How Kelley Set A World Record

Case Study: How the Kelley School of Business Alumni Association Set a World Record For Largest Online Chat EventFaced with the daunting task of connecting the largest business school alumni base in the world, the IU Kelley School of Business Alumni Association (KSBAA) made the bold decision to rally their students and alumni together in their shared goal of setting the world-record for largest online chat event on record.

What Makes IU Kelley Unique With locations in Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business is one of the most established business school programs. Founded almost 100 years ago, students of Kelley instantly become part of a wonderful tradition of top-notch business education that is shared with over 100,000 alumni.

Beyond having the largest business school alumni base in the world, if you ask an alum what makes Kelley unique, they’ll tell you it’s the connectedness of their network.

Sustaining a World-Class Connected Alumni Network Rochelle Reeves has worked at Kelley serving its alumni for seventeen years. Like

Case Study: How Kelley School of Business Set a World Record For Largest Online Chat Event

“As an alum of Kelley, you’re not one person in a sea of alumni. A connected network is helpful and

generous. It’s all about relationships.”

Rochelle Reeves, Senior Director of Advancement at IU Kelley

School of Business

many other alumni engagement professionals, she knows the importance of an alumni network for working professionals, a fact that’s even more true for business schools. Along with a world-class education, Rochelle knows graduates of business school are counting on the KSBAA as a lifelong professional resource.

According to a survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), one of the top reasons students choose to go to business school is to grow their professional network . There’s a myriad of networking opportunities available to 1

students when they arrive on campus: students can interact with their peers (future high-level managers), their professors (often former business executives, with decades of experience) and alumni (currently in the same roles students are applying for, or otherwise with years of business knowledge).

The reality is, after graduating alumni quickly get wrapped up with the demands of their new jobs and responsibilities. Many of them are relocating, and it’s a big period of change for recent alumni. After hearing one too many times that an alum missed a networking opportunity with fellow Kelleys because he or she simply didn’t know about it, Rochelle resolved to do better.

And Then An Idea Was BornThey were ready to make a splash. Rochelle and the KSBAA Board of Directors decided to set a new world record for the largest online networking event. Determined to demonstrate the connectedness of the Kelley Network and to inspire even more alumni to get connected, Rochelle and four board members (John Desmarais, BS’88/MBA’94, Derek Hicks, MBA’02, Shweta Joglekar, MBA’00 and Sean Triplett, BS’94) created a skillful plan and set to work. Their ultimate goal was to facilitate connections in a fun, easy and meaningful way.

With a theme in place, the team set out to find an online event platform that would suit their use case. They needed a platform that could support large-scale events, while still providing an individualized, top-notch experience for their alumni and students. After researching competitors, Brazen quickly rose to the top as the frontrunner. They loved that it was easy-to-use and remarkably effective at

http://www.gmac.com/market-intelligence-and-research/gmac-surveys/mbacom-prospective-1

students-survey.aspx


“We needed something newsworthy to capture the attention of our our alumni. When someone mentioned attempting to break a world record at an alumni board meeting, we knew it was the right amount of bold, out-of-the-box thinking that we needed.”

facilitating conversations through timed one-on-one chats. Rochelle recalls, “We were thrilled to discover Brazen. It is a simple, yet sophisticated way, for us to expand our reach to alumni who want connections. The best feature is the variety of ways to facilitate connections that are relevant.”

Having decided on Brazen, Rochelle and her team then set to work on how to structure their event. They settled on providing discussion booths tailored by industry. This would allow participants to network with students and alumni in their preferred industry. They also offered an “Ask the Dean” booth facilitating conversations between alumni and the Dean of Kelley.

To help get the word out, she enlisted her alumni’s help. Rochelle piloted #AwesomeAlumni Stories, a series which features active alumni who are doing interesting things. After speaking to each of these highly successful individuals, she asked them if they planned on attending the world-record event. Signing off each feature with a line, such as “John Doe plans on attending the world record event. Will you be on the list?”, she helped build the buzz necessary to pull off this once in a lifetime event.

Over the next few months. Rochelle and her colleagues hosted a series of online Brazen chat-based events, targeting specific alumni segments. “We knew we needed to warm up everyone up to the idea of online events. Most of our alumni aren’t millennials, so we needed to ease them into the idea.” Besides a variety of affinity based events, one of their most successful events was targeted at recent graduates, encouraging them them to build their network as they settle into their new city.

Rochelle’s self-professed best marketing strategy was a peer-to-peer challenge. She rallied her active alumni to attend a webinar on how to spread the word about the upcoming event. She asked each of these alumni to do one thing: get thirty other alumni to participate in this event. Everyone who met their goal got a prize, and she even offered a weekend in Bloomington for the alum who brought in the most registrants! Peer-to-peer outreach was a pillar of Rochelle’s engagement strategy, and the alums were really excited to participate in this way.

Rochelle didn’t stop there. Kelley gave away Kelley custom-branded socks to all attendees and raffled off a cruise for one lucky attendee!


“We were thrilled to discover Brazen. It is a simple, yet sophisticated way, for us to expand our reach to alumni who want connections.”

And the Award Goes To...the Kelley School of Business Alumni Association!At the end of the day, Rochelle says the event was a game changer.

With over 1480 total registrants, the KSBAA set the record for largest Brazen event, at 683 concurrent users, and over 900 total attendees engaged. During the hour event, 3,112 connections were made - a benchmark that wouldn’t be feasible in any other setting. Perhaps even more than that, it was an opportunity for Kelley students, alums and faculty to feel a part of something bigger than themselves.

The day of the event, they hosted the event live for current students. Amidst pizza and a slew of laptops, over 200 students logged in simultaneously for the event. Joining them shortly, 700 alumni from all across the world, including from 15 countries outside the US, logged into this history-making event. There was energy in the air, Rochelle admits it. “I remember shouting out numbers as we got closer, and closer to our goal. Up until the

last minute, I asked the students to text their friends - it was all-hands-on-deck to get as many alumni and students to join!”

As to where she goes from here, Rochelle says, “ I wanted to get them talking, and now they are. We received really positive feedback from the event. My alumni are more excited than ever to join networking sessions in the future.”

With 79% of participants saying the platform was easy to use and they would participate again, the Guinness World Records® event was just the boost this amazing alumni network needed.


“I wanted to get them talking, and now they are. We received really positive feedback from the event. Alumni and students are more excited than ever to join networking sessions in the future.”

See What Their Alumni Had To Say

“This was the most incredible experience I have witnessed in business development in my professional career. I have made some incredible contacts and new business

opportunities.”

– Brent Lipschultz, BS'88, Tax Partner, PwC LLP, New York, NY

“This was a fantastic event. The 7 min chats were just about right to get to know and exchange contacts. For me, it was just cool to speak with 2 random people every 7 mins. Was also great talking to current Kelley MBAs. Best of all, I was doing all this

halfway around the globe on my cellphone.”

–Sujeet Sanzgiri, Co-Founder, MBA'04, Talking PlasticTechnologies Pvt. Ltd, India


683 concurrent users = #KelleyWorldRecord

903 total participants = #AlumniWantToConnect

3112 connections were made in one hour = #KelleyMostConnectedNetwork!

The Analytics & Consulting booth had the most activity, at 716 connections.

How Kelley Set A World Record

Documents

Transcript of How Kelley Set A World Record