President’s Update

Stories tell it all

We all know about the power of stories. Stories are what move us, make us feel alive, and inspire us.

They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. And maybe most important of all, stories help us understand.

According to author and consultant Bernadette Jiwa, the “success or failure of our ideas depends on us telling the right story.”

One of the realities we learn early in our Advancement careers is that we can only create the future we envisage by bringing others with us. And one of the keys for bringing others with us, to encourage them to share our vision, is storytelling.

At work, stories are how we change things. They help us imagine a future that does not yet exist.

Stories reinforce our beliefs about who we are and who it’s possible for us to become. They change how people think, feel and act.

When we’re promoting our school or university we usually prioritise getting attention and creating awareness. We forget about stories. Yet, it is not mass awareness that we need. We need trust. And it is stories that can help to build trust.

Internally, we instigate change by earning the trust of the right listeners and empowering them to act.

Our ideas succeed, our institutions advance, when we are trusted and believed by the right people. There is little trust without engaging stories we can believe in. Without trust there is no change and therefore no progress.

It is effective storytelling that can make the difference.

David Osborne
President
NSW/ACT Chapter Educate Plus

NSW/ACT 2019 Chapter Conference

Give yourself an EDGE and join us for the NSW/ACT 2019 Educate Plus Chapter Conference on 2 and 3 September in Sydney at Pier One.

Register now, Early Bird registrations close 28 June!

EXPLORE. DISCOVER. GROW. ENGAGE.

DATE: 2-3 September, 2019

VENUE: Pier One, Sydney Harbour. 

This is the premier professional development opportunity to learn new skills, meet people who do the same work as you and develop your career!

Explore, Discover, Grow and Engage in the latest trends of educational advancement.

With over 30 speakers over one and a half days you will EXPLORE the latest trends in educational advancement, DISCOVER new communication strategies, GROW your knowledge and skills, and ENGAGE and share experiences with peers who understand the challenges you face in your role.

DAY 1 – Keynote and Masterclass for in-depth learning (4 masterclass speakers to choose from)

Day one starts at 11am for registration and includes lunch.

DAY 2 – Keynote and 4 streams throughout the day (20 Stream Speakers giving you the opportunity to choose sessions most relevant to your role or current interests)

Day two starts at 8.30 and concludes with a cocktail party and awards to use your recently acquired networking tips.

Sessions include:

• Neuroscience of branding and customer decision making
• Marketing to international students
• The art of being different
• Super powers for success: Learn how to use a strength-based approach to amplify your productivity
• Fundraising is everyone’s concern: Getting all on board
• Understanding social media for better engagement
• Understand your Asian community
• Admissions benchmarking: How does your office compare?
• Build your ideal day: importance of wellbeing

As well as a jam-packed schedule of morning teas, lunches and a cocktail party, it’s worth coming just for the social calendar.

Member rates:

• Full conference rate (includes Masterclass and Main Conference) $695 (Early Bird rate $595)
• Conference day 1 (Masterclasses) Only (2 September) $350 (Early Bird rate – $310)
• Conference day 2 Only (3 September only) $450. (Early Bird rate $410)
• Non-member rates available via the website

Early bird registrations close 28 June 2019

Register here now!

Thanks to our Conference Partners

Digistorm is a market leading provider of powerful and intelligent management and integration systems for smarter schools. 

Leonards is a full service advertising agency that has been successfully guiding and supporting their clients in the achievement of their business goals through more than 90 years of industry experience.  

Masterclass with Lynne Wester—Donor Relations guru

It’s not often that you get the opportunity to hear from a speaker of the calibre of Lynne Wester.

At last year’s international conference in New Zealand there were nearly 100 speakers, and our survey feedback showed that Lynne Wester was the overwhelmingly most popular speaker.

We acknowledge the leadership of Educate Plus in recognising the quality of the offering from Lynne and bringing her all the way from the USA to conduct a Masterclass series in communications, throughout Australia and in New Zealand.

As a Donor Relations and Stewardship expert, Lynne’s messages were powerful yet simply delivered. Building on her presentation last year about the ‘Four Pillars of Donor Relations’ Lynne took this to the next level and gave us a whole new perspective regarding ‘The Keys to Amazing Communications’.

Attending the session were advanced practitioners from schools and universities, as well as the Chairs of a number of Foundations from schools in Sydney and rural NSW.

Despite the level of experience in the room, all agreed that the messages and key nuggets of information from Lynne’s presentation were invaluable. Some attendees said:

• ‘It was life-changing’.
• ‘Wow! I really thought I knew most of what there is to know, but I picked up some great tips from Lynne’s presentation.’
• ‘It’s going to change the way I do things when I get back to the office.’

Thank you to the leadership of Educate Plus for having the insight to bring such a powerful speaker to our shores.

Fundraising SIG Report – 1 May

With the lead up to the end of the Financial Year rapidly approaching, thoughts of how to maximise the results of the Annual Giving program will be uppermost in the minds of many fundraisers—at both school and tertiary levels.

It was therefore timely for over 30 members of the Fundraising Special Interest Group (SIG) to meet at St Andrew’s Cathedral School and share ideas on this important topic. Two outstanding presentations were given:

• Jackie Dalton told how Nicole Crabb from Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School lifted its participation rates and overall fundraising success with a unique targeted marketing and communications campaign in the two months leading up to the financial year end. Over the last five years, Glenaeon’s results have increased by a staggering 2000%.
• Lyn Jarvis from St Andrew’s, and Julia Glass from International Grammar School, told how a short, sharp 24-hour campaign, using modern fundraising techniques, achieved extraordinary results in the Annual Giving space. Julia’s results went up 100% and Lyn’s results went up 500%.

The afternoon was highly successful with a great deal of positive feedback, and a number of attendees saying they had excellent take-aways from both presentations.

One participant said, ‘I attended the Fundraising SIG at St Andrew’s on Wednesday. I wish to give feedback and advise that I found it extremely valuable, and gained insights into how I might better do fundraising.’

It was also a great networking opportunity for all who attended—to meet up with old colleagues, meet new ones, and share ideas. Networking is of the most invaluable aspects of these SIG forums.

Many thanks to Lyn Jarvis for offering to host our group in the state-of-the-art facilities at St Andrew’s.

Jackie Dalton
Director of Philanthropy, Frensham School

Admissions SIG Report – 16 May

Enrolment professionals from a wide variety of institutions gathered at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in the city for the recent Admissions SIG. Charles Alexander, Legal Consultant with the AIS (NSW), spoke on how enrolments can be a minefield of challenging family circumstances.

Topics covered included; enrolment contracts, court orders, parent code of conduct clauses in contracts, The Disability Act and withdrawal notice periods. It was evident from the vast range of questions posed to Charles, that no matter how many years we have been in the job, we are continually confronted with new questions and challenges.

Charles generously shared his expertise and advice and filled our ‘Legal Knowledge Bank’ a little more.

Following the presentation, we were warmly welcomed on a tour of St Andrew’s Cathedral School.  We thank them greatly for hosting the event.

Educate Plus SIGs are invaluable, so if you missed this one we hope to see you at the next Admissions SIG.

Belinda James
Registrar, John Colet School

Marketing SIG Report – 27 May

On Monday 27 May, around 35 Educate Plus members visited Arden Anglican School in Beecroft for the first Marketing Special Interest Group for 2019.

The session was presented by APAC Director of Solution Engineering/Salesforce for Marketing, Jim Williams, and covered digital industry trends; the trend in the transition from databases to CRM software; personalised content; parent journey mapping and experience; and analytics and how artificial intelligence is used to improve efficiencies and reduce workload within the education sector.

The content of Jim’s presentation resonated with the group and it was great to see so much enthusiasm from the attendees around the future of data management and personalised customer communications for schools.

Thank you to Jo Hutchens, her team, and the lovely welcoming crew of Arden students who made us feel very welcome.

Kelly Mancey
Director – Community Engagement, Pymble Ladies’ College

Highlands Host PD Day in new Chevalier Hall

The Southern Highlands was the setting for a NSW regional professional development day on 15 March at Chevalier College.

The Highlands turned on a coolish autumn day for some 25 attendees at the event, which was held in Chevalier’s brand new Multi Purpose Hall on the Burradoo-based campus.

Following morning tea on arrival and a welcome from the Chevalier College Business Manager Carmen Majetic, the plenary session was held.

The keynote speaker was Pauline Triggiani from Priority People Consulting on the topic ‘Your Point of Difference is not Enough’, which was a workshop-style session that enabled a lot of discussion among participants.

After a delicious lunch, two concurrent Special Interest Group (SIG) sessions were held with Myfanwy Stanfield from Ascham presenting on the topic of admissions and marketing working together; and Nicole Crabbe from Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School giving a fundraising case study presentation on their 2018 Annual Giving campaign.

A tour of the Chevalier College campus and its new performing arts centre was provided to interested guests after the event by Community Liaison & Development Manager Paul McShane, who is also a Vice President of Educate Plus NSW, and who hosted the event.

Welcome to our new sponsors

The Educate Plus NSW / ACT Chapter is delighted to welcome back Leonards Advertising as a Conference Partner in 2019.  Leonards is a full service advertising agency that has been successfully guiding and supporting their clients in the achievement of their business goals through more than 90 years of industry experience. 

Joining Leonards as a Conference Partner in 2019 is Digistorm, a market leading provider of powerful and intelligent management and integration systems for smarter schools. 

We look forward to re-connecting our delegates with Leonards and introducing you to Digistorm at the 2019 Educate Plus NSW / ACT Chapter Conference held on Monday 2 September and Tuesday 3 September at the magnificent Pier One Hotel on Sydney Harbour.    

Welcome to our new members

We welcome the following new members to the NSW/ACT Chapter. We hope to see them at an event soon.

What’s On

Please click on the event title for more information and to register for the event

NSW/ACT CHAPTER CONFERENCE 2019
SEPTEMBER 2-3, 2019
PIER ONE