"Effective communication is an essential component of professional success."
Mike Myatt
21st Century Learning Conferences are a break from the norm. They allow you to rethink your school day, learning objectives, and curriculum. One of the most important responsibilities in running these events is making sure that all members of the school community understand how the conference supports your core values and beliefs about learning. Effective communication is a key element of making the day a success for students, faculty members and professional partners.
Being intentional in your communication means being thoughtful about the questions your community will ask about the event, generating excitement for the day, and communicating clearly. Let's take a minute using the Padlet below to construct a communication plan for your conference.
Promote Your Conference!
Included below are several examples of communication strategies we've used at Nipmuc. What strategies would work the best for your school community?
Connect the Conference to
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Craft a Clear MessageWhen communicating with your faculty members, it's critical to build explicit connections between the conference and your core values and beliefs about learning. This allows the conference to be a celebration of your school's ideals and not merely "another initiative". One of Nipmuc's beliefs about learning is that "We believe students welcome the opportunity to develop skills that will serve them well in the modern workplace." Click here or on the picture to the left to see how we use our faculty blog - The Nipmuc Memo - to connect the conference to our foundational beliefs.
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Go Digital with Your Info SessionWith students' and parents' busy schedules, it is increasingly difficult to get them back to school in the evening for meetings and events. Between parents' professional lives and the hectic schedules of our students, it's unrealistic to expect parents to be able to attend meetings on a regular basis - even if it relates to your most important programming.
One way to address this is by going digital with your meeting through a screencast. Make it easy for parents to learn about your event on their own time. |
Brand Your Event with a GraphicMarketing your event requires more than a traditional flyer in the backpack or blurb in a newsletter. Help to create some excitement about your conference by branding it. Using simple graphic design tools like Canva, you can create a fun and informative image that can easily be shared across a variety of platforms. Whether sharing through social media, embedding on a blog or printing on your informational materials - a graphic can help you tell your story to the community.
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