2020 certainly threw us all for a loop, and in the beginning of all the covid chaos there were many stories of small victories as we all collectively tried to figure out how to navigate. KU’s commencement was at the top of my list. KU is big on tradition and one of the top traditions is its annual commencement ceremony, where students process through the campanile and walk down the hill into the stadium. When the campus (and country) shut down in March the stay-at-home timeline was unclear and leadership at the university were holding out hope that we’d still be able to hold an in-person ceremony. I (and others in my office) had to advocate for the creation of an online event, and by the time we got the green light we only had three and a half weeks to pull it off, while navigating an unknown pandemic, newly developed safety procedures, a totally remote work environment and an empty campus. Not to mention the fact that our digital media team primarily creates short form content for online platforms, and our office hadn’t previously been involved with the actual Commencement program.
Our entire office mobilized to create a full campaign including social media, billboards, and I had the task of directing our once-in-a-lifetime virtual graduation. The live broadcast included:
- pre-produced highlights
- a message and degree conferral from the Chancellor
- a message from the governor
- zoom interviews with students from all five of our campuses
- a “moment of gratitude” with a live social ticker where we curated and shared comments and photos from the community to encourage participation and connection from home
- video messages from faculty, staff and alumni like Gillian Flynn, Devonte Graham and Rob Riggle
- a virtual rock chalk chant with user submitted videos
- a closing slideshow of live photos from watch parties
- Over 100 different people from all across the KU community
In addition to getting our hashtag to trend we received tons of positive feedback from the entire community, and most importantly from the graduating class. It was a career highlight for me.
You can watch an archived version of the full program below.
