1. What Makes A Visit
An Experience?
CIVSA 2009
Jeff Kallay, The Experience Evangelist @targetx.com

2. Let’s Manage Expectations
- Much to cover in short time - I strive to overwhelm
- “Big Picture” thinking - it’s about change
- Experience Economy 101
- Ten Steps that make it a visit experience
- Keep it real and render authenticity
- Become your campus’ Experience Evangelist and
conduct a mini-audit of your visit experience
- Compare your lows and highs (worst & best practices)
- Educate your campus about the importance of the visit
- Questions and Answers

3. Assignment
1. What “grade” (A-F) would you give your tour/visit?
2. Brand Analogy
If your college or university was a
Car
Restaurant
Retail
(any brand)
which would it be?

4. The college visit - does it do any good?

5. The college visit - does it do any good?
SFO Article: The college visit - does it do any good? Read Jeff's blog post

6. Campus Tour Pranks
Watch more tour prank videos

7. Greatest College Prank Ever
Watch more tour prank videos

8. Welcome to the
Experience Economy
Pine & Gilmore

9. The Experience Economy 101
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Experiences
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10. Experience marketing
is about:
1. Repelling commodization
2. Charging a premium price
3. Persuading consumers to pay
when they never did before
4. Selling “Memories”

11. Experiences = Memories

12. Experiences = Memories

13. Beyond Goods & Services

14. Remember,
“The experience is the marketing.”
Arts & Science Group Student Poll 2004

15. The experience is higher
education marketing
- 84% use the web most heavily in
researching colleges
- 71% say the campus visit is the
most trusted source of information
Eduventures 2007 Survey of 7,867 High school junior and seniors.
Reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education “Prospective Students Rely on Campus Visits and Web Sites to Learn About Colleges, Report Says”
Arts and Science Group

16. 10
Ten Steps that make
the difference between
a tour and an
experience

17. 1. Integrate the four E’s
Higher Education is the experience economy: 4 E’s
Absorption
Entertainment Education
Passive Participation Active Participation
Esthetic Escape
Strategic Horizons, LLP Immersion

18. 2. Craft a mini campus experience
- Customize the Experience
We all want what we want - accommodate the various
levels of interest of guests to your campus
- Eliminate negative cues
- Accent positive cues
- Look for missed cues
Elon University

19. 2. Craft a mini campus experience
- Engage ALL the senses
“83% of marketing appeals to sight, leaving a paltry 17% to the
other senses. Surprisingly, smell is the second most important
sense after sight, and not sound. In fact, 75% of all emotional
connections are based on smell.”
Adweek review of Brand Sense
Centre College The Ohio State University

20. 2. Craft a mini campus experience
- Mix in the memorabilia - “ticket stub”
California Lutheran University

21. 3. Set the expectation
- Before guests arrive (online, email, & mail)
- Explain route (will and won’t be seen)
Map courtesy of
Lenoir-Rhyne College and Sketches

22. 4. Spend no money
- Engage the “sense of the butt”
Millsaps College Albright College
Hampshire College Saint Joseph’s University

23. 5. Tell stories not statistics
- Stories render authenticity
Hendrix College
Lenoir-Rhyne College
Albright College

24. 6. Reveal your school’s nomenclature
7. Keep it real - do what’s authentic to
your campus and experience
Millsaps College California Lutheran University

25. 8. Do you have a signature moment?
Cerritos Public Library Albright College
Westmont College
Millsaps College
Hampshire College
Ursuline College

26. 9. Mystery shop your tour
(and your competitors)
The Ohio State University

27. 10. Top Ten Tidbits for Tour Guides
The Most Important Employee on Your Campus

28. 10. Top Ten Tidbits for Tour Guides
1. Interact as if you’re giving your sibling a tour
2. Answer questions honestly and directly, but remind them it’s your perspective
3. Watch your pronouns - “We” is exclusive, “You’ll “is inclusive
4. Tell stories - yours and your friends’
5. When you walk backwards they look at you, not the campus
6. If you feel negatively about any other school - don’t name names
7. “Tour guides” is boring - you’re bright, come up with a memorable name
8. Find connections with your audience and ask open-ended questions
9. Is asking “Do you have any more questions?” the best way to end a tour?
10. Have Fun! Don’t be a TOURBOT!

29. Conduct a mini-audit
of visit experience

30. Steps to take
1. Register for the tour
2. Grab your camera and note pad
3. Drive from highway to campus
4. Was there plenty of parking and wayfinding?
5. What first impression does your admissions office
or visitor center make?
6. What are the restrooms like?

31. Steps to take
7. Was the tour route and things shown authentic
to your actual student experience? Was it real?
9. Was the tour guide personable, engage and told
great stories? Did they walk backwards?
10. How did you “feel” when it was done?
Now write it all into a brief report and share.

32. Look for the lows

33. Expectations Not Managed
- Difficult to find “Visit” information on
websites “How many clicks?”
- No email, phone, or mail confirmation
- Not fully explaining how long to be on
campus and what all a visit entails
- Just kind of sit and wait in office or
visitor’s center

34. There’s better parking in Hell
- No visitor parking
- Not enough visitor parking
- No wayfinding signage
- Country Mile from Admissions

35. Am I in a Doctor’s office?
- Or a funeral parlor?
- Dark, depressing Admissions Offices or
Visitor’s Centers
- Harsh fluorescent lighting
- Chairs around the walls or crowded
- No music, computers, or refreshments
- Nothing you want to read or look at

36. Am I in a Doctor’s office?

37. Negative Cues

38. Stinky Bathrooms

39. Negative Cues

40. Negative Cues

41. Model Rooms That Aren’t

42. Tours That Are Too Large

43. Tours That Are Too Large

44. Tours That Are Too Large

45. Tours That Are Too Large

46. Tours That Are Too Large

47. Tours That Are Too Large

48. Disengaged Tour Guides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avYUL1A-WUM

49. Look for the highs

50. Expectations Managed
- Easy to find “Visit” information on
websites “1-2 clicks?”
- Email, phone, or mail confirmation
- Explaining how long to be on
campus and what all a visit entails
- Engaging pre-tour experience in office

51. It’s like parking in Heaven
- Easy to find visitor parking
- Tons of visitor parking
- Wayfinding signage Southern
New
Hampshire
- Close to Admissions
Occidental Occidental

52. I’m not at the Doctor’s office!
- Authentic look and feel
- Bright, comfortable Admissions Offices
or Visitor’s Centers
- Indirect and pendant lighting
- Furniture clustered in groups
- Music, computers, refreshments
- Stuff you want to read or look at

53. Not a Doctor’s office!
Albright College

54. Not a Doctor’s office!
West Virginia University

55. Not a Doctor’s office!
Troy University

56. Not a Doctor’s office!
American University

57. Not a Doctor’s office!
Eckerd
Birmingham-Southern College

58. Not a Doctor’s office!
Eckerd
Birmingham-Southern College

59. Not a Doctor’s office!
Hobart and William Smith Colleges

60. Not a Doctor’s office!
Hobart and William Smith
Northern Kentucky University

61. Not a Doctor’s office!
Hobart and William Smith
Hobart and William Smith
See more at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ExperienceEvangelistCollegeAdmissionAndVisitorCenterImages

62. Aesthetic/Esthetic
Hobart and William Smith
Transylvania University

63. Award Winning Bathrooms
University of Delaware
Birmingham-Southern College

64. Aesthetic/Esthetic
Hobart and William Smith
Assumption College

65. Stories & Storytelling
Hobart and William SmithUniversity
Saint Edward’s

66. Stories & Storytelling
Hobart and William Smith
Hobart and William Smith
Hobart and William Smith

67. Engaging Tour Guides,
Memories and Memorabilia
Albright
Albright College American University

68. Engaging Tour Guides,
Memories and Memorabilia
Occidental
UArts
Louisville

69. Engaging Tour Guides,
Memories and Memorabilia
Lenoir-Rhyne College Northern Kentucky University

70. Engaging Tour Guides,
Memories and Memorabilia
Centre College

71. Educate your campus
about the importance
of the visit

72. Educate your campus
1. Schedule and execute regular tours with
maintenance and housekeeping along your routes
2. Sponsor “Lunch and Learns” about
The Experience Economy and
the importance of the visit
3. Promote the campus visit each day

73. Educate your campus
Baldwin-Wallace Daily Email to all faculty and staff

74. Take-Away
1. The basics matter
2. Keep it real and authentic
3. stories not stats; people not programs
4. Don’t try to be all things to all students
5. Connect with best fit students
6. It takes a campus to stage a visit experience
7. Key words - engaging, memorable, customized,
real and authentic

75. Take-Away
8. Be human, have fun, and have conversations

76. Remember:
People won’t remember what you say,
but they will always remember what you do
and how you make them feel.
How will you make your guests to campus feel?

77. Read these:

78. Experience these:
Lincoln

79. Q&A

80. Download Presentation:
1. Go to www.targetx.com,
2. Click “Presentation Slides”
click iThink Blog

81. Jeff Kallay, Experience Evangelist, TargetX
email kallay@targetx.com
phone 877.715.7474 x.110
blog www.targetx.com/ithink
AIM jeffkallay
twitter jeffkallay
or just google “Jeff Kallay”

82. What Makes A Visit
An Experience?
CIVSA 2009
Jeff Kallay, The Experience Evangelist @targetx.com