This is only my second time attending this particular conference-but I really enjoyed my time at the 2014 American Marketing Association Symposium for Higher Education Marketing. I enjoyed sessions on everything from professional school marketing, to crowd funding, to helping make your website more prospective student focused. I spoke with vendors about different tools that other schools are using and how we can use them for being more proactive instead of reactive with our marketing strategies. I also learned a thing or two!

Snowplow Parents. We have all heard of helicopter parents but this term was a new one. It is the parent who comes in ahead of their children and plows all the ‘stuff’ (snow)’ out of their way in the process to ensure that their student has an easier time getting through college or to ensure success. Whether this is setting up appointments or actually filling out college applications for their kids (yes, this really happens). These parents don’t let any obstacles get in the way of their children. I actually know a few of these.

Chunking. A term I have never heard, is a method of presenting information in ‘chunks’ to make it easier to read. With kids most likely skimming our higher-ed websites, I need to re-evaluate the need for chunking on all of our pages!

Eating Antelope is a real thing. Although I spent most of my time eating seafood (I know…in Texas), some other conference attendees did say they enjoyed antelope. I assume it tastes something like venison…

Prospective students do not want to be marketed to. Duh. Now, more than ever, students understand marketing. No longer is it enough to say that colleges have multi-disciplinary cohorts (do 17 year olds even know what this means?). We know we have to differentiate, but my challenge to work on this year is how to communicate this subtly to students and their parents.

If I learned nothing else, it is always nice to come together with fellow higher-ed colleagues and compare notes, success stories and laugh about the challenges of higher-ed marketing. I can look past the fact that one morning of the conference I woke up and it was colder in Austin, TX than in Rochester, NY!

I look forward to reviewing all of the slide decks and having 2-3 actionable items (and 100 ‘nice-to-do’ ideas) for the team at RIT. AMA conferences are always very informative, have great keynote speakers and a wide variety of vendors to learn from. I’m already looking forward to the 2015 conference in Chicago!

Cassandra Peltzer is the Assistant Director of Marketing and Recruitment at Rochester Institute of Technology-Saunders College of Business. She is also on the AMA Rochester Board.