The quest for the perfect college fair table drape

I spent two days last week on campus with new Stein client, Centenary College. Besides the admission campaign we will be developing over the next 12 weeks (yes, very tight turnaround!) they asked us to replace the table runners that the admission staff uses at dozens of college fairs every year. Since Stein will be responsible for the creative concept on these materials, we will also coordinate with vendors to develop these secondary materials.

So today we met with Neal Zucker, president of Southern Tailors. They produced the table drape that graced the Stein booth at SACAC, some for our clients and for many other schools besides. Like this one for Stetson. The reason Centenary asked us to investigate a replacement set is because they were unhappy with the color of the runner matching the actual school color, more of a red than maroon. Their drape is laid out here under the Coke banner.

Neal explained to us that their current runner is nylon and that nylon only comes in so many colors. What he recommended is to print the colors in CMYK directly on another fabric. (The Coke sample is on poplin, which is machine washable and the most durable.) This means endlessly more color options, although he warns that color is always approximate.

In order to really do his job well, Neal has attended college fairs so he can observe counselor behavior! He started to say something about what a crazy bunch they seemed to be, when I interjected and warned him that he should be careful because that's where I come from!! We talked about the need for set up to be easy, for the drapes to be low maintenance and then griped some about all the inevitable wrinkles. Neal's advice? ROLL your drape!

Centenary also asked about some portable displays that they can use for on-campus events or programs held at hotels that would welcome students and families to admission events. Neal showed us the retractable banner displays they can do. Shown here in a sample for Atlanta Public Schools.


What struck me was the vivid color in these photos. Apparently retractable displays printed on fabric absorb color better than similar displays made of vinyl or paper. Neal demonstrated set up and portability for us and said that if you take care with the stand, these can last for a LONG time. So long in fact, that you might update the image and reuse the infrastructure. I'm confident in recommending these to my client.

Neal said some schools are ordering wide displays with a college seal and using them as a backdrop for a photo opportunity. He does a lot of business with commencement and alumni banners and gonfalons! Check out this podium hanger from Georgia Perimeter College (former Stein client)

Incredible how they can print such detail on fabric. This is ATL mayor, Shirley Franklin!

For anyone whos had to stand behind a table in a high school cafeteria, you understand that we don't need to give students any reason to judge your school before they even open their mouths to talk to you. An attractive display with consistent branding certainly can't hurt, right? Especially once paired with an admission counselor's charm and charisma! (and willingness to answer the silliest questions!)

Have a great weekend!

Twitter is the haiku of blogging

According to a USA Today article, there is an art to writing good status updates. I'm talking about 0nes that don't make your friends and followers roll their eyes because you are "on your lunch break" or "watching TV."

What makes a good status update is personality. This is especially true on twitter where personality is what drives people to follow you. A quote from Alison Bailin Batz calls twitter "a medium that rewards interestingness. Her example is to not tell the world you just ate frozen yogurt but that the local shop was giving away free scoops.

Twitter has certainly been easier for me to execute the last few months than blogging. I strive to keep it interesting, and make totally separate updates to facebook from what I put on twitter.

Here are some of my favorite tweets from people I follow just in the last hour:

@reggriffin: Which would concern you most: Your steady showing up on "Cheaters," "Springer," or "The Bachelor/Bachelorette."

By the way, Reg was the most interesting seatmate I've had on a plane and we've since become each other's twitter followers and facebook friends. He gets points on this tweet for pop culture references, which Reg is great at, and for current events (Bachelorette debaucle from Monday's episode).

@mickhagen: Never date a girl with Hulk Hogan arms. http://bit.ly/16Hrwr

Because everybody loves a little photo shop now and again.

@tham: In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them. -- Johann von Neumann

My coworker who manages to find all kinds of fascinating quotes.

@dockane: Marketing folks: Looking for a "green" printer? Here is the FSC certified list: http://tr.im/o3EL

Of course a useful tidbit always wins out. And I'm not just saying that because Stein's printing connections are on this list!!

Not just the message but the medium

I've been operating under the assumption that blogging will bring me business.

That's why I started this blog -- to prove that I strive to stay on top of what's happening in higher education and in marketing, ultimately with the hope that some director of admission would find my blog and then seek out Stein to work on their marketing materials and strategy.

In nearly eight months, this exact scenario has not come to pass, but I have enjoyed a growing readership and becoming part of a network of higher ed marketing peeps that challenge what I do every day. As the first Stein staffer to blog, there was some uncertainty but now there's even a company blog, too. Not to mention the fame that being featured on SquaredPeg.com's Higher Ed Blogs You Probably Haven't Heard of Worth Reading. Truly, a month into the game, this was a thrill!

Additionally, the blog has not just helped with peers, it has proved useful in many existing client relationships. Some clients who have google alerts set up for their schools have gotten blog posts about my work with them in their inbox. But again, this is not generating the NEW "leads" that I thought it might.

So after deciding that yes, the content on More Than Rankings is useful and helpful, I had to get the word out to the crowd of decision makers in admission offices who may not read blogs! The quarterly print newsletter was born. Yes, paying for stamps and spending time writing on envelopes was about a three-week task, but actually writing the newsletter was easy! I expanded on the posts I had already written, added some relevant research from others and voila!

The take-away is this: No matter how relevant/important/inspiring your message may be, if it's not on the platform where your audience reads/listens/absorbs, then what's the point? That's why we're taking our conversations from print publications to the Web, from the chat rooms of the 90s to the social networks of today. It's a challenge to find the right words and a bigger challenge to communicate with the right media to ensure your message gets to the intended recipients.

In my own example, I solicited everyone for feedback, including colleagues and current clients, and so far have gotten a positive response. In fact, I hope it inspires Stein as a whole to begin sharing expertise in a similarly public way (and in a print format)! I'm already thinking about what to include in the summer issue and I have a VP Enrollment lined up for an interview which I may record and send out as an audio CD. The true test is yet to be seen, as the final mailing went out on Saturday to another 75 admission professionals who may not have any prior experience with me or the blog. I'll keep you posted...

Why Schools Don't Pay Me to Take Photos

I'm at Arizona State this week, shadowing a photo shoot for this year's set of publications. ASU hired photographer Jerry Mucklow who has worked with some people from Stein for as many as twelve years!

We went to all four campuses yesterday and I was in total admiration of the process that Jerry and art director Bonnie go through to set up each shot. What is this story trying to tell? What are the restrictions for using the photo in the publication, like where will the headline go? Will the gutter be right in the middle of this faculty member's face? And then trying to make it a compelling, emotionally appealing photo on top of all that! It's no small feat.

Also inspired by the beauty of ASU's campuses and their impressive facilities, I decided to use my Blackberry and do my own photo shoot. As you will see, this is why our clients pay Jerry!



This was our first location of the day, the Power Road Farmer's Market. All the produce was displayed so attractively!This is the news studio in the Cronkite School of Journalism where students deliver newscasts in both English and Spanish!


This is the Arizona State tree, the palo verde (literally green stick/pole) all over the Polytechnic campus!

Here is the whole crew setting up the shot of the solar oven. It was the most challenging shot of the day because of how reflective the panels are. It takes a village to shoot a student and an oven...
This is our version of a solar oven. Yes, warming a chocolate chip cookie on the dash in the hot Southwest sun.
New art installation in Downtown Phoenix over the Civic Space Park. It's called “Her secret is patience” by Janet Echelman. It was just erected on Monday! The City of Phoenix press release found here. And finally, no trip to Tempe is complete without great eats. Bonnie introduces me to the Pita Jungle. The jalapeno-cilantro hummus might have been the best hummus I've ever had!

Take Responsibility for Your Online Brand

It's not a secret that employers sometimes use social networking sites to scout you out. And I'm sure every parent who is suspicious about their child's online activity has preached to them about this.

What I didn't know is that the newest stat from a book called Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success states that ONE in FIVE hiring managers use social networks for background checks.

I concur with Keith Ferrazzi on this piece of advice that went out today on his Success Tips email.

1. Be your same self for all audiences.
2. Clean up your facebook along with the rest of your online presence.

Of course, after I post this, is someone going to tag me in now considered unprofessional pictures from seven years ago from a sorority theme party? I didn't say this would be a one-time spring cleaning kind of thing; it's ongoing.

In fact, I recently connected on facebook with some friends I met on my year in Ecuador as a Rotary Youth Exchange student. They are in law school/married/working and those days are a distant past, but a photo turned up from a pageant we all put on for each other where we were grouped by country. That year there were almost 100 exchange students and probably 60 were from the US, and for the pageant, we had American flag capes on while we rapped Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Of course our intent was patriotic (we all missed home intensely and for some reason, that song conjured up home) but now, ten years later, I saw that picture and I was embarrassed. Out of context, it seemed disrespectful and I immediately removed the tag.

I have other friends who try to leverage facebook for professional reasons and have TWO profiles. This to me seems more insincere because anyone who is looking for you will see that you are trying to maintain distinct presences: one socially and one professionally.

Whatever you do, make good use of privacy settings and keep up with it. You don't want to give anyone reason to negatively judge who you are and what you're made of by what they find online.