What are the best ways to create engaging admission events?

Having conducted many admission events in the past, the audience is the main stakeholder. Understanding the target audience and the questions that are pressing for them is key to a successful event.

Understanding your target audience is a fundamental step in designing a successful admission event. The interviews conducted daily in admissions departments are invaluable for obtaining direct and specific information about the needs, questions, and concerns of prospective students. Through these interviews, we can identify patterns, better understand the concerns and needs that applicants have, and consequently pinpoint specific areas that could be improved in future events.

To create engaging admissions events, think beyond the traditional. Host "Choose Your Adventure" campus tours where attendees personalize their experience by selecting their paths, such as meeting specific faculty or exploring niche student clubs. Introduce immersive virtual reality (VR) tours for remote students, offering a 360° campus experience—Gamify events with scavenger hunts or challenges where students earn points toward exclusive swag. Incorporate student-led panels and real-time Q&A sessions that provide unfiltered insights. Add interactive workshops where prospective students can experience a mock class or hands-on project, making them feel part of your community before applying.

In my experience, everyone loves a good theme! Pick out an exciting and relevant theme and then go all out! Make elements of the event as hands-on as possible to keep prospects engaged and be sure to include current staff from all departments and students - prospective students want to hear their experience and perspective. Don't forget to provide something delicious and go out of your way to make it memorable and shareable!

Leaving a lasting impression with your personal statement conclusion is crucial because it's the last thing the admissions committee will read, and it can greatly influence their overall perception of you as an applicant. Explain how your past experiences have prepared you for the program you're pursuing. Demonstrate how the program aligns with your current goals and aspirations; paint a clear picture of the journey you've been on and where it's leading you. Keep your conclusion succinct and to the point. Avoid unnecessary repetition or adding new information.

Zoom offers a flexible platform to organise and conduct webinars and youtube and LinkedIn provide options for conducting Live events. Depending on the content planned and the availability of the audience a suitable platform can be selected.

The communication about the event must be aligned with the content of the event. The audience who turns up comes with an expectation of getting answers to their queries and participate only if the event covers this effectively.

I think the key to this is to always try to remember your audience. When working with young adults, the average attention span is often much shorter than you would like. Keeping informative sessions short and relevant, but also allowing a bit of natural downtime for informal / spontaneous conversations to happen (though this is often easier for in-person events)

In my opinion, the most important thing is to add value to our target audience, not only create content to get personal data. For example, if you want to promote your MBA program, you can create a lead magnet about how to move from manager to director positions or how to improve your soft skills to reach a director level. Another way to provide value is by organizing webinars about how to become a professional who makes a difference or by sharing success stories of MBA graduates, highlighting how graduate education positively impacted their professional careers. There are numerous ways to create interesting content, but the most important thing is to add value to your target audience.

We have been discussing the best ways to create engaging admission events, webinars, videos, stories... We can leverage employees to enhance the visibility and impact of our events, and surprisingly, it's rarely done. We could encourage employees to share and promote the event on their own social networks, to share their own experiences and testimonies about the institution or program being promoted, and to participate as presenters or facilitators in webinars related to the event. By tapping into employees' networks, we could create a more authentic and robust promotion strategy. Their participation would not only expand the reach of the event but also help foster a culture of support and collaboration within the institution.

In my experience one of the most important things is to always reevaluate programs. Is there something that can be done better? Did something happen during the event that we could have prevented? Asking those questions afterwards and looking to the future is important. If a car catches fire at the intersection before your school before an event (true story) there is nothing you can do. But if you needed more chairs in a room, that is something you can always work on. And if an event went very well, stick with it.

In my view infusing creativity into admission events. Consider creating interactive and immersive experiences that go beyond traditional presentations. Integrate technology like virtual reality campus tours or gamified admission processes. Utilize storytelling techniques to make your institution's narrative relatable and memorable. Incorporate student testimonials and alumni success stories to provide real-world perspectives. Additionally, embrace inclusivity by offering virtual components, ensuring accessibility for a broader audience. By blending innovation with audience insights, you can craft admission events that not only inform but captivate and resonate with prospective students, making your institution stand out in their minds.