July 26, 2010—eduWeb Conference—Chicago, Illinois
Brenda Foster and Elizabeth Furlong will present Creating a Great Online Magazine: Making your online magazine more compelling. The session will provide the results of an in-depth analysis of 100 online magazines. Topics include defining different types of online magazines, reviewing do's and don'ts, and best practices for creating and launching a great online publication.
July 22, 2010—Southeast Law Conference—Raleigh, North Carolina
Brenda Foster will serve as the keynote speaker for the 2010 Southeast Law School Conference at Campbell Law School. She will present ideas and facilitate discussion on the topic of social media in legal higher education.
June 14, 2010—Alabama Community College Public Relations Association
Smart Strategies, Social Networks and Keeping in Front of Your Alumni Brenda Foster presented at the AMA Annual Meeting. The presentation demonstrated creative ways to find potential viral marketing messages, digital picture frame technology for fundraising and how to actively involve alumni if your campaign has been delayed.
May 19, 2010—American Marketing Association
Brenda Foster led a day-long seminar on marketing for community colleges. Three presentations, Marketing: Are You the Target?; Ready, Aim, Fire; and Target This, covered a variety of hot topic issues for community college marketers including an instant website test, techniques for using social media, murphy's law for educational communicators, and how to effectively target different audience segments.
December 2009—CASE Online Speakers Series
100 College Online Magazines: Issues and Answers Brenda Foster and Katie Pugh conducted an in depth review of 100 online magazines and interviewed editors of the 2008 CASE magazine awards winners. Their research revealed which elements, from design to technology, are most important to your audience, what's in and what's out in navigation and design, common mistakes to avoid and best features to include. Click here to go to the CASE store where you can purchase a recording of their presentation.
June 12, 2009—GCF and Towson University co-host UCDA Reveal Workshop
The Reveal Workshop invites you to look below the surface and behind the scenes of the design profession. The workshop faculty, Ellen Lupton, Domenica Genovese, BlueSky Factory, and Sean Carton exposed their thoughts on design, creativity, insight, inspiration, problem-solving, best-practices, pitfalls, successes, failures, and more. Round-table discussions and Q&A sessions allowed attendees to interact with each other and with the faculty. For more information please contact co-chairs Brenda Foster and Eleni Swengler.
Revealed: Design and the difference between a rut and a groove Domenica Genovese took on the tough topics: concept, decoration, risk, blocks, balance, control and why they matter to the higher ed designer.
April 24, 2009—GCF and University of Baltimore Alumni Magazine Workshop
Having Issues—Alumni Magazine Workshop What are your issues? Copy? Layout? Budget? Deadlines? Organization? Inspiration? Online vs print? GCF and the University of Baltimore hosted a workshop for a thought-provoking look at the challenges facing alumni magazines today. Our speakers answered questions and inspired solutions to the burning issues facing publications professionals.
November 2008—CASE Online Seminar
Tour de Force: Best Practices in Online Campus Tours GCF staff members, who have tracked trends in college websites for the past eight years, set out to discover what high school students want to see in a virtual tour. GCF selected and surveyed 100 colleges in U.S. News & World Report’s list of “America’s Best Colleges, 2008.” The results and findings were presented by Brenda Foster and Katie Pugh during the CASE Online Speaker Series.
July 23, 2008—eduWeb Conference—Atlantic City, New Jersey
Hundreds of Websites, Countless Insights Brenda Foster and Katie Pugh presented the findings from the 2007 website survey to eduWeb participants. This year we surveyed U.S. News & World Report's list of 2007 Nation's Most Competitive in Terms of Admissions. We compared results from this list to last year's results and shared our findings.
February 20, 2008—The Business of Design Series #2—University of Baltimore
Topic: Marketing and Branding your Design Business Brenda Foster and Aaron Moore discussed issues and trends in business marketing.
November 8, 2007— CASE Online Seminar
Hundreds of Websites, Countless Insights Brenda Foster reviewed the data from our eighth year of the 100 college website survey. The seminar offered tips and guidance on creating and/or updating college websites.
November 2, 2007— College Communicators Association—University of Mary Washington
HARD COPY: Print's new and vital role in an electronic world Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese discussed the changing role of print communications in the computer age and explored the five essential ingredients of successful print communications.
July 23, 2007—.eduWeb Conference—Baltimore, Maryland
100 College Websites Review Brenda Foster and Katie Pugh presented the findings from the 2006 website survey to .eduWeb participants.
April 25-27, 2007—CASE Design Institute—Baltimore, Maryland
Creativity: what was, what is
, what will be. Domenica Genovese tracked the evolution of college websites from the outset of the computer revolution and examined how that growth has changed the way we use print.
Website Usability Study Workshop. Brenda Foster discussed ways to conduct a meaningful website usability study. Using participant websites, session volunteers found answers to frequently asked questions as the audience observed their navigation and behavior.
To Click or Not to Click: The Annual 100 College Website Survey. Brenda Foster presented year-seven conclusions, along with a list of things to do and to avoid, tips on favorite website features, and anecdotal comments from survey participants.
March 22-24, 2007—UCDA Design Summit—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sharpening the double edge sword of Web and print communications. Web and print communications play dis
tinct and separate roles in reaching audiences. Domenica Genovese and Brenda Foster examined ways to create more effective print and web communications.
November, 2006—AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education—
New Orleans, Louisiana
100 College Websites. Countless Insights. Brenda Foster and Katie Pugh taught participants how to take advantage of the latest technologies and how to identify website features that serve the needs of their audiences.
July, 2006—eduWeb Conference—Baltimore, Maryland
100 College Websites Review Brenda Foster and Katie Pugh reviewed the results of GCF's 2005 website survey for an audience that included webmasters, programmers, site developers and administrators.
May, 2006—CASE Design Institute—Seattle, Washington
Brenda Foster reviews ways to conduct a meaningful website usability study.
May, 2006—CASE Institute for Integrated Marketing Conference—
Austin, Texas
100 Best Websites Revisited: What Six Years Have Taught Us Brenda Foster presents findings from GCF's six-year college website survey.
September, 2005—New York Capital Region Chapter of the American Marketing Association—Albany, New York
What Can Higher Education Marketing Teach Us? Brenda Foster shares her expertise on educational marketing.
September, 2005—UCDA Annual Conference—San Diego, California
A Logo is Not a Brand For many people, the word 'brand' is synonymous with the word 'logo.' Why is branding still so misunderstood? Domenica and Brenda offer insights and advice on getting branding right for the college audience.
July, 2005—National Council for Marketing and Public Relations, Summer Institute—
Austin, Texas
On Branding the Community College Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese conduct a total-immersion workshop on branding and integrated marketing for today's community college marketer.
January, 2005—American Association of Law Schools, Annual Conference—
San Francisco, California
From the Ground Up: How to Build an Effective Communications Plan Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese discuss the value of a communications plan and how it can accomplish an institution's marketing goals.
November, 2004—American Marketing Association 15th Annual Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education—San Diego, California
100 College Websites: The Surprising Results of a Five Year Survey Brenda Foster presents findings from year five of GCF's survey of websites.
July, 2004—Web Communications & Strategies Conference at Salisbury University— Salisbury, Maryland
100 College Websites Brenda Foster and Courtney Stewart present findings from year four of GCF's survey of websites.
March, 2004—UCDA Design Summit—Nashville, Tennessee
On Branding Domenica Genovese and Brenda Foster discuss branding in this General Session presentation.
March, 2004—National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR)—Baltimore, Maryland
From the Ground Up; How to Build an Effective Communications Plan Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese discuss the value of a communications plan and how it can accomplish an institution's marketing goals.
February, 2004—CASE District II Conference—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
From Data to Design—The Branding of a Successful Campaign Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese explore the connection between the research data of the feasibility study and the communications materials that promote a successful campaign.
November, 2003—AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education—Miami, Florida
Has Institutional Branding Made It to the Web? Brenda Foster presents findings from year four of GCF's survey of websites on Yahoo's 2000 100 Most Wired Campuses list. She provides examples of successes and failures in the world of college and university websites and discusses the importance of the website as a marketing tool.
February, 2003—CASE Districts I and II Conference—New York, New York
New Perspectives on Age-Old Marketing Problems Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese run a workshop that provides innovative marketing insights participants can use to enhance their communications programs.
January, 2003—Association of American Law Schools (AALS)—Washington, D.C.
Web Communications: How's it Going? Brenda Foster joins a panel of communications leaders to discuss current college website trends, successes, and failures.
July, 2002—CASE International Conference—Chicago, Illinois
Developing an Interactive Communications Plan Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese share how an interactive communications plan must connect with its audiences, compelling them to take action.
June, 2002—Workshops at Kent State University—Kent, Ohio
The Interrelationship Between Marketing and Design Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese focus on the essential dynamic between marketing and design at the KSUCDA Workshop at Kent State University.