Top tips to make the most of the Higher Ed Summit Horizons (and Barcelona)

Salesforce.org’s Higher Ed Summit Horizons conference will take place in Barcelona on the 23rd of October 2018, bringing together the higher education community for a day of learning, sharing of best practices and discovering new technologies and innovations.

As you’ll know, conferences are a great opportunity to network and get insights into the latest trends while staying in, or travelling to beautiful places. In practice, however, we often get to see the airport, the conference space – and not much else.

We hope you’ll get to enjoy the full experience at Higher Ed Summit Horizons, and have pulled together our top tips for making the most of the conference, and Barcelona, so you don’t miss out on any opportunities.

Mixing old and new.

Barcelona features beautiful Catalan Gothic architecture, and it’s also one of the most innovative cities in the world, not to mention a favourite amongst Erasmus students. It’s home to some of the best universities in Spain, including the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, who will be hosting our Horizons event.

With Horizons, we wanted to draw inspiration from our surroundings, bringing together best practices and new trends from higher education trailblazers – while also staying ten minutes away from Las Ramblas and the city’s Gothic quarter.

The conference will feature 18 breakout sessions, which includes highlights such as:

• The opening keynote from the London School of Economics and host school UPF, who’ll be sharing best practices on re-imagining the student experience with Education Cloud
• Harvard University discussing how digital transformation has helped them offer a more efficient and professional experience for staff, faculty, and individuals
• Ecole des Ponts Business School on how they overhauled the school’s management systems with HEDA (Higher Education Data Architecture)

The rest of the agenda is up on the website, so you can check out the full programme now.

Remember, plan ahead…

There will be a number of sessions and customer showcases with university leaders and experts in digital transformation during the event.

They’ll be covering everything from recruitment and admissions to managing alumni relationships, and how your university can stay ahead of the curve in the fast-moving Higher Education landscape. Make sure you have a look ahead of time to work out which sessions you’d like to attend.

We’ll also be running two Salesforce Success workshops on the day – these are limited to a maximum of 12 people and will be available on a first come first served basis, so make sure to check out the agenda and arrive early.

Planning ahead doesn’t just apply to Horizons – it’s also key when it comes to visiting some of Barcelona’s most popular attractions. Want to fit in a visit to Gaudi’s fantastical Sagrada Familia, for example? Make sure you book ahead, as tickets aren’t always available on the day.

Take some time to relax.

The event is very well-located. In less than 15 minutes, you can beat Platja de la Barceloneta or Platja de Bogatell – both of which make for a lovely beachside walk after a long day.

The city can be overwhelming, and the event agenda is equally busy, but there will be a number of opportunities to relax, including coffee breaks and a networking lunch.

We’ll be holding a welcome reception on the 22nd October at 6.30pm and a tour of the UPF campus at 4pm on the same day for anyone joining us early. Please note, if you would like to join the UPF tour, you can book your place when you register for the conference (if you already registered but didn’t book – email: [email protected] to confirm you’d like to attend).

Drinks will be held at the UPF campus (conference location) after the closing keynote with Noreena Hertz on the 23rd, and is open for all attendees.

Noreena Hertz is a renowned economist and thought leader with an impressive track record in predicting global trends. She is an honorary professor at University College London and for the past four years, she has been leading a major research project on the post-Millennial generation.

As Generation K head off to university, she will be shedding light on what universities can do to engage post-Millenials and future-proof higher education and their institutions. Don’t miss it.

Make the most of it.

If you are planning on making an extended weekend ahead of Tuesday 23rd October (or after – The next weekend is Barcelona’s city-wide OpenHouse, when a large number of private residences open their doors to the public) there is, of course, plenty more to see and do in Barcelona.

Come back refreshed and inspired by the architecture and new ideas – and with a clearer vision of the future of higher education and the technologies that will get us there.

The Higher Education Summit Horizons is happening in Barcelona on the 23rd of October 2018. You can register here, or find out more here.

Join the conversation – #HESummitHorizons18