Last week some 125+ Admissions VP’s, Deans, Directors and Senior Associates gathered at TargetX’s second annual iThink during NACAC in Baltimore.  Last year’s event was held at the Seattle Public Library’s Washington Mutual Foundation Room (the day WaMu was “Seized and Sold!” as the city’s newspaper headline proclaimed).

This year’s venue was the historic Oriole Park at Camden Yards.  The setting itself was a lesson on change. Once an industrial powerhouse, Baltimore lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs. Now it is a $5 billion dollar a year tourist destination, and its three “firsts” of the Inner Harbor Festival Marketplace, National Aquarium, and retro/heritage ball park have become the standard blueprint for other cities to copy as they try urban renewal.

Four of higher education’s thought leaders: Kathy Kurz of Scannell & Kurz, Bill Royall of Royal & Company, Bob Sevier of Stamats, and Brian Niles of TargetX, each gave their “declaration” followed by questions and discussions led by yours truly as moderator.

The challenge was to keep the event from turning into a huge gripe session about the economy and its impact on admissions. Our goal instead was to focus on the future of both admissions and enrollment marketing in the midst of economic turmoil (and what colleges can do about it).

Sure, a changing economic landscape could be a crisis — but it’s also an opportunity. What is that opportunity? Some said, “Be authentic to who you are!” “Articulate value!” “Don’t discount the residential experience!” “Educate the entire campus to recruit” and “Leadership isn’t about getting the team on the same bus, it’s getting them in a rowing/crew scull and getting them to work together!”

There was also intense conversation about the best practices used by proprietary schools (things like quick turnaround of applicants to admits and faster responses to inquiries).  Of course, the comment “Admissions is sales” caused a stir as well. But all agreed that financial aid and career services (outcomes) need to have stronger relationships with admissions.

At the end, each participant was asked, “Based upon our discussion today, what’s one thing you’re not doing today that you can implement or change in the office tomorrow?”

At the end of the two-hour discussion, the annual TargetX “X Awards” were given to Christopher Lydon from Providence College and to California Lutheran University for embracing change and for representing the TargetX motto of “Overthrowing Dead Culture.”

After all, change is what the iThink discussion is all about.

On the flight home from Baltimore, I was reading the September 28 BusinessWeek and found two articles relevant to the iThink discussions about authenticity and change. I hope they get you thinking:

The Great Trust Offensive
Companies are revamping their marketing to earn your trust
“Consumers are telling companies in a thousand ways, that ‘if you aren’t open with me, then I won’t trust you.’ It gets to be counterproductive to fight that.” Randall Beard, former CMO at UBS

UPMC The “New Steel” in Pittsburgh
“Eds and Meds” revitalize the city’s economy
“Pittsburgh offers lessons for other communities. Its leaders didn’t spend a lot of energy trying to save troubled steel companies, suggesting it may be more valuable to look at new opportunities than old standbys. The city’s experience also shows that persistence with new ventures is critical.”

Keep thinking! And remember, as my colleague Adrienne Bartlett says, “The Mandarin symbol for change incorporates both the symbols for opportunity and crisis.”

Under which one is your school and its leadership operating?

Read more about our authors.  Jeff is the VP of the Consulting Division and also known as the “Apostle of Authenticity.” He crisscrosses the country speaking at conferences and working with our clients. He’s driven by a mission to inspire higher education executives and admissions offices to overthrow dead culture, embrace their authentic “DNA” and render engaging experiences.