This program is designed to promote discussion among participants. It will introduce case studies and issues for participants to consider rather than follow the standard lecture-based format. Discussion leaders will set the stage, allowing participants the opportunity to wrestle with real issues in the profession and work on specific action plans.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 1, Wednesday, April 21

NOON-1:00 PM
Registration/Roundtables by Institution Type
Meet fellow professionals before the conference begins.

1:00-1:45
Welcome and Introductions

1:45-2:30
Opening Remarks
What major changes have impacted alumni relations in recent years? How will the industry look in 5-10 years? Listen to the views of alumni relations leaders and contribute your own.

2:45-4:15
Integrating Advancement Efforts: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Chief alumni relations executives agree-determining how best to integrate their work with that of colleagues in other areas of advancement, and particularly with development, is their top strategic challenge/opportunity. What approaches to integration hold most promise for our institutions, our alumni, our work and that of our colleagues? What trade-offs might we need to be prepared to make? How far do we push integration efforts? Participants will work in small groups on a case study that will help translate ideas into action.

5:00-6:15
Networking Reception
Mingle and get to know your fellow participants.

6:15
Institute Adjourns for the Day
Dinner on your own

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Day 2, Thursday, April 22

8:00-9:00 AM
Continental Breakfast/Roundtables

9:00-10:30
Strategy Development & Management: What's Our Bottom Line?
Is the balanced scorecard approach to strategy development and management used in the business world a useful tool for those of us in advancement? What are some other models worth considering? How might we use industry benchmarks and customer research to inform our strategies? Once we've developed our strategies, how do we ensure that we can execute them? With the help of senior leaders in the profession, participants will have an opportunity to begin to develop, fine-tune and assess their own organizational strategies.

10:30 AM-NOON
Making the Case for Support: Demonstrating Our Relevance and Impact
How do we survive and thrive in good times and bad? Most of our institutions are going through a period of retrenchment and we find ourselves competing for resources with the academic side of the house. During times like these, our political skills-negotiating agreements, managing conflicts, networking, creating coalitions, building a power base and managing the agenda-all come into play. We also draw on the symbolic frame of leadership-creating shared meaning, being clear on our values, articulating a compelling vision, and "walking the talk"-to signal the potential of our work. What's your best angle for making the most in tough times?

NOON-2:00 PM
Lunch, Listen and Share
Enjoy lunch with peers.

2:00-3:30
Alumni as Social Capital: The Promise & Peril of Volunteer Engagement
Is the time we are putting into engaging volunteers truly worth the effort? Where have we seen the greatest return on this investment and why? What are our alumni uniquely positioned to do for us and for our institutions? Can we ever really harness the considerable social capital represented by our millions of alumni? Are community and government advocacy programs worth exploring? How do we prepare for the next generation of volunteers, given demographic shifts and differences? Should we begin by engaging today's students?

3:45-5:15
Making the Most of Our Investments-People, Communications, Events and More
People, communications and events are the areas where we spend most of our precious budget dollars. What decision-making frameworks are we using to allocate these resources? Do we value broad-based outreach over deeper connections with fewer alumni and why? Do cost-per-contact calculations tell the full story? How do we fully leverage the investments we are making for maximum return? Participants are encouraged to use their own budgets as case studies for this discussion.

5:15
Institute Adjourns for the Day
Dinner on your own

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Day 3, Friday, April 23

8:00-9:00 AM
Continental Breakfast/Roundtables

9:00-10:30
Building Your Leadership Capabilities
Now that we've got a clearer read on the future and a few new tools in our arsenal, do we have the "right stuff" to lead our teams, our volunteers and institutions into the future? "Authentic" leaders bring positive energy and a sense of their own values to their work. They are confident, balanced, transparent and self-aware. Importantly, they promote "ownership" in their followers and inspire others to learn and grow. We'll work with a leading faculty member from a top business school program to learn more about our roles in leading our organizations into the future.

10:45AM-NOON
Putting Your Plan into Action
Participants will have an opportunity to inventory their strengths in four "frames of leadership"-structural, human resources, political and symbolic. From this, each participant will have an opportunity to draw on the work of the past two days to identify a key strategic direction or opportunity for which he or she will:
• Map out the nature of the challenge/opportunity;
• Consider the strengths and weaknesses of his/her organization in the face of this challenge/opportunity; and
• Develop recommendations to her/his manager as to how to tackle this problem.

NOON
Institute Adjourns

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