2025 TACCM Conference Breakout Sessions
Live Streaming with a Budget!
Digital Media | Live Streaming | Communications
Jorge Palacios, Trinity Valley Community College
Live streaming doesn’t have to break the bank! In this presentation, we’ll explore how to set up a high-quality stream on a budget. From affordable cameras and mics to free software and smart lighting hacks, you’ll learn practical tips to create professional-looking content without overspending.
Can the Bots Get Me Coffee Yet? Using AI as Your Next Marketing Intern
Automation | AI | Management
Jonathan Blundell, Dallas College
For years, marketing teams have relied on interns and students to help bridge the resource gaps in their offices. Explore how AI tools can work like a team of interns, ready to handle a variety of marketing tasks, while freeing up your time for more strategic thinking (even if they can't fetch your coffee just yet!).
Closing the Gaps: Fixing SEO Loopholes for an AI-Ready Higher Ed Website
SEO | Web | AI
David White, San Jacinto College
This session highlights common SEO mistakes on higher ed websites—like mismatched search intent, poor keyword placement, and ignoring user experience—and how to optimize SEO for both search engines and AI. By aligning SEO with how AI interprets pages, you'll ensure your content is understood, ranked, and ready for an AI-driven future!
Social Media Superpowers: Maximizing Impact with Limited Resources
Social Media | Small Teams
Crystal Woerly, Weatherford College
Attendees to this session will learn how a community college with a one-person social media team consistently outperformed larger institutions: It’s about maximizing impact with limited resources and strategy. The session will cover how to manage a successful social media presence with limited resources, create a content ecosystem that seamlessly integrates social media with other marketing channels, and develop an authentic voice that resonates with a target audience.
Managing Creatives: Like Herding Cats, But it Doesn't Have to Be
Management | Creative Teams
Joanna Fritz, Trinity Valley Community College
Creative minds are a wonderful thing, but managing those with creative minds can be a challenge. Join Joanna as we discuss the delicate balance of herding the cats while maintaining their creativity.
Print in a Digital World: Why Tangible Still Matters
Print Marketing
Ian Spector, Slate Group
Digital may be everywhere—but print still delivers in ways screens can’t. In this session, discover how community colleges can use printed materials to enhance marketing, increase student engagement, and build deeper connections. Learn why print creates stronger recall, trust, and action, and how to integrate it effectively with your digital efforts for maximum impact.
The Art of Storytelling: Crafting Compelling Narratives
Storytelling | Communications | Strategy
Rick Walker & Pamela Daggon, Dallas College / STARLINK
Discover how the power of storytelling can transform your community college marketing strategy. This session will explore the psychology behind effective storytelling, provide a framework for crafting compelling student success narratives, and demonstrate how to integrate stories across digital, social, and traditional media.
From Print to Pixels: Marketing for Disabled & Neurodivergent Audiences
Inclusive Marketing | Accessibility
Samra Ward Smith & Dana Jenkins-Post, San Jacinto College
One in four students identify as neurodivergent or disabled, so when our marketing campaigns are inaccessible, we miss 25% of our target audience. This presentation will explore the experiences of this growing student population and why authentic representation matters. Learn strategies and tools for creating accessible marketing in print, digital, and social media.
Unified Design for Discovery with Dallas College
Storytelling | Marketing Strategy
Julianna Goldring, Concept3D
Jonathan Blundell & Anna Molina, Dallas College
Learn how Dallas College unified seven campuses and remedied disjointed data sourcing by transforming a fragmented map ecosystem into a powerful, branded, storytelling strategy that delivers vital resources to their community. With one centralized content management system and thoughtful design, Dallas College created a cohesive, conversion-driven platform that supports navigation and so much more.
From Data to Impact: Marketing Programs with Workforce Alignment
Workforce Marketing | Data | Communications
Tana Hicks, Dallas College
Discover how Dallas College’s LMIC uses tools like Lightcast, CareerCoach, and custom dashboards to align marketing with Texas workforce needs. Learn how to turn data into messaging that connects students to opportunities and colleges to their communities.
9 UX Building Blocks for College Teams: Lessons From 9 Years in the Field
UX Design | Web
Luis Merino, Formerly Dallas College
You don’t need a big team, flashy budget, or perfect tools to construct better digital experiences. This session shares 9 actionable UX building blocks—learned from 9 years of navigating difficult web challenges at a community college. Learn how to stack small wins, build trust, bridge silos, and make UX design click—one brick at a time.
AI in Higher Education: Enhancing the Digital Customer Journey
AI | Personalized Marketing
Aaron Radtke, Genius Monkey
Explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping higher education by transforming the digital customer journey — from initial engagement to enrollment and beyond. This session examines AI’s role in personalizing marketing. Attendees will gain actionable insights into leveraging AI to deliver a seamless, student-centered journey in an increasingly competitive landscape.
The "New" NewsFlush: Strategies to Boost Event Awareness & Streamline Communications
Communications | Strategy
Darin Kazmir, Tisha Sternadel, & Elizabeth Garza, Victoria College
Discover how Victoria College's marketing team revamped its event promotion strategy to better inform students about the college’s 35+ weekly events. This session will showcase VC's streamlined event communication approach, transitioning from a cluttered "NewsFlush" flyer to a comprehensive strategy that includes a dynamic online event calendar, weekly text messages, and other tactics to boost calendar visibility. Learn how we gained campus-wide buy-in and achieved greater team efficiency through this transformation.
Safe Spaces, Strong Teams: Building a Culture of Trust with Peers
Management | Workplace Culture | Team Building | Collaboration
Nettie Marie Muhammad, Houston Community College Coleman Health Sciences
This presentation is Inspired by Gottman, The Science of Trust and Love as a Business Strategy. The goal is to present fostering authentic connections, navigating difficult conversations, and creating a culture of trust with colleagues or peers that enhances collaboration and creativity with counseling principles to help marketers build relationships that are not just effective, but lasting.
From Chaos to Clarity: Organizing Photos & Assets with DAM
Digital Asset Management
Mary Hind, San Jacinto College (with Lytho)
San Jacinto College shares how its marketing team uses the Lytho DAM system to organize thousands of creative assets. Learn how tagging, project linking, and sharing tools have streamlined workflows and made it easier to find and manage photos and files across the college.
Social Media Analytics Don’t Have to Be Scary – Stop Dreading the Data
Social Media | Analytics
Sebastian Troitino, Lee College
Stop running from your social media analytics reports — they’re not as terrifying as forgetting to unmute yourself during a meeting! (Trust me, I’ve been there!) Learn how to stop dodging social reports, make sense of those numbers, and turn data into your marketing bestie. Unlock techniques for building social media analytics presentations and one-page reports that don’t put people to sleep.
Understanding AA (Analytics & Algorithms, That Is)
Social Media | Analytics
Shaydi Clary, Trinity Valley Community College
Understanding social media analytics can be difficult, but when your boss wants to know the average engagement and click-through rates on your social media platforms, or why you're not getting enough likes, then you need to be ready! This session will help you understand key performance metrics, best practices to connect with your audience, and how to hack those pesky algorithms.
Making Small Teams Bigger (Without Hiring Anyone): Tips to Maximize Output with Minimal Resource Growth
Management | Small Teams
Eric Eckert, Temple College
Are you teetering on the brink of burnout and fatigue? Has your creative team hit its capacity? We've all been there. We’re expected to do more, but our teams aren't growing. In this session, we’ll share proven steps to develop innovative solutions, break down silos, and foster a culture change. Attendees will learn how to increase their capacity by joining with other small teams across campus to tackle big initiatives that can result in increased enrollment.
Unleashing AI: Media Buying for Enhanced Lead Generation
Marketing | Media Buying | AI
Kirsten Cutshall, Steel Advertising
Amanda Fenwick, San Jacinto CollegeAI enables us to drive increased applications more cost-efficiently, but many teams are working against the potential. This session presents an approach to media buying that unleashes the maximum effects of AI-driven optimization. We will walk through a case study from Texas’s most competitive hi-ed market showing a dramatic reduction in cost per lead and offer guidance on how to implement.
Using a Research-based Approach to Identify & Drive Enrollment of an Underserved & Untapped Student Population
Enrollment Strategies | Campaigns | Research
Karla Fernandez Parker, Sensis