How Clemson University Streamlines Orientation, Family Weekend, and Welcome Week Planning with Mobile Campus Technology

Handing families beautifully crafted printed schedules that are outdated before they arrive on campus creates confusion and wastes resources. Clemson University's Student Leadership and Engagement team eliminated this problem by transitioning to a branded mobile app that updates instantly across their summer orientation sessions, family weekends, and welcome week programming.

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Clemson's Student Transition Events By the Numbers

• Year-round programming: Summer orientation sessions, fall/spring family weekends, August welcome week.
• Branded "CU Events" app serving students, families, and campus partners across all events.
• 5-6 admin users including 3-person professional staff plus student welcome week leaders.
• 2-3 weeks to build new guides (significantly faster using cloning from previous events).

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What You'll Learn

In this 40-minute webinar, Casey Ford (Interim Director of Student Transitions at Clemson University) shares strategies for consolidating multiple event types into one branded app experience, including:

Paper schedule problems: beautiful but immediately obsolete

• Creating printed schedules that became outdated when parking locations or session times changed.
• Wasting budget reprinting materials for last-minute adjustments.
• Handing attendees inaccurate information creating poor first impressions.

Branded app strategy: CU Events for year-round continuity

• Using same branded platform across orientation, family weekends, and welcome week.
• Partnering with academic colleges and departments on same app creating unified campus experience.
• Positioning as tool students and families use throughout their Clemson journey.

Real-time update capability: the biggest pro of mobile

• Making instant schedule changes when sessions move or parking locations shift.
• Updating comprehensive event information without reprinting or leaving attendees with wrong details.
• Enabling changes in "a matter of seconds" during live events.

Team collaboration dynamics: multiple editors across events

• Training all team members throughout year so everyone has competency by busy summer season.
• Having 3+ people able to make changes means instant updates during live events.
• Assigning specific staff to lead guides for their focus areas (orientation, family weekend, welcome week).

Family engagement tactics: video tutorials from parent ambassadors

• Filming current parent volunteers demonstrating app features with voiceover.
• Playing tutorial videos during morning sessions and sending in advance to build comfort.
• Making adoption relatable by having parents explain benefits to other parents.

Guide cloning efficiency: learning from previous events

• Keeping signature events and university messaging consistent using cloning feature.
• Updating only what needs refreshing rather than rebuilding from scratch.
• Reducing "daunting process" to manageable timeline through template reuse.

Location features: Google Map pins for first-time visitors

• Dropping exact location pins so attendees click and navigate directly via Google Maps.
• Addressing navigational challenges for families on campus for first time.
• Making location pins "driving force" for app adoption.

Communication hub strategy: linking from external platforms

• Using separate portal for email communications and event registration.
• Linking Guidebook "seven different times" in messages as primary information source.
• Leveraging portal's 50,000 email opens to drive traffic to detailed app content.

QR code check-in integration: staff-led adoption

• Printing QR codes on back of event badges at check-in for all programs.
• Training staff with quick spiel about why app matters and what it provides.
• Not handing out paper schedules—directing everyone to scan and download instead.

Who Should Watch This Webinar

• University student affairs professionals managing orientation and family programming year-round.
• Campus event planners struggling with outdated printed materials and last-minute changes.
• Higher education teams seeking to consolidate multiple event types into unified platform.
• Student transition coordinators managing summer orientation sessions and welcome week programming.
• Institutions wanting to improve parent/family engagement and communication consistency.

Real Results from Clemson's Branded App Strategy

Learn how Clemson's approach achieved:

• Elimination of wasted paper and reprinting costs when information changed last-minute.
• Real-time schedule accuracy ensuring families always had correct parking, session times, and locations.
• Year-round platform continuity with students/families using same app across multiple touchpoints.
• Seamless collaboration with 5-6 admin users making instant updates during live events.
• Faster guide building through cloning previous events rather than starting from scratch.

Featured Speaker

Casey Ford serves as Interim Director of Student Transitions for Student Leadership and Engagement at Clemson University. She oversees new student and family orientation sessions throughout summer, family weekend events in fall and spring semesters, and welcome week integrating students to campus before classes begin mid-August. Casey and her team have used Guidebook for three years, transitioning away from printed schedules to create comprehensive, real-time updatable event experiences.