10-10:45 a.m.

Sessions 
(Choose one)

Social Media 101: Leverage Your GVSU Accounts for Campus Engagement

A strategy session and discussion of best social media practices for anyone involved in a department, program or other GVSU-related social media account. Learn what social platforms are best for your needs, tips to create engaging content and how to make sure that content is accessible.

Reaching and Resonating with Diverse Audiences

This session explores how leaders can communicate more inclusively by adapting messages to diverse communication styles and perspectives. Drawing on the Process Communication Model, participants will learn how personality-based perceptual filters influence understanding, engagement and trust, and gain strategies to craft messages that are accessible and meaningful.

MCP Student Engagement & Phantom Detection System

Something shifted after the pandemic. Students are enrolling, submitting assignments, and passing courses but many are never truly present. This session explores the data behind these patterns and introduces an AI-powered tool that identifies disengagement in real time and helps faculty intervene with targeted, proactive communication strategies.

11-11:45 a.m.

Sessions 
(Choose one)

Adobe Express Workshop

Participants will learn how to use the GVSU-branded templates and resources available on Adobe Express. Learn how to start a new project, edit colors and backgrounds, place photos and logos, adjust graphics, and more. Please bring your laptop. No prior knowledge of Adobe Express is necessary.

Moments that Move People: Bringing the Brand to Life in Your Channels

Great communicators don't just share information, they bring stories to life in ways that resonate. This interactive session explores how campus communicators can transform everyday content into compelling, brand-aligned storytelling using GVSU's Turning Moment framework: Person - Moment - Impact.

What Drives Incoming Students to Act? Insights from Admissions Communications
Across the Enrollment Journey

Drawing on admissions communication data and engagement metrics, this session will explore how students respond to different types of messaging at key points in the enrollment journey. Participants will gain a clear understanding of what incoming students are seeing and experiencing, and how academic program communicators can complement, reinforce and strategically coordinate messaging. 

1-1:45 p.m.

Sessions 
(Choose one)

CMS 5: Publications Platform Preview

This session will preview Grand Valley’s new CMS 5 publications platform, designed to help university communicators publish serialized content such as news, features, magazines and other recurring editorial content. Attendees will learn how the platform supports consistent storytelling, simplifies editorial processes and provides a scalable framework for ongoing campus communications.

Nothing About Us Without Us: International Student Perspectives on Miscommunication

This panel of international graduate assistants and admissions professionals will explore how communication is experienced across the student journey from the application process to arrival in the U.S. and navigating campus life. Participants will be invited to reflect on their own communication practices and engage in discussion around real scenarios.

Designing AI-Enhanced Communication Without Eroding Human Engagement
 

Most conversations about AI adoption revolve around efficiency and convenience. This workshop asks a deeper question: What happens to human engagement when communication is mediated by increasingly fluent machines? Participants will leave with practical design principles for integrating AI into communication workflows while preserving human presence, institutional trust and sustainable technology use.

2-2:45 p.m.

Sessions 
(Choose one)

From Draft to Done: How AI Can Elevate Higher Ed Communications

In this session, participants will better understand the benefits of integrating AI into their workflows to enhance productivity. They will be introduced to tools such as ChatGPT, Google Notebook and Gamma, with a focus on how these platforms can spark creativity, generate ideas and refine written content. Discussion will address the limitations of AI and equip attendees with a balanced perspective on how to use these technologies effectively and responsibly.

Metrics that Matter: Tracking and Interpreting your Social Media Analytics

Social media metrics can be confusing. However, analytics tell a valuable story about the health of your accounts. This session will help GVSU communicators break through the constant, overwhelming noise of evolving social media metrics so that they can understand what matters, draw valuable insights, communicate those insights to stakeholders and track metrics consistently.  

Accessible Documents Everywhere: Bold Text Is Not a Heading

The way we create and distribute information affects how easily everyone can access it, from course materials to HR documents, event flyers, emails and web content. Whether you’re teaching a course, sending a campus-wide email, or designing a flyer, this session will help ensure your content works for all users, including those using assistive technologies.