We have a goal to communicate with our students.

But we’re not the only ones. Our students’ unions (SUs) have the same goal.

Only, for our SUs, students are more than just students. They are members, constituents, voters, customers, volunteers.

For this reason, our SUs have a more diverse communications portfolio than our own. They still use digital tools: website, emails, vlogs, social media…

But they complement these with offline methods: events, forums, drop-ins, flyering, petitioning, campaigning.

This mix of online and offline, digital and door-knocking, creates a potent portfolio of student communication methods that showcase best practice in experience design (XD).

Perhaps it’s time we thought like a Sabb?

In this session, Simon and Mikki will draw upon their experiences as former SU Sabbatical Officers (Sabbs) and current HE communications professionals, and blend their thinking with Rich, an SU marketing and communications professional.

Their session will:

• Provide you with examples of SU communication tactics, both those similar to our own and those which are more unorthodox.
• Reflect on the strengths of these approaches, then suggest lessons that we can apply in our own university-led student communications.
• Present the immersive concept of experience design (XD). This can offer a holistic communications experience for our students, and our SUs might just be the best place to seek inspiration.

Let’s move forward with an SU mindset to deliver engaging and impactful student communications.

After all, you can’t spell “communications” without an S and a U.