Open House

Overview	Host a drop-in event where prospective students can tour your facility, meet faculty and students, and learn about your technology program.
Audience	Prospective students
Time	2-4 hours
Sample Agenda	Welcome Table Station Visits
Preparation	Planning Publicity

Sample Agenda

An open house is an effective way to bring prospective students directly to your campus to tour your facility, meet faculty and students, and learn about your technology program. Your open house can be hosted by a single department or integrated into a college-wide event. Following is a sample agenda that highlights where you can customize and integrate Pathways resources into an open house.

Welcome Table

The welcome table is an opportunity to provide participants with an overview of the event and set the tone for their experience.

• Staff the table
  Staff the welcome table with current students and program graduates who are friendly and knowledgeable. This will help your visitors feel comfortable and provide an informative introduction to your program and prospective technology careers.
  
  
• Show the Overview Video
  This 1:15-minute video illustrates how community colleges prepare students for exciting and rewarding careers in technology. Set up a viewing area near the welcome table and post a sign with the video length. Play the whole piece, show only a small portion, or mix it on a reel with some of your college's own video segments. Whatever you decide, you may wish to use the loop command, under the movie menu item in QuickTime, for continuous play.
  
  
• Distribute a customized Poster
  Customize the poster with your college's information and post or distribute with other informational materials about your program.
  
  

Station Visits

Set up stations throughout your campus or within a single building to highlight different elements of your program.

• Position current students, faculty, alumni, or administrators in labs or classrooms to talk about your technology program.
  
  
• Showcase a piece of cutting-edge equipment unique to your program.
  
  
• Arrange for representatives from local businesses to discuss technology careers and the job market.
  
  
• Set up activities to reinforce key messages for participants.
  • Shattering Stereotypes Activity
    Explore preconceived ideas about technology students and compare them with profiles of actual students to develop a broad understanding of who can succeed in technology programs.
    
    
  • Math and Science: Keys to Cool Careers Activity
    Meet three technology students who have varying experience in math and science, yet who are all succeeding in technology programs.
    
    
  • Career Connections Activity
    Play a word-matching game to discover the variety of technology careers available to program graduates.
    
    
  
  
  
  
• Use a Pathways Video to introduce different topic areas at appropriate stations. You can play the whole piece, show a small portion, or mix it on a reel with some of your college's video segments. Whatever you decide, you may wish to use the loop command, under the movie menu item in QuickTime, for continuous play.
  
  Video Vignettes (2-3 minutes each):
  • Community Colleges: Academic Rigor and Skills
    Students develop solid educational foundations at Advanced Technological Education programs.
    
    
  • Distance Learning
    Community colleges offer flexible online courses.
    
    
  • Juggling Home, Work, and School
    Students find ways to juggle school, work, and home as they move toward careers in technology.
    
    
  • Language and Support Systems
    Community colleges offer various academic support systems, in areas from English proficiency to math skills.
    
    
  • Math and Science: Keys to Cool Careers
    Technology courses, with math and science at the foundation, lead students to rewarding technology careers.
    
    

  Technology Field Videos (15 minutes each)
  Five subject-area videos illustrate what's involved in being a student in Biotechnology, Information Technology, Marine Science, Precision Agriculture, and Process Technology.

  
  Success Stories (30 minutes)
  Inspiring profiles feature six community college graduates and their career paths in engineering technology, modern manufacturing, and information and communication technology.

Planning

Good planning ensures a successful event and allows you to troubleshoot any last-minute problems. Following is a checklist of activities to consider as you prepare for an event. (For more planning tips and strategies, see Recruitment Basics.)

Planning Checklist

Getting Started

• Assess how the event fits into the overall recruitment strategy
  
  
• Organize a planning committee
  
  
• Establish goals for the event (include measurable outcomes)
  
  
• Decide if the event will highlight one technology program, several complementary programs, or be part of a collegewide event
  
  
• Create an agenda
  
  
• Prepare a budget, including costs for publicity, food, photocopies, postage, etc.
  
  

Audience

• Select target audience
  
  
• Estimate attendance numbers
  
  
• Determine event messages
  
  
• Identify any language issues and how to address them
  
  

Timing

• Decide if this a one-time event or will be repeated regularly
  
  
• Determine the type of day (weekday or weekend) and time of day (morning, afternoon, or evening) most convenient for the target audience
  
  
• Set the event date
  
  
• Choose start and end times
  
  
• Rule out conflicts with other scheduled events
  
  

Venue

• Choose a location and room(s) based on estimated attendance
  
  
• Make sure location is convenient for target audience and handicap-accessible
  
  
• Determine if public transportation is available or if transportation will need to be provided
  
  
• Consider parking facilities (proximity to event location, availability, special permits, etc.)
  
  
• Establish the number of stations needed to accommodate estimated audience size (consider how to control overcrowding)
  
  
• Reserve the space
  
  
• Alert security or police to event logistics
  
  

Partners

• Identify potential program partners (faculty, current students, program administrators, industry associations, local businesses, professional organizations, unions, media, public television stations, governmental agencies, school districts, science or math teachers' association, etc.)
  
  
• Determine partner roles (keynote speaker, event staff, access to attendees, publicity, sponsors, etc.)
  
  
• Ask partners to participate
  
  
• Develop a timeline
  
  
• Look for opportunities to tie in to existing events and initiatives
  
  
• Set up a communication structure (meetings, phone calls, e-mails, etc.)
  
  
• Discuss how to evaluate the success of the project and partnership
  
  

Staff

• Recruit event staff (faculty, current students, program graduates, business representatives, others)
  
  
• Consider the optimal number of staff necessary to run each element of the event
  
  
• Select date and time for staff training, if necessary
  
  
• Prepare a master event schedule; assign responsibilities and breaks
  
  
• Create name badges for staff
  
  

Welcome Table

• Determine location and duration of welcome table (locate areas with enough room to avoid a bottleneck)
  
  
• Create method to collect participants' contact information (sign-in sheet, on-site computer registration, etc.)
  
  
• Create welcome packet (program agenda, campus map, college and program brochures, fact sheets about available careers and college services, flyer about Web site, etc.)
  
  
• Customize and make copies of the College Contact Card or Request for Information Card to give participants vehicles for obtaining further information
  
  
• Collect welcome table supplies (name tags, pens, tablecloth, computer, telephone, etc.)
  
  
• Provide map or tour guides for participants
  
  

Signs and Equipment

• Identify and create necessary signs (parking, welcome table, station titles, directional signs, etc.)
  
  
• Arrange for audiovisual equipment (computers, VCRs, monitors, LCD projectors, etc.)
  
  
• Identify cutting-edge technology to highlight (consider if technician is needed to operate or explain)
  
  

Food

• Determine whether food will be served at event
  
  
• Order food for event participants
  
  
• Order food for event staff
  
  

Evaluation

• Create an Evaluation Form or other feedback mechanism for participants and make copies
  
  
• Determine where and how to collect evaluation feedback
  
  

Post-Event Follow-Up

• Respond to Request for Information Cards
  
  
• Review evaluations
  
  
• Implement changes based on evaluation results
  
  

Publicity

What's the best way to get people to your event? Publicize! You can spread the word by sending out invitations; creating announcements in newspapers, on radio, or TV; and posting flyers at schools, churches, partners' businesses, unemployment offices, and community-based organizations.

Below you'll find a publicity checklist and suggested Pathways resources to use as you design your Open House publicity campaign. And as you begin developing your plan, remember the old advertising adage: It takes three "touches" to get a person to act!

Publicity Checklist

General

• Research how the target audience receives information (television, newspaper, online, word of mouth, etc.)
  
  
• Identify organizations to which your target audience belongs or from which it receives services
  
  
• Contact these organizations about placing announcements in their newsletters (print or e-mail), listservs, or other communication vehicles
  
  
• Establish channels to handle pre-event questions and/or pre-registration system (phone number, e-mail, online registration)
  
  

Mailings and Flyers

• Develop a mailing list of potential attendees (sources include mailing-list brokers, partners, internal mail list, etc.)
  
  
• Create a Flyer announcing the program
  
  
• Identify partners and locations that will post or distribute flyers (members of business advisory board and other related technology businesses, professional organizations, unions, stores and banks, schools, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, etc.)
  
  
• Schedule mailing
  
  

Media

• Develop an event Press Release
  
  
• Mail press releases to newspapers with calendar or education sections
  
  
• Place event advertisements in newspapers, mass-mailing circulars, and in community coupon packets
  
  
• Develop public service announcements for local cable-access stations and area radio stations
  
  

Web

• Place event announcements on college Web site
  
  
• Contact providers of local community Web portals about placing an announcement
  
  
• Ask partners to post announcements on their sites (members of business advisory board and other related technology businesses, unions, professional organizations, stores and banks, schools, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, etc.)