Minary Conference on Alumni Education

Adam Miller then led a fast-moving session on Web 2.0 media and social networking that carried on over lunch. The key takeaway for me: as alumni offices mull over the social community offerings available to them through an increasing number of vendors, they should always inform their decisions by looking at the utility... that adding these products would add to their alumni users. If the added utility is not clear and significant, alumni are unlikely to use these new offerings, even if they're available.Read More

And another stimulating morning at Minary wraps up. I had the pleasure of co-facilitating a session on working with faculty with Kim Cole of MIT, and I hope we left attendees impressed by MIT's faculty survey and convinced that it's worth investing as much time and effort as possible in professionalizing interactions w...ith members of the faculty. Mike Teskey then led another discussion of volunteer engagement, and one of the real surprises for me this conference has been the degree to which people are talking about volunteer involvement as an unambiguously good thing. Even three or four years ago, the tenor of the conversations about volunteers here were very different, and skepticism about the utility of long-standing volunteer structures still abounds in some areas -- see http://www.alumnifutures.com/2007/07/alumni-voluntee.html.
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It's early morning at Stanford Sierra Camp, and the East Coasters are beginning to stir, stumbling in from the cold in search of caffeine and companionship. Yesterday, we dealt with big strategic topics, and today, we drill down into details -- working with faculty, metrics, and so on. I'm particularly happy that Adam ...Miller, from Stanford, has made an appearance to talk about social networking. I'll definitely post an update on his session later in the day.
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Mark Dollhopf's impassioned discussion of "positive deviance" -- volunteer initiative that departs from norms and practices that have grown stale -- led to conversations that continued over lunch and the informal networking groups that coalesced after lunch, often while enjoying a gorgeous Sierra afternoon outside. In ...his outline of a novel approach to strategic planning and alumni engagement, Mark argued that ownership is the key to the success of a strategic plan, and the planning process is "inherently political" -- that is, that ownership is created by getting all possible stakeholders involved in the process and invested in the outcome, even if the inclusion of multiple voice and perspectives lengthens the process, requires compromise, and results in a less polished final document. This sense of ownership, he asserts, increases the likelihood of acquiring the resources necessary to effect change, and also makes stakeholder groups more tolerant of the discomfort endemic to change.Read More

Minary 2008 is underway, with calm water and blue skies providing a pleasant backdrop for Leann Wagner's plenary talk on strategic planning for alumni associations. Quick takeways: Be sure the time is right for a strategic plan. Do your homework and set the stage properly for effective work on strategic plans. And be c...lear in setting goals and managing expectations.

Strategic planning is the theme for the morning; following breakout sessions, Association of Yale Alumni Executive Director Mark Dollhopf will conclude this phase of the program by addressing "Championing Positive Deviance: Making Your Strategic Plan Stick."Read More