Communicators, developers, marketers, and other creatives looking for an opportunity to warm up their winter with a little professional development are in luck. HighEdWeb Southeast is a month away.
The community will gather on March 1 in Hartsville, South Carolina, for the one-day conference at Coker College. The schedule is packed with speakers, panelists, and networking opportunities.
LINK talked with Danielle Sewell, Director of Marketing and Communications at Coker College and chair of the conference, about what attendees can expect.
LINK: Many people reading this may have attended a national HighEdWeb conference or a similar event. What do people who attend HighEdWeb Southeast have to look forward to?
Danielle: The scale of this is much more manageable in many ways. It’s a one-day conference, so people won’t need a ton of time off from work, and most attendees will be able to drive here. We tried to keep the size, time commitment, and pricing accessible. As for the conference itself—I think people will find it to be a more intimate setting than a large-scale national event. You’ll have more opportunities to network and meet other people from the Southeastern United States. HighEdWeb’s national conference has several wonderful tracks and attendees hop around, but at the regional conference, we’ll only have one track. Everyone will attend all of the sessions together, so it should be an especially communal, shared experience. Attendees will hear great insights into what their colleagues are working on, and they’ll also come away with key takeaways of their own from each session.
LINK: What about people new to HighEdWeb? What do you think they should know?
Danielle: The HighEdWeb community is such an interesting group of people, and it’s always fun to go to conferences and connect with other like-minded professionals! So many of us work in small shops, and we generally don’t have much opportunity to see each other and talk about our shared creative struggles. With HighEdWeb, we have a group of people who understand the work we’re all doing. Coming to a conference gives us a day to be surrounded by people who just get it. There’s so much creative energy and free-flowing conversation happening.
LINK: If someone hasn’t looked at the schedule yet, what are some of the highlights?
Danielle: Sessions will cover a diverse range of creative and digital topics—including photography and videography, agency partnerships, working with small teams, live video streaming, and prioritizing creativity. Some of the presentations will focus on specialized topics, but speakers are also striving to make sure their sessions are beneficial for everyone in the audience. You’ll get something from this conference, whether you’re a social media manager, a web developer, a team leader, or working in any other digital creative role.
LINK: And as the host, and first-time regional conference attendee, what are you looking forward to most?
Danielle: I think it’s going to be great to meet other professionals in the area. I’ve been in South Carolina just shy of three years, and haven’t yet had the chance to meet many higher ed creatives outside of my home institution—so it will be nice to see some people from Twitter in person! There are so many people doing great things at schools throughout the Southeast. This is will be a perfect opportunity to learn from one another and make connections.
