With NACAC just around the corner, it’s a good time to talk about that wonderful concept of “The Vendor Booth.”
Each year Carnegie attends almost 40 conferences around the country, including the regional ACAC conferences, CASE conferences, and national conferences such as AMA and College Board. We go as exhibitors, speakers, and sometimes as attendees ourselves.
As a frequent conference exhibitor/speaker/attendee, let me tell you—I have seen it all! Bingo games, tic-tac-toe, giveaways, all to get attendees to stop and speak with vendors. But what many people may not understand is just how much there is to learn in an exhibit hall underneath all that swag.
As vendors, we consult, we educate, and we listen. We listen to the questions you ask and the answers you give. Why? Believe it or not, we enjoy the dialogue. Sharing our experiences and learning as much as we can from all of you about the challenges you face, talking about what you need, and helping you formulate new ideas. And we also know, as a provider of marketing and recruitment services to colleges and universities, that this dialogue is critical to improving.
We have had the pleasure of speaking at numerous conferences this year, many with vastly different audiences and topics, but the opportunity for us to learn while we share what we know is what ties them all together. The conversations I have enjoyed with attendees following presentations have been remarkable. We want to listen, share ideas, and help if we can, even if it’s just because our conversation made you think about something in a different way.
Some of the conferences and topics you may have seen us present include:
EDUWEB: Beyond the Data: Engage Your Core Audience with Measured Results
OACAC: From Ripples to Waves—How To Digitally Build Your Enrollment Brand Overseas
GMAC: Marketing Graduate Programs in a Digital Age
NEACAC: Keeping your Marketing Nimble to React Effectively to New Priorities and Opportunities
ACT, SACAC, PNACAC, MWACAC, GPACAC: Search Differently: How to Maximize Your Student Search Efforts
ILACAC, IAACAC: Multi-Channel Recruitment: Finding the Right Students, at the Right Time, with the Right Channel
NEGAP: Is the Stealth Applicant Headed to Graduate School?
In addition to sharing ideas at conferences, we also host free webinars each month on various topics. We understand that because we work with higher education clients exclusively, we have a lot of aggregate knowledge to share. We make our webinars available online, and our presentations are also available if you ask. There is tremendous benefit to sharing knowledge and experience—both ways.
So the next time you want to pass through the exhibit booths without speaking to any vendors, remember this: we don’t just want to tell you what we do; we want to hear what you need us to do. Consider taking a moment to stop and chat. You might just learn something that will make your job easier or help us create something new. And, after all, the worst case scenario is you get that bingo sticker so you can enter the mini iPad giveaway!
Start by stopping by our NACAC booth #509. We hope to see you there.