Open House: Archives

I’ve just returned from the American Marketing Association’s 2008 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education, where I spoke on developing a compelling brand strategy within the constraints of a consensus-driven organization. Basically, how to keep from diluting an idea internally to the point that it becomes meaningless externally. I covered five approaches—all of them free!—for achieving alignment across diverse internal audiences without sacrificing boldness and clarity. My presentation slides are available here.

Nearly 700 professionals attended the conference, held this year in Chicago, which I was glad to see is still buzzing with the Obama victory. There were a number of really fantastic presentations, including a keynote by author Neil Howe articulating the challenges colleges and universities will face as they welcome millennials to campus; a great show and tell by the marketing team at Southern Polytechnic State University of some really compelling viral work; and a portrait from the team at the University of Delaware on updating audience perceptions. I was sorry to miss the presentation of Dartmouth’s Karlyn Morissette, especially after I heard the raves. Karlyn also provides a recap of the conference here.