Well folks, put another NACAC Conference in the books.

Seattle stood out to me as one of the best cities — with great sessions, great venues and lots of smart people.

For me, the only bad part about it was the trip home.

My colleagues and I experienced one of those fifteen-hour travel days, courtesy of weather delays that make it really tough to handle the already exasperating airline experience.

If you travel often, you know what I mean. I’ve found that every step in the process, from booking to boarding, has me repeating the same mantra: “There’s got to be a better way.”

I decided to make use of my time to catch up with Seth’s blog (one of my favorites). To my surprise, he had recently done a post of some of his own “Random travel thoughts.”

The one that immediately struck me was “Why doesn’t the airport have sleeping benches? Worse, far worse, why isn’t there someone you can ask that question to?”

My colleague Kevin Corr at TargetX had literally made the same point just a few moments before. Seems like, when it comes to air travel, many of us are asking the same questions.

Which got me thinking about our admissions recruitment processes and procedures — especially as they relate to the campus visit (a VERY hot topic at this year’s NACAC).

If we’re asking the same questions about air travel, might prospects and their families have similar thoughts about the experiences we provide? Are we providing a means for them to share those thoughts?

As busy as life can get for us, it’s important to continue to look at each touch-point we have with a prospective student, from campus visits and college fairs to online applications and yield brochures.

Here are a few questions to ask yourselves and your staff:

• Is there a better way to tell this story or provide this information?
• Should we be doing this at all?
• What does this say about us?
• Do we really use this information?
• Does this benefit us more than the prospect?
• Are we doing this just because it has always been done here?
• Can we add a feedback component to this?

Perhaps the airlines aren’t the only ones stuck in their ways.

When it comes to the admissions process, let’s not leave prospective students and their families thinking there’s got to be a better way.

Join us in Charlotte on October 23rd for a one-day workshop on the latest research and trends in admissions marketing.

Visit www.targetx.com/workshop for more information and to register.

Read more about our authors.  Adrienne is TargetX’s Vice President of Marketing – so it’s her job to spread the word about TargetX through our website, promotions, events, webcasts, trade shows, presentations, blog posts and engagement on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.

You’ll most likely encounter this “foodie” in the lobby bar searching for a glass of wine and the perfect cheese to go with it!