homecoming: what's in it for us? a look at best practices
DESCRIPTION
How do you transform Homecoming from “an event for alumni” to a community celebration highlighting the best aspects of a campus community? And can you do that with a beer in your hand while tailgating? This session will explore the data that is driving Homecoming in new directions, and a few best practices that are producing the return on investment administrators are looking for.TRANSCRIPT
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HOMECOMING: WHAT’S IN IT FOR US?A LOOK AT BEST PRACTICES
Timothy State ’93, Executive Director of Alumni Programs & Special Projects, Lake Forest College Stephanie Epp, Ed.D. ’07, Executive Director of Alumni Relations, Illinois State University
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Goal For the Next 75 Minutes Interactive session Share ideas grounded in core goals,
strategies, and data Provide context, background and
motivation for thinking ‘outside the box’
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Lake Forest College
4-year Liberal Arts College founded in 1857
30 miles north of Chicago, affluent community
1,400 traditional-aged students from 47 countries and 50 states
13,500 solicitable alumni
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Lake Forest Homecoming
Modern Homecoming started in 1997
Combined with reunion and family weekends
Part of a new institutional emphasis to engage alumni
250 alumni, parents and friends in those first few years
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Lake Forest Homecoming Today
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A true community celebration with over 4,679 alumni, parents, friends and community members.
Lake Forest Homecoming Today
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The parade has over 80 floats. For a school with 1,400 students, if you’re not playing football, you’re in the parade.
Lake Forest Homecoming Today
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Over 80 volunteers now work year-round to bring nearly 1,000 alumni to reunion events.
Lake Forest Homecoming Today
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This past fall represents the fourth year with attendance greater than 3,000. Still, there is room for growth.
Lake Forest Homecoming Today
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Illinois State University
Founded in 1857 as Illinois’ first public university Today, a comprehensive university with six
colleges 20,450 undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral
students 177,000 alumni in all fifty states/international
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Illinois State Homecoming
86-year history of celebrating Homecoming
Traditional elements with parade, football game, and alumni reunions
Sesquicentennial in 2007 – turning point
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Illinois State Homecoming Today
A Call To Action
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A true community celebration – here over 400 community, student, and alumni runners in our annual 5K race.
Illinois State Homecoming Today
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Build widespread school spirit and a sense of tradition among our future alumni.
Illinois State Homecoming Today
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Highlight our distinguished alumni and bring them to campus to work with students and faculty.
Illinois State Homecoming Today
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Connect alumni and students through areas of affinity and involvement.
Illinois State Homecoming Today
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Showcase in a visible way the school spirit of faculty and staff through our campus decorating contest.
Illinois State Homecoming Today
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Build legacy families through special activities to involve alumni and the next generation of Redbirds.
Illinois State Homecoming Today
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The greatest opportunity to showcase the institution to all audiences while providing the chance to connect audiences and their memories of the institution to the experience of their lives today. In that sense, it humanizes an institution, making it clear the impact it has on people’s lives.
What does Homecoming represent?
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Homecoming Weekend Goals
Increase participation – across the board
Showcase all aspects of an academic community
Build school spirit and pride
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Homecoming Strategies
Redesign the Steering Committee Reframe assumptions about who “owns”
Homecoming Engage the community Know investment and align fundraising
campaigns “Sell” homecoming to internal constituents Use guerilla (viral) marketing techniques Provide volunteer training and support Create on-campus and virtual experiences Use data to plan, review, and improve
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GOAL: Showcase All Aspects
What does that look like?
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What are your goals for using Homecoming to benefit your institution?
QUESTION:
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STRATEGY: Realign the Committee
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STRATEGY: Redesign the Steering Committee
Illinois State Alumni Relations co-chairs Three key subcommittees
Internal Spirit (faculty/staff) Student Spirit Community/Alumni Spirit
Ad hoc committees on marketing, traffic Intentional recruitment or representation
and leadership
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You are missing faculty and, ironically, alumni in your committee structure. How might you involve those two audiences in a manner that is respectful of their time and also clearly values their input, while at the same time is productive for you?
Transition of key committee members, especially students, is inevitable. How do you plan to bring new representatives on board, ensuring seamless communication and execution of responsibilities?
QUESTIONS:
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STRATEGY: Data Driven Planning
Are you planning Homecoming because it meets the needs of alumni you’re trying to engage, or because it’s what we’ve always done? In other words, is tradition preventing you from being strategically relevant in today’s world?
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Lifestage Segmentation
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Relative Draw Index
RDI is a percent divided by a percent to give you a ratio. 1.0 is even. Below 1.0 is is under-drawing, or poor. Above 1.0 is over-drawing, or good. Group of 100 at homecoming, 20% yellow Population of 1,000, 30% yellow Divide 20% by 30% = 0.66, or underdraw
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LFC Homecoming RDI
0.9
1.1
0.6
1.3
1.2
1.1
0.7
1.2
0.9 0.9 0.9
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
Y1 Y2 Y3 F1 F2 F3 F4 M1 M2 M3 M4
2003-05 Homecoming Relative Draw Index
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Lake Forest Data-Driven Changes Family-Friendly
Caged tailgating, checking IDs and wrist-bands, vehicle pre-registration
Added a family carnival and goodie bags for children
Modified menus with more finger foods Student Emphasis
Parade is a “service” students can provide for the children of alumni
Alternative Friday Evening Programming Money Focus Community Focus
“Bring your entire family”
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Event Attendance and Giving
YearAlumni Attend
New or Increase Gift
No Change
Decrease Partic.
Overall Partic.
2006 3.3% 38.9% 33.2% 27.9% 55.2% 26.7%
2007 2.8% 56.3% 21.8% 21.8% 55.7% 24.2%
2008 5.9% 47.0% 25.9% 27.1% 55.1% 29.5%
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Event Attendance and Giving
YearAlumni Attend
New or Increase Gift
No Change
Decrease Partic.
Overall Partic.
2006 3.3% 38.9% 33.2% 27.9% 55.2% 26.7%
2007 2.8% 56.3% 21.8% 21.8% 55.7% 24.2%
2008 5.9% 47.0% 25.9% 27.1% 55.1% 29.5%
’08 Bench
49.9% 37.8% 12.4%
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Illinois State Data Sources
Alumni survey data Student focus groups Planned debriefings Program participation data Website/virtual vehicle statistics Analysis of university investment in
Homecoming
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Q17. Please indicate how much each of the following impacts your overall current opinion of the Illinois State University:
NoImpact
Significant
Impact
Critical Impact
SomeImpactBy Era
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Illinois State Data-Driven Changes Reposition Homecoming as a university
AND community event Showcase all aspects of the University Weeklong schedule and timing of
Saturday events (e.g. 5k run) Family-friendly activities Volunteer-led, affinity-based reunions
with toolkit from Alumni Relations
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How might data inform the planning and implementation homecoming at your institution?
QUESTION:
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STRATEGY: Guerilla (Viral) Marketing Techniques
Volunteers for guerilla marketing Virtual volunteers Reunions
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Online Promotion & Viral Marketing
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Volunteers for Campus Spirit
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STRATEGY: Volunteer Training and Support
Simplify Reunion Process Focus committee’s responsibilities Recognize not all volunteers have the
“people skills necessary” Acknowledge reunions are awkward, group
therapy Conscious of language – “Renew,
Reconnect” “Hi. This is a voice you may or may not
remember. This is Tim, and we were both in school together at Lake Forest College.”
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STRATEGY: Engage Community
Lake Forest: Door Hangers Illinois State
Committee of community leaders Partnership programs to showcase the
community Marketing kits and promotional materials to
area businesses and hotels Billboards, signage, window displays, phone
responses
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Engage the Community
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What are questions that you have?
QUESTION: