Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Virtual Industry Information Sessions

Linking Students with Industry Insight

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Program Overview

• The goal of the Virtual Industry Information Sessions (VIIS) is to provide students with an opportunity to learn about careers in a specific industry from alumni in those fields

– Session topics will be based on a specific job functions and industries

• Example: A marketing topic that can give insights into consumer-centric marketing vs. industrial product marketing

– Potential topics/industries to consider include marketing, sales, finance, non-profits, education, medical/biological research, government, law, consulting and healthcare

• Presentations will leverage web technology, using virtual meeting tools to provide insight into a specific industry as well as offer a forum for students to ask a panel of alumni questions about these industries

• Discussions would be open to all students at Bates and would be designed so they could participate from any location with Internet and phone access

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Members of the Bates College alumni and parent community want share their industry experience and help current students find career opportunities.

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

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Session Outline

Session Outline

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Introduction and Set Agenda

Presenter #1

Presenter #2

Presenter #3

Online Chat/Q&A

• Each session will have both a presentation component and a question and answer component

– A panel of 3-4 alumni/parents will be selected to offer presentations

• Presentations will be 5-10 minute each

• Presenters can create PowerPoints to support their talk (5-6 slides max)

– The remaining time will be dedicated to allowing students to ask questions of the panel

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Logistics of the Session

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Using an online format offers flexibility for users and the ability to attract a large audience.

Many of these web tools also offer a transcript feature which could be posted for students to access in the future.

• The session will be conducted virtually, allowing participants to access the session from anywhere using a phone line and the Internet

– Tools such as WebEx/Go-To-Meeting will be used for this presentation

• These tools create a virtual conference room and allow for presentations to be shown to all participants as well as for questions to be submitted via an online chat feature

• Sessions will start using the virtual room in conjunction with a conference call line so presenters can speak to all participants and show their presentations

• After presentations, the session will switch to the online chat for Q&A– Students can submit questions for the panel to a moderator via online chat

– The moderator would then filter questions and direct them to specific panelists

– Panelists would then respond to their assigned question via the online chat

• Benefit: All students can see all questions and all answers

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Alumni/Parent Presenter Responsibilities

• Agree to participate as a presenter and panelist for this forum – Duration of meetings – 1 hour

• Create and deliver a presentation using PowerPoint as a support tool

• Presentations would be on the topic of “A day in the life of …”– Ideally this should be from the perspective of an entry-level position, but any insight

is useful

– Areas to discuss may include:

• Walk through an average day, discussing your tasks and how they contribute to the organizations operations

• Walk through an average project, discussing your tasks and role in its completion

• Answer questions from students following the presentations

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The primary responsibility of the presenter is to create and organize a presentation for the students.

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Other Responsibilities

• Publicity – A coordinated effort would be need to let students know about this program, the

topics being discussed, program format and featured speakers

– Strong encouragement from campus is needed to motivate students to participate

• Moderator– A moderator would need to be available for each call to introduce the program, help

manage time and filter questions

• Students– Students should do some research on the companies being featured in the

presentations and have some questions prepared in advance

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Many of these other responsibilities can be completed through a collaborative effort between alumni/parents and Bates staff.

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Organizational Components

• Identify technology system to be used

• Topic and panel selection– Feedback on what topics would be popular can be solicited from Bates OCS and

current student organizations such as Bates STAR and student clubs

– Based on the topic selected, alumni and parents can be identified as presenters through a collaboration between Alumni and Parent Program, the Boston Bates Business Network and Bates OCS

• Marketing– Traditional modes – class e-mail lists, info in the school paper, flyers on campus etc.

– Reach out to faculty to mention/promote to students in class

– Reach out to coaches to promote to their teams

– Reach out to club leaders to inform and encourage their members

• Scheduling– OCS should provide feedback on appropriate times that will work in student

schedules (Time of week/year, time of day etc.)

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This process should be repeatable for any industry topics

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Organizational Components (Cont.)

• Student Registration– Students would register for the panel through the current OCS registration systems– Given the virtual nature of the presentation, registration would not be required, but

would recommended to we can get a feel for participant pool size

• Timing– Identify and confirm topic, speakers and date (3-7 days)– Market the session to students (10-14 days after detail confirmation)– Date of Session (min. 14 days after confirmation of speakers and date)– Follow-up/feedback/surveys (performed 1-3 days after the session)

• Necessary human resources– Person to coordinate scheduling and organize presenter– Person to coordinate all marketing initiatives (traditional, via faculty, via student

groups)• Can parcel responsibilities among several volunteers

– Person to moderate the session (familiarity with the technology being used is important for this role)

– Person to coordinate registration– Person to coordinate post-session feedback and surveys

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The timeline for organizing this process can be flexible depending on how quickly topics can be identified and speakers confirmed.

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Why is VIIS important?

• Offers students the opportunity to hear from industry professionals

• Provides a flexible forum to ask questions and learn about the various roles and responsibilities of select professions and industries

– Understand tasks and responsibilities involved with each job

– Receive feedback on how to find jobs in a particular industry

• Help Bates kick-off another career-oriented program linking alumni/parents and students

– Build on the success of career-oriented programs such as the Finance and Consulting Bootcamp, the Finance Roadshow, JumpStart and GAMEDAY

• Further differentiate Bates from other NESCAC programs

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The Virtual Industry Information Sessions will provide students with an incredible opportunity to learn first hand about an industry in a very informal and setting.

Bates College Lewiston, Maine

Bates Alumni Coordinators:Daniel Vannoni ‘05Codfish Geare. daniel@codfishgear.comc. 617-285-9473

Please contact any alumni coordinators with questions or comments.

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