Advancement Communications professional development

Learn more about the program

New on-demand sessions

    • Category: Communications
    • Not sure where to get the best data, or how to translate that data into a meaningful report? Watch this session to help you assess what kinds of metrics will indicate key successes and needs for campaign optimization. You’ll come away with greater confidence to capture metrics from multiple sources, understand what those metrics mean, and make logical, balanced suggestions in your reports for improved campaign performance. Watch now.
    • Category: Content
    • You’ve got a story, but is it ready to publish? Get the basics in best practices for editing your copy. Get an overview (or a refresher) of UCalgary writing style standards and helpful resources, and you’ll come out of this session with the confidence and practical tools to make sure your copy is telling the best story.  Watch now.
    • Category: Web
    • Learn to create, publish and share your content using UCalgary’s news system. Follow the steps from selecting the right content type, all the way through to getting a story ready to publish. Watch now.
    • Category: Audience insights
    • Learners will gain a greater understanding of the future and current undergraduate student audiences, in order to build more effective plans, strategies and tactics to communicate with them. Watch now.



Most popular on-demand sessions


    • Category: Brand
    • Tips and tricks for improving your visual communications, including advice on image selection, text choices, hierarchy of information, speaking so your audience listens, and working with the Creative Team. Watch now.
    • Category: Systems and tools
    • Advanced learning and resources to help you best reflect the university in your marketing practices. Watch now.
  • Social media 101 (ACOM-COM005-2020)
    • Category: Communications
    • Learn the basics of social media: what it is and isn't, best practices for higher education, social standards for the University of Calgary, and an overview of the key channels. Watch now.


All on-demand sessions and publications
    • Category: Audience insights
    • Watch this session for an enhanced understanding of the alumni audience, their basic personas and journeys. Explore the tools available to you to access all of this information, put your own analytical spin on it, and form a foundation for strategies and tactics to communicate effectively with alumni. Watch now.


    • Category: Communications
    • This session provides an introduction to the UCalgary Campus Mental Health Strategy and the initiatives and resources that support the mental health of our campus community. You'll learn how to communicate about mental health and mental illness, including using appropriate language. Watch now.

    • Category: Communications
    • Not sure where to get the best data, or how to translate that data into a meaningful report? Watch this session to help you assess what kinds of metrics will indicate key successes and needs for campaign optimization. You’ll come away with greater confidence to capture metrics from multiple sources, understand what those metrics mean, and make logical, balanced suggestions in your reports for improved campaign performance. Watch now.

    • Category: Communications
    • Participants will finish this session with a basic understanding of content marketing principles. They will be able to plot out a content marketing campaign from basic editorial through to promotion and reporting, with an understanding of how best to frame campaigns within a higher education landscape. Watch now.

    • Category: Content
    • Get an introduction to copywriting in this hour-long safari into the wilds of advertising. Find out what copywriting is (and isn't), what makes good copy, and how to make your words machete a trail into the minds of your readers – and stay there. Watch now.

  • Creating online video with the iPhone (LL-DIY001-2020)

    • Category: Multimedia DIY
    • Participants will finish this course with the ability to complete a video shot on an iPhone, from production planning, all the way to the YouTube upload. Watch now.
    • This session is delivered by LinkedIn Learning.

    • Category: Content
    • You’ve got a story, but is it ready to publish? Get the basics in best practices for editing your copy. Get an overview (or a refresher) of UCalgary writing style standards and helpful resources, and you’ll come out of this session with the confidence and practical tools to make sure your copy is telling the best story.  Watch now.

  • Donor insights (ACOM-AUD004-2020)

    • Category: Audience insights
    • Watch this session for an enhanced understanding of the donor audience, their basic personas and journeys. Watch now.

    • Category: Communications
    • You’ve been asked to put together a comms plan… now what? In this session, you’ll learn what questions you can ask to get your campaign off on the right foot. You’ll learn ways that you can build a comms plan as a useful, responsive tool, not another tome taking up space. From stakeholders to strategies, from goals to key measures, learn how to make your comms plan work for you. Watch now.
    • Category: Communications
    • Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to engage your customers, making it a crucial aspect of your marketing strategy. You'll learn how to refine essential emails— like transactional messages and newsletters—into targeted, revenue-generating emails that your customers actually enjoy reading. Watch now.
    • This session is delivered by LinkedIn Learning.

    • Category: Systems and tools
    • Participants will learn how to plan to measure what matters in Google Analytics, watch the signals and act on them. Watch now.

  • Google Analytics Essential training (LL-TLS002-2020)

    • Category: Systems and tools
    • This course explains how to use Google Analytics to better understand who your digital customers are, how they found your website, and how they engage with your site once they get there. Watch now.
    • This session is delivered by LinkedIn Learning.

    • Category: Systems and tools
    • Learn the basics of using the Hootsuite enterprise platform for managing social media. Watch now.
    • This session is delivered by Hootsuite.

    • Category: Brand
    • Tips and tricks for improving your visual communications, including advice on image selection, text choices, hierarchy of information, speaking so your audience listens, and working with the Creative Team. Watch now.

    • Category: Multimedia DIY
    • Participants will finish this course feeling up to speed on the skills required to use InDesign templates and work with basic layouts. Watch now.
    • This session is delivered by LinkedIn Learning.

  • An introduction to sustainability (HRD_126)

    • Category: Communications
    • Explore sustainability at UCalgary through this introductory course. The course will cover what sustainability means at the University of Calgary and the ways you can get involved through the many initiatives on campus. Watch now. Use the search term "Sustainability."
    • This session is delivered by UCalgary Talent Development.

  • Marketing Foundations - Customer Decision Journey (LL-COM-00-2020)

    • Category: Communications
    • Learn how the decision journey has developed, with digital as the catalyst, and why it's more critical than ever to your business. Watch now.
    • This session references "customers" and commercial marketing, but the concepts for developing audience personas and journey mapping also apply to higher education marketing.
    • This session is delivered by LinkedIn Learning.

    • Category: Systems and tools
    • Advanced learning and resources to help you best reflect the university in your marketing practices. Watch now.

    • Category: Communications
    • Participants will learn the basic tenets of email marketing, as well as advanced tactics to use marketing automation programs to engage with potential buyers and increase ROI. Read now.

    • Category: Multimedia DIY
    • Participants will finish this course feeling empowered to use Photoshop to quickly get the image results they want. Watch now.
    • This session is delivered by LinkedIn Learning.



    • Category: Content
    • Understanding the medium, anatomy of a successful podcast, case studies from UCalgary podcasts, and the look (and sound) of UCalgary's podcast future. Watch now.

    • Category: Content
    • Participants will finish this course with the knowledge to boost their visibility on search engines, attracting the right kind of traffic to the right pages on their sites. Watch now.
    • This session is delivered by LinkedIn Learning.

    • Category: Communications
    • Learn the basics of social media: what it is and isn't, best practices for higher education, social standards for the University of Calgary, and an overview of the key channels. Watch now.

  • The Story of ii'taa'poh'to'p (HRD_109_1119_2019)

    • Category: Equity, diversity and inclusion, cultural understanding
    • This course will introduce learners to the history and content of our Indigenous Strategy, ii'taa'poh'to'p, guiding our way forward 'in a good way' on the path towards reconciliation in response to the 2015 Final Report on Truth and Reconciliation. Watch now.
    • Take this course before you take Towards reconciliation: Introduction to the history and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada (October 2020)
    • This session is delivered by UCalgary Talent Development.

    • Category: Communications
    • Explore how to effectively communicate about sustainability at UCalgary. Watch now.

Ten ways organizations get in their own way (EDI-OIE004-2020)

    • Category: Equity, diversity and inclusion, cultural understanding
    • Join UCalgary’s Office of Indigenous Engagement to hear from University of Manitoba’s Dr. Marcia Anderson about barriers to Indigenous achievement (reconciliation, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism) in institutions and organizations. Her lecture is followed by a discussion moderated by Michael Hart, Vice-Provost (Indigenous Engagement). Watch now.
    • Download the presentation deck.

    • Category: Web
    • Learn best practices for the UCalgary events system. Get tips and tricks in LiveWhale for promoting events on your site and getting views from other UCalgary sites. Watch now.

    • Category: Web
    • Learn to create, publish and share your content using UCalgary’s news system. Follow the steps from selecting the right content type, all the way through to getting a story ready to publish. Watch now.

  • UCalgary's web system 101 (ACOM-WEB001-2020)

    • Category: Web
    • Learn the basics of UCalgary's web system, key terms and functions, and how to create and manage basic content. Watch now.

    • Category: Audience insights
    • Learners will gain a greater understanding of the future and current undergraduate student audiences, in order to build more effective plans, strategies and tactics to communicate with them. Watch now.

    • Category: Web
    • From this session, you’ll understand how to design your site effectively so that it will meet your objectives and enable site visitors to accomplish their goals. You’ll learn the principles of how to structure your site, design effective menus, and organize content within layouts including proper call-to-action elements. Watch now.

  • Zoom for UCalgary (ACOM-TLS005-2021)
    • Category: Systems and tools
    • Learn best practices in using UCalgary’s instance of Zoom. Get the basics on how to get an event created, share recordings and run reports, and connect with emarketing tools for strategic promotion. Watch now.
All on-demand sessions and publications listed above may be used to earn a level I or II badge. Earn your Advancing UCalgary badge to document your development as a communicator at the university. Find out more about the badge program.


Adobe Summit 
The digital experience conference has gone digital. The breakout sessions and various tracks within Summit are available free, on-demand.