Highlights from the CASE Europe Annual Conference 2018
08 Oct 2018
Top five highlights from this year’s gathering
Senior Social Media Coordinator, Alistair Beech, and News and Media Relations Manager, Jamie Brown, attended this year’s CASE Europe Annual Conference.
With over 200 sessions and 1,000 attendees – and this time, an opening session from actor, author and mental health advocate Ruby Wax – Europe's largest multidisciplinary gathering for education advancement professionals was not one not to miss.
Here are Alistair and Jamie’s top five highlights.
1. Start rehearsing your crisis communications strategy
Justin Shaw, Managing Director of consultancy Communications Management, Tim Watkinson, Director of Communications and Advocacy at NottinghamUniversity, and Ben Holt, partner at leading law firm Veale Wasbrough Visards, led a session on crisis communications.
Key learning – calm trusted external views (for example, a legal or PR partner) can help stem internal panic and give a more balanced view. Communications staff should understand the rules around sharing personally identifiable information (PII) and lead by example.
2. What the public think and perception of universities
According to a Universities UK (UUK) survey, most people are supportive of universities and even more so when presented with information about university activity. UUK are planning a campaign in November which we are being asked to support.
The Guardian highlighted their new ‘Upside’ series, helping universities and others tell positive stories.
Professor William Whyte of Oxford discussed the role of the civic university. A commission is looking at what a modern civic university should look like and its role within its city.
3. Advice for PR teams
Meaningful measurement for PR teams – it was reassuring that others are searching for good metrics for this. As we do here in Manchester, Dundee and York seem to focus on a mixture of data and qualitative measurement.
International PR – foreign journalists are not always interested in Brexit! They are interested in your vice-chancellor’s and senior leaders’ views on issues affecting their countries.
Beyond the press release – focusing on student recruitment, it mainly concerned video content and getting that picked up by local media. It also included some good social media activity with BournemouthUniversity particularly active in this area.
4. The importance of social media in storytelling and employee advocacy
Vice-Chancellor at the University of Glasgow, Anton Muscatelli promoted Glasgow's research and engagement impact to his 2,500 plus followers. A coordinated, campus-wide approach to social media could help enhance long-term reputations.
A session by Hootsuite showed the fall in organic reach – in some cases brands are only reaching 1-2% of their Facebook audience – and the importance of employees sharing positive news and content to their networks.
5. Where's the curiosity?
Higher education marketing is derivative and uninspiring, says Beth Elzer, a creative director. Institutions use the same campaign straplines, or claim to be world-leading in just about everything.
Chisholm Institute's Chase Your Calling campaign focused on the most important stakeholder – prospective students.
Université de Moncton's promotional video showed *gasp* two characters sharing a kiss. The Head Professor at the University Library deemed it 'pathetic…like a beer commercial'. The people that matter (new audiences) praised its authenticity and yes, curiosity.