5 Keys To Effective Group Decision Making for Student Leaders
Recently, I read “The Wisdom of Crowds*” by James Surowiecki, and it got me thinking about the countless number of times I’ve held student group decision-making discussions that I thought were great, but in reality, and based on the research in this book, were pointless groupthink. Deliberation in a groupthink setting has the disturbing effect […]
Am I Hirable in #StudentAffairs?
The #SAchat conversation from yesterday was on credentials in Student Affairs. It was sparked, in part, by an initiative by ACPA to create a Student Affairs Credential Program. Within the first couple of questions it was clear that the relationships between credentials, competencies, qualifications, achievements, experiences, and degrees were confusing. Q1: How are we defining […]
Chairs, Stairs, and Garbage Cans: Your Partners in Student Engagement
I recently keynoted at the ACUI Region 6 conference in Florida. For those unfamiliar, ACUI stands for Association of College Unions International. ACUI people are in charge of the physical student union space on campus. This can mean anything from hosting student events, to furniture, to vacuum cleaners. At larger schools, they often run entirely […]
Getting Over Yourself to Influence this Generation
Part of the intense facilitation/speaking training that I acquired through my three years working with QLN, was a deeper understand of their core tenets. Two tenets that still stick heavily with me today in the work I do with training staff, faculty, and administration on leveraging social media for increased student engagement are called, “The […]
Before I Die… [BLENDER EVENT]
Walls are usually a boring addition to buildings. However, with the right creative idea, walls can turn into something so much more. Artist, Candy Chang, converted a seemingly “dead” wall in a neighborhood into an engaging work of art that pushed people to think about themselves and their life. Meh –> Hmm. Campus walls are […]
Stop Marketing and Start Engaging
Yesterday I spent some time at Carnegie Mellon University visiting a former Swift Kick intern. As we walked through their beautiful University Center, I noticed many campus clubs with tables set up trying to solicit students to join their group. Every table was covered with reading material and a bowl of candy to entice students […]
Say Something Nice [BLENDER EVENT]
Improve Everywhere is known for creating scenes, which is probably why we love so much of what they create. In their latest scene, they strapped a megaphone to a podium and placed it in the middle of Union Square in NYC with a sign that read, “Say Something Nice.” Imagine if your campus created a […]
Blender Events Brainstorming List
If you follow our blog, you probably noticed we started a new segment called ‘Blender Events‘ where we highlight possible Blender Events student leaders could run on their campus. If you’re a DFT alumni, you should already know the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of Blender Events. If the term is brand new to you, click here to […]
The KLM Surprise [BLENDER EVENT]
KLM leveraged Social Media to creatively engage their traveling customers with a pattern interrupt of happiness. Imagine if your campus had a Social Media Prize Patrol that would track students down via public tweets and deliver them a pattern interrupt of happiness. ** To learn more about Blender Events, click here. To learn more about our Dance Floor […]
‘Perspectivizing’ Your Online Engagement Data
Ok, I made that word up, but before our etymologist readers split for the hills, hear me out as to what it means. We help run the social media accounts of a couple education related companies. Every month we run an analytics report to measure what’s working, what’s not working, and the overall growth of […]