The influence of budget shortfalls and technology advancements will make higher education a great game to watch this year. Photo credit: djwudi via flickr.

Here’s the replay.

If you look closely (and transform from college football fan to higher education professional), Alabama’s Eryk Anders kind of looks like a 2010 budget nightmare demolishing the ivory tower.

What a hit!

Many state supported colleges and universities are going to feel it this year. Watching how they dust themselves off,  adapt and get back in the game will be fun to watch.

I anticipate pain for higher ed, but I also think we’ll see  innovations emerge that reform and improve how campus communities deliver their education product. I’ll be looking for those innovations this year, and I’ll note them here when I see them.

Technology’s influence on delivering higher education also promises to continue hitting hard in 2010. Two stories caught my eye last week.

First, Inside Higher Education reported Jan. 8 that college libraries are increasingly open to text messaging as a channel for connecting research librarians with students.

OMG!

Second, just imagine what new touch screen tablet computers might do to libraries, text books, lectures, note taking and studying. This Jan. 4 video at the Wall Street Journal takes a glimpse at the future according to one book publisher. Check it out.

I’m looking forward to how it all plays out, and will try to provide some play-by-play commentary as it does.

Now, I think I’ll watch Garrett get creamed again.

photo credit: yark64

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that initiated World War II. More than 2,400 Americans were killed, including 1,177 crew members on the USS Arizona. Part of this vessel still rests at the bottom of the harbor to serve as a memorial to the people who perished in this tragic attack.

In 1997, I was able to visit the memorial constructed at Pearl Harbor in person. At the time, my husband Kevin (who served in the U.S. Air Force for 10 years) was serving a one year unaccompanied tour in Kunsan Air Base, Korea. We were meeting up at his 6-month, mid-tour mark in Honolulu for a 2-week reunion. The clearest memory of this visit to the memorial site was seeing the oil from the USS Arizona still rising to the surface of the water around us.

Although I was not born until the 70’s, I had learned about Pearl Harbor through history classes and personal stories from my grandfathers who had served in both the U.S. Navy and U.S Army. It was extremely important for me to honor and acknowledge this sacrifice made by so many of our military. I feel fortunate to have not lost anyone personally, but as a military spouse for 10 years, I had experienced what it felt like for my husband to get sent away twice to foreign countries for more than 6 months at a time and return safely on both occasions.

Please keep the military in your thoughts today - both past and present.

Time for a new campus tradition this December. Photo credit: Wallyg via flickr.

Attention university admissions and retention officers…

It’s December 3rd. Have you conducted focus groups with freshmen yet?

One semester into their college experience, freshmen possess useful insight to what works and what doesn’t at your university.

They’re new enough to recall and discuss their college search, why they chose your university, how they responded to admissions communications and their experience with campus tour guides, admissions counselors and administrators.

At the same time, they’re streetwise enough share honest perceptions of campus life, academics, faculty, the dining hall and other brand-defining factors sure to come up in conversations with parents and friends over the holiday break.

A promise of pizza or a t-shirt ensures group turnout. Using a moderator not affiliated with university administration ensures lively, honest discussion.

It doesn’t have to be formal or expensive, but the resulting transcript will be pure gold for anyone responsible for optimizing recruitment and retention efforts in the new year.

Like the office holiday party, make a few early-December focus groups with freshmen an annual tradition.

Pure gold.

For focus group tips, start here.

Any other end-of-semester research traditions? Please leave a comment and share.

Letterman’s announcement that he had affairs with staffers was met with laughter, praise and sympathy, with his confession being lauded as “masterful” and “the right way to handle the situation.” Letterman had Brian’s Rules One through Four mastered by the time his strong 10-minute performance began. With complete control of his words and his body language, Letterman owned up to his mistakes, acknowledged that his choices hurt people, particularly his wife, and pointed the anger of the world toward the real bad guy - an alleged extortionist who plotted to profit from Letterman’s error in judgement. Now some felt that joking his way through this was inappropriate, however Letterman’s audience forgives him. Letterman followed up his first confessional with another apology and a plan - of sorts, which included putting the real bad guy behind bars and doing the work to repair the damage done to his marriage. And public opinion continues in his favor.

Juxtapose that South Carolina Governor Mark Sanders confession gone awry and his tearful press conference, during which he continued to dig himself deeper and deeper into crisis. He lied about his whereabouts, came back with a tan, cried and sobbed, apologised for his behavior but stated his love for the other woman almost in the same breath that he said he was going to work on his marriage. He clearly violated Brian’s Rules One through Four. And maybe five through 10.

Casting judgements about both Letterman’s and Sander’s choices aside, we can agree that they threatened their livelihoods and reputations. Letterman’s ratings went through the roof after his two announcements. As for Sanders, the South Carolina House continues to push for his resignation and we just can’t get the image of him in tears out of our heads. And while we might view Letterman’s mea culpa as sufficient because he is not an elected officially, his crisis communications performance is must-see TV and a good real-life example for crisis and reputation management. 

Whether or not jokes trump tears, on the other hand, depends on what your communities will accept from you… and if you’re not Letterman, you might want to stay away from joking through an apology.

Green shoots? Tough to find in higher ed.

Higher education isn’t seeing many ‘green shoots’ yet in this recession. In fact, it’s winter this August as students come back to campus.

Here’s some of what’s causing the chill.

Public institutions face big budget cuts, and private institutions are freezing pay and cutting benefits.

To keep up with peers, many institutions binged over the years on new facilities, swanky dorms and more dining options than a mall food court. Now, like their debt-saddled students, many are scrambling to make ends meet.

Demographic trends aren’t helping, either. In this recession, prospective students are increasingly considering community colleges and close-to-home options. On top of that, the number of students graduating from high school over the next few years is predicted to decrease in many states.

Indeed, one can feel the summer chill in recent higher education headlines:

• Arizona State University pushing for new 3-year college
• Public Colleges Brace for Expected Drop in Out-of-State Students and the Revenue They Provide
• How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education

Green shoots will emerge eventually, but they may mature in a different higher education landscape.

Colleges and universities that re-think how to educate students and how to stand out from the crowd will emerge strongest, capable of navigating and adapting to a new environment.

What’s your plan?

With our economy still in the tanker, many businesses are flailing about, searching desperately for the nearest life preserver to grab and someone to reel them in. A recent Reuters article detailed a report indicating that in the service sector, the decline seems to be slowing somewhat–but not enough to indicate a turnaround. It’s enough to make PR agencies–and many of their service-sector clients–long for a rainmaker to sweep in and save the day.

Unfortunately, it’s up to us to be our own rainmakers, for ourselves and for our clients. We have to push hard, dig deep and think differently about how to pull in new business when everyone around us seems to be stagnating. It requires us look in unexpected places and often to move outside of our comfort zones to uncover new ways to bring value to our clients and their stakeholders. It means we can no longer rely on good luck–or an accurate meteorologist–to bring on the rain.

Take a look at this video of how one man led his team to create a thunderstorm in a most unexpected way.

How will you make it rain?

Citizen reporters are becoming the craze of national news operations as they clamor to be the first with real time images from the scene. Within hours, the social networks feature citizen experts pandering their own advice and opinions. For CEOs, technology has opened Pandora’s Box when it comes to managing communications in a crisis.

The need for speed in getting your message out has never been greater and new technologies can help you manage the message. President Obama’s social efforts to combat criticism and GM’s recent online efforts to help manage the bankruptcy announcement serves as further evidence that the old rules of crisis management can adapt to a new era of customized communication.

You may not be able to control the image from the I-reporter, but you can shape the discussion if you move rapidly. And perhaps the most important lesson is that these new technologies enable us to have a richer dialog with our key audiences that provide rapid insights into how the messages are being perceived. That information can not only help manage the crisis, but also restore the public’s trust in the organization.