High-tech innovation leads to Open Day success

ACU’s Open Day season is shaping up to be the best ever thanks to a number of innovations and improvements that have helped staff, student volunteers and ambassadors work together to make the day a success.

Each year, the Marketing and External Relations directorate continues to improve the Open Day experience to better engage prospective students and cater to their evolving needs.

And this year we have used technology like never before. What impressed many visitors at our picturesque Brisbane Campus on the weekend was a special mind-controlled simulation device that can sense a person’s reaction to a critical incident.

People who trial the Neuromedic experience at ACU’s Open Day will find themselves as the leading paramedic at the scene of a motor vehicle accident. Neuromedic detects the brain’s instinctive responses to prompts within the narrative to determine what happens to two injured patients.

The virtual reality game-like experience is a unique way to demonstrate the sort of high-pressure situation paramedics face in the course of their work.

This ‘mind-over-matter’ interactive simulation is just one of a number of new Open Day initiatives that have added terrific value to this year’s events.

This year we have a new Open Day website, there has been presentation training for staff in the lead-up to the event and we have implemented an improved student volunteer registration process and promotion.

There is also a new app that allows visitors to create their personalised itinerary for the day. It includes the respective Open Day program, things to see, and the venue map. The app also enables interactive contact with ACU so that visitors can have their questions answered by one of our staff on the day.

The app can be downloaded via iTunes or the Google Play store. There will be free WiFi on the day which will make downloading the app easy and free for visitors.

And as an incentive to attend Open Day and register their details with ACU, prospective students can go in the draw to win $5000 for an ACU study trip to Rome. The prize money can go towards travel expenses such as airfares, accommodation, local transfers, excursions and more. The study component of the trip is to be used for the student to study ACU units offered at the ACU Rome Centre.

Open Day is the central student recruitment event for ACU, where the University is able to showcase its products and facilities to prospective students and their influencers. The event is noted as one of the top four ways in which students seek information about their tertiary study options, with other avenues including university websites, digital searches and TAC guides.

Open Days are a fantastic opportunity for us to talk to students about why they should consider ACU. Given the critical role Open Day plays in delivering the student recruitment plan that helps us achieve our student load, we have invested heavily towards improving the reach of the events and the impact they will have in convincing students to make ACU their preferred university.

We very much look forward to you joining us on the upcoming Open Days to showcase the best that ACU has to offer.

Find out how to support Open Day by contacting Mrs Venetia Reynolds, Major Events Coordinator by email at Venetia.Reynolds@acu.edu.au.

The remaining Open Day dates for 2016 are:
St Patrick’s campus (Melbourne): 10am - 4pm on Sunday 14 August
Signadou campus (Canberra): 9am - 4pm on Saturday 27 August
Aquinas campus (Ballarat): 10am - 3pm  on Sunday 28 August
MacKillop campus (North Sydney): 8.30am - 2.30pm on Saturday 3 September
Mount Saint Mary campus (Strathfield): 8.30am – 2.30pm  on Saturday 10 September