Dissemination, Marketing
and Networking Conference for Socrates Project Co-ordinators and Partners
Between Ideal and Fait
Accompli
11 – 15 October 2006
Conference proceedings:
Presenters, Titles and Abstracts
Presenter: John Baguley - Director, International Funding
Consultancy
Title: Developing your Fundraising & Marketing Strategy
EN: (open the PPT presentations 1 2 3) (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open the PPT presentations 1 2 3) (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstract:
“The
best thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, not
preceded by worry and anxiety” Sir John Harvey Jones
Many
organisations are now at a crucial stage in their development, moving from
either mainly state or international funding into the commercial world of
dependency on fee charging and other income generating activities. This
transitional stage takes place within the context of some states developing
increasingly vibrant civil society structures and indeed viable commercial
economies, with others facing increasing competition and challenges to their
income streams.
The
search for additional funds, often involving international research and high
level applications to grant making organisations, is becoming increasingly
competitive with those taking an entrepreneurial approach and establishing
specialities often leading the field. When funding is derived from institutions
the marketing is a numbers game to establish a certain level of throughput, but
as the game shifts towards fee paying and adding value by providing the next
stages of service to alumni (which can be highly profitable) the emphasis
shifts towards commercial activity.
The problem is not learning
new innovative concepts, but getting old ones out of your head.
In
planning for this and subsequent changes it is essential to have a long-term
fundraising and marketing strategy not based on incremental growth, but on
investment to realise new potential income streams. The pattern, content and
target of marketing for these streams may be significantly different from
anything you have undertaken before.
Reviewing
the organisations strategy and objectives in the light of new opportunities
should be an annual exercise. Building these objectives into a coherent plan
over say, the next three years will help to show potential funders how your
mission will be accomplished.
An action culture
Strategy
can hold back an organisation as well as assist it to grow. Only with an action
culture which is enthusiastic about change can we evolve to meet the challenges
of external changes. Both fundraising and marketing are in flux, both are
highly dependent on the objectives needs and desires of external agents.
Inevitably,
you will face increasing competition and what differentiates your organisation
from the others will become increasingly important. Not just the courses you
offer but what package of activities and future possibilities can you provide,
and in what environment. Consider changing lifestyles. Consider luxuries
becoming needs.
Alumni
The
fundraising and marketing strategies of universities are heavily dependent on
alumni. In a more transitional market with shorter courses the picture changes,
but cannot be ignored. The current spending power of students is also a factor
that organisations often miss allowing profit to pass to other providers.
Bringing
all these factors together into a comprehensive fundraising and marketing
strategy regularly reviewed will create the key conditions for the long term
sustainability of your organisation.
Presenter: Michael Carrier - Executive Director,
International House World Organisation,
Title: Promoting project
outcomes - marketing tools & techniques
EN: (open the PPT presentations 1 2) (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open the PPT presentations 1 2) (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstract:
Too
many excellent project materials are lingering in a dusty drawer, or hiding on
a dusty website. The project outcomes that people worked so hard to produce
should be more widely available, to all professionals in the appropriate field,
either for free use and or for purchase and re-sale to learners, teachers and
other groups.
This
talk suggests taking a more commercial approach, looking at project outcomes as
commercial products that have to be marketted to targetted groups of
'consumers' - whether students, teachers, academics etc.
We
must learn to segment the market, look for niche groups to promote to, learn
about SEO and building communities of 'eyeballs', know what makes Web 2.0
important to dissemination, learn about delivery mechanisms and so forth.
We
need to learn about buy-in, the 4Ps, building a CoP, using a CMS and much more,
if we want to ensure that our projects gain attention in a world drowning in
information.
I'll
propose a new portal to act as the central marketing hub and suggest ways to
use various media to ensure that projects materials have a wider audience.
Presenter: Lidwien
van Dixhoorn - Head of French language department Radio France Internationale,
Coordinator of the Lingua Project Mission
Europe, France
Title: The media, their languages and their function in the communication on
educational projects
EN: (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstract:
Classical mass media, like radio, television or
written magazines have been used over the last 30 years as support, resource
and promoter of educational contents. With the new media, their differences
tend to disappear and the passive listener has become a user. In these new
settings, what multiple roles can be given to the media in a project? How can
they initiate, complete or promote a project? How can media be used to complete
a set of measures of your project? With some examples, we will try to identify
the different potentialities of media and the limits to be taken in account
when organising a media campaign.
Presenters: Pino Francese - Marketing
consultant, Project Manager Hocus and
Title: How to
publish and commercialise lingustic products
EN: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open
the PPT presentation ) (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstract:
1. Commercialisation - a general view.
2.. Commercialisation of Lingua products
3. Our experience with Hocus and Lotus
The presentation offers a general view on diffusion of
new products throughcommercialisation and in particular the peculiarities of
commercialising Lingua products. The business plan is essential for a
commercial activity and its preparation is analysed in its several aspects.
Finally the experience with the commercialisation of the Hocus and Lotus
products is described.
Presenters: Joanne Greig - Director of Marketing,
Europe, Macmillan & Oana Nica - Managing Director, Macmillan
Title: Making your ideas known
EN: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstract:
Make or break? The true
success of a book ( and research project) is making sure it gets in to
right hands of the right people who need to see it. Putting together
a coordinated and imaginative marketing plan that hits all the
right buttons can take lots of effort so during this workshop
will share practical examples of how to promote and market
your projects based on our own activities, both at a regional and
European level. We'll also look at how the internet has revolutionise the way
we as publishers market our information to our audience, and we'll talk about
how you can exploit this. Finally, we'll also talk about what publishers are
looking for from a commercial point of view when publishing research
materials; we'll give tips on how to approach publishers with proposals,
and some of the top trends that are hot topics at the moment.
Presenter: Armin Hottmann - Media
Educator, Kulturring in
Title: Video and
Television as a tool for the dissemination of language projects
EN: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstract:
What
are the advantages of using video as a tool for dissemination?
What
are the current possibilities of spreading video material online?
Why
should we bother with open, local or national television?
What
can video and television add to our existing press campaign?
The
proposed Dissmark workshop would like to explore possible ways and strategies
of including moving images and the television platform as a means of
dissemination. The workshop will be divided into three parts:
·
an introductory
presentation about video and television relying on the experience of the Lingua
1 project ‘Speech Bubbles’
·
a short media task
for all participants
·
a joint discussion
to round up the workshop and include further ideas from the workshop group
itself and the findings from the ‘Lingua Connections’ survey.
We
hope that this workshop will offer helpful ideas of what could be included in
the dissemination plan for language projects and also wish that it will
encourage further collaboration – especially within the video and television
area.
Presenter: Joel Josephson - Kindersite LTD,
Titles: Maximising web appeal and impact - Internet dissemination, the
Kindersite example (plenary) & ‘The
Eyeball Show’ or which dissemination channels (workshop)
EN: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstracts:
Internet dissemination,
the Kindersite example
The Internet offers a superb dissemination tool as it
allows individualized, mass-communication. The Kindersite Project, founded
three years ago, is a global resource for 13,600 schools in 148 countries that
has only used Internet channels to achieve its impact.
The Kindersite is a resource for:
·
Introduction to technology for young students
·
Beginners in English as a First and second language
·
Special needs students for communication and socialization skills
The presentation will examine how this has been
achieved and indicate some guidelines and methods that are available to
Socrates projects to achieve a strong impact.
The presentation will examine the Kindersite itself to
understand what the resource contains and then look at four areas:
·
Positioning of the project and website – looking at you resource and
project from the user point-of-view
·
Communication skills – pitfalls and solutions to delivering a message
about your project
·
Dissemination methods, in depth – delivering your message to your
targeted audience to achieve a high impact
·
Analysis and feedback – responding, improving and adjusting your message
based on user feedback
‘The Eyeball Show’ or which dissemination channels
A project without impact is 3 years of wasted effort
and money, so how do we arrive at the best mix of dissemination channels?
Taking a fictitious Socrates project we will examine the possible channels,
weigh their potential and draw conclusions on their cost and effectiveness in
raising impact.
This workshop is designed to help you:
·
Ask the right questions about your project
·
Understand how to calculate the costs of dissemination channels
·
The potential impact of various channels
·
How to decide which channels to use to maximize the impact based on
money
Presenter: Katerina Kolyva – Managing Director, European
Cultural Interactions, Coordinator of the Lingua Project Lingua Connections,
Title: Lingua Connections: the network to increase the impact of your language
project
EN: (open
the PPT presentation)
RO: (open
the PPT presentation)
Abstract:
Good projects need good promoting! The impact potential
of your language project may depend a lot on how you market it, on how you
present it to the end-users and others who might be interested in what your
project can offer.
Successful promotion of your language project can be
developed through effective networking with other partners. There are a lot of
successful language projects funded under EU actions. Networking with other
co-ordinators can help you to get ideas for successful promotion and tips on
how to better market your project.
Lingua
Connections helps you to get information about other language projects and their
promotion strategies and provides you with examples of good practice for
effective dissemination and marketing.
The Lingua Connections GUIDE offers tips for
dissemination of your language project and helps you to: plan your impact,
think big, get more funding and spread the word. The Lingua Connections TOOLS
allow you to promote your project as a language postcard, network with other
organisations, learn about EU action in languages and share ideas with other
partners.
You need to promote your language project and increase
its impact? Then, it is time you networked and made the connection www.linguaconnections.eu.
Presenter: John McGovern - Director of
Marketing and Recruitment,
Title: Movers and shakers? Designing language projects for impact
EN: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PPT with notes from the author)
RO: (open
the PPT presentation) (open
the PPT with notes from the author)
Abstract:
Research
shows that 75% of educational projects fail to achieve their planned impact.
The research indicates that most of the problems are caused through a lack of
understanding of change processes and a lack of knowledge of innovation theory.
These deficiencies create in their turn a number of problems. The first and
most fundamental of these is the setting of unrealistic goals and objectives.
Equally important, the selection of project personnel, and the training
provided to them, is often inappropriate.
In
this presentation I will seek to set out the arguments for taking a different
approach to the management of change, in the belief that this will provide
participants with a better chance of achieving success and a greater degree of
impact. I will illustrate my thinking with examples of both successful and
unsuccessful language projects from across Europe and
Presenter: Gillian McLaughin - Lingua
Project Manager, Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency, European
Commission
Title: The management of Languages in the Lifelong Learning Programme
Abstract:
The session will cover the main issues relating to the
future of languages in the Lifelong Learning Programme and, as developments on
the new programme are still being made, as much information as is available on
how future selections will be managed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture
Executive Agency. There will also be a presentation on the structure and role
of the new agency.
Presenter: Magdalena Panova - Editor, Lettera
Publishers, Bulgaria
Title: How the quality and the attractiveness contribute to the marketing of
the product ‘Bulgarian for foreigners’
EN: (open
the PDF presentation)
RO: (open
the PDF presentation)
Abstract:
Bulgarian for Foreigners is the first of its kind
interactive multimedia course for learning Bulgarian as a foreign language and
as such is unique in content and structure. With its ‘easy to learn’ structure,
attractive presentation, interesting topics and in-depth information, it offers
a lot more than a traditional language course. The course can be used for
self-study as well as for group study with a teacher and is available in six
languages – Bulgarian, English, German, French, Dutch and Czech.
The main objective of the project was to create an
innovative multimedia course in Bulgarian as a foreign language combing modern
educational methodology based on the communicative approach and cutting-edge
technology. The project is the product of the successful partnership of six
European universities – the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, the
University of Gent, the University of Westminster, the University of Leipzig,
the University of Prague, the University of Aix-en-Provence, three private
companies – Lettera Publishers as coordinator of the project, Verax Ltd made the
multimedia processing of the product, EDGE Design Ltd created the design and
many famous artists, singers, producers. The universities contributed authors’
materials such as texts, speech patterns, tests, revisions, and glossary. The
universities were also responsible for development of the concept, translation
and adaptation, editing and consultancy. The publishing of the final product
involved the settlement of a number of conflicts and saw a considerable
development of ideas and concepts – in methodology from the conservative to the
modern communicative approach; in visualization from the traditional textbook
to the multimedia product; in finding a crossing point between the ideas of
academic circles members and the artists.