Trading Places
CURRENTS Article This article highlights a contest that Canada's York University began in 2012. A York undergraduate student won the right to switch places with the institution's president for a day while the president took on the student's classes and schedule for the day.

Going for Gold
CURRENTS Article The story profiles eight of the 2012 CASE Circle of Excellence Award grand gold and gold award winners.

Icing on the Cake
CURRENTS Article The University of South Carolina offers a wedding giveaway contest each semester. Current students, alumni, and children of alumni are eligible to win a free wedding, and a USC wedding planning class handles all of the decisions and details. Local vendors provide the dress, rings, flowers, etc., and the university's president, alumni relations office, and other campus departments have all been involved in the giveaway.

Advance Work: Touchdown Tune-up
CURRENTS Article Lake Erie College needed a fight song for its new football team. It was the perfect excuse for a media-generating contest.

Advance Work: When Good Events Go Bad
CURRENTS Article This article offers a look at events gone awry on three campuses and how planners managed each situation.

AdvanceWork: If I Knew You Were Coming…
CURRENTS Article Event planners give advice on how to boost the percentage of invitees who RSVP to events. They recommend making the invitations more personal, giving people more avenues for responding, and offering incentives for early response, among other things.

Kicking the Habit
CURRENTS Article Many institutions are involving alumni in changing a campus's alcohol culture. In light of high rates of alcohol abuse among students, alumni magazines are covering the problem; campuses are devising diplomatic strategies to encourage change; and alumni associations are setting sober examples, including devising policies on alcohol sponsorships.

AdvanceWork: The Sights, the Sounds, the Smells
CURRENTS Article An event production expert describes ways to engage constituents by appealing to the senses.

AdvanceWork: Names and Faces
CURRENTS Article It's homecoming weekend and you're a frantic alumni relations officer trying to round up graduates for a class photo.

Closing Remarks: There's No Business Like Alumni Business
CURRENTS Article Alumni events planners find themselves exploring mysteries from the ubiquity of rubber chicken entrees to the correct plural of “alumna.”

AdvanceWork: Staging a Virtual Comeback
CURRENTS Article The University of Wisconsin, Platteville, enables alumni to participate in popular campus events via its Web site.

Not Just for Alumni Anymore
CURRENTS Article Campus communicators can use special events to cultivate relationships with reporters, maintain campus relations, and raise the institution's visibility. PR officers from many institutions describe their success with: 1) nontraditional press conferences designed around themed receptions or hands-on demonstrations; 2) creative groundbreaking ceremonies; and 3) thank-you events for helpful journalists.

Proceed with Caution
CURRENTS Article An alumni relations executive offers event and programming tips that respond to and capitalize on societal trends.

New Tools for the Trade
CURRENTS Article Traditionally, special events planners have been slow to move toward using technology to support their work. Harris offers several high-tech tips to manage basic tasks: 1) use databases to maintain mailing and other lists; 2) consider that the purchase of specialized software, although seemingly cost-prohibitive, may pay for itself in a short period of time; 3) plan room arrangements with special software; 4) use e-mail, voicemail, faxes and other technologies to advertise events and communicate with participants; and 5) sign on to the special events listserv to share information and find solutions to problems. Several sources of special events and auction software are provided.