One of the more frequent topics discussed on independent school admission and marketing list-servs is the open house. Often, the plea is to share your newest, best, most creative ideal for planning a better open house.
Indeed, our admission team discusses Open Houses every summer. The conversations typically start with a few standard questions. Things like:
• Are our open houses getting stale?
• Are we engaging our open houses guests sufficiently?
• Should we start from scratch and design an entirely new open house format?
Eventually, we move on to a standard set of conclusions. These often include:
• Attendance at open houses is better than ever
• Our enrollment is at an all-time high
• Our open house survey results are positive
• Our faculty is comfortable with the established format
So, we check the box, schedule Open Houses like we did the year before, and move on to the next item on our planning checklist.
In schools where innovation and creativity are the norm, this business as usual approach to open house planning can be feel like we’re settling – not pressing the envelope hard enough.
It is fair to say that our Open Houses tend to be pretty standard affairs.
1. Incoming guests mingle and enjoy cookies and lemonade
2. At the scheduled time, the full group of guests is welcomed by our Head of School
3. We introduce the group to our division heads, athletic director, etc.
4. We send guests off in smaller groups to division breakout sessions.
5. In the division breakouts, guests get a tour of the campus and a chance to ask questions of students, parents, faculty, and administrators.
6. Two hours after the start, we say goodbye and start cleaning up the cookie table.
But within that rather standard framework, we accomplish many of our goals.
• We welcome and introduce a new set of prospective parents and students to our community.
• We invite them in to learn about who we are and how we operate.
• We show them our facilities and learning environments
And, perhaps most importantly, we put our open house guests in a position to engage in conversations with our current students, parents, and faculty. That, I believe, is where the magic happens.
So, while it is always good to take a close look to assess your school’s open house format – don’t be surprised if you find your school “settling” for the formula that has proven successful in the past.
About Bill Diskin
Director of Admission and Financial Aid
Cannon School
Concord, NC
wdiskin@cannonschool.org