Work Life Balance: Maintaining Both Sides

Here at Capstone, we make it our goal to respond to all emails within 24 hours of receiving them. The point of this policy is to help with efficiency and to make sure that everyone is getting back the responses and information that they need. I have always viewed it as a positive idea, and…

Nick Morgan’s 5 Secrets to Successful Speech Writing

Speech writing or public speaking is something that most everyone has done, or will have to do at some point in their professional career.  Back in 2011 Nick Morgan (who we’ve had on our podcast twice) had an article both on his Public Words blog and at Forbes on How to Write a Great Speech: 5 Secrets for Success.…

10 Things to Consider When Working in a Leasing Trailer

You’re building a new Residence Hall or Apartment Complex. Great! Unfortunately, that means you won’t have a permanent office space until the project is near completion. No problem, a trailer can be a perfect home for the next year or so and in some ways may be better than your permanent office. There are things…

Podcast | Finding the Right Work-Life Balance

Joining the Conversation today is Ron Campbell, the Executive Director of the National Association of College Auxiliary Services, or NACAS. This is Ron’s second time joining us on the podcast after we originally interviewed him in 2012. Today Ron joined us, not only to catch up on what is going on with NACAS, but to share…

Top Halloween Costumes Based On Online Ad Spending

For a little fun today, I thought our readers might enjoy this article about the top 20 Halloween costumes based on online ad spending. Top 20 Halloween Costumes by Paid Search Spend Surprised that Frozen (Elsa) was at the top? Not if you have a daughter 10 or under. So where does our costume fall in…

Higher Education’s Preparation for Ebola

The current Ebola outbreak is something everyone is keeping an eye on.  After it’s initial entry into the United States (where the CDC was criticized heavily), the measures put in place have seemingly been effective. I’ve recently been sent a couple articles about what higher education institutions are doing in preparation that I thought would be interesting to share: Universities, Colleges Make Ebola…

Podcast | Student Housing on a Community College Campus

Today we’re doing something a little different… Instead of an individual interview, we have a panel of senior leaders from Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The individuals participating are: Bob Harrison, President Kelly Hahn, CFO Dr. Clinton Gabbert, VP of Student Services Anne Erdman, VP for Administration This team has been working together on…

Let’s Talk About Yik Yak

You’ve likely heard about the social media app, Yik Yak.  But just in case you haven’t, here’s a quick rundown per Wikipedia: Yik Yak is an app that allows people to anonymously create and view posts within a 1.5 mile radius depending on how many other users are nearby. Basically, Yik Yak is like Twitter,…

Podcast | Revisiting with Frans Johansson at the 2014 NACAS Annual Conference

This week we’re on the road again, so you’ll be getting a handful of podcasts from the 2014 NACAS Annual Conference in Montreal, Canada. Ranging from housing and dining, to bookstores and campus card systems, NACAS is the largest auxiliary services support organization serving higher education. People representing institutions and auxiliary service companies will be with…

The Nitpicker

I think it’s safe to say that everyone works in an office with at least one person like the one described in this Seth Godin blog. What a great perspective for dealing with these types of people. Focus on making something and keep in perspective that the nitpicker is actually controlled by his or her…

Dealing with Students’ Parents

In the student affairs world, dealing with parents is something we do almost as much as dealing with the students.  In this episode, we spoke with the interim Vice President for Student Affairs at Auburn University, Lady Cox about dealing with parents. She told us some funny stories about some experiences she’s had and gave some great…