The challeng is going to be getting everyone on board. I know that many will agree to assist but then they will not follow thru. Also getting someone to be the director of this Association is going to be a challange, as they will not hire some one to do this and most of us are pulling double duty right now do to budget cutbacks. Those graduates who are working may agree to be part of association, as we do have a few that have agreed to be part of our advisory boards, but then again depending on their work schedule it may be a little difficult for them.I am going to submit a plan for this to our executive director to show how we can facilitate this association. I feel that sending out invitations to those who we feel would be good for this association will be the first thing I will suggest we do. Depending on the response is how we will proceed with this project.
At this time we do not have an alumni association on campus. someof our other schools do and I plan on partenering with them to see how they have successfully done an associaton. As far as the website we have a school web site not and student portal that each student can access, so I think working with IT will not be a problem. My challenge is just getting it off the ground.
Hi Dillon,
First, there are several content management systems that allow you to build your own website with some pretty cool functionality (Joomla, WordPress, etc). You might be surprised at what you can do on your own with minimal cost.
Second, I'd definitely include in your website a place for grads to share their success stories. You can capitalize on those stories in many ways to benefit your institution.
Just a couple thoughts,
June
For us, we are a really small career college so getting the director to sign off on the initial investment for an up-to-date website with a modern look. I would really like an interactive site with flash videos but I do know that that will be more expensive. I think the best option to convince our school director would be to show the possible returns for our students and how we could get an increased number of students enrolling because of it.
Randy,
It's good to know where your challenges are going to come from. Now, you can spend some time preparing to sell your ideas and preparing to answer the questions those individuals/departments may have.
June
Our marketing department is where the hang up will come from. Getting everyone to buy in will be criticle. One of our board members is the head of the marketing and she will be the one we need to get the buy in to. Also it will will be criticle to have the IT deparetment help with the website.
Randy,
It sounds like you have a pretty clear picture of the challenges you face.
As you think about an alumni website for your school, consider what would draw your graduates. What things could you include that would provide that "buy-in"?
You might consider components that alumni are looking for like a Job Board, an Alumni Directory (to connect with old classmates), or other helpful information they might be interested in - Career Services, Loan Info, Continuing Education. You may also want to consider some things that would, literally, force them to your site like Transcript Request Forms or Grad Surveys.
Creating and maintaining a website definitely takes a level of commitment, both financially and in the area of personnel needed to manage it. That being said, it is a fantastic method for communication. Often schools spend an incredible amount of money trying to find and maintain contact with their graduates. A website that includes Alumni Profiles where grads can update their personal and employment info accomplishes that same thing. In fact, graduates will find YOU via a website rather than you attempting to find them.
June
The biggest challenge we have in setting up an alumni association website would be getting the buy-in for a completely new website. My vision is to have an interactive website for networking and education. Right now, we have a Facebook page that I like as almost all of our students are members of Facebook. I wonder how much student participation we would have for an alumni association as we are a small school and if it would be worth it for start-up costs.
Fiona,
I understand your challenge. Keeping a website updated and new so it doesn't appear stagnant is a very time consuming task.
I'm a strong believer in Alumni Success Stories. People are proud to share their own success and they appreciate being inspired by other stories. Not to mention, there are many opportunities to use those same stories to provide credibility to your institution.
You're heading in the right direction!
June
At my campus I head up the Student Services Department which includes placement and alumni relations, so one of the issues is manpower also. We have a dedicated Alumni Website and the biggest issue is keeping it up to date. Our Alumni Association is part of an International Association we are the USA division and then each USA campus has it's own association. I am hope to overcome some challenges by focusing the alumni site to Alumni/Graduate Success Stories and Job postings/Listings.
Hello Gerry,
Creating and maintaining a website definitely takes a level of commitment, both financially and in the area of personnel needed to manage it. That being said, it is a fantastic method for communication.
Often schools spend an incredible amount of money trying to find and maintain contact with their graduates. A website accomplishes that same thing. In fact, graduates will find YOU via a website.
This is a valid point to bring up when trying to get the "buy in" you're looking for.
June
Being a smaller school, manpower will be the number one challenge for us. Although we do have a marketing department, it is small and may not be able to provide us with the necessary commitment to create and maintain a website. The number one thing we will have to do is make sure we get the buy in from Program Deans, Director of Operations and the Chancellor.
