages Fine Art students and faculty. The result of this partnership—the Student Art Exhibition at Wilbur Cross, a semi-annual event—encompasses multiple objectives: to engage and interact with students in the School of Fine Arts who typically do not attend events hosted by the CCD, to allow students outside the School of Fine Arts who have interest and skill in art to display their talent, to provide an opportunity for students to display their artwork publicly and participate in a professional art exhibition, which can be listed on their résumés, and to create an engaging and inviting atmosphere in the CCD’s office space. (slides)
PRESENTER: Amanda Carchedi, Center for Career Development, University of Connecticut

11:15am   Session III: Student Panel
Career Center Communications: A Student Perspective

12:30pm   Lunch

1:30pm   Session IV: Breakout Groups
Attendees will be able to join 2 different topics during this session. Each breakout group will be offered twice, once during each 40-minute round.

Building a Brand: How To Sell the Career Center to Students
List some strategies for building a brand for a career center. How do you ‘sell’ students on coming to career center events and utilizing it’s resources? 
Suggested Reading: 5 Reasons Why Career Services Is The Most Important Office On Campus (Forbes); Use the Career Center, Find a Job (YoungMoney.com); 6 Ways Students Can Make the Most of College Career Services (U.S. News & World Report)

Social Media: Which Network for What?
What social media networks does your office use and for what? Do you feel that some social media accounts are better served for certain types of content? If so, what?
Suggested Reading: Social Media & Your Business: Choosing the Best Platform (Vertical Response); College career advisors are on the social media bandwagon, but they don’t have much of a view (University Business); Which Social Media Accounts Really Matter and Why (Kissmetrics Blog)

Social Media: LinkedIn for Career Centers
Do you use LinkedIn groups in your office? How have you navigated the recent updates to LinkedIn groups?
Suggested Reading: Why LinkedIn Matters (9clouds.com); How to Maximize Your LinkedIn Profile to Find Potential Customers (Entrepreneur)

Social Media: What’s the Future?
What new social media platforms have you heard of or tried? Do you see the major social platforms now sticking around or have you seen students moving away from them?
Suggested Reading: Social media sites you’ll be seeing more of in 2016 (CBS News); 6 Social Media Trends That Will Take Over 2016 (Sprout Social); Career Counselor’s Guide to Social Media in the Job Search (NACE)

Strategies for Campus Awareness: Academic Departments & Faculty Buy-in
List some strategies for building campus awareness of the career center. How can you build relationships with academic departments and partner with them more effectively?
Suggested Reading: Keys to Establishing and Maintaining Faculty Partnerships (NACE); Enhancing Career Center and Faculty Partnerships (EACE)

Strategies for Campus Awareness: Non-academic Partnerships
List some strategies for building campus awareness of the career center. How can you build relationships with non-academic departments and student organizations and partner with them more effectively?
Suggested Reading: Providing Career Services to Student-Athletes
Requires Jumping Hurdles (NACE); The Veteran’s Guide to Developing a Resume (NACE)

Strategies for Marketing Events & Resources
What strategies does your office use, or what strategies would it like to use, to market events and resources?
Suggested Reading: Marketing the Career Center to Students (Indiana Intern/NACE); Marketing the Career Center: Audience Segmentation, Customization, and Differentiation (NACE); Career Center wins national award for marketing communications plan (Columns, University of Georgia)

Student Advocates: Ambassadors, Employees & Volunteers
In what ways does your office use (or would like to use) student ambassadors and volunteers to promote the mission, resources, and events of the office?
Suggested Reading: What Google, Apple, And Microsoft Can Teach You About Student Ambassador Programs (aftercollege.com); Student Ambassador Programs: A Hidden Resource (University Business); Peer Adviser Programs Allow Career Centers to Extend Their Reach (NACE)

Tactics & Tricks for Decreasing No-Shows
What tactics does your office use to decrease no-shows for events and/or appointments?
Suggested Reading: Tips to increase student engagement at college career events (Campus Suite)

Targeting Specific Populations
How does your office reach targeted student populations? What strategies would you like to pursue?
Suggested Reading: Case Study: Websites, Counselors Geared to Special Populations (NACE); Career Development, the U.S. Job Search, and International Students (NACE Blog)

Using Data To Improve Marketing & Drive Student Engagement
How have you/do you want to use data to improve marketing and drive student engagement?
Suggested Reading: Marketing the Career Center: Analytics (NACE); Marketing the Career Center: Audience Segmentation, Customization, and Differentiation (NACE)

3:15pm   Session V: Presentations
The 24-Hour Career Center: CMU’s Digital Evolution
Career center staff work long hours to assist students and meet the demands of administrators. Students raised in the “Age of Google” are accustomed to accessing information instantly. In March 2014, the Career and Professional Development Center (CPDC) at Carnegie Mellon University found itself at a crossroads – growing demand for services and no additional funding or staffing planned. Facing this situation, the CPDC made a commitment to increase its digital presence. The effort was designed to equip students with basic information in easily digestible video segments, delivered in formats that students would find appealing, and made available whenever students required them. (slides)
PRESENTER: Kevin O’Connell, Career & Professional Development Center, Carnegie Mellon University

Multi-faceted Marketing Campaigns
How do you reach students? Email inboxes are flooded with updates. Walls on campus are spammed with flyers that often go unnoticed. Social media newsfeeds are overwhelmed with posts. Recent restructuring at the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business presented the challenges of rebranding co-ops and internships as “Lindner Professional Experiences” (with accompanying administrative and policy changes students needed to be know). To overcome these communication challenges, Lindner Career Services created a 3 week-long, multi-faceted campaign that utilized social media, flyers, giveaways, events, student ambassadors, and staff/faculty engagement. In this presentation, career services professionals will learn about the creation and results of this campaign and will explore how to be comprehensive and collaborative in marketing strategies. (slides)
PRESENTER: Amy Marcrum, Lindner College of Business Career Services, University of Cincinnati

Increasing Engagement in a Personalized World
Last year, the Career Development Center at Southern New Hampshire University began developing strategies to increase overall student engagement. Relying on faculty, social media and email blasts were not resulting in an increased event attendance or job applications. Learn how the Career Development Center used a new technology tool to personalize information and hired a student blogger to “take the scary out of career development.” (slides)
PRESENTER: Jessica Erb, Career Development Center, Southern New Hampshire University

Leveraging University Channels To Elevate Career Content
Which packs more of a punch: a tweet to 1,952 followers or 16,200 followers? This presentation will encourage you to think beyond your own channels to enhance your career center’s social media strategy! Learn how the Hiatt Career Center has partnered with the central Brandeis communications office as well as the alumni association to increase the visibility of its career content on social media through the use of university hashtags, Instagram takeovers, and program-specific campaigns. (slides)
PRESENTER: Alexandra Stephens, Hiatt Career Center, Brandeis University

4:15pm   Closing Remarks