That's a Wrap! CampusGroups Rendez-Vous '22 Conference Was a Hit!
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THATโS A WRAP! CampusGroups Rendez-Vous โ22 was a hit!
On Friday, April 8th, the CG team was beyond thrilled to host our 2nd annual virtual conference with our wonderful campus partners!
We were delighted to gather together and connect with so many creative and innovative campus leaders at CampusGroups Rendez-Vous โ22! It was such a pleasure to see and hear from the incredible members of the CG community! ๐
Over 400 attendees from 12 countries and 141 campuses around the globe joined us for an exciting day of discussions, inspiration, discovery and new connections!
11 presenters from 8 institutions shared creative ways they have been adapting and innovating to keep their students connected and engaged.
Throughout the day, RDV guests shared tips, gathered great ideas and explored unique perspectives through campus spotlights, workshops, panel and breakout discussions.
We are excited to share some highlights and a recap of the day below!
On any given day, CG Implementation and Product Support Specialist Anthony Pires wears many hats! Hosting webinars, recording training tutorialsโฆ and kickng off our conference with a show-stopping opening number (CG Team Members Bridget DuBrey and Louis Cameron joined Anthony in sharing their vocal talents with the CG Family!)
Why the CG Team LOVES Rendez-Vous ๐
We asked CampusGroups team members why they think RendezโVous is such a valuable experience for the CG communityโฆ
“Rendez-Vous is about connecting our campuses with each other. I love the opportunity to showcase multiple campuses at once and hope the stories shared that day inspire our other campuses, whether to take ideas and adapt them for their own work, or to spark an idea of a story they would like to share at our next conference!”
“RDV is such a great experience because it brings our newer and existing campuses together. Our new campuses are able to learn from and be inspired by the experts currently using the system.”
“Celebrating the work we do in partnership with our campuses while having fun with our teamโs talents was a blast. RDV is incredibly valuable. There are so many creative ways to use the CampusGroups platform. Providing an opportunity to showcase how campuses integrated the platform into their work and for others to take that back to their communitiesโฆI love the idea sharing.”
“I believe that RDV is a valuable experience because it provides a chance to network, share ideas, and become inspired with new ways to engage campus communities!”
“Events are such a fantastic space to create a whole experience from start to finish! Our users experience the CG brand in one way or another all the time โ our conference is just an extension of the brand and giving it a theme and experience brings another way for our users to make a connection with our brand and product in a completely different way.”
“I really like being able to hear from schools with which I normally donโt work. I find that at each RDV, the conversations between different types of schools always brings such interesting discussions. It gives admins a dedicated venue to discuss projects with other users of the platform.”
The Show Must Go Onโฆ
Envisioned by our incredible Campus Success team, our Broadway theme was chosen for Rendez-Vous โ22 to explore how todayโs leading campuses have been adapting and innovating to guide student success. (Not to mention, as a company we LOVE show tunes and our headquarters happens to be on Broadway!)
With innovation at the forefront of our minds, we were thrilled to use one of our virtual engagement tools to help guide RDV guests on an exciting, branded experience!
โWhile we could not be in person this year, using an interactive Virtual Fair map allowed us to create a virtual representation of our conference and create an organized flow for our sessions,โ advised Joe Pernick, Implementation & Training Manager at CampusGroups.
CGโs Graphic & Brand Designer, Megan Luedke, shared more on her approach customizing the RDV Fair map. โA classic NYC Broadway experience typically requires you to know โ'Where is the theaterโ and โWhere am I sittingโ. RDV requires you to know those answers as well.โ
โWe needed one place where attendees could go that had all the links to the sessions, and showed everyone the schedule and a little info about each session. We could have made a webpage in the web builder, but we have the Virtual Fairs Custom map feature that everyone loves! So, we adapted the VF map to work for our one day event.โ
โThe design was really inspired from a map of where all the broadway theaters are located in NYC,โ Megan added. โEach street & block contained a timeframe in our schedule and the necessary links to each session. The grid pattern of NY City Streets and the timeline of our day allowed for a vertical map to scroll through as the day went on.โ
Hosting Rendez-Vous on a CampusGroups Event Hub (for an interactive experience!)
As a team, we not only love our software, but we use it EVERY DAY! And organizing our virtual conference was no exception.
โI love a good Event Hub and it's a big part of what brought me to CampusGroups when I was looking for an orientation solution for my campus,โ Gina Galland, Director of Campus Success, advised. โThe feature is so flexible, allowing administrators to craft a perfectly curated experience for their major events, isolated from the activity of the rest of the platform. Whether a virtual conference like RDV or an in-person experience (RDV 2023???), attendees have only one place that they need to look to find all of the information they need and connect with fellow attendees and the event organizers.โ
Bridget DuBrey, a Campus Success Associate at CampusGroups, added that using an Event Hub โis really helpful because it allows for different types of participation and for people to choose their own pace for engaging. The Event Hub can be open early so people can click around and get excited for the Event and learn more about what to expect, and it can stay open a bit after the Event so people can go back in and look back at resources.โ
ENGAGEMENT IS EVERYTHING! We included fun and interactive tools for attendees to engage, connect and explore before, during, and after the conference. โThe Virtual Fair map was a fun and cool way to show the sessions in a way that used our theme, and the Spotify playlist was a another great way to celebrate the theme and engage people,โ Bridget shared. โAnd the Information Booth is an easy way for people to ask for help throughout the event.โ
Life is a Cabaret! ๐ถ
In the afternoon, attendees got the chance to break out into small group discussions and experience a variety of product highlights, mini trainings, and speed roundtables, led by the CG team!
โOur teams are constantly innovating, whether it's enhancing our product or envisioning new ways to serve our communities, and spreading the word is a challenge we all face,โ advised Gina Galland, CGโs Director of Campus Success. โThe breakout sessions were meant to give campuses a chance to hear from our campus-facing teams and learn from the tremendous amount of knowledge they have and gain direct, real-time feedback back from our guests.โ
CG Campus Success Associate Kathryn Warren added, โIf thereโs one thing weโve learned, itโs that campus administrators want to talk and connect with each other! They love asking their peers questions and getting feedback on new ideas. It was great to host some of these conversations during the conference. Weโre excited to continue our series of roundtable discussions throughout the year as well!โ
Discovering how other campuses are using CampusGroups for their programs
At Rendez-Vous '22, we heard from innovative campus leaders from around the globe! We explored critical topics in higher education and discussed challenges and victories, best practices, stories and successes within our platform.
Check out some key sessions and campus success stories showcased at RDV this year!
Be Our Guest: Welcome to RDV 2022! ๐
Kicking off the conference, we were thrilled to share some background on the company, recap an exciting year, and share our plans for the future!
Yorick Ser, CampusGroups CEO and Founder
Andrea Palmer, VP of Sales
Gina Galland, Director of Campus Success
โIt's a special moment to be able to share with our campuses our story and highlight not only where we come from, but where we're going next,โ shared Gina Galland, Director of Campus Success at CampusGroups and one of our three keynote hosts. โWe would not be where we are today without them. This year our team came up with a fantastic theme, bringing our guests with us virtually to our NYC home, right on Broadway, where it takes a full production team to make CampusGroups what our schools need it to be.โ
Some other favorite moments from this session:
“I always love hearing Yorick talk about the early days of the company. We move so quickly, itโs lovely to revisit โthe olden daysโ and remember our progress.”
“My favorite moment was the opening number! Seeing the smiles on everyoneโs face as they watched our talented team was so much fun. It was a great way to kick off the day and really set the tone for a fun, productive, and engaging conference!”
When a Group is not a Group but a PRODUCTION ๐
Princeton's Winter session brings the entire university community together through a vibrant two-week experience that offers unexpected, active and intriguing non-graded learning and growth opportunities.
Hosting around 500 events with over 4,000 unique registrations, this product is run entirely through CampusGroups.
Elizabeth A. Smolinski, Package Adoption & Configuration Software & Application Services Office of Information Technology at Princeton University
โI really liked hearing all the steps from start to finish on how Princeton ran their Winter session group so successfully,โ shared CG Campus Success Associate, David Kaplan, who helped facilitate the session and showcase Princetonโs engagement successes.
The Pandemic Pivot: Princeton University Tigers in Town ๐ฏ
The campus experience of students during the pandemic has been marked by fast-changing health policies, disconnection from the campus community, and the shuttering of local businesses that were once a home-away-from-home.
This session highlighted how the CampusGroups events module inspired a new program offering policy-compliant connection opportunities for students, while supporting local businesses impacted by stay-at-home orders.
Ian Deas, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students & Director of Student Leadership and Engagement at Princeton University
Mitchel Charles, Program Coordinator at Princeton University
โI love how Princetonโs team navigated the challenges the pandemic presented,โ Maddy Hauck, Campus Success Associate and session host lauded after the conference.
โThey recognized the need to support not only their studentsโ engagement with the campus, but also the local community. Princeton was able to work in partnership with local businesses to provide opportunities for students to safely enjoy their new home. The program was incredibly successful with over 80% of first-year students registering for a Tigerโs in Town event.โ
โPopular!โ I'll help you be popular! ๐
Getting your fellow student affairs departments and student leaders to adopt any new platform can be a challenge, but with the right preparation and marketing you can ensure your investment is a "popular" success.
Columbia University School of Professional Studies turned to CampusGroups as their โone-stop-shopโ for student engagement.
In this session, Laura and John discussed how they have consolidated the online spaces managed by staff and made CampusGroups the primary tool for event registration, emailing, student organization oversight, and workflows. They also shared strategies for proactively marketing the platform to create impressive school-wide adoption.
Laura Graffitti, Assistant Director, Student Life at Columbia University School of Professional Studies
John Brunner, Coordinator, Student Life at Columbia University School of Professional Studies
โThe Columbia SPS team is amazing!โ Kathryn Warren, Campus Success Associate at CampusGroups, professed after the session.
โItโs been a privilege working with and supporting them throughout their first year. I was so excited for them to share their journey and successes with the CG community. They provided so many great strategies that any campus can benefit from. I loved reading the comment section during the presentation. It was full of feedback from campuses sharing that this information is exactly what they were looking for from the conference!โ
Blow Us All Away: How Johns Hopkins University Improved Student Engagement by Migrating to CampusGroups ๐ซ
Like many institutions, Johns Hopkins University aspired to create a more centralized, streamlined student experience for their students. They were frustrated with multiple technologies and lack of integration, and could not gather reliable data to tell their story.
Attendees learned how JHU created a centralized student experience across 9 schools and 3 continents by migrating to CampusGroups. We also discussed how launching โHopkins Groupsโ improved overall student engagement on campus.
Calvin Smith, Jr., Sr. Director, Leadership Engagement & Experiential Development at Johns Hopkins University
Blow Us All Away was facilitated by CampusGroups VP of Sales, Andrea Palmer, who was eager to help showcase JHUโs engagement story, success, and inspiring advice for other campuses.
โCalvin has been an amazing partner from before they were even clients. I love hearing firsthand how they've evolved in their usage over time. They worked hard to get campus-wide buy in, consolidate multiple systems, and provide a better student experience.
All I Ask of You: Guiding Engagement through Checklists (Panel Discussion) ๐ก
Have you been a Phantom presence in your students' lives, trying to stay on top of required tasks and monitoring engagement? The Tracks & Checklists feature is one of the most powerful engagement tools at your disposal because it can be used for so many things! At RDV โ22, attendees discovered how other campuses are using it!
From trainings, engagement, critical tasks, badging, gamification and beyond, we are seeing enormous creativity and innovation in the way campus leaders are creating guided engagement programming!
Kirsten Pagan, Student Engagement Analyst at Binghamton University
Donald Bigelow, Associate Director, Business Operations & Systems at Rochester Institute of Technology
Lisa Podolsky, Associate Director of Student Life at University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
Brittni Wimer, Senior Manager of Onboarding Operations at Verto Education
Griffen Fox, Application Administrator & Analyst at the University of Rochester
“I really enjoyed getting to hear how five of our partners make such great use out of the Tracks & Checklists feature in very unique ways!”
Thank you for joining!
We are so grateful to each and every guest for joining us at Rendez-Vous '22! At CG, weโre all about building community, and we believe this starts with giving each member a voice. It is through active listening that we are able to guide โ and adapt โ our product development to align with the goals and needs of our campus partners.
Thank you for attending, listening, and sharing such inspiring stories, experiences, and questions with fellow campus leaders in the CG family! ๐
Are you a higher education professional supporting campus life initiatives and student activities? Contact us to chat about how CampusGroups can help you cultivate an environment of happy, active and engaged students on your campus!
