{"id":12026,"date":"2021-03-08T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T09:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/?p=12026"},"modified":"2023-02-24T14:20:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T14:20:40","slug":"ai-ar-alumni-relations-in-the-21st-century-how-to-train-your-storytelling-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/ai-ar-alumni-relations-in-the-21st-century-how-to-train-your-storytelling-algorithm\/","title":{"rendered":"AI & AR – Alumni relations in the 21st Century: How to Train your Storytelling Algorithm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aluminati was proud to sponsor the <\/span>Alumni Relations Institute 2021<\/span><\/a> conference hosted by <\/span>CASE<\/span><\/a>. Held in February 2021, it featured talks covering various topics, with panels of industry leaders and experts leading the conversations.\u00a0 This is the first in a series of articles from this conference.<\/span><\/h3>\n

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Professor Alex Connock, Fellow in Management Practice, Said Business School, University of Oxford, UK discussed how institutions should consider their communications strategy and offered some thoughts on storytelling and distribution in the 2020s.\u00a0 He argued that Alumni Relations is not just about getting money out of wealthy graduates but providing an environment where alumni can continue their education, long after they leave university.<\/span><\/p>\n

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AI for AR<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cPredictive analytics is a broad term describing a variety of statistical and analytical techniques used to develop the models that predict future events or behaviours\u201d – <\/span><\/i>Predictive Analytics White Paper<\/b><\/a> – Charles Nyce, PhD, CPCU, API 2007<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Professor Connock argued that we are in a predictive algorithm economy.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone\u2019s Netflix profile is different…\u201d he noted.\u00a0 No offering is the same for each account on the streaming service.\u00a0 If you watch romantic comedies, you will find that more often than not, that is what will be offered to you in the future. This was to such an extent that Alex has another entirely separate profile on Netflix, just so that he would be suggested different things to watch.\u00a0 The same can be said for the music streaming giant, Spotify and it is no accident that these two providers are the main players in their sectors.\u00a0 They are much better at utilising Artificial Intelligence than their competitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is A.I?<\/b><\/p>\n

As far back as 1950, Alan Turing\u2019s paper, <\/span>Computing Machinery and Intelligence<\/span><\/a> considered the idea of machine learning and artificial intelligence, yet it is only now that A.I. is coming into its own, Professor Connock argued.\u00a0 Artificial intelligence can be found everywhere in modern-day storytelling and the stories being told are not for the masses anymore.\u00a0 Today\u2019s stories are being told to the individual, on a granular level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marketing agencies around the world use a practice of Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) which is A\/B testing on a much grander scale.\u00a0 An A.I. algorithm will create thousands of different versions of an advertisement, testing them all simultaneously to find out which one works best for each person that sees it.<\/span><\/p>\n

What this allows for is more creative storytelling which is especially important with alumni communications where institutions must maintain a distinctive message to remain engaging and stay relevant.\u00a0 Professor Connock argued that alumni are holding their universities more accountable with their data. The expectation is for them to use it more creatively, understanding the end-user better to deliver what is meaningful to them, and to avoid falling into storytelling <\/span>clich\u00e9s<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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