WHY ATTEND?

The IEDRC’s third annual Public Information Officer (PIO) and Outreach Summit welcomes PIOs and marketing and outreach teams from the Inland Empire/Desert region's community colleges and K-12 system to the Riverside Marriott at the Convention Center to discuss regional collaboration, research, student success storytelling strategies, AI, and best practices for marketing and social media.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Community College & K-12 Public Information Officers

Communications & Marketing Professionals

Outreach Specialists

ADDITIONAL EVENT DETAILS

Registration is Free

Breakfast and Lunch Included

Parking is Complimentary

WELCOME

9:00 - 9:15 AM

Welcome and what to expect, why we’re gathered, and how today’s conversations will shape the future of Career Education marketing in our region.

James Meier, IEDRC/READY Marketing Director

ONE MESSAGE DOES NOT FIT ALL: AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION FOR EDUCATION COMMUNICATORS

9:15 - 10:00 AM

Effective education marketing starts with knowing who you’re trying to reach. Using examples from the READY Career Education campaign, this session will show how messaging and creative collateral can be tailored for different audiences, including high school students, parents, adult learners and multilingual communities, while maintaining a consistent overall brand.

James Meier, IEDRC/READY Marketing Director

Jennie Gartland, GradComm Client Success Manager

THE NEW STUDENT JOURNEY: HOW AI, SEARCH, SOCIAL, & PRIVACY ARE RESHAPING ENROLLMENT

10:00 - 10:45 AM

The student enrollment journey has become more fragmented as AI, social media, privacy changes, and rising advertising costs reshape how prospective students discover and evaluate colleges. LocaliQ’s core recommendation is for colleges to engage students earlier, build brand awareness and trust across multiple channels, and connect SEO/GEO, social, content, SEM, and measurement into one coordinated strategy rather than relying primarily on late-stage lead generation. This session explains that reasoning and what it all looks like.

Jim Gibson, LocaliQ Digital Marketing Sales Leader

PROMPT SMARTER, COMMUNICATE FASTER: PRACTICAL AI FOR ECUATION PIOs

10:45 - 11:30 AM

AI has the potential to save communicators valuable time, spark new ideas, and make it easier to tailor content for different audiences. But for many communications professionals, getting started can feel like one more thing to figure out. What makes a good prompt? How much context should you provide? And how do you turn a generic AI response into content that actually sounds like your institution?

Designed for community college and K–12 PIOs, this practical session will take the guesswork out of prompting. Attendees will learn a simple, approachable framework for giving AI the context and direction it needs to produce stronger, more useful results.

Carrie Smith, GradComm Chief Operations Officer

OPEN DISCUSSION: AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

A collaborative session to share observations, challenges, and opportunities across our primary audience segments. What’s working? What’s shifting?

James Meier, IEDRC/READY Marketing Director

FROM "WE NEED A FLYER" TO A SMARTER STRATEGY: A PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MARKETING CAREER EDUCATION ON ANY BUDGET

1:00 - 1:45 PM

In this practical, interactive session, participants will learn a simple framework for building smarter marketing strategies using the Three T’s of Marketing: Target, Transformation and Tactic. Together, we’ll explore questions that can turn a marketing request into a more intentional strategy: Who are we trying to reach? What does this program help them achieve? And what is the most effective way to connect with them?

Cheryl Broom, GradComm CEO

THE INVISIBLE LEADER: WHY HUMAN INFLUENCE MATTERS MORE THAN EVER IN THE AGE OF AI

1:45 - 2:30 PM

AI can help us create better content. Social media can help us reach more people. Marketing can help us get noticed. But people decide whether they feel seen, heard, and valued because of the human interactions they have with us. The future of communications belongs to professionals who can pair technology with humanity. Effective communicators do more than deliver messages. They build trust, influence decisions, strengthen relationships, and create experiences where students and communities feel seen, heard, and valued. In an era where technology can generate content, human connection is the advantage that sets exceptional communicators apart.

Leslie Vargas, Moreno Valley College Public Affairs Officer