For three successive years, Aluminati Network Group has played a significant role during the Annual Conference of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. This year Aluminati attended CASE’s 21st Anniversary Europe Conference, held at the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre in Glasgow as exhibitors and, for the third year, Aluminati Managing Director Daniel Watts was invited to address delegates.
The CASE Conference is one of the largest annual events of its kind and attracts representatives from around the world. This year the conference was specifically aimed at “Development Professionals” working in alumni relations, fundraising and marketing/communications, representing institutions from as far away as Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the USA.
Aluminati are ‘Educational Partners’ to CASE which entitles the company to many advantages, such as inclusion in the Council’s Yellow Pages and website, together with discounts and preferential benefits at events.
Says Daniel Watts: ‘As exhibitors at the CASE conference, we are able to showcase our full range of products and services to representatives of alumni offices throughout the world. Effectively, this is our market in one place for one week each year – a ‘must-attend’ event for Aluminati. The exhibition itself was very busy and extremely worthwhile as we received the highest ever level of interest in our services since attending CASE events.’
Daniel’s presentation at the conference was also well received. ‘My talks usually focus on ‘Email-for-Life’, but this year I covered the still hot topic of ‘online communities’ and, in particular, how they should react to the juggernaut that is Facebook,” he says. “Facebook now has 500 millions users – it is big. But such a size means that it is less exclusive and, in turn, this leads to a lower level of trust, hence recent news stories about privacy infringements and concerns. At Aluminati, we advocate that universities should create small communities designed specifically to foster a high level of trust and openness. This can only exist in an exclusive community where everyone has something in common – for instance, where all members attended the same university.’
Judging by the extensive question and answer session and the open dialogue stimulated by Daniel’s presentation, his talk certainly provoked much thought and interest amongst delegates. ‘Many stayed in the room despite it being time for lunch,’ adds Daniel. ‘In fact, one Swiss delegate came up to me and said it was the best talk she had attended that week because it actually gave direct, useful answers. A very satisfying outcome…’
October 2010
