Planning Virtual College Fairs
Charles Bain, CollegeWeekLive
December 2015
Agenda
• What is a Virtual College Fair?
• Texas case study
• The tools you need
• Building your own virtual college fair
• Q&A
What is a Virtual College Fair?
A virtual college fair is an online experience for
students to learn more about colleges and universities.
• Live chats with college admissions counselors
• Information on hundreds of colleges all in one
place
• Expert presentations
• Scholarship opportunities
Region X – May 2014
• Planned as a standalone event
• Eleven Texas colleges participated
• Marketing
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–
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Email campaigns (CWL and Reg10)
Phone campaign (CWL)
Web marketing (CWL and Reg10)
Fliers (Reg10)
Press release (CWL)
• Results:
– 600+ students logged in and chatted with 11
colleges
Region X – November 2014
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•
•
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Planned during CWL’s November All Access
100+ participating colleges and universities
Included expert presentations
Marketing
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–
–
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Email campaign
Web marketing
In-person promotion
Partner organizations
• Results
– 1,600 newly registered students
– 2,900 Region X students attended
• 50% from only 10 high schools!
Region X – October 2015
•
•
•
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Planned during CWL’s October All Access
100+ participating colleges and universities
Included expert presentations
Marketing
• 100% of marketing for this event was done by Region 10
• Results
• Entire ISDs committed to participating in the event:
•
• Princeton
• Allen
• Mesquite
• Lone Oak
• Inspired Vision
• Legacy prep
• Farmersville
Over 1200 students attended this event*
The Texas Virtual College Fair
• November 12th, 2015, 9a to 6p CT
• Stand alone event
• 24 Colleges
• Texas educators were invited to invite colleges to participate for the one day
event.
• 15 non-client colleges participated
• 22 in-state colleges
• Marketing
• Education Service Centers marketed to their teachers, counselors, and other
educators
• CBOs marketed to their students
• Texas PTA marketed the event to PTOs
• CWL marketed to their TX database
• Results:
• 1700+ students
The AVID Virtual College Fair
The AVID Virtual College Fair is scheduled for Friday
December 4th. This slide will be updated after the event. To
participate register at AVID.CollegeWeekLive.com
Planning Your Virtual College Fair
with CollegeWeekLive
Keys to Success
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•
•
•
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Understand CollegeWeekLive (CWL)
Start small and scale
Make it easy
Plan ahead
Create a buzz
What is CWL?
A free site that enables online,
live, and interactive engagement
between high school students
and colleges throughout the
enrollment process.
Who Uses CWL?
#1 virtual college fair company
*Numbers based on 2014 statistics
Who Uses CWL?
250+ college and university clients
Abilene Christian University
American University in Rome
Azusa Pacific University
Ball State University
Boston Architectural College
Broward College
Butler Community College
Caldwell University
Centennial College
Christopher Newport
University
College of DuPage
Columbia College
Cornell University
CUNY, College of Staten
Island
Daemen College
Design Institute of San Diego
Durham College
East Tennessee State
University
Eastern Illinois University
Fashion Institute of
Technology
Florida International University
Full Sail University
Gannon University
Grambling State University
Hilbert College
Illinois College
Illinois Institute of Technology
Lakeland College
Manhattanville College
Marquette University
Miami Dade College
Miami University of Ohio
New York University
North Carolina State University
North Dakota State University
Nova Southeastern University
Oregon State University
Otero Junior College
Pace University
Pittsburg State University
Purdue Calumet
Roger Williams University
Rowan University
Saint John’s University, NY
Saint Louis University
Sam Houston State University
St. Thomas University
Stevens Institute of
Technology
Suffolk University
SUNY, Binghamton University
SUNY, Potsdam
SUNY, University at Albany
Texas Tech University
The University of Arizona
University of Bridgeport
University of British Columbia
University of California, Davis
University of Colorado, Denver
University of Florida
University of Houston
University of Idaho
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Michigan, Flint
University of Nevada, Reno
University of Notre Dame
University of Portland
University of San Diego
University of Tampa
University of Texas, Arlington
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Utah State University
Valencia College
Virginia Tech
Washington State University
West Chester University
…and more…
CWL Partners
What is High School Connect?
Complements in-person high school visits with online meetings
Extend and receive invitations for
Virtual College Meetings!
• Continue the flow of communication
to maintain students’ interest
• Introduce your students to more
colleges
• Connect throughout the year!
Why Schedule Online Meetings?
Schedule chats with admission counselors from the
schools your students are most interested in, at the
time you want, without leaving the computer lab.
Honduran high school
students & counselor
engaging with colleges
using High School
Connect
Three Easy Steps
1. Register and login to High School
Connect.
2. Search for colleges and extend meeting
invitations.
3. Invite students to log-in and ask questions.
High School Connect Dashboard
Invite Colleges
Click on “Invite Colleges” (left), a new
search tab will open (below).
2
1
Search for colleges
using either the
keyword search (1) or
the filters (2).
Click on “invite” to the
right of the college’s name.
Invite Colleges
• Complete the form
– Date
– Start and end times
– Approximate number of
students
– Personal message (optional)
• Click “Send Invite”
• Watch your email
HSC Requirements
• CWL works on any device connected to the
Internet.
• Each student should be on their own device.
• There should be at least five students at each High
School Connect meeting.
What it takes..
• Communication
• Structure
• Evaluation/Survey
• Partnership to supply promo material
…For Your Class
• Use High School Connect
• Plan ahead
– Have your students pre-register at CWL.
– Teach your students what questions to ask.
• We have a list of 100!
– Test your connection.
• Collaboration is encouraged!
(Yes, Mrs. Smith’s class can join the chat!)
…At Your School
• Encourage your students to use CWL
• Plan ahead
–Make this part of your annual planning.
–Get buy-in
–Pre-register
–Test your tech
•Create a buzz!
Patch High School hybrid college fair in Stuttgart, Germany
…For Your District
• Join an All Access Day.
• Plan ahead.
– Get buy in from:
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•
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Principals
AVID
Counselors
Students
Parents
• Create a buzz.
– Marketing
… For your State
Each state is unique. Please talk to me, Charlie Bain, and we will discuss how we can
create an event for your state.
Cbain@collegeWeekLive.com
617-938-6090
Q&A
Charlie Bain
Cbain@collegeweeklive.com
617-938-6090
Thank you!
Kim Simmons
kimberly.simmons@region10.org
972-348-1528