Technology Solutions in State and Regional Organizations

Technology Solutions in

State and Regional

Organizations

• We are a public research university devoted to engineering and applied science

related to resources

• Full Time Enrollment is 5,600+, Grads & Undergrads

• Undergrad average incoming un-weighted GPA is 3.8, ACT 30

14,000 applicants and 950 seats

• Yes, we have an actual working mine, yes we blow stuff up

• Yes, it has an underground classroom, yes it is really dark

• Yes, we are located about 4 blocks from Coors Brewery

• Yes, they have free drinks if you go and visit them

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Located in Golden, Colorado

The Rocky Mountain Association of Collegiate

Registrars and Admissions Officers is located in the

Western Region of the U.S., and comprises 75+ of

the higher education institutions in the states of

Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.

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Today’s Agenda • A word about volunteer organizations

• Organization Websites

• Google Apps for Education

• Meeting and Webinar Software

• Membership Databases

• Organization Communication Methods

• Conference Registration Systems

• Accepting Credit Cards

Volunteer Organizations

It is easier to find men who will volunteer

to die, than to find those who are willing to

endure pain with patience. -Julius Caesar

Volunteer Organizations

Why bother volunteering?

1. To Be Challenged

2. To Share a Skill or Passion

3. To Learn from Others

4. To Gain Leadership Skills

Volunteer Organizations Picking Support Systems for

Volunteer Organizations • Make them simple and easy to understand for all levels of

technical understanding

• Choose systems that are “affordable” to your organization

• Choose systems that are easy to hand off from one person

to another

• Choose systems that have good public documentation so

that you are not dependent on any one person with all the

information

Organizational Websites

• Low traffic websites need to be clearly

organized, using familiar terms.

• Always consider the first timer in design

• Make it easy for exhibitors

• Never assume people understand acronyms,

or proprietary terms

• Make it available for many people to update

content without screwing up site design

Organizational Websites

Website Hosting • Use a cloud hosted solution vs a campus hosted solution

Organizational Websites

Website • Use a freeware product with lots of documentation available

Organizational Websites

Website • Search Engine Optimization is an option, we often are a

destination website where people who know…go.

• Google Analytics will let you know what parts of your website

are actually used vs. rarely used, and when they are used.

• Leverage Social Media web infrastructure for things they are

really good at so you don’t have to reproduce it yourself

Google Apps for Education

• Google Apps for Education is completely FREE with

24/7 support at no cost to your non-profit education

organization. Never any ads, and your data is yours.

• Cloud Hosted by Google, no infrastructure needed

• *Easy to learn, nearly unlimited documentation

• Easy Collaboration in real time

• Use on any device, anytime, integrate into Outlook

Google Apps for Education

• Email can be available by position, not person

• Archive emails and chats

• Collaborate on docs, and docs remain with position

• Create and share calendars internally and publicly

• Meet face to face via video, voice, or text

• Can use Google social media apps

Classroom Gmail Drive Calendar Vault Docs Sheets Slides Sites

Google Apps for Education

• Google Forms will integrate with Google Sheets,

which is Google’s version of Excel.

• Use it for surveys, collecting any information, etc.

Google Forms is Very Useful!

Meeting and Webinar Software • Easy way for Leaders to meet ad hoc, for emergencies, etc.

and without the cost of travel.

• Easy way to have working meetings for small groups.

• Easy way to provide a service and reach out to the

membership year round, and not just at conferences.

• Easy way to have meetings for State specific topics, or

specific areas/groups (ex: scheduling, residency, transcripts)

• Provide a way for those that didn’t attend annual meeting to

see popular sessions

• Grow annual meeting in person attendance

• New potential FREE service or REVENUE maker

Meeting and Webinar Software

Membership Databases

Membership Databases

• How is this so difficult sometimes if we are

Registrars and Admissions Officers?

• How do we handle different types of contacts

Dues contact vs institution contact vs member

• Where does the database live?

Behind a login on a webpage?

Front facing?

Membership Databases What info do we really need and want to maintain?

Do we need just some people’s info or everyone’s?

Do we need every institution’s info and let people look

up individuals on their own?

Who maintains it?

What is the org’s strategy for keeping it up to date

Make a decision on a long term strategy and

stick to it for X period of time.

Membership Databases

Organizational Communications

Effective Methods

Email

Listserv

Websites

Surveys

Social Media

Newsletters

USPS Letters?

Conference Registration Systems

How to Decide what you can “afford”

as an organization • Can you afford to build a home grown solution(s)?

Do you really want many different parts of a solution?

What about when the person who designed it leaves?

• Can you afford to do it all on paper? Manual Labor?

• Can you afford to purchase one of your own?

• Would AACRAO consider letting State and Regional

Conferences use their conference registration tool?

Conference Registration Systems

Accepting Credit Cards

There are significant costs to an organization to accept

credit cards. There are significant costs NOT to.

• You will pay for:

A merchant account

Individual Transaction Fees

Percentages to the Credit Card

Companies, these vary for every card type

Bank Fees (in some cases)

Accepting Credit Cards

Bottom Line: If you incur the fees, you will

need to decide how to pay for it.

• Do you incur the fee at all?

• Do you increase dues to pay?

• Do you roll fees into the conference cost?

• Do you choose a convenience fee model?

(ex: ticket companies, sporting events, etc)

Accepting Credit Cards

Questions & Answers

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

Corey Wahl Associate Registrar for Systems

Colorado School of Mines

[email protected]

303-273-3587

AACRAO Professional Development

AACRAO offers professional development opportunities

through meetings, online classes and webinars. For more

information, please visit www.aacrao.org/

Publications

AACRAO offers a valuable library of resources on transfer and

other higher education topics. For a listing of our recent

publications, please visit www.aacrao.org/resources/publications

AACRAO 2016 Annual Meeting

Phoenix, AZ

March 20-23, 2016 Registration is now open:

www.aacrao.org/2016-annual-meeting