The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Open Days, Job Fairs, and More: Transform Your Campus Events with SCOOCS

As a member of a student affairs or enrollment management department at a university, it’s likely that you are already taking advantage of event platforms to recruit and engage with students! This trend grew especially after the Pandemic when on-site events had to be paused for a bit and universities gave a chance to online formats not only for classes but also for other academic events.

While many universities are “surfing” in this digital wave, some still aren’t taking advantage of it or are unsure on how to connect with future and actual students, and alumni through digital platforms. These universities may be unaware of the possibilities of hosting educational fairs and open days, and other events. Let’s explore what virtual events universities can host, how SCOOCS can help them, and what benefits they can obtain from these opportunities!

Why Host Online Events in Your University?

Before hosting virtual events, let’s explore what benefits they can bring to your university:

Greater Reach: When you’re hosting a virtual event you don’t need to worry about the geographic location of your students, allowing your university to connect with future students, alumni and actual students worldwide. 

Increased Accessibility: When you host your university events in the virtual space, you can create more inclusive places, where all students- including those with limited mobility-can join and interact more easily!

Cost-Efficiency: You can reduce several costs-travel, venue, catering, and setup, among others-when you host a virtual event, making it budget-friendly for your university.

Better Data Insights: When hosting virtual events through a virtual event platform you can get analytics on metrics such as participant engagement, number of check-ins, booth visits, and more. This data will help you and your university understand your students’ preferences and better plan for future events. And we know how important data can be for your university!

By embracing virtual events, universities can enhance their reputation while improving the engagement and understanding more their students in a cost-effective and data-driven way.

Virtual Event Types for Universities

Virtual Open Days

Most universities host open days to attract potential students and show them the university around while sharing experiences with actual students and alumni. From information regarding available courses, academic life and other useful aspects. With SCOOCS you can do this open day, online! We enable your university to organize an engaging virtual experience where you can showcase your university courses and departments in booths, virtual tours, Q&A sessions, and much more! 

Online Conferences and Research Symposiums

If your university frequently hosts research conferences and in-person poster presentations, why not consider going virtual or hybrid? Hosting these events online can be easy and you can provide your researchers with a virtual venue, university-branded, with multiple stages and sessions, allowing the attendees to navigate between sessions and topics. Researchers can set up virtual booths to showcase their research and posters, engage with their audience, and after presenting their research, host discussions regarding the findings on a networking table dedicated to their poster themes!

By Hosting Virtual Conferences and Research Symposium your University can benefit from:

• A Broader Audience of Experts: The University will be able to reach a larger audience of experts from around the world, who can share their research and participate in discussions. 
• Better Navigation and Less Distractions: Having poster booths and a virtual venue will make it easier for participants to navigate between themes and topics while also accessing resources and documents with just a click.

Alumni Mentoring and Networking Events

These events are a powerful way for universities to connect new students with senior students and alumni, creating a support network that will help them in both career and academic development. SCOOCS offers interactive tools that make it easy for the participants to find the right “matches”, create strong connections, and benefit from shared experiences and advice:

• Interest-Based Matchmaking and Mentorship Rooms: New students can connect with network members based on course, industry, field, and more, enabling targeted mentorship matches
• Mentorship Panels and Q&As: Where senior students and alumni can share their insights on career and academics through live sessions and Q&As for example.

Online Job Fairs

What better way to connect your Students with Companies and Recruiters than through an online job fair? With SCOOCS, you can help your students create connections with these companies by:

• Creating Virtual Booths: For the companies to use with their branding and resources, allowing students to explore and directly interact with them
• Having 1-1 Networking and Networking Tables: Students can interact via private messages, schedule 1-1 video or call meetings with the recruiters or join a networking table for a group dynamic, for example!

Hosting a job fair in a remote setting can help with:

• A global reach: A job fair will allow for a larger network of students and hiring companies to join
• Targeted Search and Matchmaking for Companies: Recruiters can target students based on their profiles and associated tags, helping them connect with potential candidates.

Key Takeaways of Going Virtual for University Events

In Conclusion

Virtual events are a powerful tool for universities to innovate, and engage their academic communities while expanding their reach and impact. Event platforms like SCOOCS empower institutions to create and host virtual, or hybrid events that not only improve accessibility but also foster deep engagement and create a lasting impact! 

Embracing digital solutions for academic events allows your university to make each event memorable and successful, stand out among other academic institutions, and build a strong academic community. 

Let’s unlock the full potential of your academic events?

Connect with us and explore how SCOOCS can help you create impactful and memorable experiences for your university!