Overview
Overview
From associate dean to director to admissions, the Professional Development Program (PDP) will provide you with added skills that can enhance your job performance. If your primary role lies outside of the admissions function, such as in career or student services, PDP can offer you a new understanding of graduate admissions issues and processes and the language for cross-functional cooperation.
Who Should Attend?
PDP is designed for professionals from GMAT using schools with work experience between six months to two years in business school admissions. Attendees come from a variety of schools - large and small, public and private, global and regional. Although they have only recently begun to work with a graduate business program, many have held responsible positions in the corporate world or other areas of the university.
For those participants with less than six months of experience (as of July) we suggest attending this program next year.
When & Where
The program was held from Sunday, July 25, 2010 beginning at 4 pm and concluded at 1:30 pm on 2 pm on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at the Allerton Hotel, 701 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL. The 2011 date and location will be posted in October. Please check back then.
Registration Fee
The 2010 registration fee included four nights of accommodations, scheduled meals, and program materials and was as follows:
GMAC Member Schools: US$ 1,900
Non Member Schools: US$ 2,450
Further Information
Please email questions to programs@gmac.com or by phone +1 (703) 668-9839.
Registration & Travel
Registration
Registration for the 2011 program will open in April. For registration assistance please contact programs@gmac.com.
Because this is a cohort learning experience, all registrants must be able to attend the entire program.
Registration Fee
The 2011 registration fee included four nights of accommodations, scheduled meals, and program materials and was as follows:
GMAC Member Schools: US$1,900
Non Member Schools: US$2,450
Travel
The 2010 PDP location was The Allerton Hotel on Michigan Avenue in the heart of downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile, home of world-class entertainment, exquisite restaurants, and unmatched shopping. Only blocks from the Navy Pier, Millennium Park, and the Rush Street nightlife district. Only 20 minutes from Midway International Airport ( MDW) and 30 minutes from O'Hare International Airport (ORD). For further information on Chicago attractions near the hotel click here.
Agenda
2010 Agenda
Sunday, July 25
3:30 – 4 pm Registration
4 – 4:30 pm Welcome
4:30 – 7:00 pm Exploring the “Professional” in Professional Development
7 – 7:30 pm Reception
7:30 – 9 pm Dinner
Monday, July 26
9 – 12 Differentiate to Win: Branding and Positioning Your MBA Program
12 – 1 pm Lunch
1 – 2:30 pm Review of Marketing Collateral
3 – 5 pm Your Virtual Media Message
Tuesday, July 27
9 – 10:30 am GMAC Research, Tools and Services
10:45 am – 12:15 pm Face to Face Recruiting, Best Practices
12:15 – 1 pm Lunch
1:30 – 4:30 pm Presentation Skills
Wednesday, July 28
9 – 11:45 am Cross Cultural Communication in the MBA Office
12:15 – 1:30 pm What All Admission Staff Need to Know but Might Not Ask and Lunch
1:45 – 4:30 pm Getting Answers to Questions You Can’t Ask! A Fresh Look at Interviewing
6:30 – 9:30 pm Dinner Cruise and Fireworks
Thursday, July 29
9 – 10:15 am GMAT: What It Is and How Should You Use It?
10:30 am – 1 pm Selection – Crafting a Class
1 – 1:30 pm Wrap Up and Lunch
Session Descriptions
Sunday, July 25
3:30–4:15 pm
REGISTRATION – Foyer Buckingham Ballroom – 3rd Floor
4:15–4:30 pm
WELCOME
AMY ORLOV, Professional Development Specialist, Graduate Management Admission Council
4:30–7 pm
EXPLORING THE “PROFESSIONAL” IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Get to know your PDP colleagues while learning more about yourself as a professional and a leader. This energetic and interactive session will explore in greater detail your results on the StrengthFinders survey. It will also assist you in identifying ways you can use what you already have to be more successful. The survey is a part of new and compelling research that links how we use our existing behaviors and strengths to increase productivity and engagement on the job. You should leave this session with a better understanding of your professional and personal strengths and how best to apply them when you are back on campus.
Don’t forget to bring your StrengthsFinders results!
KEVIN MURNANE, Adjunct Professor, Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University and Founder, Behtrics Consulting
7–7:30 pm
RECEPTION – Tip Top Tap Ballroom – 23rd Floor
7:30–9 pm
DINNER – Tip Top Tap Ballroom – 23rd Floor
____________________________________________________________________________
Monday, July 26
8–9 am
BREAKFAST – Frank Lloyd Wright Room – 3rd Floor
9 am–Noon
DIFFERENTIATE TO WIN: BRANDING AND POSITIONING YOUR MBA PROGRAM
The key to marketing your program successfully is communicating to potential students about how your program, business school, and university are unique from, and superior to, those of your competitors. This session will provide you with a framework for identifying those differences and help you develop and leverage your brand and positioning. You will learn what branding and positioning are and why you should care, identify the heart of your brand, and explore and refine the positioning of your graduate management program.
MARCI ARMSTRONG, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University
(THIS SESSION WILL INCLUDE A BREAK)
Noon–1 pm
LUNCH – Frank Lloyd Wright Room – 3rd Floor
1–2:30 pm
REVIEW OF MARKETING COLLATERAL
Armed with new insights about your school’s branding and positioning from the morning session, you will focus on assessing how effectively your own marketing material conveys the heart of your brand and the positioning of your MBA program. You will also have the opportunity to benchmark the best branding and positioning practices of your PDP peers.
MARCI ARMSTRONG, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University
2:30–3 pm
BREAK – Foyer Buckingham Ballroom – 3rd Floor
3–5 pm
YOUR VIRTUAL MEDIA MESSAGE
There are hundreds of technologies that can help promote your MBA program and strengthen its brand. Your challenge: determining which tools to use, figuring out how to use them, and finding the time to actually put them to work. This informative and pragmatic session will walk you through the virtual media planning process as you learn the eight steps to succeeding in the world of virtual and social media. A hands-on exercise will cement the ideas presented and give you the confidence to implement what you learn once you’re back at your program.
RON DESI, Director, University of Baltimore/Towson MBA
____________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, July 27
8–9 am
BREAKFAST – Frank Lloyd Wright Room – 3rd Floor
9–10:30 am
GMAC RESEARCH, TOOLS AND SERVICES
GMAC offers a plethora of tools to help graduate management programs educate, identify, recruit, and select candidates. Whether you are a new director attempting to determine geographic markets for recruitment or an operations manager tasked with researching ways to promote your program efficiently, GMAC has a resource you can leverage. During this session, you will receive a high-level overview of some of the tools available, which are designed to make your life easier by helping you understand and service the graduate management education market.
BETSY KACIZAK, Member Services Specialist, Graduate Management Admission Council
SABRINA WHITE, Member Services Specialist, Graduate Management Admission Council
10:30–10:45am
BREAK – Foyer Buckingham Ballroom – 3rd Floor
10:45 am–12:15 pm
BEST PRACTICES IN FACE-TO-FACE RECRUITING
This session is your chance to learn directly from experienced admission professionals about ways to meet candidates, measure your return on investment, and make the best use of alumni and students in your recruiting practices. In addition, you’ll learn how budgets can affect your ability to recruit and how to make the best use of technology while maintaining that all-important personal touch.
KURT AHLM, Senior Director of Full-Time Admissions, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
JAY BRYANT, Assistant Vice President, Admissions, Recruiting and Financial Aid, Thunderbird School of Global Management
MELANIE JOHNSTON, Associate Director of Marketing and Recruitment, Pamplin College of Business,
Virginia Tech
WENDY MA, Assistant Dean and Director of Masters’ Programs, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
12:15–1:15 pm
LUNCH – Frank Lloyd Wright Room – 3rd Floor
1:30–4:30 pm
PRESENTING TO WIN: MAKING EFFECTIVE PRESENTATIONS TO NEW GENERATIONS OF MBA APPLICANTS
This session will make you a better presenter in two important ways. First, you’ll learn to overcome the all-too-common fear of public speaking. Second, you’ll explore ways to connect with Millennials, whose fast-paced communications are driving today’s nanosecond culture (and your recruitment efforts). In addition, you’ll discover numerous tips and tricks to make you a great communicator, from incorporating video to creating PowerPoint slides that won’t bore—or blind—your audience. Finally, you’ll apply what you’ve learned by preparing to present your own story in 30 seconds or less.
RICHARD HONACK, Senior Lecturer of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
(THIS SESSION WILL INCLUDE A BREAK)____________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, July 28
8–9 am
BREAKFAST – Frank Lloyd Wright Room – 3rd Floor
9–11:45 am
DEVELOPING CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN THE MBA ENVIRONMENT
Many schools require their admissions staff to travel abroad to recruit international students, meet with international advisors and strategic partners, and develop relationships with alumni. In some programs, the admissions staff is also responsible for orientation and even student advising. Your likelihood of successfully engaging with students and colleagues of other world regions increases significantly when you understand their cultures and norms. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
• Differentiate between the norms and values of cultures in other regions
• Identify variations in communication styles
• Recognize culture shock and understand how it affects behavior
• Effectively address intercultural communication issues on the job
• Help international students adjust to living, studying, and working in your country
CRAIG STORTI, Director, Craig Storti and Associates
(THIS SESSION WILL INCLUDE A BREAK)
12:15–1:30 PM
LUNCH
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ADMISSIONS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK
During lunch, you will have the opportunity to learn from a seasoned admissions director the language of admissions and what it really means, the role operations plays in admissions, and different methods you can use in the admissions cycle. This informal session is ideal for bringing up questions you’ve wondered about but haven’t wanted to ask in the office.
ATTENDEES WITH MORE THAN 12 MONTHS EXPERIENCE – Miles Van Der Rohe Room, 4th Floor
Facilitated by: JULIE BAREFOOT, Associate Dean and Director of MBA Admissions, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
ATTENDEES WITH FEWER THAN 12 MONTHS EXPERIENCE – Olmstead Room, 4th Floor
Facilitated by: JIM HOLMEN, Director of Admission and Financial Aid, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington
1:45–4:30 pm
GETTING ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS YOU CAN’T ASK! A FRESH LOOK AT INTERVIEWING
There is no one right way to interview. All successful interviews, however, create situations in which information can be exchanged easily, evaluated fairly, and communicated clearly. The selection interview presents a unique opportunity for you to obtain information about an applicant that is either impossible or impractical to get any other way. How you use the interview becomes critical to your success in selecting your top candidates. This workshop will help you build an effective interview process, learn the latest in interviewing techniques, and improve your interviewing skills. You will be introduced to the S.E.L.E.C.T. interviewing model, and you will practice interviewing skills and discuss ways to enhance your current interviewing process.
JOHN B. MOLIDOR, Assistant Dean and Professor, CEO and President, Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine, Flint Campus
(THIS SESSION WILL INCLUDE A BREAK)
CRUISE AND FIREWORKS ON LAKE MICHIGAN
PLEASE MEET IN THE HOTEL LOBBY BY 6 PM TO BOARD THE BUS.
THE BUS WILL DEPART AT 6:15 pm SHARP
6:30–7 pm Board the cruise ship
7–10 pm Cruise
10:15 pm SHARP bus departs for hotel
____________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, July 29
8–9 am
BREAKFAST – Frank Lloyd Wright Room – 3rd Floor
9–10:15 am
DEMYSTIFYING THE GMAT: WHO TAKES IT. WHAT IT MEASURES. HOW IT WORKS.
This session is your opportunity to discuss anything and everything about the GMAT exam. We will begin with an overview of the current student pipeline, including who takes the exam, where examinees send score reports, and the overall testing experience. Next we will discuss what the GMAT exam does and does not measure, specifically focusing on what this means for your school in terms of score interpretation and exam validity. Finally, we will examine how the exam works by exploring the nature of computer-adaptive testing. The in-depth GMAT knowledge you’ll gain will help you answer questions from prospective students, colleagues, faculty members, and your dean.
ALEX CHISHOLM, Senior Research Analyst, Research and Development, Graduate Management Admission Council
10:15–10:30 am
BREAK – Foyer Buckingham Ballroom – 3rd Floor
10:30 am–1pm
SELECTION – CRAFTING A CLASS
To help you integrate all you’ve learned, you will participate in a simulated admissions committee with representatives from a wide range of schools. Your committee will review and debate the merits of each candidate while considering the interests of the many stakeholders in any selection process. This highly interactive session lets you see how our PDP themes and topics converge in a true-to-life situation.
ERIC CHAMBERS, Director, Key Initiatives, Graduate Management Admission Council
SABRINA WHITE, Member Services Specialist, Graduate Management Admission Council
1–1:30 pm
WRAP-UP AND BOX LUNCH