Update: Looking for the must-attend higher ed conferences for 2017? We have you covered.
Attending conferences is a great way to learn new strategies, hear inspiring keynotes from industry leaders, get inside scoop on the latest tactics and network with industry professionals. We have put together a list of what we think are the must-attend higher education marketing conferences this year.
1. CASE District IV Conference
Date: April 2 – 5, 2016
City: Dallas, TX
Social Media Sessions:
- How to Reach the Youths
- Fandemonium: Handling Student-created Fan Accounts
- Create Your Own Well of Content That Won’t Run Dry
- The Growth of Texas A&M’s Social Media Program: Why Communicating in Real-tile is Worth It
- Fails and Facepalms: Social Media Screw-Ups
- And Now for Something a Little Different: Tailoring Your University’s Voice to Social Media
- LinkedIn: Fast Growing, Free Resource for Alumni, Marketing and Advancement
- Social Media Strategies: Influencing the Culture of Your Alumni Through the Power of Social Media
- Have a Serious Talk about Emoji: Create a Social Media Style Guide
Website/UX Sessions:
- A University Website Overhaul: Challenging the Organizational Chart to Make a User-Centric Experience
2. CASE Indiana Spring Conference 2016
Date: April 15 2016
City: Muncie, IN
Social Media Sessions:
- Trust Your Interns: How Purdue Successfully Grew its Snapchat Presence
- Social Media Advertising 101
3. Institute for Senior Communications & Marketing Professionals
Date: April 26 – 28 2016
City: Scottsdale, AZ
Social Media Session:
- Lessons in Social Media Success from #HigherEd CEOs
Analytics Session:
- Benchmarketing, Metrics, and Measurement
4. University of Illinois Web Conference
Date: April 27 & 28 2016
City: Champaign-Urbana, IL
Web Development Sessions:
- The Scent of Accessibility
- Taxonomy Basics for the Launch of Your Website
- 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with HTML5
Web Design Sessions:
- Not Just Any Content: Strategies for Reaching Your Actual User
- Negotiating the ‘Stupid’ out of UX Design
- How a Web Re-Design Drives Organizational Change: A Cautionary Tale
- Artist or Architect: Designing the Web for the Ordinary Person
5. District VII Utah Regional Conference
Date: May 13, 2016
City: Ogden, UT
Sessions: TBA
6. HighEdWeb Michigan 2016
Date: May 5 & 6 2016
City: Grand Rapids, MI
Web Development Sessions:
- Building up your Development Toolbox
- Extending WordPress: Beyond Posts and Pages
- Improving Your Website’s Performance
Web Design Sessions:
- Create an Exceptional Customer Journey With Your Website
- Using design to solve marketing & recruitment challenges
- Simplified Web Page Strategy
- Developing Content Guidelines to maintain a unified, multi-contributor website
Social Media and Analytics Sessions:
- Accio Followers! – Fresh Ways to Draw Students to your Instagram and Twitter
- Google Tag Manager: What it is and what it’s good for
- Beyond Google Analytics: How to tell if your website is working
7. The DRIVE Conference
Date: May 17 – 18, 2016
City: Bellevue, WA
Sessions: TBA
8. CASE Marketing & Branding
Date: June 6 – 8, 2016
City: Washington, D.C.
Digital Marketing & Analytics Sessions:
- Marketing Measurement: Providing Insight and Proving Value
- Feed the Beast: Social Media Content and Advertising
- Content (Strategy) is King: Engaging and Converting Your Audiences by Providing Content They Need, When They Need It
- Flipping the Funnel: Increasing Yield and Alumni Engagement with Website Tracking and Optimization
Branding Sessions:
- The State of the Profession: Branding in Higher Ed
- Global Trends and Perspectives in Marketing and Branding
9. SUNYCUAD Educational Conference
Date: June 8 – 10, 2016
City: Cooperstown, NY
Social Media Sessions:
- Harnessing the Power of Social Data for Development
- Finding Your Voice: Giving Your Social Media Personality
Website Development & Design Sessions:
- Redesigning Your Site for a Better User Experience
10. HighEdWeb West 2016
Date: June 10, 2016
City: Riverside, CA
Sessions: TBA
11. Elements: The Web Conference at Penn State
Date: June 13 – 15, 2016
City: University Park, PA
Marketing Sessions:
- One Way or Another: Remarketing Basics in a Post-Punk World
- UX for the real world: How service design will transform higher ed marketing
Website Development & Design Sessions:
- Application Development: Why UX Matters
- Creating a seamless omnichannel user experience
- Elements of Motion Design
- It’s Made of People! A Strategic Approach to Dynamic Web Content Personalization
- Web Redesign Done Right – The First Time
12. Summit of Leaders in Advancement
Date: July 17 – 19, 2016
City: New York City, NY
Marketing & Analytics Sessions:
- Creating a Marketing Organization that Gets Results
- Evaluating High-Performing Fundraising Programs
- Digital Engagement Initiatives Today: Crowdsourcing Our Collective Wisdom
- Of Algorithms and Advancement: Data-Driven Advancement Strategy and Execution
13. Summer Institute in Communications & Marketing
Date: August 1 – 5, 2016
City: Boston, MA
Sessions: TBA
14. eduWeb Digital Summit
Date: August 1 – 4, 2016
City: Denver, CO
Digital Marketing Sessions:
- From Thought Leader to Market Leader: Rise Above the Noise with Expert Content Marketing
- The Content Marketing Stack
- Prove Your Worth: Measuring Online & Offline Marketing Efforts
- 5 Ways to Improve Your Email Campaigns (and Get Better Results)
Social Media Sessions:
- First Impressions; What Prospective Students Want in A Campus Visit Experience
- Engaging Current Students for Digital Admissions Recruitment
- 4 Steps to Activate Your School’s Social Advocates
- How to Give Snapchat a Job
Web Design and Development Sessions:
- Searching For Direction: Using A Search-Based Homepage to Direct Users
- Design Your Website with Google Analytics in Mind
- Targeted Audience, Targeted Message. Better ROI – the How of Successful Microsites and Landing Pages
15. The Conference for Community College Advancement
Date: October 5 – 7, 2016
City: San Diego, CA
Digital Marketing Sessions:
- Small Staff, Big Content Needs: Maximizing Communications Tools to Reach All Your Audiences
- Transforming Your Brand with Integrated Digital Content and Engagement
- Content Strategy Speed Dating: Rapid-fire Therapy for Professional Storytellers
- Challenges Facing Marketing and Communications Leaders
Social Media Sessions:
- How Authentic Engagement Wins #CSMLove
Web Design and Development Sessions:
- Case Study: Website Redesign and Content Strategy
16. HighEdWeb Memphis 2016
Date: October 16 – 19, 2016
City: Memphis, TN
Digital Marketing Sessions:
- Marketing Your Faculty: Let Them Help You
- From Strategic Plan to Content Strategy
- Beyond SEO: Writing Findable Content
- Data Science as a Marketing Tool
Social Media Sessions:
- Nailing Pinterest: It’s Not All Wedding Dresses and Desserts
- How Two Schools Turned a Cinderella Experience into Social Media Gold
- Self-Updating Social Media-Driven Digital Signage
- What Really Matters to Students in Social Communities
- Snapchat: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Snap
Web Design and Development Sessions:
- Managing a Large Site with WordPress
- Sketch for Wireframing and Responsive Web Design
- Using Site Redesigns to Foster Culture Change
- Redesigning Your Site for a Better User Experience
17. Confab Higher Ed 2016
Date: November 14 – 16, 2016
City: Philadelphia, PA
Content Marketing Sessions:
- Tools and deliverables: Methods, guidelines, and templates for getting content strategy right
- Building your digital writing toolbox
- Improving your content with analytics and testing
- Metrics for content: Do less work and get better results
Website Design & UX Sessions:
- Storymapping the user’s journey
- Design for real life
- From bad to worse to nearly perfect: Making large-scale IA changes to a live site
18. Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education
Date: December 4 – 7, 2016
City: Orlando, FL
Content Marketing Sessions:
- Digital Marketing Strategy: Surviving & Prospering in a Changing World
- Content Strategy for the Web: Providing Prospective Students with Content They Need
- Be Your Audience: Best Practices for Including Students in Social Content Strategy
- Take a Walk in Your Prospects’ Shoes: Using Customer Journey Mapping to Optimize Your Recruitment Efforts
Social Media Sessions:
- Leverage The Power of Social Listening
- Personalizing Social Campaigns: The “Picture Yourself Here” Experience at Northeastern University
- Beyond Sugar vs. Substance: Rethinking Brand-driven Social Media
- Breaking Down the Silos: Using Snapchat to build a University Brand
Website Design & US Sessions:
- The Anatomy of a Redesign: Recruiting Gen Z
- Mythbusting Websites: What Prospects Value (and Don’t Value) About #HigherEd Websites
