Nipissing hits the road for record breaking Ontario Universities’ Fair

Last weekend marked the pinnacle in the university student recruitment cycle: the Ontario Universities’ Fair.

Held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) for three days, October 14– 16, the fair attracted record numbers of students and their families, all interested in information to help them discover what university offers the right fit for their post-secondary needs.

Over the three days, more than 118,660 people attended the fair. Saturday’s attendance, at 56,738 broke the record for the largest one day total for any event ever held in the MTCC.

Nipissing’s contingent featured 64 people, representing faculty, staff and students, working the booth extolling the many benefits of attending Nipissing.

“Our team at the fair did a fantastic job and I want to thank them all for coming,” said Lori-Ann Beckford, assistant registrar liaison. “Potential Nipissing students want to hear from their future friends and professors what Nipissing offers and what life here will be like for them. It is vitally important that we have a good team on the floor, especially faculty and students; they are the finest ambassadors.”

Nipissing remodeled its booth this year, featuring an overall “Road Trip” theme and integrating a great deal of interactive technology for interested students to find out more about what we offer and to sign up for more detailed program information.

Some highlights of this year’s booth included,iPad stations for students to sign up for more information on their program of interest,A touchscreen photo booth, replacing the beloved but obsolete Polaroids from past years, for students to snap a fun photo with the Road Trip Challenge car that was emailed directly to them, andThe Golden Ticket giveaways offering students a free trip through Ontario Northland to visit.
From our research, we know that if we can encourage students to come and see our campus, there is a very good likelihood of them enrolling at Nipissing.  That’s why we’ve structured our marketing around the Road Trip Challenge,” said Lisa Drinkwalter, manager of integrated marketing communications. “The booth came together very nicely, with a significant focus on the interactive technology that is so important to today’s students.  It represented Nipissing very well.”