This summer I had the honor to be invited to be a member of the faculty for the CASE annual marketing and branding conference. I had such an a great experience getting to work with the team of faculty including:
Whether it was connecting over dinner, attending a great session, or having a conversation with a key partner, I learned so much about our industry and our profession. I tried to distill the overall learning into three takeaways that are noted below.
Here are my Takeaways:
Talk about the Wins
Right now, especially as the value of higher education is being challenged, it’s really important to talk about the wins. So many institutions want to fly under the radar. This data shows that as people hear good news of campuses, they’re more likely to have a positive view of our universities. When we aren’t telling our story out of fear, we are inadvertently giving space to negative narrative that has the opposite effect.
This makes it really important to locally and regionally highlight the great things happening at our institutions and how we’re making an impact in our communities. While it won’t solve all of the challenges we face, it can create a groundswell of good news to help balance negative narratives.
Be Curious When it Comes to AI
AI has continually expanded over the last 18 months, and it isn’t going away. As such, as leaders in the MarComm space, it’s going to be important for us to be curious about it. Some of the things we should consider include setting guidelines for our teams, exploring how our teams can use the tool collaboratively, and focusing on how the tool can help us continue doing more with less. Here are a few common considerations about engaging with ChatGPT.
When thinking about the work, AI really shines in setting up basics for repetitive tasks, serving as a virtual assistant, or performing checks to make sure teams aren’t forgetting something important.
Talk More Directly In Emails
As a female leader, I’ve often received feedback that I can be too blunt or too direct in email. I suspect it’s something many senior female leaders have heard. As a result, I’ve always started emails with “I hope you’re well”. However, this session suggested that I was giving away the most valuable real estate in the two seconds that people will scan my email to decide if it’s worth a deeper dive. Doing this significantly lessens the chances that people read my email, garner the needed information and respond if needed.
Instead of putting my obligatory greeting at the top and giving away that key real estate, it can be used as the closing of an email. This creates a nice way to close the email in an unexpected way and still helps address the critique that female leaders sometimes receive of being too direct.
Thanks for Reading
Thank you for giving this a read. To all those who connected in person, thanks for being such great partners in our work and our community. We really are better together!
This was my first time attending this conference, and the quality was fantastic. Simply put, I’ll be back! With that said, Save the Date for June 2025 in Hollywood CA.
And Carrie On 