The Keynote on Speaking Engagement

Sarah Winkler is the senior vice president of INVNT Higher Ed, where she helps colleges and universities build the immersive experiences behind their biggest moments: campaign launches, presidential events, and milestone celebrations. Watch the full-length version on YouTube (52 mins) In this Keynote, Sarah and Ryan get into why in-person experiences matter more in a digital age, not less, because...

Yesterday was the culmination of our first Faculty-in-Residence experience here on Speaking Engagement. I so appreciate Mallory Erickson’s trust and willingness to give this a shot and work with me to engage a slightly different audience from her own. Mallory’s work is primarily with frontline fundraisers, and across all types of non-profits. Our SE community is largely engagement pros in educatio...

Cameron Hall is the executive director of annual giving and donor experience at the University of South Carolina, and one of the more forward-thinking voices in the annual giving space. Listen to the full-length version on YouTube (58 mins) In this Keynote, Cameron and Ryan get into why being someone's alum doesn't mean an institution has earned the right to solicit them, why the neutral and lapse...

Ryan King is the Chief of Staff and Innovation officer at Roanoke College, a small liberal arts college in Virginia working to become the most sought-after educational partner in the Roanoke Valley. Listen to the full-length version on YouTube (58 mins) In this Keynote, King and Ryan Catherwood dig into Roanoke's WorkAI Lab, a seven-week program that teaches working professionals not just how to u...

Dayana Kibilds has made email her specialty, co-authoring the book Mailed It and building a following for her plain-spoken take on how higher ed actually reaches people. In this Keynote, Speaking Engagement contributing editor Kristin Hanson sits down with Day to make the case that email is advancement's most intimate and most owned channel, and that most teams waste it by talking about themselves...

Someone stands up in a bar with a slide deck and spends three minutes hyping up their single friend. That’s Pitch-a-Friend, and it’s fun and something of a new phenomenon. What I wanted to talk to my friend and colleague, Melissa Schipke, about is the infrastructure that lets something that playful run in more than a thousand cities. (Watch the full-length version on YouTube - 54 mins) Melissa is...

Kevin Grubb has spent his career working to connect students with real experience, first leading career services at Villanova, and now as Vice President for Work-Based Learning at the Strada Education Foundation, where he helps states, systems, and institutions scale it. Watch the full-length version on YouTube (47 mins) In this Keynote, Kevin and Ryan reframe work-based learning as a continuum, f...

Mallory Erickson is a fundraising coach, the host of the What the Fundraising podcast, and the author of the book by the same name, and Speaking Engagement's first Faculty-in-Residence. She has built her career on reframing fundraising away from something pushy and transactional and toward what she considers sacred work. In this Keynote, Mallory and Ryan get into her concept of alignment fundraisi...

Kalyan Varma has worked with hundreds of institutions on the operational side of advancement, and he can usually predict the problem before he arrives: participation is slipping, the donor base is narrowing even as dollars rise, and the technology meant to help is scattered across disconnected tools. He is the co-founder and CEO of Almabase, one of the largest alumni engagement and fundraising pla...

This week's Breakout digs into Mark Dobosz's LinkedIn piece on a sobering number from the 2026 M+R Benchmarks: new donor retention sits at just 24 percent, meaning three of four first-time donors never give again. Ryan Catherwood, Dave Hail, and Courtney Stombock unpack why that is a structural failure rather than a stewardship gap, why organizations are good at keeping the donors they already kno...

Dr. Liz Gross has spent her career listening to what people actually say about colleges and universities online. She founded Campus Sonar, the first social listening agency built for higher ed, recently acquired by the College Board, where she now serves as Executive Director for Strategic Enrollment Services. Watch the full-length version on YouTube (57 mins) In this Keynote, Liz and Ryan get int...

Max Leisten left a career in software product management ten years ago to do work that mattered more. He started by passing resumes around his own network by hand, discovered that people genuinely love to help, and built a company around it. Today he is the founder and CEO of Protopia, which uses AI to connect students with the alumni who can help them. In this Keynote, Max and Ryan get into what...

Richard Millington has studied online communities more closely than almost anyone. The founder of FeverBee and author of three field-defining books, he has helped hundreds of organizations, from Apple and Google to the UN, build communities that last. Listen to the full-length version on YouTube (57-mins) In this Keynote, Richard and Ryan dig into why a decade of alumni communities collapsed into...

AI-reading of Ryan's Friday newsletter, "Is Scaling Alumni Engagement a Good Thing?" This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.speakingengagement.org/subscribe

Chris Cannon has spent his career in the least glamorous corner of advancement, and he makes the case that it may be the most important. Founder of the Generosity Collaborative and the author of the book many operations teams learned from, he is one of higher ed's foremost experts on advancement operations, technology, and engagement data. In this Keynote, Chris and Ryan trace his path from the St...

AI-reading of Ryan's new article, "Why the Alumni-Career Merger Remains an Enigma" and closing marks this week. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.speakingengagement.org/subscribe

AI-reading of Anna Gonzalez's article, "The Sage, the Hero, the Caregiver, the Ruler: Archetypes for Alumni Engagement." Anna is a special guest contributor this week. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.speakingengagement.org/subscribe

Christine Cruzvergara has spent her career at the seams where higher ed, employers, and the workforce meet. After a decade leading career services at George Mason, GW, Georgetown, and Wellesley, she spent more than seven years as Chief Education Strategy Officer at Handshake, with a bird's-eye view across 1,600-plus institutions and millions of employers. In this Keynote, Christine and Ryan get in...

AI-reading of Ryan's Friday newsletter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.speakingengagement.org/subscribe

AI-reading of Dave Hail's article, "Good Work Doesn't Speak for Itself." This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.speakingengagement.org/subscribe

Shanna Hocking found her calling in a development office at 18 and spent more than two decades raising major gifts across public, private, and Ivy League universities and academic medicine. Now founder and CEO of Hocking Leadership and author of One Bold Move a Day , she coaches senior advancement leaders on the part of the job no one trains us for: how to actually lead. Watch full-length version...

AI-reading of Annie Quade's new article, "Your Alumni Are Already Content Creators. Have You Asked Them to Create for You? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.speakingengagement.org/subscribe

Omar Garriott has spent 25 years orbiting education — Teach for America, college-access work, and tech roles at Apple, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and Qualtrics — before coming home to lead the Batten Institute at UVA's Darden School. In this Keynote, he argues that the old compact ("get the degree, get the job") has quietly broken, and that entrepreneurship — taught as a method, not a major — is how hi...

AI-reading of Ryan's new article, "Closing Remarks - Week 8 - Don't Forget the 'Hiring Manager's Story' This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.speakingengagement.org/subscribe

For years, colleges have sold the alumni network as one of the great benefits of attending. Look at our reach. Look at who you’ll know. Look at the doors a degree from here opens. Brandon Busteed thinks the first rungs of the career ladder are disappearing. On the Keynote, he laid out the erosion: 8.2 million college students wanted an internship this past year, and 3.6 million got one. Teen emplo...