It’s All About The Little Things: Staging Open House Events

Trent Sandles – Texas Wesleyan University

Texas Wesleyan University

  Small liberal arts focused private school   Located in Fort Worth, Texas   Founded in 1890   University sits on 75 acres   36 different majors   NAIA – Division 1   Undergraduate population of 1,800 students   Incoming freshman class of around 220 students   Incoming transfer class of around 350 students   “Smaller, Smarter”

“Smaller, Smarter”

Open House Troubles

  Difficulties of Hosting an Open House   Can never cater to everyone.   Takes place on weekends (meaning staff who have

worked 40+ hours a week don’t want to be there).   Event is too long.   Event is too short.   Energy level fluctuates throughout the day.   Do I have to stay the entire time?

Our Old Way…

  18 preview days a year (9 per semester).   Event lasted 4-5 hours each time.   Only happened on Saturday’s.   No more than 4 families showed up to each.   All counselors had to go both Freshman and Transfer.   Had less than 100 people total attend between all

events.   Basic scheduling

Questions to Answer

  1. How can you make Open House events more purposeful for both staff and visitors?

  2. How can you work within your current budget and redo the events?

  3. How can you utilize both staff and students workers/tour guides to stage these events?

  4. Why are the little things that you do at the preview days important?

  5. Is what you are offering within your preview days unique?

Consider Your Audience: Students

  Gen Z is highly self-directed, demonstrated by a strong desire to work for themselves.

  Shaped by social media, technology, and the greatest recession since the Great Depression.

  They are heavily influenced by peers.   They want 3 primary things out a college:

  Study Entrepreneurship   Design their own programs of study in college   Be equipped for the post college world

  Outcomes are what matter most to them, not cost.

Consider Your Audience: Parents

  Gen Z parents are much different then the previous generations.

  Gen Z parents are raising children in a social media driven society.

  These parents are giving their kids more space.   Their knowledge of social media is different then that of

the students, but is still there.   They want things their way and they want it now.   Parents are the purchasers while the students are the

consumers.

Consider Your Audience: Staff

Consider Program Structure

  Is your current structure continuously effective?   If a student wants to come to more then 1 open house will they

find it repetitive?   How is the information that you want to talk about

conveyed?   Is it presented by counselors?   Is it presented by tour guides?   Is it presented at all?

  What can you do to make the program structure more effective?   Read surveys and interpret the data   Reorganize the day   Break into smaller groups

Consider Open House Dates

  What days do you normally have open houses on?   Weekends or Weekdays

  What factors are included in selecting those dates?   High School schedules?   Campus events?   City events?   Charity events?   Sporting events?

  Students are more likely to come to your campus for an event if other things are going on that interest them as well.

Focus On The Little Things

  It doesn’t take a large budget to redo your preview program.

  Give as much “1 on 1” attention as possible.   What makes you go back to a particular restaurant over

another?   Customer service & the experience that you have there.

  Training of your staff is crucial to the success of the program.   The tour guides have to be trained to watch for the little things

that can make a big difference.   Parking lot greeters

Consider This…   What do you think that you can offer that doesn’t cost

money?   If your already paying for food what would it cost to add

some extra “flavor” to the food?   Can you play music throughout the event? Possibly

have a student band or DJ for free.   How many screens do you have that are being used

throughout the campus? Can you have screens display visitors names?

  How do people on campus know who the visitor is?   Walking someone somewhere vs. pointing out a place.

What Does Texas Wesleyan Offer

  We truly focus on the one on one and that personal attention. We really focus on what “Smaller, Smarter” means.

  Music sets the mood so we play it every chance we can.   We do not introduce them to faculty during the open

houses.   Everyone wants to see their name on the big screen…

so we give that to them.   We never just point something out to someone, we

always walk them to wherever they need to go.

Blue & Gold Days

  We have 6 preview/open house events a year   4 Saturday’s and 2 Monday’s

  We break them down into smaller groups and rotate them through breakout sessions

  A tour guide takes them from stop to stop   If the information in that session is not relevant to the

group we don’t force the information on them, we have an informal “Why TxWes” session.

  Emphasis is put on little things throughout the entire day.

  We always have a “Lion King” moment.

Our Set Up

Results   Applications numbers are 63% higher (Freshman) and

33% higher (Transfer).   310 Attendees between our 6 events + guest for a total

of 672 people.   Average excellence rating on every aspect of our survey

of 89%.   Out of the 310 that attended, 66% were seniors (204

students).   Out of those 204; 84% applied (171 students)   Out of the 171; 84 were accepted   Out of the 84 accepted student; 61 of them have signed

for orientation and paid deposits.   Profited over $1.8 million from these.

Let me tell you about Conner Parish…

Summary

  The little things that you can do during your campus events can make a huge difference.   Walking people somewhere instead of pointing it out   Shaking hands and kissing babies

  Consider your audience   Students   Staff   Parents

  Consider your program structure   Make it purposeful at all times.

  Consider the dates of your events.   Have your events surround by more then just the open house.

Contact Info

  Trent Sandles   Campus Visit Coordinator

tsandles@txwes.edu   817-531-4445 (Office)   817-504-1446 (Cell)

www.txwes.edu