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Home2016 Breakout Sessions

Keynotes & Breakout Sessions

Keynotes

Straight Talk: A Chancellor’s and Presidents’ Panel Discussion of Key Issues Texas Community Colleges Face

Panelists include Dr. Cesar Maldonado, Chancellor of Houston Community College, Dr. Mark Escamilla, President of Del Mar College, Dr. David Hinds, President of Victoria College, and Dr. Shirley A. Reed, President of South Texas College.
 Sunday, June 12 | 6-8:30 p.m.
During this moderated panel discussion, a chancellor and three community college presidents will cover difficult issues facing Texas college leaders today. Among topics you can expect to hear covered are open carry on campus, the next Texas Legislative session and its impact on community colleges, state funding, Title IX and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s 60x30TX strategic plan.
 

Community College: A Life-Changing Experience
Del Mar College Alumnus, Paralympic Gold Medalist and Motivational Speaker Kevin Saunders

Monday, June 13 | 8:15-9:15 a.m.

Kevin Saunders began his college education by attending a community college in Kansas and having a love for sports. After graduating from Kansas State University and moving to Corpus Christi to work as an inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, his life changed after surviving the worst grain elevator explosion in Texas’ history––an explosion that threw him through the roof and 300 feet into the adjacent parking lot. He wasn’t expected to live, but he did … paralyzed from the chest down. In his own words, Kevin says, “Del Mar College gave me my life back.” You’ll hear how he never gave up and became a Paralympic Gold Medalist, author, motivational speaker, the first person with a disability to be appointed to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and a 1993 American Association of Community Colleges Outstanding Alumni Award recipient representing Del Mar College. His story is inspiring, and you’ll hear how community colleges ARE a life-­-changing experience.

“60x30TX” Higher Education Strategic Plan

Dr. Rex Peebles, Assistant Commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Monday, June 13 | Noon-1:15 p.m.
The aim of the 60x30TX higher education strategic plan is to help all students achieve their educational goals and help Texas remain globally competitive for years to come because higher education improves the lives of Texans. Texas has become increasingly engaged in a global economy dependent on skilled and knowledgeable workers. Although Texas is improving at increasing college completions for students from groups that traditionally have not earned certificates or degrees in large numbers, the state has not improved quickly or broadly enough to keep up with changes in demographics. The 60x30TX plan contains four student-centered goals that focus on attainment, completion, marketable skills, and student debt. Each goal contains a set of targets that will move the state forward. Success in achieving the goals rests heavily on collaboration among higher education, K-12 education, and the workforce, as well as on the local creativity of Texas two- and four-year institutions.

The 85th Texas Legislative Session: What You Can Expect and What You Need to Do NOW!

Texas Representative and Calendars Chair Todd Hunter, District 32, and Dr. Steve Johnson, Texas Association of Community Colleges
Tuesday, June 14 | 8:15-9:15 a.m.

The Future of Work, Skills and Careers in a Digital World

Dr. Tracey Wilen, Global Speaker, Thought Leader, Author and Radio Show Host
Tuesday, June 14 | 1-2:15 p.m.
TACCM’s final keynote speaker is a regular expert contributor to national and international news media, including CNN and MSNBC and business publications such as Forbes Magazine. She’s the author of 11 books, including Employed for Life, 21st Century Career Trends, Society 3.0: How Technology Is Reshaping Education, Work and Society, and Career Perspectives from Workplace Leaders. Dr. Wilen worked for Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems and is a former adjunct professor at San Francisco Bay Area College and a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Don’t miss her vibrant, engaging presentation about what the future’s workforce will look like, given all the technological changes we’re already seeing, what’s required of individuals making up that workforce, and how community colleges fit into the role of preparing our next generation of workers. Don’t miss this one!
 

Breakout Sessions

Great Content Marketing: What It Is and What It Isn't

Susan Kirkland, Principal, Catalyst Education Partners LLC
The driving principle behind great strategic content marketing isn’t really about marketing at all. It’s about producing and distributing information-rich content to intended audiences to make them better informed about your college and what you have to offer … what they want or need to know … not necessarily what you want to tell them. Great content marketing delivers relevant and valuable custom content to activate a desired change in stakeholder thought or behavior. And, that content needs to be timely, memorable, and most importantly, optimized if you’re going to see any return on investment for the mediums you use. In this session you’ll learn what it takes to create great content marketing and the metrics that can help measure its ROI.

Think Beyond the Hashtag!

Stefanie Vermillion, Communication Supervisor for Student Life, and Alanna Hollyway, Communication Specialist, Austin Community College
Do you find yourself grasping for marketing ideas and struggling to engage your students? Join ACC Student Life's Communications team for a hands-on workshop that will help you brainstorm what marketing strategies work best to promote your school's unique identity. ACC Student Life will recount some of their successful marketing strategies for the 2015-2016 academic year and follow up with a creative brainstorming session. Get ready for some arts and crafts!

Automated Workflows

Kyle Smith, Director of Marketing & Communications, and Rebecca Rodriguez, Communications Specialist, Brazosport College Imagine an office where all project requests come in online … no email chasing required. Brazosport College uses Asana and JotForm to streamline their workflow and projects requests. Learn more about how your team can innovate its workflow, possibly for free, and make the process of keeping track of those projects all the more easier.

Stop Saying “Make it Pop.” Learn the Language of Design and Give Effective Feedback

Luis Merino, Rich Media Developer/Producer, Dallas County Community College District
"Make it pop!" is a phrase graphic designers hate to hear and is one of the most common, yet horribly vague, pieces of feedback they receive. Designers are then left to wonder if they should alter color, typography, space, contrast, balance or any combination of other choices. The result is a loss of time and an increase in frustration. In this session you – a non-designer – will learn the language needed to give succinct, valuable and effective feedback to the graphic artists on your team, resulting in a boost of productivity and overall morale.

Effective Campus Events: A Meeting of the Minds

Sara J. King, Coordinator of Recruitment, and Michelle Montes, College Outreach Specialist, Del Mar College
Do you wonder how effective your recruiting events are? We can’t be the only ones! Join this open forum and hear what Del Mar College is doing to recruit students but also get ready to share what you’re doing, budget use, communications plans and more! Bring your own college’s strategies for brainstorming and development ideas. We’re going to work through session together!

Building Brand Trust through Strategic Use of Social Media

Sergeant Chris Guerra, Victoria Police Department
Social media is the most powerful tool available to organizations today. Utilized effectively, social media can change the internal culture of your organization while simultaneously building trust with those you serve. Participants will learn techniques to engage their audience, strategic use of Facebook algorithms and the importance of finding “your voice.”

Tactics To Pass a Bond Referendum

Amanda Fenwick, Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations, and Janet Cowey, Director of Marketing, San Jacinto College
So your Board of Trustees has called for a bond referendum. Now what? Find out how a robust integrated marketing and public relations plan helped San Jacinto College pass, by nearly 68 percent, a $425 million bond in November 2015. Takeaways from this session include essential elements to include in your communication plan, even when the "plan" keeps changing, and valuable lessons learned.

Reaching An ROI Of 19,000% - Impossible? Not If You Are Using Mobile Phone Advertising To Increase Enrollments

Dr. Kathi Swanson, President, CLARUS Corporation
Learn how one community college marketing director enrolled 283 students investing only $1,100 for a 19,000% ROI by using new mobile phone advertising tactics. Mobile phone advertising allows for laser targeting of potential and current students, and these tactics allow users to easily calculate that ROI, satisfying even the most demanding fiscal administrators. Attend this session to explore mobile phone marketing trends, including geofencing, conquesting, CRM (database) targeting and other techniques for reaching targeted audiences; learn how to calculate and present ROI; and discover how to utilize mobile phone advertising in your college’s marketing mix.

He Said, She Said: Recruiting Students Into Non-traditional Careers

Benita Flores-Muñoz, Associate Professor of Child Development/Early Childhood and Gender Equity Committee Chair, and Gerard Muñoz, Media Production Manager of Del Mar TV, Del Mar College
This presentation will provide a brief overview of the importance of gender equity in the workforce and how this issue is being addressed at Del Mar College within different fields of study. Identified barriers to recruitment will be shared as well as the initiative that was implemented to address this challenge using video.

Social Media in Higher Ed: How to Get Results!

Chris Tyburski, Senior Marketing Consultant, and Chandler Diggs, Digital Strategist, with TWGplus
Trying to increase enrollment and engagement at your college? Of course you are! Community colleges face unique challenges, ranging from declining enrollment to coordinating multiple campus programs to reaching multiple audiences. Planning and executing a social media strategy requires rigorous, real-time (and authentic) coordination. Explore the current social media landscape in higher education in general and community colleges in particular including building a successful social media strategy, managing multi-campus campaigns, tactics and how they drive recruitment and retention results, innovative use among community colleges and new platforms useful in building the enrollment funnel.

When a Community Crisis Becomes Your Crisis

Ann Hatch, District Director of Media Relations, Dallas County Community College District
When Dallas became "ground zero" for the first Ebola case in the United States, ripples extended throughout the community and into higher education. Health care students from two Dallas County Community College District colleges were directly affected as well as faculty and other employees. Misinformation generated rumors. Accurate, timely communication became critical, and rumor control was a top priority as the chancellor and DCCCD worked with local and national officials to manage the crisis. Hear lessons learned that you can apply to your next crisis.

Visual Journaling for Creative Professionals (the Cliff Notes Version)

Audrey J. Cisneros, Fine Arts and Technology Content Leader & International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Teacher, IDEA Public Schools
As an abbreviated version of Sunday’s Pre-conference Workshop for Designers, attendees will create a mini-book outlining a process for visual research. You’ll work in small groups and then discuss sketchbook examples from leading graphic designers and practice exchanging strategic feedback with a peer.

Providing a Career Vision

David White, Web and Communications Specialist, Amarillo College and Brian Nuttbrock, Senior Representative for Community Colleges , Economic Modeling Specialists
(Session description to come.)

Social Media Marketing From Your Mobile Device

Elaine Krift, Social and Video Media Specialist/Staff Writer, Del Mar College
Always on the go with your mobile device in hand? Learn in this session best practices for posting to social media from that mobile device (smartphone or tablet), including toggling between different accounts and posting to different social media platforms. You’ll takeaway tips for posting videos, photos and hashtags on social media, along with learning about the best apps for your smartphone for posting photos and video to social media.

The ABCs of Digital Marketing

Ellen Davis, Director of Marketing & Media Relations, Temple College, Chris Guidry, Digital Sales Manager, and Nicole Plascencia, Digital Sales Representative, KEYE-TV - Sinclair Digital Group
New digital marketing techniques, such as geofencing and Google AdWords, enable community college marketers to target very specific populations with their recruitment advertising. Learn how you can use these tools from two digital marketing firm reps who have worked with community colleges and then hear a case study about how Temple College is using digital marketing to increase enrollment in their career and technical education (CTE) programs.

Small Shop Talk

Traci Pitman, Design & Creative Services Coordinator for the Office of Institutional Advancement & Public Relations, Texarkana College and Jodi Weber, Director of Marketing & Public Relations, Northeast Texas Community College
If you’re one of the brave souls who juggles all of the responsibilities of a communications department on your own or with a small team, this session is for you. Small shop representatives will lead a discussion about how to make the most of your time and resources while (hopefully) maintaining your sanity. Come with your own ideas, tips, tricks and burning questions for other small shop practitioners so we can share and all benefit. Our departments may not be big, but our ideas are!
 

Four Counties ... One Community: Leaders United to Change Lives

Dr. Luzelma G. Canales, Executive Director of RGV FOCUS, Educate Texas/Communities Foundation of Texas
In 2012, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Collective Impact initiative, now RGV FOCUS, launched to transform college readiness, access and success across the four-county region. Initially founded by a group of district superintendents and higher education presidents, the collaborative has grown to include educators, nonprofits, community groups, funders and business and civic leaders dedicated to making major, systemic improvements to educational and career attainment. Take home the resources and tools focused on improving student outcomes for collaboration across sectors in your community.
 

Bootstrapping Your Way to Rapid Web Design

Jonathan Blundell, Rich Media Manager, and Luis Merino, Rich Media Developer/Producer, Dallas County Community College District
We've all heard we need to build responsive, mobile friendly websites. For some of us, that responsibility sounds like a large, expensive undertaking. Using already-built frameworks, like Bootstrap, you can quickly build a responsive site (or adapt an existing site) that will work with devices of all shapes and sizes.

Writing Short: Lessons for Marketers from Museum Exhibit Writing

Eric Ray, Curator of Exhibits and Collections, Museum of the Coastal Bend at Victoria College
Writing compelling stories is hard. The task becomes even harder to write them in short, punchy sentences. But, that’s just what museum exhibits must do. What lessons can college marketers learn from museum exhibits? Attend this session to learn more about concise writing. Then, learn where you can apply this method to tell your stories.

Taking Photos that Don't Stink: Photography Tips for Non-Photographers

Ralph Goonan, Publications and Web Marketing Communications Specialist, Del Mar College
Chances are you don't have the resources to hire a full-time professional photographer. But, you still need those good shots … sometimes at a moment's notice. If you don't know an F-stop from an ISO, no problem, because this presentation can help you get the shot you need without all the technical jibber-jabber.

Licensing your trademark at the 2-year college level? Yes … No … Maybe?

Maria C. Aguirre, Executive Director of Compliance, Texas State Technical College Pamela JK Rathburn, Creative Service Manager, Tyler Junior College
Thinking about licensing your college’s trademark or logo? Want to avoid the challenges of getting that process done? Attend this session to learn the pros and cons of having your logo and other items licensed as representatives from two community colleges that have been through the process discuss what worked, what didn’t and other potential solutions to licensing.

Tracking, Analytics & Reporting: Understanding How You're Doing Online

Joshua Banks, Director of Digital Marketing at San Jacinto College
Get an overview of how to track your website, social media, emails, display and digital presence. This session covers how you can filter and analyze that data to provide answers and action items. You’ll also learn how best to present these metrics and report to your stakeholders.
 
Increasing Success on Twitter and Instagram
Jahmal Clemons, Social Media Coordinator, San Jacinto College
San Jacinto College was recently named the number one Texas community college on Twitter (www.sanjac.edu/node/4158006). Learn some easy tips on what social media marketers can do using this platform. SJC also has grown a sizable Instagram following and will share tips on how to use that social media platform, too.

Give Your Campus Tours A 360 ... Virtually!

Nick Alvarado, Senior Executive Director of Career Services, Mark Burdine, Marketing and Communications Manager, and Caitlin Simmonds, Intern, Texas State Technical College
A lot of companies offer services for virtual campus tours for college websites. But, they come at a high price! If you're on a tight budget like the rest of us, learn about a cost-effective way to create your own 360 virtual tours for less than a $500 investment as Texas State Technical College did.