The Keynote on Speaking Engagement

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...

What if your degree never expired — not as a credential, but as a relationship you kept using for the rest of your life? In this Keynote, Brandon Busteed — CEO of Edconic and former head of education at Gallup and Kaplan — joins Ryan to rethink what higher ed is really for. Watch the full-length version on YouTube (53 mins) Drawing on the landmark Gallup-Purdue Index, the largest study of college...

The message from Nathan Chappell in The Generosity Crisis and reinforced in his interview on the Keynote podcast is that the focus must be on creating Radical Connection. Alumni and donors need to feel emotionally connected with their alma mater, and that spirit has been waning amongst graduates of more recent decades. So how do we go about doing this? What’s the best way to create a more meaningf...

AI-reading of Kristin Hanson's new article, "Making engagement an 'inimitable product' 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

One of the most provocative ideas in my conversation with Nathan Chappell is that there may soon be no such thing as a “donor.” Nathan has spent more than two decades as a fundraiser and fundraising leader, and he’s become one of the clearest voices on AI in our field. This Keynote is also a milestone for us: it kicks off our first-ever Book Club, reading Nathan’s The Generosity Crisis , a book th...

AI-reading of Ryan's new article, "Closing Remarks - Week 6 - Friendships through Affiliation" 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

What do you do when your engagement goals are climbing, your content has gone all-ask and no-story, and there's no budget to hire a writer? At UTEP, you stop looking inward and start looking out — to your own alumni. In this special Agora edition of the podcast, Sydney Bertram, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Communications and Engagement at UTEP, shares how her team broke out of the "trans...

AI-reading of Dave Hail's new article, "Too Big to Be a Cause." 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

This week on Keynote, Ryan sits down with Patrick Auerbach, Vice President for Advancement with the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, for a wide-ranging conversation about affinity, philanthropy, identity, and the changing nature of engagement work. After more than two decades leading alumni relations and engagement efforts at the University of Southern California, Patrick reflects on hi...

AI-reading of Ryan's new article "Closing Remarks - Week 5 - Honest Convos are on Podcasts" 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 Kristin's new article, "Say the Hard Thing—But Say it with Care." 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

In this episode of Keynote, Ryan sits down with Mackenzi Huyser, Vice President for Advancement and Chief Academic Officer at Trinity Christian College, for a conversation unlike any previously featured on Speaking Engagement. Watch the Full-Length edition on YouTube (48-mins) Last fall, Trinity Christian College announced that it would close at the end of the academic year. In this deeply reflect...

AI-reading of Ryan's Closing Keynote this week, "Fixing the Broken Experience." 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

In this Breakout episode, Ryan is joined by Dave Hail and Kristin Hanson to discuss two big questions shaping the future of higher education: what happens if universities move toward a lifelong “subscription” model, and how does AI fundamentally change what colleges are actually teaching? The conversation begins with a follow-up to the “60-Year Degree” debate, exploring David Rosowky's follow up a...

AI-generated reading of Annie Bastida Quade's new article "Substract First" 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

In this episode of Keynote , Ryan Catherwood sits down with Mallory Willsea for a wide-ranging conversation about the growing pressure on higher education marketing and communications teams and why those teams are increasingly carrying institutional survival. Watch the full-length video on YouTube Drawing on her work with institutions, agencies, and higher ed technology companies, Mallory explores...