The most important part of an integrated marketing strategy is actually having one. (Yogi Berra didn’t say that; Ravi did.) The seduction of multi-channel, multi-platform, multi-media communication can often lead to campaigns running amok and missed opportunities of coordinated efforts. It is often said that Alfred Hitchcock was so meticulous in his pre-production planning, scripting, and storyboarding that he felt his films were essentially finished before they even started shooting. Ravi will tap into his filmmaking background to show how you can effectively partner with critical stakeholders in your institution to successfully build an effective integrated marketing strategy that is more “Notorious” rather than “Psycho.”

At the root of every successful marketing or communications project is a solid plan where everyone knows their role and has enough time to complete their tasks. How do we find this project utopia? Someone needs to claim the role of project manager, and your team leader is not always the best person for the job. Ashley holds “very good list maker” as one of her key identity traits and found herself serving as project manager in unofficial capacities for many projects early in her career. Learn how to step into the role of project manager and what each project must have in place to keep your marketing machine running.

It will happen if it hasn’t already. You and/or members of your team must face a difficult decision. Not a black or white issue, but one of those grey areas with multiple points of view, involving volunteers, top donors, colleagues, faculty members, or someone you supervise or report to. What to do? In this plenary, we’ll give you the foundational guidance to set you up for professional success. You will then get an opportunity to engage in conversation working through real situations advancement professionals just like you, have faced. You will walk away with new insights, tools, and strategies that will help you and your team, operate at the highest ethical standards.

In this session, you’ll learn how to create and maintain a custom AI assistant that helps you work smarter, scale your impact, and free up time for the human side of philanthropy. You’ll see how it can support your work across annual giving, research, and frontline efforts, with ideas you can adapt to your own context. You’ll leave with clear ways to keep your AI sharp, relevant, and actually useful in your day-to-day work.

Managing social media can feel overwhelming, but this session will share a practical, step-by-step framework to bring clarity and purpose to your work. We’ll start by discussing how to audit your current efforts and identify what’s working (and what’s not), then align your content and platforms with institutional goals like recruitment, retention, and engagement. From there, we’ll explore key trends, audience behaviors, and platform strategies shaping higher ed today. Finally, we’ll focus on working smarter, sharing tips for streamlining workflows, strengthening account management, and leveraging AI tools to increase efficiency without sacrificing authenticity. Attendees will leave with actionable insights and a roadmap for managing social media with confidence.

Higher education has always included scandal and crisis, but some institutions weather reputation management better than others. Learn how to increase your chances of avoiding that worst-case scenario or helping campus leaders navigate through a crisis if one strikes. This session isn’t focused on scaring you about the perils of a crisis— we’ve all witnessed how institutions have fared and know the risks. During our time together, hear how you can be a resource in advance of a crisis, how to define processes and institutional values outside of a crisis, and tips for assisting your leaders and institution should they face a high-profile problem or an actual crisis. Teresa and Tony will provide a realistic and pragmatic review of higher education crises and provide attendees with a to-do list for summer planning and strategizing, and a to-don’t list in advance of what is shaping up to be another politically charged semester.

We often treat writing like an act of expression. But in marketing, it’s an act of translation. Effective communication isn’t measured by what’s sent, but by what’s understood. This session focuses on how language helps people quickly grasp, trust, and act on your message across channels from email to web. Because simplicity doesn’t reduce your message. It’s what makes it move people.

The art of conversation begets the art of the interview. But what strategies can you employ to ensure that the interview you conduct yields the content your team needs? Ravi walks through lessons learned from interviews conducted in moving cars, radio stations and C-suite offices, in order to lay out a road plan for your successful interview–whether it be print, audio or video.

Immersive 360-degree experiences have moved beyond the theme park and science museum to be considered as another media format for institutions. But how do you conceive of a story with nothing “out of frame”? What are the best strategies to create compelling experiences that embrace authenticity over gimmick? And finally, what are the technical challenges of deploying these stories within a limited budget? Ravi will share his experiences creating panoramic tours, 360-degree video stories, and full-fledged virtual tours for Boston College–and will offer his take on where this is all going.