July 5, 2022

Greater Engagement in Higher Ed Through Virtual Events

Greater Engagement in Higher Ed Through Virtual Events

Since the pandemic began, we have had to adapt to a new online environment, but platforms like Zoom and Microsoft teams aren’t giving us the human touch that we need. Remo is an interactive virtual event platform that empowers users to create natural interactions in online settings. 

Hoyin Cheung is the Founder and CEO of Remo.co and is on a quest to humanize the virtual experience. In today’s conversation, Hoyin talks about how Remo’s immersive environment has found a way to increase engagement and create better experiences for online Higher Education events.  

Join us as we discuss:

  • How Remo works and how it differentiates from a platform like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. 
  • How Remo is utilized in Higher Education and how it increases engagement between faculty, students, and alumni. 
  • The challenges of Hybrid events and Remo’s plans to overcome them. 

The Higher Ed Marketer podcast is brought to you by Caylor Solutions, an Education Marketing, and Branding Agency.

    

 

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:07.320 You're listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals in 2 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:12.480 higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student recruitment, 3 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:17.239 donor relations, marketing trends, new technologies and so much more. If 4 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:21.600 you're looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, this podcast is 5 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:29.960 for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the Higher Ed Marketer 6 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:35.560 podcast. I'm troy singer here with Bart Kaylor. Each week we interview Higher 7 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:39.479 Ed marketers that we admire for the benefit and hopefully the betterment of the entire 8 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:43.759 Higher Ed Marketing Community. Bart, today we get to talk to Huan Chung 9 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:50.759 with Remo, and his quest is humanizing the online experience, and I think 10 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:55.159 I can speak for both of us that we are very impressed with how he's 11 00:00:55.240 --> 00:01:03.480 trying to humanize higher ed events that are either hybrid or completely online. Yeah, 12 00:01:03.519 --> 00:01:07.799 I think it's Um I think we've all experienced in the pandemic the frustration 13 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:11.719 of, you know, utilizing different you know productivity platforms such as zoom or 14 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:18.840 teams to try to really Um experience or create experiences for prospective students or alumni 15 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:22.120 and one of the things I really like about this it kind of ties into 16 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:25.159 so many other times that we've talked about, whether it was Ethan Beaut at 17 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:27.680 Bom bomb or whether it's just, you know, some of these other with 18 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:33.079 with platforms like Zeem me, with community, the idea that everybody wants to 19 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.159 have community, everybody wants to share an experience, whether it get's a, 20 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:40.000 you know, an event or whether it's a virtual tour or whether it's a 21 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.920 you know, how do I figure out where to go to college? We 22 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.840 all have this desirous humans to share in that, and so I think this 23 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:51.480 is just another tool in that tool belt of how we can leverage that's different, 24 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:56.120 these different technology platforms to create those shared experiences. Ohian does a good 25 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:01.719 job of explaining the benefit too different department in the hired community, and then 26 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:08.120 we also have him demonstrate via video, and it's our intent to have links 27 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:14.919 in the show notes of the platforms that this podcast is distributed through that you 28 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:19.680 can also look at those. So, without further ADO, here's our conversation 29 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:27.479 with Hoyan Chun. We're looking forward to our conversation about humanizing the online experience 30 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:30.879 with Hogian Chun, founder and CEO of Remo, Hoi, and if you 31 00:02:30.919 --> 00:02:37.919 would please tell everyone about remo and the solution that provides and your role at 32 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:40.879 remo. First all, thanks, guys. Thank you so much, Um 33 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:45.319 bar and troy for having me on. Super excited. Yeah, I'm the 34 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:51.479 founder CEO of Remo. Remo is a online or virtual, immersive platform. 35 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:58.120 We are the best guest experience on the market right now for virtual, very 36 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:02.199 immersive and human life, virtual events. Um, to kind of describe in 37 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:08.560 a very simple way, imagine you're like using Google map and you're scrolling into 38 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:12.520 the map, like zooming in, and when you zoom in, you might 39 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:16.199 see a building and imagine you could zoom in further into that building and see 40 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:21.840 the actual tables in that building, and then you can even see a bunch 41 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.240 of circles on it. So it's kind of like an overhead view of the 42 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:29.520 map and you can see a bunch of circles of people's faces and if you 43 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:35.159 click onto a table, you will see the videos of the people that are 44 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:38.479 sitting at that table. And so what we what we do is you can 45 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:43.719 move and you can have authentic conversations with different people in this space, and 46 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.879 that's what we focus on. Thank you, and later on in the episode 47 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:51.960 we're going to have an opportunity to see exactly how this looks, as you 48 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:58.759 usually mimic and replicate the schools that you are holding these events for. They 49 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.319 look very similar to the real buildings, the real insides of the buildings, 50 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:05.120 and we want to give people examples of that. The reason why we're having 51 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:11.400 you on the PODCAST is we've had a couple of other podcasts on humanizing humanizing 52 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:17.160 comflow, humanizing communication, and I know it's Bart's belief that marketing and Higher 53 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:21.439 Ed can get a little impersonal. So how can we personalize it? And 54 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:28.120 we know that remo does as much as they can to work within the Higher 55 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:32.279 Ed space of improving the engagement, getting that engagement lifts. So let's talk 56 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:41.399 about how remo can work and how the difference is differentials itself from a platform 57 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:47.480 like zoom. Yeah, so remo is Um to kind of put it simply, 58 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:55.560 like we put the movement in the hands of the guests. So the 59 00:04:55.639 --> 00:05:00.279 guesses in the driver's seat, they're not a passive guests, audience member. 60 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:05.079 They're they're not just like a passage in the roller coaster, like they're controlling 61 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:10.040 the roller coaster itself. So, because you do that, um it's also 62 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:14.079 required for them to turn on their microphone and camera. So once you do 63 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:16.199 that, and no two percent of the people that go into a remote event 64 00:05:16.279 --> 00:05:20.480 turn on their micing camp's umber one. And because of that, that leads 65 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:25.160 to three point two x way more engagement, because now you have an active 66 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:29.600 participant. Like there's no scenario where that person can look at their email while 67 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:33.279 they're doing an event or you know they're they're just doing something else that it 68 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:36.040 doesn't really allow them to do that because you have to respond to the people 69 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:40.959 that are actually talking to you and also you can actually go and seek out 70 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:44.759 different people. So that's like one aspect of it. The second aspect is 71 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:50.680 that it's a very customized floor plan, and the customized floor plan, which 72 00:05:50.720 --> 00:06:00.000 allows a lot of universities to replicate their real university Um buildings and layout, 73 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.199 for example, makes it feel really real. So a lot of some of 74 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:08.800 our universities use have digital programs like a digital online NBA s or just a 75 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:14.199 digital courses. So by having the campus, it makes the student feel more 76 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:18.759 like, Oh, I'm actually attending something. It's not just some oh like 77 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:24.519 a U Demi course or, you know, like like just some random course 78 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:28.639 online. It's it's not to say that those courses aren't great, but it's 79 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:31.199 just like you pay so much money to go to university, you want to 80 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:35.480 feel something little bit more better experience. So a lot of people use us 81 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:39.759 for a variety of different reasons. Um a lot of it. What we're 82 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:44.319 really good for is breakout sessions and networking, and that is where we're very, 83 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:46.720 very strong at. That's great. I love that idea of being able 84 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:51.600 to kind of create that, that digital version of the reality, because I 85 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.839 think that sometimes, I mean, you know, we're not getting into, 86 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:58.439 you know, necessarily talking about metaverse here, but that's that's really what has 87 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.560 been going on with online game for twenty years now. I mean the idea 88 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.879 that I'm going to experience and honestly it's gone on longer than that. It's 89 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:08.639 like, you know, hey, I remember back in the eighties when I 90 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:11.360 was, you know, pole position in the arcade. I mean the reason 91 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:14.959 people like that is it was a it was a steering wheel, a pedal 92 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.120 to on the floor and I could experience what it was like to raise a 93 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:21.920 race car in a very you know eight bit method, but I think that 94 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:25.439 the idea, that that's why it was popular, that I could, I 95 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:30.040 could experience that. And I talked so many times about how prospective college students 96 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:33.720 or any student has to feel like they emotionally can experience something. And so 97 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:35.720 whenever I talk to schools, it's like, you know, when you show 98 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:40.240 your photography, don't show buildings and don't show empty classrooms, show people in 99 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:43.319 it so that people can say, Oh, I can see myself there, 100 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.000 I can, I can picture myself there, and it sounds to me that's 101 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:49.000 a lot of what you guys are doing with with the idea of of humanizing 102 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:54.040 these events. And it's just a really quick follow up there. Like so 103 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:59.399 you talked about games, right, like typically, game designers design games and 104 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:03.079 immersive environment. It's like it's like their full time job to dedicate their entire 105 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:09.519 lives to do that. Now we're asking educators to do that, which they 106 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:16.160 have not they probably haven't spent any time doing that, and that's quite difficult. 107 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:20.319 It's challenging. And so what remo offers is you mentioned metaverse, like 108 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:22.959 you know, you're right, like people have been developing games for a long 109 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:28.480 time. metaverse is just the new buzzword for that, which which is great, 110 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:33.360 but we offer a very simple solution, something that's more tangible and it's 111 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.320 not too gamified, you know, like as you play like counter strike or 112 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.840 world of Warcraft, that might be a bit too much for the average person 113 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:45.879 to kind of interact with, to game like, and so we don't want 114 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:48.879 to alienate those people. We want to make this as easy as possible for 115 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.279 the masses to adopt. I love that. I love the fact that you 116 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:56.399 know, you're you're basically using the same platforms were already used to, you 117 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:01.440 know, and I used the word zoom generic. So the idea that we 118 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:03.840 are, we're all used to that. With the pandemic is that, you 119 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:05.639 know what, we couldn't get face to face with people, we couldn't engage 120 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:11.320 in physical environment, so we started doing, you know, basically the facetime 121 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:13.600 zoom type of platforms, which is great, it's I mean, I'm grateful 122 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:18.919 for that, but it does lack the that idea of an immersive environment. 123 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:20.919 I mean I'm looking at a Brady Bunch, you know, screen and things 124 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:24.000 like that, and so we've got to figure out ways to take it to 125 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.200 the next level and I really like that, some of the things that you're 126 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:31.679 talking about here, because I do think that starts to humanize it even more, 127 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.039 not necessarily from the fact that I mean it's humanization to say I can 128 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:37.120 see you and I can you know you're in Hong Kong right now, I'm 129 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:41.799 in Indianapolis. For having a conversation. We can see each other's body language 130 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:45.639 to a degree, but yet we're not in a in a physical space that 131 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.600 we're sharing that, but this kind of starts to create that in our minds 132 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:52.440 and I really think that's a pretty exciting thing. If you would hoh, 133 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:58.200 you and please give us an example application to how this is utilized in Higher 134 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:03.200 Ed. What the part that's you typically help and how to increase their engagement. 135 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:09.919 Sure. So, Um Remo is very flexible Um and that allows us 136 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:15.080 to fit into the workflows, into the major challenges the university has. So 137 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:20.120 we have a few. One is we our layout can be used as a 138 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.840 job fair, so employers can um don't have to fly in, they come 139 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:30.120 in and they can sit at their table for like an hour and they can 140 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:33.519 get their candidates, they can see and ask them questions, and so it's 141 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:37.720 situated where like when you when the candidates come to your table, your video 142 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.759 is already on and you can see them. So it's almost like you're basically 143 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.240 there. Um a lot of job fairs, virtual of job fairs. It's 144 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:50.799 like maybe they'll have the employer logo, but there may not may or may 145 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:54.600 not be somebody there, or they just chat. So we mimic that part. 146 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.600 So that's one Um. The second is people use us for poster sessions. 147 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.879 So I'm sure you guys are familiar. Like poster sessions is like it's 148 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.879 kind of like a trade expo, but with like you know, it's very 149 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:11.480 similar to a job fair, if you think about it, where each graduate 150 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:18.080 student would sit at a big table basically, and each table has its own 151 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:22.639 white board. So they put their entire poster on that White Board and people 152 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:28.360 will come and, Um, you know, with travel restrictions and also budgets, 153 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:31.360 people who want to give grant or looking for collaborators can then come to 154 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:37.960 those tables and then easily looking for projects, looking for collaboration extremely easily out 155 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:41.639 of her mass basis. Post session is another one. Third is Um alumni 156 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:46.679 networking, for just networking events. Is More of a simpler one and also 157 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.919 for enrollment. So for prospective students who are looking at different universities, don't 158 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:56.720 come and they don't have to fly. They don't have to flying is a 159 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:00.639 pretty big step, but they might want to learn a little bit more without 160 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:05.519 that full cost commitment and this is a fantastic way. And the best thing 161 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:07.879 is you get to talk to someone like you get to talk to alumni, 162 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:15.480 right, and that that makes the sales pitch much more human and much more 163 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:18.120 attractive, because now students can make and get a better impression. So the 164 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:22.320 ones that we've worked with for enrollment, they said that they're like enrollment numbers 165 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:26.840 have gone higher than they that were before because they were able to put a 166 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:31.440 face to a name. That's great and I think it goes back to that 167 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:33.600 just what you said there the three end. What we've been talking about the 168 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:35.799 entire time is the idea of humanizing it, the idea that I can put 169 00:12:35.799 --> 00:12:39.480 a face to a name, I can put a face in them and an 170 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.399 experience and and an emotion to, you know, what historically might have been 171 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.840 a chat or something like that. I I've got a lot more a lot 172 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:48.879 more of my senses are engaged and I think that's really, really great. 173 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:52.039 Let me ask you just a follow up question on some of these types of 174 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:58.080 events. Do you ever do any kind of hybrid where you know there's there's 175 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:01.519 people coming in, but then there's also people about those real tables or you 176 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:03.919 know that we described earlier? Ye, so we do. We do do 177 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:11.159 hybrid Um. We we also serve several other segments outside of Higher D and 178 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:18.279 so we have had hybrid events there, from our perspective, hybrid events, 179 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:22.080 at least from the customers that we're speaking with. It depends. It really 180 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:31.679 depends on how fast the universities are retrofitting their classrooms and their their their facilities. 181 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:35.919 It's it's happening right now at a fast pacing. Corporate so they're adding 182 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.559 their up their upgrading their equipment in their meeting rooms, but at universities it's 183 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:43.840 it's still kind of taking some time. I mean there's just more there's just 184 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:48.039 more classrooms right it's gonna take more time. So it hasn't been as fast. 185 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:50.919 And the second thing is is that I think they're all trying to figure 186 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:56.399 out hybrid. They're all trying to figure out how to make it work and 187 00:13:56.440 --> 00:14:00.919 I gotta tell you, like hybrid classroom is a really tough problem. Truly 188 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:05.039 making it hybrid, not just some streamcast, not just some streaming. That 189 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:09.000 that's that's not that's just streaming. That's not a hybrid event, that true 190 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:13.279 hybrid event. It's very, very difficult and I think we need a little 191 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.200 bit more I think there's some people that are doing it, but I think 192 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:18.360 there needs to be more time to kind of see it really mature and make 193 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:22.000 it a really good experience. Yeah, because I can, I can imagine 194 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:26.679 in my mind. Um, you know, we're using the table example earlier. 195 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.879 You know, we've got a got a haul. You know, maybe 196 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:33.840 it's even like the idea of a college fair. You know, you've got 197 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:35.799 this hall, you've got all these different places. But but if if all 198 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:41.440 of the the the admissions counselors had a laptop and they were connected to their 199 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:45.360 microphone and their their their video, kind of like what you've said, and 200 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:48.960 they're interacting with the people in front of them, but they also interacting with 201 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.000 the people that are on the laptop, that starts to create a little bit 202 00:14:52.039 --> 00:14:54.440 of that sense of I'm there, but no, don't help me understand. 203 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:56.799 No, no, no, no, I'm I'm a hundreds of agreeing with 204 00:14:56.840 --> 00:15:01.279 you. I think that, yeah, it's it's really hard. I mean 205 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:05.639 and in that situation where we actually advise is don't do it, like, 206 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:11.000 don't do that, like you're gonna be first of all, running an event 207 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:16.320 is already stressful, and then you got to run a virtual and a physical 208 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:22.320 like one person, like that's just I would never do that to anyone. 209 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:26.639 So what we've seen, UM is people is run two parallel events and there's 210 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:33.080 two separate teams that do that. And so that's where hybrid gets a bit 211 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:37.039 tricky, because people think hybrid is like, Oh, it's one team do 212 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:41.639 two things, or it's one budget, same budget, and I can do 213 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:48.360 two things. What's starting to become reality is not. No, that's not 214 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.960 it's you need more budget, you need more people if you want to do 215 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:58.600 like a really well executed hybrid. And a lot of medium, small medium 216 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:02.759 sized companies don't have the uget. They don't do hybrid. So Large Corps 217 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:06.320 like people with the budget, like they really really want to do it really 218 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:10.039 well, then they can do that. That makes a lot of sense because, 219 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:11.279 I mean, even as I'm starting to kind of think that through, 220 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:15.200 just what you said I mean, let's say that I have a preview day 221 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.639 where I have, you know, students come on campus to do the campus 222 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:21.879 tour and talk with professors and do some things like that. But if I 223 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.240 were to do a second version of that preview day with a different team, 224 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:29.919 with a different set of professors, with a virtual environment, I can create 225 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:33.480 the same experience of doing the campus tour, you know, through through three 226 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:40.759 d through virtual through all that, having those staged professors virtually available to have 227 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:45.120 those chats, but it's not relying on that same team to figure out how 228 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:48.600 to do it. And I think what what's happening, what's going to happen, 229 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:55.080 is people realizing that they're actually two different audiences. People who come physically, 230 00:16:55.320 --> 00:17:00.360 which maybe live nearby Um can drive, versus people who are like international 231 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:06.079 students, maybe in Canada or on the other coast, or people in small 232 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:11.400 towns that don't have the budget. Then they can participate and that amount number 233 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:18.160 of people may be bigger in terms of numbers and for university to be able 234 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:22.880 to scale that kind of marketing effort, I think is is may actually may 235 00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:27.440 actually be even um much more interesting. That's great. That's great. Thank 236 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:32.279 you, Ohigan. At this time we're going to ask you to show US 237 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:37.079 exactly what this looks like and what this experience via remo would be sure. 238 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:42.039 So you can see here, this is the main hall for the Carlson School 239 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:48.240 Management at University of Minnesota. So this is what it actually looks like and 240 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:52.119 this is the photo. This is this is an actual photo and this is 241 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:57.440 what they created virtually. So you can see how there's like these little tables 242 00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:02.119 here and you can adjust like the table names. They even got the little 243 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:07.880 ball, the same metal ball, there as well. So that's one and 244 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:14.720 then here's the second one, which is Nsu Florida. This is the again, 245 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:19.759 like the main hall of this building, and this is the virtual version 246 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:25.599 of it. So they've got like this middle, uh, this brick wall 247 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:29.559 or gate here as well. And those people who are just listening to this 248 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:33.200 and not seeing the video, basically we're looking at photographs that are converted to 249 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:37.440 virtual environment and just how accurate they look and how they actually make you feel. 250 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:41.599 It's a very three dimensional model, much like you would see in architectural 251 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:45.519 renderings and and things like that, and we'll ask you to please go to 252 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:51.799 the show page wherever you access this episode and we'll have a link to what 253 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:55.359 this looks like. Oh, you know, are there any other examples that 254 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:57.759 you can share or anything you would like to add before we move away from 255 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:02.799 this portion? Yeah, I mean I think so. A lot of the 256 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:07.319 universities that we're talking with they are doing they're doing several things, like some 257 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:12.039 of them are creating online programs, like strictly online programs. Some of them 258 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:15.319 are doing like part time like I'm sure you guys know, like part time 259 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.960 Mbas and stuff like that, which which the participants are more distributed, they're 260 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:23.160 not always at the same campus all the time. So a lot of them 261 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:30.400 have started to introduce this because they want their students to really feel like they're 262 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:34.039 they're they're they're, they're actually there. And I think campuses, from what 263 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.319 they've told me, is so important to them, like of course right. 264 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:41.640 They spend so much money building it Um. They need to give that, 265 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:47.400 they want to share that with with their students, and so this has been 266 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:52.119 very effective for them to feel that. We've also had another large Ivy League 267 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:59.039 university that uses us and they will have buildings for their alumni networking, where 268 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:03.319 the buildings are, the actual building names that they take classes in, when 269 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:07.039 when the alumni come in, they're like, oh, I remember this building, 270 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:14.559 that I went there, and that drives donations because they're able to remember 271 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:17.920 back. Oh yeah, I remember taking that certain class there, you know. 272 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:21.680 So so it drives donations about way too as well. That's interesting, 273 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:23.680 is and and just before we kind of move on, it just generated an 274 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:26.400 idea because, I mean a lot of schools will spend a lot of money 275 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.960 on their marketing campaigns, for capital campaigns. So, you know what, 276 00:20:30.039 --> 00:20:34.839 I'm getting ready to raise million dollars and we're going to have these three buildings 277 00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:38.359 on campus that that are going to be part of that. Imagine if we 278 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:42.880 did a virtual event where we actually hosted the event in this yet to be 279 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:47.920 built building that, you know, we have these tables and we have all 280 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:51.240 of our donors who can mingle with each other and talk with each other. 281 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:55.640 That seems like a great use case to me. Yeah, great, absolutely, 282 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:59.200 Hoian, as we in the episode, would like to give you an 283 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:03.440 opportunity to either a share of final thought or something that we did not touch 284 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:07.960 on that you feel would be important, or if there is a piece of 285 00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:14.880 advice or something that you could offer around online events that would be beneficial to 286 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:23.599 our audience. Yeah, I think when you think about online we all um 287 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.920 can begin to think a little bit more open minded, to think that, 288 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.119 and it's it's really actually an experience, just like how you would design a 289 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:40.240 campus tour or you do an alumni luncheon. Right, you would not take 290 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:45.000 your alumni to McDonald's, you would take them to a place nice where you 291 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:48.640 would give them a good experience. And Zoom and Microsoft teams are great, 292 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:56.839 but they were designed specifically for productivity office meetings, not for an experience. 293 00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:00.839 And so when people ask me what's the difference, and that's how I say 294 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:07.319 it, it's it's we need to kind of think about how can we create 295 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:11.640 a better experience, because that better experience drives engagement and at the end of 296 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:15.880 the day, engagement is what drives everything else. It drives donations, it 297 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:23.279 drives student participation, it drives enrollment and it drives qualified candidates because they learn 298 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:26.920 more, they understand, they can talk to people, and there's different ways 299 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:32.000 to do that. One is creating immersive environments like like what I just showed, 300 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:37.160 these incredible environments where people can immerse themselves in second is creating. When 301 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:41.319 we talk about interaction right now, a lot of people say, Oh, 302 00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:45.640 we'll have chat or we'll do polling. That shows engagement, and I said, 303 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.799 yes, that's great, Um, but you can do more than that. 304 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:53.079 And the more than that is doing a workshop, doing a breakout where 305 00:22:53.119 --> 00:23:00.119 people break out into different tables to then do a task together. And that 306 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:03.759 takes a little bit more thinking and I think it works well for higher it, 307 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:07.400 because that's what you know. Higher it is, like you know education 308 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:12.079 is how do we craft great learning experiences with people I can understand and work 309 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:17.839 together? And if you apply that to the events, Um, that is 310 00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:22.640 where you get a lot of engagement. So breakout sessions where people have tasks 311 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:26.880 to do and you go into each of those tables drive up engagement through the 312 00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:30.680 roof and and that is that's basically my best tip I can give today. 313 00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:36.480 Thank you very much, and I think we've done as good a job as 314 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:41.680 we can to describe and also give examples of how impressive this platform is. 315 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:48.799 But a I encourage everyone to go and investigate remo ooian. If someone wanted 316 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:52.759 to reach you and look up remo, what would be the best way for 317 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:57.000 them to achieve that. So they can go to our website, remo dot 318 00:23:57.400 --> 00:24:03.359 c Oh um, and also you can come reach me personally on my linkedin 319 00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:07.559 Um and I can share my linkedin with you guys. Very good. Again, 320 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:11.880 thank you for your time. Thank you for letting our constituents know about 321 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:17.519 this wonderful resource. Bart, what are your final thoughts before we end our 322 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:21.119 episode today? Well, thanks so much for for being on the show today 323 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:22.079 and one of the couple of things that I wanted to just point out was 324 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:27.480 we keep going back to this idea of we're all humans and we we thrive. 325 00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:30.680 I mean, we've all experienced the fact that, okay, we've lived 326 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.400 through a pandemic. We took for granted a lot of things that we have 327 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:37.799 with our relationships, with who we are, how we experienced the world together, 328 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:41.200 and I think that one of the things that we all yearned for and 329 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:45.200 longed for was this idea of getting back to, you know, air quote, 330 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:48.000 what's normal and the idea that, you know, even with the idea 331 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:53.599 with these virtual platforms. I really liked Jyan's comment about the fact that zoom 332 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:57.480 and teams are kind of created for productivity, but I think that we need 333 00:24:57.559 --> 00:25:03.640 more than that when we're talking really kind of having shared experiences, and I 334 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.400 really like that this solution is out there, the idea that we can create 335 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:10.920 shared experiences. While, while a lot of people are eager to get back 336 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:14.359 out to, you know, in person conferences, you know, different ways 337 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.720 of events and things, there's gonna be a certain percentage of people that are 338 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:21.160 still a little bit hesitant. And even going into the future, I think 339 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:25.119 people are going to be they're gonna realize that they they have their own preferences, 340 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:29.519 whether it's their personality, whether it's just health issues, whatever it might 341 00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:33.880 be. We're going to need to be able to basically um accommodate different types 342 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:38.200 of personalities, different way people want to engage and and and I really like 343 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:41.720 that this is one of the elements in your tool belt. We often talk 344 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:45.599 about what are all the tools that higher ed marketers can have when they're looking 345 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.559 at, you know, calm flow and they're looking at ways to engage with 346 00:25:48.599 --> 00:25:52.200 people, when they're looking at events. This is just another tool. And 347 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:56.000 and how you use that tool. I mean you're not going to use a 348 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.799 hammer to try to, you know, screw it uh screw in. You're 349 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:02.960 going to use a screwdriver. But this is an idea that, when you 350 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.920 have this need, let's turn to this part of our tool and and those 351 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:08.720 are out there and I really like the idea of really being able to use 352 00:26:08.759 --> 00:26:14.119 this and really improving the humanization of things and really being able to improve that 353 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:19.160 shared experience. Bart thank you very much for that wonderful thought into bringing our 354 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:25.960 episode to a close. This episode has been majorly sponsored by Zemi, where 355 00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:32.799 students share stories and connect and exclusive college communities. It's also supported by Kaylor 356 00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:37.160 solutions and education marketing and branding agency and by Think, patented, a marketing 357 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:45.200 execution company combining print and technology for better engagement. On behalf of my co 358 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:52.559 host Bark Kaylor, I'm troy singer. Thanks again for listening. You've been 359 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:56.680 listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure that you never miss an episode, 360 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:00.119 subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. If you're listening with 361 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.559 apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you to leave a quick rating of the show. 362 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:08.680 Simply tap the number of stars you think the podcast deserves. Until next time,