5 Benefits of Higher Education Conferences for Campus Professionals

In July 2019, more than 1,600 campus professionals joined us for the RNL National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. This is an event we have hosted every year since 1987, one that draws enrollment and student success professionals from around the U.S., Canada, and even international universities. The 2019 event was particularly lively—there was record attendance, more 120 sessions covering the most diverse range of topics in the conference’s history, receptions and meals that allowed attendees to connect with each other, live entertainment, and more of the things that make the best higher education conferences personal development opportunities as well as professional development ones. When the RNL staff departed, our only real concern was, How do we top this in 2020?

Well, we didn’t top it so much as reinvent this event for two years. In 2020 and 2021, RNL pivoted to a virtual conference. More than 1,200 campus professionals joined us online both years, and we did everything we could to facilitate interaction, conversation, and the fun of an in-person event—with attendees receiving a box of conference swag both years and hosting the 2021 conference in a virtual Paris environment. Our attendees loved the experience and were grateful to have a conference experience, even if from a screen.

However, as valuable as virtual events are, they are a different kind of experience than in-person events. For campus professionals in particular, the interaction that you get at an in-person higher education conferences—talking with colleagues from similar institutions who face similar challenges, chatting with presenters after a session, impromptu “hallway moments” where you connect with a colleague or attendee on the spot—are an invaluable part of the conference experience.

With society opening back up, many higher education conferences are returning to in-person formats, including our 2022 national conference. This is a chance to reap the benefits of conferences, forums, summits, workshops, and all those face-to-face experiences again. But what are some of those benefits?

First, a word about virtual events and safety at in-person events

What’s clear when comparing our virtual conferences that we hosted and our in-person conference is that they are an apples-to-oranges experience. Virtual events offer many, many benefits such as ease of access, lower cost, and on-demand access to sessions. RNL plans to continue to offer virtual events for these reasons, and virtual and hybrid events will thankfully remain a part of our professional development opportunities going forward.

Safety at in-person events is also paramount. Every higher education professional needs to determine if they feel safe enough to return to in-person conferences, and every organization putting on an event in-person needs to follow current guidelines on COVID safety. That is something RNL has been doing with the in-person workshops we started hosting again.

With those two points in mind, here are five major benefits we see for in-person events, benefits that are unique to the in-person experience. These benefits are the reason why we’re so excited to return to an in-person conference experience this year.

1. Networking and interaction with presenters and attendees

There is no real replacement for the experience of live interaction at a conference. Whether you are asking questions from a presenter, sharing strategies with someone at a similar institution to yours over lunch, or being able to dive into the latest innovations for higher education, in-person conferences create a broader learning experience throughout the event. There are also more opportunities to learn because you’re immersed in the conference for days, and you may have a conversation at any time that sparks an idea or inspires an initiative when you get back to campus.

2. Building teamwork with your campus colleagues

Change on campus never happens in isolation. It happens when a group works together to facilitate changes that improve the student experience, campus life, the future success of the institution, and so on. When a team travels to a conference, that shared experience can often be a catalyst for change. Maybe you and your team heard from a campus presenter who solved a challenge very similar to yours. The immediacy of being together to discuss what you learned almost always builds momentum for real change when you return to campus. That certainly happens after a virtual event—and did for many who attended our conference online in 2021 and 2022—but again, the impact on teamwork and consensus for change tends to be stronger when people can discuss it face to face at an event.

3. Increasing focus by changing venues

With an industry as critical and complex as higher education, learning how to solve the really big challenges and create a better experience for everyone on campus is hard to do when you are in the thick of day-to-day responsibilities. Whether you’re working in your campus office or remotely, you have a myriad of meetings, messages, and to-dos that demand your focus. Traveling to an event, even for a one-day event you can easily drive to, frees your focus to listen, ask questions, explore, interact, and immerse yourself in solutions to challenges and new pathways to goals. It also tees up the networking and teamwork opportunities that are unique to in-person events.

4. Investing in the professional development of yourself and your staff

Going forward, professional development through events will be a blend of virtual, hybrid, and in-person experiences, and it is important for your own development to find the right mix for you. In the case of in-person events, the benefits of interaction, networking, and focus mentioned above have tremendous benefits for you. Attending a conference yourself is investing in your ability to excel at your position on campus as well as investing in your own professional future. If you have direct reports, sending them to a conference invests in their abilities and also reinforces that you are committed to growing them as professionals—a real morale booster for staff. That investment in the development of people almost always pays major dividends for campuses.

5. Having an experience that inspires and energizes you

What was most clear about the difference between our in-person conferences and our two virtual conferences was how the in-person event is an experience. For example, at the RNL National Conference, we have twice have had Liz Murray deliver a keynote address. She is the author of Breaking Night, a moving memoir about her journey from being homeless to attending Harvard University. She is a masterful speaker, and for our virtual 2020 event, her keynote presentation (recorded without an audience) brought the virtual house down based on the raves she got on our conference evaluations. But a few years earlier, Liz Murray also spoke at our conference in person. She was amazing then as well, but the difference was the feeling of the 1,300 other people listening raptly to her harrowing yet inspiring story. There’s an energy in person that makes inspiration, excitement, happiness, laughter, and the like more palpable, and you often carry that energy back with you to campus.

It's time to consider the (safe) return to in-person higher education conferences

Again, going forward, we at RNL will be taking a blended approach to events, both in terms of ones we host and what we have our staff attend. As these five points make clear, in-person events are a key part of that approach, providing a unique three-dimensional, multisensory, and interactive experience. For campus professionals, higher education conferences not only provide strategies on dealing with the big challenges we face, but also convey the collegiality, the commitment, and the mission that everyone in higher ed shares. And that’s something that everyone in higher ed can benefit from.

Does your institution plan to return to attending in person events in 2022? Do you hope to return to more in-person events yourself, or would you like to stick to virtual events? Share your thoughts in the comments.