How to Get the Most Out of Higher Ed Summit 2018

By: The Salesforce.org Higher Education Advisory Council Leadership Team:
Florence Parodi, University of Miami,
Amjad Ayoubi, Tulane University,
Joanna Iturbe, University of Colorado-Boulder,
Phillip Knutel, Babson College,
Kathy Lueckeman, Maryville University

Over 180 sessions in 2.5 days. Thousands of people attending. How can you have the best experience at Higher Ed Summit 2018?

Here’s what we recommend. Whether you’re new to Salesforce for higher ed or you’ve been working with HEDA for years, there’s something for everyone!

Plan Your Summit Schedule

Picking Your Sessions: Consider Your Goals

What is your college or university working on now, and what are you planning to develop further? Be strategic about your goals in order to pick sessions that align to your organization’s mission and vision. We asked a few the Higher Ed Advisory Council members on what they’re attending, and here’s what they’re thinking:

Amjad Ayoubi, Tulane University: My focus is going global with Salesforce, and we’re transitioning to a campus-wide approach. So that’s how our strategy will inform what sessions I attend.

Phillip Knutel, Babson College: We’re focused on fundraising and development in the coming year, so I’ll be choosing sessions based on what’s happening in those spaces. We also want to add functionality to our Babson Connector/Salesforce Community platform for faculty, students, staff, and parents – not just alumni. So I’ll be looking for sessions to which my team and I can learn, share, and help other campuses.

Florence Parodi, University of Miami: We’re extending Salesforce and Marketing Cloud to engage with current students, employees and external audiences. I’m excited about building out our data model on HEDA; I will be looking for sessions about enterprise strategy and the different ways my peers are leveraging the platform and HEDA on their campus.

Joanna Iturbe, The University of Colorado: We will be working on migrating to HEDA and the Lightning Experience (LX) this summer as well as an org clean up. This may not be so exciting to the everyday Salesforce user, but I’m ecstatic! So, I’ll be focusing on attending HEDA and Lightning migration sessions to learn from the trailblazers, as well as data governance, security and strategy sessions.

Salesforce.org: What are you most excited for about this year’s Higher Ed Summit?

Amjad: I’m excited about how we’re seeing increased adoption of Salesforce for higher ed. I’m also jazzed about seeing Madeleine Albright, since I’m a big fan of her. It’s always great to get inspired by superstar speakers!

Phil: At a technical level, I’m excited about seeing what is evolving with the Lightning platform. I love catching up and seeing what people are working on, and I’m also looking forward to learning how we can help others with their rollouts and data governance.

Florence: I love this year’s theme and all of the ways that empowerment is weaved through our three days together. Each of us plays a role in empowering the community. I’m proud of the contribution that the University of Miami grant team is providing through the “Hands on with Interactions for Student Recruitment” workshop and hope that each person who attends this session walks away feeling empowered and excited to use open source solutions.

Kathy: Workshops! The UBU in MockU workshop is a true game-changer for higher ed. This is a community initiative to build a higher ed enterprise org so everyone can test-drive use cases and have reference architecture for their own use. I am also excited to lead the two EASY workshops to teach people how to implement and use the free Enterprise Application Solution for Yield (EASY) application-for-anything solution that Maryville University open-sourced.

Joanna: I’m always excited to see friends whom have become family in the Salesforce ecosystem. I look forward to learning more about the Einstein suite of products, as well as what is to come with Salesforce Advisor Link (SAL) and Lightning. The keynotes looks great this year, and I can’t believe our luck that the cherry blossoms will be in-bloom!

Salesforce.org: What inspired you to join the Higher Ed Advisory Council?

Phil: I’m always happy to network and get connected with other folks pursuing similar technology and strategies to learn from each other. I want to help pioneer changes to Salesforce to make it more useful for higher ed.

Florence: Collaboration, innovation and giving back inspired me to join. It is a magical combination and I wanted to be part of it. To be honest, it is better then I ever imagined.

Kathy: When the council started years ago, it was a way for our community to share with each other what we learned and to ask for help. Helping other higher education institutions remains core to the council’s purpose and keeps me inspired to be part of this community-led council. Check out council sessions like Higher Ed User Group LIVE with its solution demos (Wed. at 4:30 p.m.) and Higher Ed Office Hours LIVE with its Q&A format (Fri. at 10 a.m.) to see this mission in action.

Joanna: People who know me know I like to talk, so my initial inspiration was to be able to be the voice of potential and current higher ed customers to the Salesforce.org community. Now, the HEAC is a part of who I am – personally and professionally. The things I learn from my HEAC members as well as the Community inspire me daily.

Salesforce.org: What is your advice for getting the most out of Higher Ed Summit?

Phil: Start with the website! If you plan in advance, you can pick the sessions and topics to attend and participate in, so you don’t get overwhelmed when you get there. While it’s not Dreamforce, there are still a ton of things going on so a little advance prep helps a lot. I also suggest that you get out of your comfort zone. Strike up a conversation with people you don’t know! Get engaged. Don’t just sit in the back row on your phone. Embrace opportunities to be at the forefront of what’s new in higher ed – your voice matters, so speak up and help shape HEDA and the development of Salesforce for higher ed!

Florence: Pick 3 things you want to do when you’re there:

1. Something related to what you’re currently working on.
2. Something related to a future project.
3. Something for personal/professional development.

There’s always more you can do – but having those goals in mind can help you choose. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Everyone is there to help.

Kathy: Commit to attending one morning and one afternoon breakout each day, one workshop, and one Birds-of-a-Feather roundtable (at lunch on Wed and Thurs). That way, you’re sure to learn about the use case most important to you while leaving you flexibility in your schedule for spur-of-the-moment sessions and for making connections in the community.

Joanna: The rest of the team covered everything great. Follow the Salesforce.org and #HEAC members on Twitter. Offer your input to add to the experience with the #HESummit18 hashtag.

Amjad: What everyone else said, plus – Network, network, network!

Sessions the Advisory Council is Leading

Check the lunch schedule and meet us at the Higher Ed Advisory Council at Birds of a Feather lunches, plus sessions on the Higher Education User Group and Higher Ed Office Hours.

Because HEAC members come from institutions large and small and have a variety of use cases, it’s likely you’ll have a council member in at least one session you attend. For, example, in addition to Advisory Council sessions and workshops, Kathy Lueckeman at Maryville University is planning to attend CNM’s session on EASY (Wed. at 1:30 p.m.), Taylor University’s “Success with HEDA” session with Sue Ours (Wed. at 5 p.m.), the Chatbot session (Thurs. at 10 a.m.), and Westmont’s solution on gift processing (Thurs. at 2:30 p.m.).

Plan Your Summit Schedule

How to Plan Your Sessions

After you’ve registered for Higher Ed Summit 2018, go to your phone’s app store and search for “Higher Ed Summit 2018.” Check out the Trail Maps of recommended sessions in the session tab on the website under “Sessions” to help you create your schedule.

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to click into the session details to reserve a seat. Space is limited in each session room and booking your schedule does not necessarily guarantee you a seat in the selected session. We recommend arriving 10 – 15 minutes before the scheduled start times.

The Higher Ed Advisory Council will be leading these sessions:

Wednesday, March 21

Easy as 1, 2, 3: User Workshop
2:00-3:00 pm
Workshop #1 (Annapolis 1)

Power to the Data!: Power Up Your CRMs with Microservices and HEDA
2:30-2:50pm
Theater #2 (National Harbor 15)

Automation Station: 10 Apps to Make Admins’ and End Users’ Lives Easier
4:00-4:20 pm
Theater #1 (National Harbor 14)

How CRM Adoption is Changing the Student Support Culture at Cornell
4:30-5:10 pm
Breakout #6 (National Harbor 10)

Higher Education User Group
4:30-5:10 pm
Workshop #4 (Annapolis 4)

Thursday, March 22

The Higher Ed Solution Marketplace
10:15-10:25am
Theater #2 (National Harbor 15)

Leveraging Salesforce for Accreditation Management
10:15-10:55am
Breakout #6 (National Harbor 10)

Crash Course: Blend CRM and CMS
10:15-10:55am
Breakout #5 (Baltimore 3-4)

Leveraging Salesforce for Accreditation Management
10:15-10:55am
Breakout #6 (National Harbor 10)

Hands on with Interactions for Student Recruitment
11:15-12:15
Workshop #1 (Annapolis 1)

Engage, Engage, Engage: Lessons Learned on Community Cloud
11:15-11:55am
Breakout #7 (National Harbor 11)

Free Powertools for the Awesome (Higher Ed) Admin
12-12:20pm
Theater #1 (National Harbor 14)

Higher Ed Office Hours LIVE
Workshop #4 (Annapolis 4)
2:30 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.

From Zero to Team: Build Your Salesforce Dream Team from Scratch
3:30-3:40pm
Theater #2 (National Harbor 15)

Been There, Done That: A Panel on Advancement Solution Implementation
3:30-4:10pm
Breakout #3 (Woodrow Wilson D)

Easy as 1, 2, 3: Technical Workshop
4:15-5:15 pm
Workshop #3 (Annapolis 3)

Friday, March 23

Using Platform Events to Process and Integrate
8:30am-9:30am
Workshop #1 (Annapolis 1)

Expanding Beyond the Student Lifecycle: Salesforce for University HR
Friday 9-9:40am
Breakout #4 (Baltimore 1-2)

Test Drive UBU: A Free Community- Developed Enterprise Org
Friday 9:45-10:45am
Workshop #1 (Annapolis 1)

Follow the Salesforce.org Higher Education Advisory Council Leadership Team on social media!

Florence Parodi, University of Miami – @madeinSFlorida
Amjad Ayoubi, Tulane University – @amjadayoubi
Joanna Iturbe, University of Colorado-Boulder – @JoannaIturbe
Phillip Knutel, Babson College – @PKnutel
Kathy Lueckeman, Maryville University – @klueckeman