Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 2)

The board meeting is a regular milestone of the event season for many planners at Duke. For some, fall board meetings were the second round of virtual meetings since this spring, when the pandemic forced us to pivot quickly. So, for this special edition of Virtually Yours, rather than feature one planner, we are highlighting nearly a dozen planners from across campus, who shared their experiences with virtual board meetings.

Because everyone defaulted to using Zoom for their virtual board meetings, the next big change to navigate was the meeting schedule. A few boards opted for virtual schedules that were not significantly shorter than their face to face events, however, these were the exception. Several planners hosted board meetings in a single abbreviated session, ranging from two to four hours. A few others were successful with the formula of multiple, shorter sessions, either on consecutive days, or spread out over the course of a few weeks or months. Regardless of the schedule, the board members’ needs and feedback were top considerations:

• We did get feedback that four hours, even with breaks and lunch, is a long time to be on a Zoom call. On the other hand, we also heard from board members that breaking up the meeting over the course of one or two days was also problematic… It’s a delicate balance. Duke Alumni Association

Was board member participation impacted by going virtual? For the most part, the virtual meeting format resulted in similar and even greater participation from board members:

• Since they did not have to travel to campus, trustee attendance has actually been better. Plus, due to the pandemic, the trustees’ schedules are not quite as busy as normal: we’re not competing with travel for business and other big events. Board of Trustees
• The majority of our members are practicing physicians, and the virtual setting allowed them to attend from their office and come and go if needed. Medical Alumni Council
• It was also much easier to schedule administrator participation, and we could more easily involve our scholarship students in between classes. Women’s Impact Network

And while there are distinct advantages to the virtual format, it hasn’t been ideal for everyone:

• Our Nursing Alumni Council is also comprised of Emeritus members and I have seen a decline in their participation. School of Nursing
• It’s harder to engage the non-alumni parents in the virtual format. Parents Committee
• “Unengaged” board members still didn’t join the virtual meetings. Annual Fund Advisory Board

Just as with face to face board meetings, virtual meeting agendas rely heavily on live reports and presentations from speakers. Nonetheless, planners are adapting their delivery of content to the new environment, format and schedules:         

• We have limited the amount of information sent in advance to our board. We have replaced long reports with bullet pointed information and links so they can read more if they like. Nasher Museum of Art
• We make sure that PowerPoint presentations are dynamic, and include video elements with music and great visuals. Duke Libraries
• We were very intentional about helping board members feel connected to campus, since they are unable to visit in person. During one meeting break, I shared Duke themed digital jigsaw puzzles created with Jigsaw Planet. On Day 2, we kicked off our meeting at 5PM with the Facebook livestream of the Duke Chapel Carillon. Young Alumni Development Council

To make the most of the compressed schedule of many virtual board meetings, several units assigned readings for homework:

• The committee members understood that pre-reading would help them get the most out of the meeting and keep the meeting moving efficiently. Women’s Impact Network
• Participants appreciated having the information they needed to dive right into the packed agenda. Materials also offered context for the break-out groups, which made those discussions more fruitful. Duke Alumni Association

Encounters such as informal chats at the coffee station or in the hallway, and traditional social events, are missing from board meetings in Zoom. Yet social interaction actually contributes to a productive virtual meeting:

• With this group of young donors, I think it’s important to begin the meeting with some social time, to renew connections, and to warm everyone up to participating in subsequent discussions. Young Alumni Development Council
• They received a lot of great information, but we’ll plan differently for the next meeting to have more opportunities for discussions and conversation. School of Medicine

Many planners have adjusted their agendas to foster informal interaction:

• Even though the meeting was very business oriented, we had a brief ice breaker exercise for new members of the board. Duke Alumni Association
• We’ve been opening Zoom rooms approximately fifteen minutes before the scheduled start time. This way, trustees who wish to join early can spend some time socializing with each other. Board of Trustees

And some took the concept even farther, hosting virtual cocktail parties during the board meetings:

• Our virtual cocktail receptions typically have opening remarks from the president and board chair and then we place attendees in breakout groups for smaller conversations. We switch up the breakouts after fifteen minutes, so they get the chance to chat with different people. Board of Trustees
• One of the national co-chairs led a cocktail demo, and we shipped a virtual meeting kit to attendees ahead of time, with printed recipe cards and Duke branded cocktail napkins. Young Alumni Development Council

We asked planners what was most challenging about planning and producing their virtual board meetings, and general impressions varied:

• Not unlike a traditional board meeting, it’s challenging when the program content comes together at the last minute. Annual Fund Advisory Board
• Planning this board meeting is by far easier than planning an in-person one. The only real challenges are keeping up with timing and technical difficulties. Duke Libraries

Indeed, when we drilled down a little further, the technical challenges were a common theme:

• It is still a challenge to get new Zoom users connected. We also have to encourage audience members to ask their questions live rather than just putting the questions in chat. Nicholas School of the Environment
• The most challenging element has been the internet connectivity of the speakers. During one meeting, we were forced us to adjust the entire agenda on the spot so the speaker could troubleshoot and present later in the meeting. School of Nursing
• I think the most challenging aspect of the meeting was the coming and going of speakers throughout the meeting. We worked with our events team to create a virtual green room for speakers to test slides, mics and cameras, so they would be prepared to join the ongoing meetings with confidence. Medical Alumni Council

And this technical theme was underscored with additional helpful tips for others planning virtual board meetings:

• Learn everything you can about Zoom, and conduct many Zoom meetings and practice sessions in advance of your actual board meeting. Duke Libraries
• Remember: if you are recording a meeting, when your attendees are in breakouts, you ae still being recorded in the main session! Women’s Impact Network
• Make sure that you have two people behind the scenes for audience support: one who board members call when they have connection issues, and another who monitors the chat messages and mutes audience members as needed. Nicholas School of the Environment
• Enlist help: you can always use an extra pair of hands to handle the unexpected. This is just as true of virtual events as with live events! Annual Fund Advisory Board

Congratulations to event planners and volunteer managers across campus on a great season of board meetings, and special thanks to the contributors to this article!

Laura Brown, Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees and Director of Board Operations, Office of the University Secretary

Lisa Dilts, Senior Director Special Events, Duke Alumni Affairs

Kim Garcia, Senior Director Special Events, University Development (AFAB, Parents Committee)

Marla Gregg, Director, Alumni and Development Programs, Duke School of Nursing

Stephanie Lowd, Director of Strategic Events, Duke Health Development & Alumni Affairs (School of Medicine)

Katie O’Grady, Development Projects Coordinator, Nicholas School of the Environment

Katryna Robinson, Executive Assistant to the Vice Provost, Duke Libraries

Brie Russell, Senior Director, Alumni and Regional Engagement, Duke School of Medicine (Medical Alumni Council)

Kym Trimarchi, Senior Assistant Director Special Events, University Development (WIN)

Stephanie Wheatley, Director of Development & Major Gifts, Nasher Museum of Art

Kathy Wright, Senior Assistant Director Special Events, University Development (YADC)

Kathy Wright, Editor

When it came time for the annual School of Nursing’s awards ceremony, it was a quick adaptation to make this a synchronous virtual viewing to celebrate student, faculty, and staff excellence. The goal was to give individual recognition to more than 25 award recipients and celebrate their accomplishments as a community.  Going virtual didn’t impact the goals, per se. However, it did add a layer of complexity that required more coordination and communication than ever before. Every award presenter, award recipient, award group representative, and the mistress of ceremonies was instructed to create a A/V recording of their remarks by either using Zoom or their phone. These videos were integrated into a PowerPoint presentation that simulated, in spirit, the brick-and-mortar event.

What elements did you incorporate in your virtual event to engage attendees?

With a PowerPoint slide deck, we revealed the name of each award as it was being described by the presenter or award group representative. We then revealed the name and photo of the award’s recipient using transitions, animations, and sound effects. To further the celebratory feeling, we opened the chat feature in Zoom so that attendees could share congratulatory comments.

What resources, skills, and partners did you use in creating this virtual event?

Utilizing my Zoom and PowerPoint skills, I partnered with our IT team to envision the virtual ceremony and develop the concept. I worked closely with the media specialists on that team to produce the video presentation and broadcast it “live” via Zoom.

How did you measure the success of your virtual event?            

We measured the success of this event by anecdotal evidence. We received positive comments from the Dean of the School of Nursing, my boss who at the time was the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, my colleagues, and members of the school community.

What was most satisfying about planning and producing this event?     

The challenge of adapting to the circumstances and then working with the IT team to develop the concept.

What did you learn from planning this virtual event?    

The video editor/producer is ultimately the one with artistic control, not me.

What advice do you have for colleagues planning a similar event?         

If you’ve never worked with a video editor/producer before, I highly recommend seeking advice and recommendations from people who have in order to find out how to communicate effectively with them. This will also help you develop a solid understanding of the video editing and production processes, the steps involved, what to expect or anticipate, questions to ask, important things to consider, and pitfalls to avoid.

What is your next virtual event challenge?         

The next virtual challenge I faced was coordinating and facilitating my first Zoom Webinar: a statewide hour-long continuing education event featuring a moderator, three presenters/panelists, and a Q&A session. We had close to 300 people participate in the webinar.

Please list the names and titles of anyone else that was vital to this project.             

• Video Editor/Producer: Rodney Bean, Multimedia and User Services Specialist, School of Nursing IT (SON IT)
• Mistress of Ceremonies: Valerie K. Sabol, PhD, ACN, GNP, CHSE, ANEF, FAANP, FAAN, Professor and Chair of the Healthcare in Adult Populations Division
• Zoom Host: Ramon Sotelo, Multimedia and User Services Specialist, SON IT
• Creative Consultant and Closing Scene Videographer: Drew Buchanan, Multimedia Specialist, SON IT
• IT Consultant: Carla Nichols, Assistant Director, Information Systems, SON IT
• IT Consultant: Glenn Setliff, Assistant Dean, Information Technology, SON IT

Virtually yours,

Stefanie Conrad

Special Projects Analyst

School of Nursing Academic Affairs

Kaitlin Briggs, Editor

Marking the Moment was a virtual platform to celebrate the Class of 2020. The ultimate goal of this event was to create something special for any 2020 graduate. With in-person events halted, it was important to find a meaningful way to let these soon-to-be alums know how proud their Duke community is of them.

We created a website that allowed for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to select a pathway for a customized experience from the safety of their own homes. Once on the site, there was programming created specifically for those populations. Moving to a virtual celebration demanded an entirely new form of creativity. It is important to note that this website was not a replacement for commencement. The ceremony itself was postponed, so we were challenged with how to create something that would honor this moment while still giving hope for the in-person ceremony to come. With over 10,000 unique visitors on May 10, we were pleased with the success of this virtual platform.

Why did you choose this format/model over others?

We knew we wanted something that would be easy to navigate for everyone involved. The website format offered worldwide and ongoing access, allowing the celebration to live on as a virtual time capsule for people to experience for years to come.

Elements that made this experience unique included social media downloadables, over 400 customized videos from faculty, staff, fellow classmates, and alumni, as well as unique messaging from President Price and other VIPs (perhaps my favorite was this one by special guest, Cascada!). We also had live events scheduled throughout the day to keep people engaged. They ranged from Q&As with on campus celebrities, like Coach K, to panel sessions to talk about how they could become more involved as alumni of the institution. All materials can be seen at https://2020.duke.edu/.

What resources, skills, and partners did you use in creating this virtual event? Attachments welcome and can be uploaded in following question.

We had to pivot rather quickly since COVID-19 became serious during the spring semester – right when all of the plans for an in-person ceremony were being solidified. Ultimately, this new concept came to life in a span of 6 weeks with the launch taking place on Sunday, May 10, 2020.

With little time to re-route, it was important that we collaborate with multiple offices across campus to bring this to life. We reviewed multiple bids on this project before hiring August Jackson, a creative agency that works to bring these types of platforms to life. They have worked with University Development before and are familiar with the campus culture. In fact, they were indispensable in helping each school visualize what their area of the website. We worked closely with University Communications, the President’s Office, and the communicators across all schools to re-imagine what this website could encapsulate. Through numerous Zoom meetings, we talked through how this could be meaningful across the board, hashing and re-hashing what was most feasible. As overall project management leaders, our office compiled the notes and orchestrated the overall big picture, ensuring that the final package truly honored the Class of 2020. We tested different templates and ideas until we finally found the right combination that would make this celebration come to life.  August Jackson and University Communications did the heavy lifting when it came to content production and building this website.

What did you learn from planning this virtual event?

Communication is key! In fact, I think that all parties involved would admit that there truly cannot be enough communication. Between our office, University Communications, and the President’s Office, we had multiple standing meetings to check in every couple of days to ensure that things were moving forward appropriately. The Nicholas School was incredibly engaged and truly set the bar high. They provided a lot of leadership to other schools to show how to engage their unique populations in creating content to celebrate their graduates.

When we first started this project, it was a challenge to communicate what we needed from other departments, because, frankly, we weren’t too sure ourselves. Through conversations with various constituents, the direction became more and more clear. In the future, we would also add regularly scheduled check-in meetings with the other schools and departments to keep everyone informed inspired and focused.

What is your next virtual event challenge?

Our biggest challenges for university ceremonies this semester were Opening Convocation and Founders’ Day. We turned Opening Convocation into a virtual ceremony (https://youtu.be/viHkyN9jnUM) and created a weeklong email communication plan for Founders’ Day to honor pioneers of the university (https://founders.duke.edu).

Please list the names and titles of anyone else who was vital to this project:

Special thanks to Terry Chambliss, Sr. Director of Special Events & University Ceremonies; Kristen Brown, Blyth Morrell, Lawrence Kluttz and their teams plus the communicators and planners from each school for helping to make this all come to life. This was truly a collaborative effort that was made possible by the teamwork of so many people!

Virtually yours,

Kaitlin Briggs

Senior Program Coordinator for University Ceremonies

Office of Special Events & University Ceremonies

Designed by Duke Black Alumni (DBA) and the Department of African and African American Studies (AAAS), the Duke Alumni Association helped to host a special, six-part virtual conversation series on race and inequity in America. During this pivotal time in US history, Duke’s world-class faculty helped participants explore topics at the intersection of economics, public policy, government, sociology, culture and more. While this particular series took place in July through August 2020, DBA is currently working with AAAS to finalize several more lectures that will take place during both the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters.

What were the event goals? How did going virtual impact these goals?

The goal of the lecture series was to build community for Duke Black Alumni (DBA) as well as to foster closer connections and “Forever Learning” opportunities with the world’s leading African and African American Studies (AAAS) Department and faculty. A second goal emerged from this program: to provide the opportunity and space to all alumni to learn more about race and inequity.

Going virtual impacted our goals positively because it allowed us to expand upon our audience, both in terms of who participated in the program but also who accessed it at a later time. We did not restrict attendees; many of our alumni requested to invite family, friends, and colleagues, which we welcomed. We also recorded every lecture of the series and made it available as a link in the follow up communication, eventually posting it to the Duke Alumni Lifelong Learning YouTube channel too. Being able to record the lectures has been paramount as it provides access to individuals who were not able to attend for whatever reason (i.e. availability, time zone, etc.) as well as individuals who wanted to review the material again.

Why did you choose this format/model over others?    

We chose a webinar format because it allowed us to monitor and control the audience since the number of registrants was so high. Duke Black Alumni (DBA) and the Department of African & African American Studies (AAAS) had the vision for the lecture series style and all of the specific content. They took the time to carefully think through each topic and secure appropriate faculty member(s) and/or alumni to facilitate the conversation. Each lecture featured the presenters sharing their expertise, followed by a moderated Q&A. The Q&A function was enabled to allow our attendees to engage and submit questions during the program.

How did you measure the success of your virtual event?

Our two primary measures of success for this virtual program were number of registrants and general engagement of participants during the actual program. We had over 3700 different individuals register for at least one lecture within the six part series. Registrants then ranged from 1500-3100 for each individual session. Anecdotally, we have also received innumerable communications from alumni thanking us over the series and sharing how impactful the lectures have been.

• One alumna located in the Philippines, who consistently joined at 7am (her time) in order to experience the impact of this series firsthand, followed up to state, “Heartfelt gratitude to you for enabling me to attend the Black in 2020: A Virtual Lecture Series in accordance with lifelong learning and for the purpose of reconnecting with our beloved Duke University.” – Graduate School Alumna (Ph.D.) ’70
• “Thank you for a terrific set of thought-provoking and interesting programs so far. I look forward to the remainder of the series. I’m appreciative of all the effort you have put into planning and executing this series.” – Duke Law Alumnus ’80
• “Thank you for offering this program. I feel like positive momentum for change exists right now, and I appreciate the opportunity to be better educated to be a part of it.” – Duke Law Alumnus ‘81
• “Thank you for the vibrant and enlightening discussion by Duke experts on this subject!” – Trinity Alumna ‘10

What was most satisfying about planning and producing this event?

For me, it was seeing the vision of our Duke Black Alumni (DBA) leaders come to fruition and have it be unbelievably purposeful and effective.

What resources, skills, and partners did you use in creating this virtual event?

We are very fortunate that our Duke Black Alumni (DBA) have such strong relationships with our Department of African & African American Studies (AAAS) and Duke’s world-class faculty. Having access to the Department and the faculty is and will continue to be key in making this lecture series successful. We cannot thank our faculty enough for their willingness to share their expertise with our alumni. The other primary resource is our DBA leaders. This series was their vision so without them, this program would not have happened. Of course, we also would be remiss if we did not mention our DAA colleagues who assisted us in the facilitation and promotion of this program including our technical producers, Cvent registration builders, and Marketing & Communications staff.

What did you learn from planning this virtual event?

I have learned a significant amount about Zoom (including the difference between meetings and webinars, which I feel that I have finally mastered, though that’s also thanks to Kim Garcia) as well as how to manage our volunteers in an entirely virtual world, including how to balance their expectations. This has been changed since I, too, am working from home and don’t have as quick of access to other staff members and campus partners as I normally would. Many of our volunteers are also working from home and balancing various commitments. In an effort to make sure that our alumni volunteers are involved in the planning process, we do ask them to complete and submit various documents (ie. Program Proposal, Details for Registration, Run-of-Show) for their programs. These are also meant to be helpful resources to them as they think through all of the logistics for the program.

• Lifelong Learning Program Proposal Template: When our affinity groups want to host a lifelong learning educational program, they need to submit this form. We typically need to work with our Lifelong Learning team to secure faculty members and need to understand the vision for their thought-out program.
• Virtual Program Run-of-Show: This document is meant to help them think through the program start to finish, including the layout and all logistics.

What is your next virtual event challenge?

Our next virtual event challenge is continuing to support DBA as they finalize plans for upcoming lectures within the Black in 2020: A Virtual Lecture Series. We want to continue working with our other alumni affinity groups (Duke Asian Alumni Alliance (DAAA), Duke University Hispanic/Latino Alumni Association (DUHLAA), and Duke LGBTQ+ Network) to plan their own virtual programs (hopefully at least one All Call a year) as well as one collaborative program that brings them all together.

We cannot thank these individuals enough for their hard work and dedication, especially our alumni volunteers!

Jessica Emig, Assistant Director for Volunteer Engagement

Clarybel Peguero, Senior Director for Volunteer Engagement

Christina Holder M.Div.’13, Senior Director for Marketing & Communications

La’Shawnda Kendall, Project Manager

Sanders Adu ’94, Duke Black Alumni (DBA) Co-Chair

Tadena Simpson ’05, Duke Black Alumni (DBA) Co-Chair

Harry Jones ’08, A.M.’10, Duke Black Alumni (DBA) Co-Chair Elect

What advice do you have for colleagues planning a similar event?

Plan as far in advance, if possible. The more time that you have, the better. Knowing that time is often limited and turnarounds need to be even quicker (especially in our virtual world), having a detailed, step-by-step plan is extremely helpful. Our team uses Asana to manage all of our projects. We can assign tasks to other staff members as necessary in order to coordinate the event, create the registration, market to our alumni, and ensure that we have everything ready to go. Finally, be sure to take advantage of your resources. There may be staff members on your team who are interested in these opportunities and able to share their time and talents. If they are, take them up on it and delegate tasks as you need to other individuals.

Virtually Yours,

Jessica Emig

Assistant Director for Volunteer Engagement

Duke Alumni Association

P.S. The Black in 2020: A Virtual Lecture Series returns today (Thursday, October 1, 2020) with Election 2020: Black Voices & Perspectives from 7-8:30pm EDT. Feel free to tune in to catch it live! If you are unable to make it, we still encourage you to register so that they receive the recording of the program afterward.

If you would like to see previous recordings of our past events, they’re all available on the event webpage, Black in 2020: A Virtual Lecture Series, as well as our Duke Alumni Lifelong Learning YouTube channel.

Kaitlin Briggs, Editor

Here in Admissions at the Fuqua School of Business, we are part of an elite group of seven schools, known as “The S7”. This group also includes Berkeley Haas, Cornell Johnson, Michigan Ross, NYU Stern, UVA Darden, and Yale School of Management. We collaborate to do around 40 events together each year, in order to draw in more prospective students collectively than we could on our own. In true Team Fuqua spirit, we work together to talk through ideas, trade industry information, and host events together. During a normal recruitment season, we would send our admission officers to MBA fairs around the world, as well as host some signature events of our own. This year, however, found us thinking outside of the box to quickly pull together a way where we could reach our intended audiences, while also not being lost in the noise of the rapidly evolving virtual event field.

Back in April, my supervisor, Kathryn Davies, discovered the perfect platform, Vfairs. They are well equipped to run fairs of any kind: job fairs, alumni networking fairs, housing fairs, etc. We designed our virtual fair to replicate the face-to-face event. Each of the S7 schools have their own booth, customized with images of the school, information packets on various business programs and class stats, as well as links to our social media sites and student blogs. Additionally, we created an auditorium page that prospective students could visit at any time during the fair hours to watch a pre-recorded application tips panel, hosted by a member of each school. The last component of our fair was the chat feature. This allowed prospective students to go to the school’s chat room of their choice to ask general questions in the main chat area, or to schedule a ten-minute one-on-one video or voice call with an admissions representative. Check out our S7 event page here.

What were the event goals? How did going virtual impact these goals?

Our goals putting on recruitment fairs of any kind are always to attract new applicants who might not have considered us to apply to Fuqua, and to encourage those who think they would be a good fit to submit their applications sooner in the cycle rather than later (there are four rounds of admission each school year). In this new virtual world, our main goal remains to engage with as many new prospective students as possible in a way that fosters pleasant and informative interactions between students and Admissions.

As many event planners are learning, going virtual has actually allowed us to reach a larger audience as compared to face-to-face events since it is so easy for attendees to participate. So far, we have done three events on Vfairs with nine more left on our contract. At the same time, the number of attendees has dropped over time due to virtual fair fatigue, so we are now thinking more creatively. By targeting specific regions or audiences, we hope to make each fair more specialized and therefore more appealing to applicants.

Why did you choose this format/model over others?

After looking at many other virtual platforms, we chose Vfairs because of its unique features and realistic simulation of a live in-person event. Because of quarantining, we all miss and crave social interactions, and it is so easy to feel impersonal in a virtual setting. The Vfairs platform allows the user to go to a different “room” for each activity they want to engage in, and it has fun touches like avatars milling about in the lobby and outdoor scenery from various cities as background images. As a reflection of Duke’s commitment to inclusivity, we worked with Vfairs to ensure that the avatars were representative of the students, staff, and faculty of Fuqua.

What advice do you have for colleagues planning a similar event?

Don’t be afraid to be silly and let your audience get to know you on a personal level. Whenever we need a fun icebreaker, we often try to incorporate our trademark “25 Random Things About Yourself” application essay prompt. Our Admissions Officers share something about themselves and then ask the prospective students to do the same. It allows for some fun stories, bonding, and smiles all around!

A huge shout-out to my supervisor, Kathryn Davies (Associate Director, Fuqua Admissions), who found the Vfairs platform and became S7’s fearless leader this year, plunging head-first into the virtual fair world with gusto and aplomb!

Virtually yours,

Sarah Hay

Off Campus Events Coordinator

Admissions, Fuqua School of Business

  Share your virtual event story  with us here!

Kaitlin Briggs, Editor

Every summer, the Duke Alumni Association hosts a series of ‘Send-off Parties’ to celebrate incoming students and welcome them into the Forever Duke family. These events are a unique opportunity for first–year students to connect with a community of Duke peers in their region, before embarking on their Duke journey in late August.  Spotting a familiar face on the plane ride to Durham or waving across the quad can be a comfort to these students and help them feel much more at home, especially in what can be an unfamiliar and strange place. 

Historically, these send-off parties take place in-person, but due to COVID-19, we shifted to a virtual format this year. At the in-person events, interpersonal conversations and connections between students develop rather naturally, so it was up to our team to figure out a way to facilitate those interactions in a virtual format. The team’s commitment to our goals led us to explore all that might be possible with Zoom.  

What elements did you incorporate in your virtual event to engage attendees? 

We chose to use the regular Zoom meeting format instead of the webinar model so that we could use the interactive features like participant video display and breakout rooms. We fostered audience participation right off the bat by opening the event with self-introductions by the students. The program continued with live presentations from staff, polls with Duke trivia, a pre-recorded video from notable alumni, faculty and staff, and breakout rooms. During the separate breakouts for parents and for students, participants were encouraged to turn on their videos and unmute themselves to ask questions.  

Duke Triangle Party; Photo credit: Nicole Silvanic, Assistant Director, Regional Engagement (and incredibly talented photo editor!)

What resources, skills, and partners did you use in creating this virtual event?  

With 49 events all around the country and the world, in nine time zones, over the course of three weeks, just scheduling and staffing the events was an amazing feat! Each event had a master of ceremonies, a technical host and often a backup technical host. Seven regional alumni directors served as MCs, and alumni volunteers and Student Affairs staff acted as moderators in the breakout sessions. Event registration and communications with over 2600 students, parents and staff were managed through Cvent. 

A detailed Zoom setup guide (click here to download ) ensured that each person setting up the meetings enabled all the necessary Zoom features, Since the program elements for all events followed the same sequence, I created a run of show template, which the regional directors customized for each of their own events (download here). Because we planned to use technical features unfamiliar to the average Zoom user, I also drafted an event specific Zoom training manual. This event required Duke Alumni Affairs staff to really up their Zoom game, and in the days and even hours leading up to the events, we had group practice sessions and one on one tutorials during “office hours.”  

By the time we were finished, all the support staff were experienced at handling waiting rooms, spotlighting, polls, video playback and breakout rooms. Some of our team also got to flex their creative muscles, producing pre-recorded video content and screen shot versions of the traditional class photo. 

How did you measure the success of your virtual event?     

Given the unique nature of 2020’s send-off parties, the success of these events could not simply be measured by the number of people who registered or attended. Virtual send-off parties were considered successful if by the end of the event, students were excited to get to campus, to start their journey, and to be part of the Duke family. 

What advice do you have for colleagues planning a similar event?    

Use music! It keeps people engaged and is a great way to avoid some of the awkward silences that often plague virtual events. After the first few events, I figured out how to share my computer sound without sharing the actual screen, so that I could open and play a YouTube video for background music. 

It may seem silly, but you’ll be amazed at the difference an inexpensive ring light can make. I supported events at all hours of the day, and a ring light was life changing, ensuring that I had consistent, flattering light for the Zoom video. 

Also, don’t be afraid to play around with Zoom! I used my personal email to create a free account and would schedule meetings with me, myself and I using multiple devices.  This way, I could practice different Zoom features and tools that I wasn’t yet comfortable using.  

The entire Regional Engagement team at Duke Alumni Affairs deserves a HUGE shout out for their tireless work on this project! Special thanks to Lisa Weistart ‘92, Senior Director of Regional Engagement and Cherie Michaud, Assistant Director of Regional Engagement for going above and beyond.  

Virtually yours, 

Madeline Drewry ‘17 

Coordinator, Reunions & Special Events                                                         

Duke Alumni Affairs    

Duke Regional Engagement team, May 2019 (L-R): Lisa Weistart ‘92; Nicole Silvanic; Ann-Louise Aguiar; David Lindquist ‘86, ‘91; Madeline Drewry ‘17, Betty Irvin ‘81; Lottie Gan, Chris O’Neill ‘95; Mark Wienants; Victoria Bright ‘10

Not pictured – Erica Gavin ‘96; Louise Ward Meyer ‘87; Cherie Michaud

  Share your virtual event story  with us here!

 Kathy Wright, Editor

This spring, when we shifted to working and learning remotely, my boss immediately got our Sanford team powered up for the virtual event scene. The Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University is a community of excellence working to improve lives and communities by researching the most pressing public policy issues and preparing students for lives of leadership, civic engagement and public service.  Our programming serves to both point people to our faculty expertise in these challenging times and to keep our community of students, prospective students, and alumni engaged, wherever they may be. With more than 8000 alumni and 1000 students worldwide, virtual programs give us the potential to reach a much larger audience. 

Why did you choose this format/model over others? 

To be honest, it is our content, rather than the format, which makes our programs compelling.  This spring and summer, Zoom meetings served our virtual program needs and was readily accessible. However, this fall, I will begin using a Zoom webinar license, which will be a game changer for managing our virtual programming.  I’m looking forward to fewer audio and video distractions in webinars, but the communication tools in the webinar platform will really make my work publicizing programs and registering attendees much more efficient.  

What resources, skills, and partners did you use in creating this virtual event?  

It was clear early on that we needed to establish some organizational standards. To that end, we created the Sanford best practices guide to Zoom meetings. It includes step by step instructions and references for the entire process, from concept through execution.  By creating and sharing this guide, we’ve given our Sanford colleagues the tools to brand and deliver virtual programs that consistently represent Sanford excellence. You are welcome to view and download the most current version here.  

Some highlights of the guide are a quick reference planning guide for organizers, and the printable checklist for presenters. Another resource we created was a 25 Live “Sanford virtual location” which must be used to schedule any Sanford sponsored events. By using this virtual location, we can ensure our programs have access to the webinar license, tech and event support, and that Sanford events do not compete with each other.  

What elements did you incorporate in your virtual event to engage attendees? 

Before, during and after events, we use a variety of tools to engage attendees.  For instance, I’ve added a Sanford newsletter signup option to the event registration questions.  In a recent program, I created a branded PowerPoint which looped the last five minutes before the program began. It included the speakers’ bios, and cross promoted a recent podcast by one of the speakers. We also use social media to strategically engage attendees. In preparation for events, the faculty host and communications staff draft tweets with related content to share throughout the event, along with live reactions and quotes from speakers. To collect attendee feedback and interest in future programs, we are starting to use the Zoom feature which hyperlinks to a Qualtrics post-event survey. 

How do you measure the success of your virtual events? 

Dean Kelley monitors registration and actual participation counts almost as closely as I do!  Of course, one measure, or should I say goal, of a successful virtual event is the absence of any technical issues.   

What have you learned from planning these virtual events? 

I have come to accept that no matter how much we prepare and practice, something can always go wrong. Once, our moderator actually got locked out of the Zoom meeting, and another faculty member had to improvise. Another time, despite a successful sound check during rehearsal, the featured speaker’s mic failed. 

What is your next virtual event challenge? 

This fall, in honor of our founder Terry Sanford, we will launch a virtual series called “Stand for…”  We will be doing multiple events under this new umbrella to include: Stand for Justice, Stand for Democracy and Stand for Community. These will be more challenging because the topics are more complex, and each will involve several new partners and multiple speakers. 

I am truly grateful for my boss, Kirsten Khire, who sets the bar high and brings a wealth of previous experience and best practices. I learn from her every day. Emily Totherow created our first draft of the Zoom meeting guide and has been a great partner as we shifted events online. Huge shout out to my many colleagues at Sanford who aligned their events under the Sanford Virtual Event brand, who work collaboratively to coordinate scheduling, and who are always ready to help behind the scenes.  I want to give a special shout out to Tiffany Goetzinger who was such a pleasure to work with on the DCID-Sanford Covid-19 and development series.  

Throughout the pandemic and especially this summer, I must also thank my family for leaving me alone during the events so I could put 100% focus on the all-consuming work of hosting a public virtual event. 

Virtually yours, 

Mary Lindsley 

Communications and Events Manager 

Sanford School of Public Policy 

Share your virtual event story  with us here!

Kathy Wright, Editor

The KURe Multidisciplinary Benign Urology Research Day had traditionally been a live event on Duke’s campus. This year, it was scheduled for April 24, 2020, and with scientific meetings either canceling or postponing around the country, the dedicated planning team chose to virtualize their event. With only one month to pivot, they successfully transformed this day long meeting into a virtual educational experience on Zoom.

As always, keynote presentations and panel discussions featuring nationally recognized researchers were offered. Other popular and beneficial aspects of the live conference are the networking and discussions with experts during conference breaks and the traditional Lunch with Experts.  To maintain this tradition at the virtual conference, the trainees were surveyed about the experts they would like to meet, and they were then pre-assigned to virtual breakout rooms with selected experts during the conference lunch break.

While still allowing Duke and national trainees the opportunity to highlight their research, the poster sessions also underwent a major transformation.  They were redesigned into Flash Talks, composed of a 2-minute pre-recorded PowerPoint presentation followed by a 1-minute live virtual Q&A. The Flash Talks were grouped together into morning and afternoon Zoom sessions with back-to-back talks presented to all attendees. The format proved to be an efficient mechanism to present, while the Q & A time afterwards facilitated excellent interaction between the presenters and audience.  Outstanding Flash Talks were recognized in the areas of basic science, clinical studies and translational medicine.  Judges evaluated the presentations using standardized score sheets, and winners were announced at the end of the day.

What were the event goals? How did going virtual impact these goals?

By focusing on the goals of networking and education as the event was redesigned, we were able to deliver effective education and provide unique opportunities for interaction. The virtual format resulted in more than double the usual number of abstracts submitted by post docs, fellows, residents, and medical students from 23 academic institutions.  Quarantine and travel restrictions, along with the virtual format, also resulted in greater conference attendance.  The day-long meeting attracted more than 100 participants from a variety of scientific subspecialties across the country.

What resources, skills and partners were used in creating this virtual event?

Being one of the first virtual conferences, this team had to learn a lot in a short amount of time and they did a fantastic job!  We had no technical issues because of their planning, preparations and practice. Of course, when presenting a virtual conference there are things that can happen that you cannot control.   I believe having a team and dividing responsibilities is important.  Behind the scenes, we needed support staff to manage the playback of the recordings, ensure efficient transitions from one presenter to the next, and move attendees into breakouts. Even when speakers are familiar with the format, sending them detailed instructions prior to the event and having backup moderators proved to be helpful.  And practice, practice, PRACTICE!

What is our next virtual event challenge?

We are now working on a Visiting Professor conference, as well as Regional and National CME conferences.

Special thanks to Program Director, Dr. Cindy Amundsen and her organizing team; Friederike Jayes, PhD, Rebecca Kameny, PhD and IT analyst Paul Gibilisco, for all their work to make this event a success.

Virtually yours,

Robin Phillips

CME Program Coordinator

Duke Section of Surgical Disciplines

Office of Continuing Medical Education

Share your virtual event story  with us here!

Kathy Wright and Kaitlin Briggs, Editors