On September 11 & 12 (from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. each day), 169 attendees – representing 31 campuses and 24 voter engagement organizations – participated in the 2020 NC College Voter Summit. This virtual event was the 5th annual convening of students, faculty, and staff who lead non-partisan, campus-wide voter engagement efforts.
NC Campus Compact launched the event in 2016. Since 2018 the event has been organized and co-sponsored by members of the NC Campus Voting Coalition. The 2020 event was planned by a subcommittee of the Coalition and funding support was provided by the Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Coalition.
Please note that the photos in this post were submitted in the photo contest on Whova. The featured photo was posted by NC PIRG through Twitter using #VoteSum20.
2020 SUMMIT PLANNING TEAM
Rachel Clay, Campus Vote Project
Katie Craig, NC PIRG Students
Leslie Garvin, NC Campus Compact
Liam Hysjulien, Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP)
Tyler Walker, Democracy NC (pictured)
Olivia Zalecki, North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT)
OVERVIEW
The 2020 Summit involved 12 sessions which included two keynote addresses from Karen Brinson Bell, the Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and Dr. Nancy Thomas, Director of the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University. Day Two also included outstanding and engaging “Hot Topics in Voting” breakout sessions facilitated by members of the NC Campus Voting Coalition and other partners.
Speaker: Olivia Zalecki
Speakers: Eddy Zerbe, SLSV and Bob Frigo, Elon University
SOCIAL NETWORKING
To ensure the gathering was interactive we utilized the Whova conference app which allowed participants to network through Community Boards, Virtual Meet Ups, Discussion Boards, Social Groups, and Icebreakers. By the close of the conference over 1713 posts and messages had been exchanged.
COMPETITION/CONTEST WINNERS
The event also included multiple competitions. Below are the winners of each contest.
#VoteSum20 Social Media Competition ($25 gift card)
Participants were encouraged to post about the event on Instagram and Twitter using #VoteSum20. The winners posted the most engaging content.
- Meagan McNeely (Guilford College)
@MeaganMcNeely1 - Madison Parks (UNC-Chapel Hill)
@madisonparks16 - Autumn Rodriguez @ARaeLady (UNC Wilmington)
Photo Contest ($25 gift card)
Within the Whova app, participants could post photos showing themselves watching the conference. The committee selected the photos with the most likes or that were the most interesting.
- Amy D (NCSU) (cat pictured above)
- Lisa Godwin (CPCC) (dog pictured here)
- Jessie Gleason (UNC-Chapel Hill)
- Alex Thomas (NC State)
Campus with the most Summit Registrations ($100 cash prize)
UNC Chapel Hill registered 24 individuals for the Summit.
Vote & Ballots, Election Engagement Competition Winners ($500 cash prize)
On Day One, participants were split into campus teams to engage in an organized planning process using the Democracy Works Votes & Ballots template and framework. On Day Two schools were invited to present their plans. A panel of judges from the planning team scored the plans to determine the winners. Because the three plans presented were so strong and unique, the committee decided to award each campus with the top prize. Within the app participants could vote on their favorite plan for the People’s Choice prize.
- Guilford College
- UNC-Chapel Hill
- UNC Charlotte
- People’s Choice ($50 gift card) – UNC-Chapel Hill
Whova Community Board Participation ($50 gift card)
The Whova app includes a gamification feature that tracked engagement within the social networking components.
- Rebecca Hart, Western Carolina University, CEEP Fellow