Blog

Highlights from Liaison’s 2018 User Conference

RJ Nichol
Aug 16, 2018

We’d like to thank everyone who made our 2018 Liaison User Conference such an incredible success! More than 350 attendees convened at the Boston Marriott Copley Place to discuss new ways to solve some of the most pressing concerns facing admissions and enrollment management professionals. We’re grateful to have facilitated so many important conversations about what’s next for our clients, and we’re excited to reflect back on a few highlights from this year’s Conference.

Conference-goers were the first to lay eyes on the debut issue of The Admissionist

Inspirational keynotes and panels

Dr. Nancy Zimpher, one of the world’s foremost education experts, delivered a powerful address on strengthening the pipeline for higher education and the power of collaboration. “We cannot start what we do in post-secondary education at grade 13,” she said. Dr. Zimpher inspired the audience with examples of organizations using data and predictive analytics to solve problems that pose barriers to education. “Educating more people and educating them better is simply the best bet any society can make,” she shared.

Dr. Nancy Zimpher delivers a rousing opening keynote at the 2018 Liaison User Conference

Liaison’s Founder and CEO George Haddad started the second day of the conference with insight on how Liaison has grown over the years and what the future holds for the company and our customers. He promised continued collaboration and innovation ahead. During lunchtime, Haddad returned to the stage with panelists Dr. Jenny Rickard, president and CEO of the Common Application; Timi Agar Barwick, CEO of the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA), and Scott Jaschik, editor of Inside Higher Ed. The panelists provided their perspectives on topics ranging from access to education, diversity and international student enrollment to the role of technology and standardized tests in admissions.

Robert Ruiz moderates a lively Q&A during one of the Conference plenary sessions

Best practices and case studies from our clients

Clients using our full spectrum of products shared how they’re leveraging these tools to raise awareness of their offerings, make data-driven decisions and operate more effectively and efficiently while being expected to do more with less. Our presenters ran the gamut from small private colleges to vast public university systems, association partners and specialized schools operating on their own within larger organizations. Insight into recruiting Generation Z, managing change to ensure successful technology adoption, crafting effective digital marketing campaigns… our 70+ sessions truly offered something for everyone.

Attendees explore how to prepare for admitting Gen Z students during a breakout session

Networking and social sharing

The connections that happen outside conference sessions can be just as valuable as those that happen within them. Connecting over cocktails at the networking reception, exploring Boston with new colleagues and messaging through the conference app showed that everyone was truly engaged. We were thrilled to see more than 2,300 app messages and social shares!

Colleagues — and new friends! — network over wine and hors d’oeuvres at the Conference’s Thursday reception

What’s next

You’ll have access to on-demand recordings of some of the sessions soon. And we’re already planning next year’s conference — stay tuned for your save the date!

RJ Nichol

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Over the last three decades, Liaison has helped over 40,000 programs on more than 1,200 campuses more effectively manage admissions through its Centralized Application Service (CAS™) technology and complementary application processing and support services. The higher education technology leader supports its partner institutions’ total enrollment goals by pairing CAS with its Enrollment Marketing (EM) platform as well as the recently acquired TargetX (CRM) and advanced analytics software Othot.