Open House
We planned an Open House for a new campus. Our plans included invitations to employers who would employ our graduates, and city officials. We even aske the Mayor to attend and speak. This was accomplished because we had newspaper coverage.
We had Admission Reps give tours with instructors in each classroom giving a 3 min presentaion about their course .
We also invited the public and anyone interested in learning about our programs.
We had a band (student band) at the entrance of the school. The students were excited to play even for free. Some students even danced outside to the music.
The lobby area was decorated and we served and passed refreshments.
We all had a great time!
Arlene
Arlene
An open house is a great idea to let the community know about your school. Sounds like you did a great job of letting all levels of the community know by inviting employers, city officials, and I assume a high schoool band. Seems like you also got your staff and maybe students involved as well.
Now you may want to think about how to continue to keep in contact with all these people. Maybe add them to an emailing list to receive important annoucements and stay in touch with the school that provided the band.
It's all about getting the word out about your school and building a comfort level of the public with your staff and offerings. Get the community to see you as a resource.
Great job.
Susan
Arlene,
We have never had an Open House. I beleive the idea would work with publicity and staff involvement. Any ideas on how to motivate staff to participate, or should the institution require this activity, perhaps bi-annually? As a "newbee" to this I would appreciate all suggestions!
Gloria
Gloria
Many schools find Open Houses are vital to the admissions process. It is an easy and safe non pressure way for prospects and their significant others to see your school in action. There are many formats depending on the type of programs you offer. Massage therapy schools have it easy. Just invite people to sample a massage or what it is like to be a massage therapist. Hold tours, have people sit in on a class, show photos of successful grads or have grads present to talk with prospects. Open Houses can be one hour, all morning, all evening, etc. Lots of formats to try to see which one works best for your school.
Susan
Im organizing our first big Open House and got many great ideas from this module. But definitely its very important to involve the staff, students and faculty inorder to achieve success. Also, as Susan mentioned, work don't stops after the event, thats when the most important part begins because you need to follow up.
Hi Jessica
Very well said. Follow up is very important. You're right. You've developed leads and interests, so follow while they are interested. Also remember to evaluate to see what has worked and what can be improved. Comprehensive evaluation is important for every project.
Best wishes
Susan
We recently held a ribbon cutting/open house on our campus as well. We are a small nursing school so our focus was a bit more limited. The mayor and other community leaders were invited and many did in fact attend. One of the things I tried to do was to focus on not only general community members, but industry specific organizations i.e. neighboring hospitals and healthcare facilities. Those that attended were impressed with the facility and we have begun some new partnerships as a result of their visiting the school and meeting students and faculty. The open house reduced the amount of time it would have otherwise taken to start and develope new partnerships. Another suggestion I have is to invite the local chamber of commerce ambassadors as they have an extensive network of community relationships in place.
Joseph,
Sounds great. Whenever there is an event there are opportunities for before, during, and after stories and press releases. It is possible to get all of them published, depending on the media. Also great opportunity to send out announcements to the entire community. Even if people don't show up they know about your institution and can tell their friends and family. Reminder to thank everyone who attended and get their names, company, and emails. Great idea to involve the local chambers plus all other community organizations, Lions, Rotary, and much more. Ask your employees which organizations they belong to. Give them information and ask them to share data about your school to their groups. It is so easy to get the word out about your school and program offerings. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
Our campus open houses have typically been done to attract new students. In one of our last meetings someone suggested we invite back the students who have graduated and are not employed yet. I recommended inviting the "potential employers" as well and make it a job fair... I do like you idea and may suggest it to my co-workers.
