University of Oxford Alumni Office (UOAO)

Communications and Events

Branch Officers’ MeetingAlumni Weekend in North America, April 2014

Structure of the Session • Communications

• Communicating effectively with your membership• Effective use of e-media and social media• Other ideas

• Events• Potential goals • Characteristics of attractive events • Metrics and defining success• Case Studies and Lessons Learnt • Good practice across the branch network• Tips for running successful events

Membership mailings

• The North American Office can facilitate bulk email

recruitment drives for new members or distribute a

mass email to publicise a particularly important event

• One week’s notice is required for mailings

• Or, the North American Office can provide you with

data to undertake your own mailing

Who are you and why are you contacting me?• Even when communicating with

existing members of your group,

you need to make sure that it is

clear:• Why they are being

communicated with• How they can opt-out from

hearing from you

• Don’t forget to use the new logo to

identify yourselves as an official

group

Email statistics

Can you guess what the numbers are?

• 294,000,000,000

• 78%

• 19%

• Number of emails sent

every day

• Percentage considered to

be spam

• Percentage of your email

that is read

Getting more from your emails

• Consider the who, what, where, when and why of each

communication:• Different age ranges may require a different approach

• Consider your subject line

• Interesting and relevant content

• Call-to-action

• Personal email or a work email address

• Day and time

Jumping on the social media bandwagon...

• Simple to use and free• Your audience is probably

already there• Content is key• Share the load• Promote through your

other channels

Other ideas for promoting your group

• Set up Facebook and LinkedIn accounts • Inform the North American and Alumni Offices about

your events• The North American and Alumni Offices can promote

alumni group events through their websites, social

media channels and OT Extra • Arrange Freshers’ Parties – these will be the next

generation of alumni group members• Publicise group events in local media

Some further resources

• Test how your subject line will look across a range of clients:

http://litmus.com/resources/subject-line-checker

• Most recipients will only read 19% of your email. Make that 19% stand-out:

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/3383/email-usability-keeping-your-

email-newsletters-short-and-sweet/

Alumni Group Events: The Wider Context

• The cornerstone of most branch programmes

• Need to be viewed as part of a wider engagement

strategy • ‘experiencing’ rather than just hearing from the University• developing relationships and creating a sense of

community

• Alignment with the University’s wider strategic goals

Branch Events: Possible Goals

• Keeping alumni connected with the University wherever they may be

• Helping retain existing members and attract new members

• Promoting Oxford as a world-class institution

• Helping current students achieve their potential by providing networking

opportunities, internships, etc.

• Identifying and cultivating other key volunteers for your group, and the wider

University

Types of Events

• Academic events • Cultural events • Careers / Professional Networking Events• Sporting events• Family-orientated events• Freshers’ parties• Schools’ outreach events• Social gatherings• Collaborative events, i.e. with other university groups

Characteristics of Attractive Alumni Events:

• Tailored to the market (profile, location, cost)

• The importance of content• Adding value in an era of accessible networking• The alumni connection with Oxford is mainly intellectual

• The attraction of unusual places / unique venues

• Incorporating an element of exclusivity

Metrics and Evaluation:

Quantitative

• Attendee numbers

• Demographic profile of attendees

(location, age, gender)

• Proportion of attendees who were new

• Proportion of attendees who were

invited

• Proportion who gave feedback

• Additions to branch membership

• Feedback from a post-event survey.

Questions such as:• Why did they attend? • Pre-event info – helpful? • Catering• Highlights?

• Internal feedback (from Committee

members)

Qualitative

CASE STUDIES AND GOOD PRACTICE

Case Study : North American Office

• The Oxford Alumni Association of New York (OAANY) had

only been running monthly happy hours.• While the happy hours were successful, the committee

wanted to organize an event that allowed for more networking

and felt a bit more exclusive.• The group now holds 3-4 Young Alumni Networking

Breakfasts a year featuring a prominent, well-established

Oxonian who speaks about his/her experience at Oxford and

how it shaped his/her career today.

Case Study : Lessons Learnt

• After the first breakfast, all of the events have gone to

maximum capacity (group capped at 20 to allow everyone to

meet everyone and have time to speak to the speaker).• The industry focus of the breakfast changes each time (law,

finance, publishing, journalising) but the attendees around the

table are not only interested in that area.

Other Case Studies

• The Oxford and Cambridge Societies of Benelux Reunion

Weekend (80 attendees) www.oxford.lu• Use of committee contacts; exclusive venues; play to strengths of region• Ambitious programming/ detailed organisation

• ‘Academic’/ Intellectual events• OUS South Australia: Recent speaker event with Prof Steve Rayner • Oxford and Cambridge Society of Malaysia: ‘Small Bites, Big Ideas’ 20

minute discussions with light supper and speaker

• Nostalgic events reinforcing Oxford connections• Australian Capital Territory (ACT) group: May Morning event

SHARING EXPERIENCES:

What type of events have been successful for your group

…… and why?

Tips for running successful events

• Provide a variety of events to attract people of different interests,

ages – and budgets

• Advantages of having a Committee to share responsibility for the

events programme

• BUT have an Event Manager for each individual event so there is

a lead organiser/ decision-maker (ideally with relevant interests)

• Provide clear pre-event information

• Ideally factor in long lead times for promotion and marketing

Tips for running successful events

• Maximise existing connections within the group to access

unusual venues, exclusive spaces and high-profile speakers

• The importance of evaluation – being seen to listen to your

audience and adapt your event(s) accordingly

• Use the North American and Alumni Office events programmes

for insights and ideas

• Share good practice with other groups

Learning from your peers – internal communications tools

• Group email list

branchofficers-forum@maillist.ox.ac.uk

• LinkedIn group

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4496373

• Prime Mover

ian.senior@trinity.oxon.org

Resources and Support

• The Volunteer Handbook - new North American edition now

available!

Resources and Support

• Oxford Alumni Networks Logo• For use by officially-recognised regional groups• Can be customised for each group

• The Alumni website• The Alumni Networks blog • The Alumni Events calendar (lists many branch events)

• OT Extra (monthly e-bulletin)• Branch Officers’ e-Newsletter (Networks News)• Annual Update Survey Report• Alumni Networks Directory