It’s been just over twenty years since the first virtual college fair was launched, and despite the hype it was collectively understood to be a failure. And in those twenty years we’ve seen web platforms go from Myspace to Snapchat to TikTok where it’s the user’s world to create. Our ability to connect to the world has went from dial-up to DSL to Wifi hotspots to 5G-mania … and yet, the virtual college fair platform has evolved little, if at all. Join us this week as Phil encounters a caffeinated “morning Mat” and they ask, Is this really as good as it gets with virtual fairs? Is there something we should be doing to make the most out of these virtual moments?
If the past six months haven’t left you muttering to yourself already, then this next six months of admissions recruiting is sure to push you right to the edge. Regardless of your state, region, or type of school you’re currently working with, if your business is recruiting students – then 2020 has been anything but typical. And as we all face the start of a new Spring & Fall recruitment cycle, Phil and Mat decided to start sharing their conversations with the hopes it will further ignite solutions-oriented conversations in our industry. Each week they take 15 minutes to share what’s in their heads about admissions. We hope you’ll join them as they continue their attempts to peek around for the future of admissions.
We couldn’t have imagined a better way to launch our podcast than to host a guest like Tim Fuller of Fuller Higher Ed Solutions.With over 40 years of higher education experience, Tim represents the type of leadership our industry needs as we face uncertain times. During our short time, we hope you’ll pick-up on two things about Tim, 1) a hopefulness grounded in tested experience, and 2) the professional edge that makes him one of Christian higher education’s most trusted consultants.
As admissions professionals all over North America are dealing with a lot of uncertainty, he reminds us of the importance of staying grounded and not losing sight of what we’re all are really building. And when we press him on the future of admissions, he delivers some compassionately candid talk about what’s to come, how we can plan, and how we can continue to serve all our students and families in the seasons to come.
Oh, and if you ever see Tim Fuller walking around with a portfolio, you’ll know he’s just doing what he loves.
First, I was asked to help produce part of the online orientation program. That sentence including “online orientation” itself is interesting, but what I want to focus on was that I was asked to help out with the production. I ended up having to run a soundboard. I haven’t touched one of those in probably 15 years. A lot has changed – there are more touchscreens and less dials than I remember.
Second, I have been working on editing some audio for this podcast and some video for another project. My laptop wasn’t cutting. So, I pulled out my desktop and started tinkering. I haven’t used the desktop much in a while. It had been relegated to mostly running to be a place to backup data automatically. I almost said, “quietly running”, but it most certainly wasn’t running quietly. The loud fan and messing with some of operating system rekindled my inner IT guy.
It wasn’t the technical stuff that got me excited – it was the problem solving. Having to figure out the sound board. Deciphering a computer boot issue. It was fun to experience a problem, identify the source and troubleshooting my various attempts at solutions. It was nice to work in the world where the problems can either be solved or not. I knew when it was working the way I wanted it to and could predict it would continue that way.
When people ask me if I miss IT when I’m in admissions. Sometimes, the only answer I give is that when I was in IT, I knew when things weren’t working and that there were solutions out there. Admissions and recruitment is more art than science and sometimes you don’t always have confirmation that things are going well.
The running of the sound board went flawlessly and my desktop computer has more memory and a quieter fan. That made this interesting week succesful in my own eyes.
That’s not how it started. No, that’s where we ended up, but that’s not how it all began.
Mat and I spend lots of time thinking about our profession – college/university admissions. It’s not just a job, this is a profession and it almost borderlines on obsession. The thrill of seeing a student identify a path and actually make it a reality is the stuff that keeps us going. Watching students graduate (or not). Seeing them succeed in ways we couldn’t have imagined perhaps many years before as a teenager in a high school gymnasium at a fair. It’s what we’re made of.
We realized quickly that we are also not the source of all knowledge. We talk to lots of our colleagues all over the world. That brings a variety of opinions, thoughts and observations together in a way that also keeps us thinking about what we’re doing now and what we’re going to do in the future.
That’s when it hit us – a podcast. Not because we know it all and want to pass that on. We want to hear from those around higher ed and even outside the industry to learn from them and then pass that on. We want to see Post-Secondary Education succeed and we hope this helps.
