Nearly every campus leader has a digital presence. But do they have a plan? A purpose? A person behind the scenes supporting them? And the proof that the investment is actually working?

In 2026, a year of heightened visibility, you cannot go at it alone. You need support. Whether you are the person being handed this work or the leader who already knows you need it, this session is for you.

Behind every visible president, chancellor, provost, vice president, or dean is a layer of work that makes presence possible: writing the copy, capturing photography at events, editing captions, and yes, even pushing publish. 

But the part that separates intentional presence from accidental presence sits one level up. Who owns the content strategy? Who reads the data and reports on what is actually working?

Drawing on nearly a decade of research documenting how campus leaders actually show up online, we pull back the curtain on how executive digital presence gets built behind the scenes. 

Using real campus examples, we will walk through the support models that make it sustainable, from a full-time communications professional to a graduate assistant or student worker, and show how the same approach scales to whatever team and budget you have.

You will learn to:

• Build a real plan and purpose behind a leader’s presence, not just a posting schedule
• Staff it with the right support model for your campus, at any budget
• Prove it is working, with data and reporting that make the investment defensible