As a follow-up to yesterday’s list of faculty comments on their resistance to attend teaching events with or without speakers on teaching methods, this blog will proffer some practical, “successful” ideas to increase attendance. They are derived from the experiences of faculty developers over the past decade, plus a sprinkling of marketing techniques I’ve learned over the past couple of years.
A DOZEN STRATEGIES TO INCREASE ATTENDANCE
Here are a few suggestions you might want to consider. You may have tried many of these already. I hope there’s 1 useful idea in the list:
• Conduct an anonymous, short, online survey to determine topics that interest them; give them ideas to check off. (Note: If they don’t respond, shrug it off, dust yourself off, and start all over again. After shrugging and dusting, elicit ideas from your peer developers at similar institutions and don’t use “off” 20 times in a sentence.)
• Pick topics in which faculty have interest or need information based on the survey results
• Package the event so that it is salable; make believe you’re Steve Jobs promoting the latest iGizmo.
- Provide adequate info on each workshop, including title, detailed abstract, speaker bio and pic, links to speaker’s publications, Websites, blogs, etc.
- Select a title that will grab their attention, not an “academic” title
- Post an abstract that will pique their interest and suck them in
- Prepare copy like a business marketer, not academician
- Send out multiple announcements and reminders that are worded differently; be creative; use a video promotion
• Tease or encourage attendance with special perks, such as free books from the speaker or a trip to Hawaii
• Require registration at each workshop to provide the illusion of importance; that will also help you to gauge deployment of personnel and resources
• Open the workshops to staff on topics of broader appeal, such as coping with stress, time management techniques, how to conduct meetings, and suggested activities during furloughs
• Promote aggressively to area institutions to increase attendance and build positive PR with those institutions; request their financial support; you’ll get the regional reputation for quality workshops and speakers
Please let me know your experience with any of the above. Suggestions are also welcome to share with others.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
The problem of skimpy attendance at faculty development events seems to afflict buckets of institutions. You’re not alone in this battle. Although you have probably heard a bunch of excuses by faculty for opting out of these events, I thought I’d open some of those old wounds with the comments I’ve heard. Maybe newbie developers will benefit.
FACULTY COMMENTS ON WHY THEY DON’T ATTEND
Here are a few comments from faculty. Take your meds and suck it in.
• “Last year’s speaker was horrible; I’m not going back.”
• “The event is a waste of my time.”
• “Who cares about these teaching topics? I know how to teach.”
• “The speaker sounds boring.”
• “My job is bringing in money and getting grants.”
• “I can’t relate to the topic.”
• “I don’t have the time. There are more important things I have to do. In fact, just about everything I do is more important than going to listen to these speakers.”
BOTTOM LINE: The message is that many faculty look for every reason not to attend rather than to consider any positive value to attend. (Sidebar: My simple and, perhaps, naïve notion about outside speakers on my campus always had been that I have a lot to learn and attending the event is a small time price to pay for something I might gain. What an idiot! What was I thinking?)
Back to reality. Tomorrow, I will suggest a dozen strategies to increase attendance at faculty development events. I hope they can help.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
