During this week’s conference on Speaking Engagement, everything centers on these ideas:
The world your alumni are living in has changed.
Your engagement strategy probably hasn’t.
If you only take one idea from this week, take this:
“It’s no longer about finding a job. It’s about being the job.” — John Hill
That shift is driving everything that follows.
What This Week Is About
Across the Keynote, Breakout, and articles, we’re exploring three connected ideas:
1. Your Alumni Story Is Outdated
Most institutions still tell a linear success story
Many alumni are living nonlinear, entrepreneurial lives
The gap isn’t messaging — it’s identity
What looks like disengagement is often misalignment
2. Community Is Now a Product
People are paying for belonging
The model that works:
Small groups
Structured interaction
Flexible participation
Most engagement strategies still optimize for access, not connection
3. AI Is Raising the Stakes
More people will need to “be the job”
Entrepreneurship is no longer optional
Institutions must rethink their role
The question isn’t “what do we offer?”
It’s “what value do we create?”
Where Advancement Fits
This week introduces a shift most teams haven’t made yet:
From storytelling → to skill-building
Alumni as teachers, not just donors
Content that teaches, not just celebrates
Networks that create opportunity, not just connection
What to Do With This
If you’re leading a team, keep it simple:
Listen: Keynote with John Hill (Free)
Read: Pick 1–2 articles that challenge your assumptions (Members)
Discuss: Where are we out of sync with our audience?
Don’t Skip the Breakout (Members)
In this week’s Breakout, we push on the uncomfortable parts:
Is “being the job” realistic for everyone?
Are institutions investing in the wrong things?
Including this:
Universities need to “get out of the infrastructure race” - John Hill
This is where your team will have the real conversation.
The Bottom Line
Maybe it’s not an engagement problem.
Perhaps it’s a relevance problem.
And relevance is harder to fix — because it requires changing how you see your audience.