AACRAO 2023: Pivoting to a Successful Production Calendar

In her upcoming 2023 AACRAO Annual Meeting session, host Traci Rees will discuss efforts by the Registrar’s Office at George Mason University to develop a unified, digital production calendar.

When asked why she chose to present on this topic, Rees said: “The last few years in higher education have been crazy. The global pandemic required each of our institutions to adapt and innovate at a record pace to respond to ever-changing conditions including: countless academic calendar revisions, course modality adjustments, teleworking, and so many policy exceptions (COVID grade modes were the best, right?).

“Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has, without a doubt, been a herculean effort for higher education professionals across the admission, financial aid, records and registration, and student services spaces. Vaccination availability, surveillance and diagnostic testing, masks, and contact tracing efforts have helped pave the way to what we all hope will make for fewer reactive and more proactive days ahead. With the ability to turn attention elsewhere, now is the time to turn your attention to your production calendar and how it’s the answer to your office’s success. The ‘Pivot to a Successful Production Calendar’ presentation will focus on recent efforts by the Registrar’s Office at George Mason University to develop a production calendar using existing technology available and the lessons learned along the way. Session participants will learn about the purpose and value of a production calendar in their office, how to engage staff to create agency and encourage adoption, and will leave with some tips and tricks for creating their very own production calendar.”

Session attendees will learn the what, how, and why of creating and implementing a production calendar at their own institution, and learn a few tricks to encourage adoption of their new calendar as well.

This session, “Pivot to a Successful Production Calendar,” is part of the 2023 annual meeting theme on “Redefining Success.”