Many Admission Offices use the summer months to prepare for the busy fall season. This includes recruiting new families and hosting open houses.
Open houses show your school in action. Prospective families can see your campus, ask questions, and assess why your school might be a good fit for their children.
Open houses are also a great way to give families information about your school. Examples include a child who is particularly interested in a specific sports team or one who requires assistance or support in a specific area.
With these elements in mind, how do you make sure your open house is as successful as possible? Every school and community is different, so consider the following when looking at your school’s open house strategy.
Combine your open houses with other events. Host an open house in conjunction with a school play or sporting event. Events like these give your school a chance to showcase student achievements, school pride, and culture. Offering tours before and after these events allows families to chose a time that works best for them.
Experiment with event timing. While fall is considered the major open house season, some schools have found success hosting events at other times of the year, such as February. Others have seen better-quality applicants after moving their open house events to the daytime instead of the evening. We recently heard a story where one school held open houses in November, but this often attracted parents who were unhappy with their student's first report card and not necessarily strong applicants. Consequently, the school switched from massive open house events to smaller weekly events throughout the fall.
Try scheduling smaller, more accessible open houses. Some schools see more attendees when they host small events, rather than one or two large-scale open houses. This gives parents more opportunities to navigate their busy schedules to attend. One school hosted hour-long mini-sessions that featured five-minute presentations by teachers from various departments, followed by brief tours and individual meet-and-greets with parents.
Test different ways to spread the word. Happy parents are often the best ambassadors to share news, including during open houses. Work with your current families to advertise upcoming events that may be of interest to prospective students and parents. Also, consider developing Facebook events for each open house, creating emails, printing lawn signs, and sending a press release to local news outlets.
Always follow up. The Admission Office must follow-up by phone with each open house attendee within a week of the event. But consider other ways to follow up creatively. Ask student ambassadors to write notes to all families who attended to share what they feel makes your school special. You can also ask the School Head to send personal thank-you cards.
Have you hosted a successful open house and want to share what you learned with other administrators? Let us know in a comment below.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Advancement Vol. 16 No. 5 Three Steps for Successfully Turning an Inquiry Into a Campus Visit
The Source for Advancement Vol. 16 No. 6 Host a Preview Party to Boost Enrollment
Additional ISM resources for Gold members:
I&P Vol. 33 No. 5 Parent Relations in the Pre-enrollment Period
