The American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine (AACPM) is in charge of the Central Application Service for Podiatric Residencies (CASPR), which is a national residency application and matching service for podiatric medical and surgical residencies. AACPM also manages CRIP, which is the Centralized Residency Interview Program that brings residency programs and residency applicants together in one location for interviews.
When the pandemic hit, in person interviews could not take place. But students needed to explore residency programs and programs needed to interview students. After a disappointing virtual residency fair held in another platform in 2020, AACPM turned to BeSpeake.
Challenge
The 2020 AACPM Residency Fair featured a directory of programs, program description pages, and a chat function. There was no ability for students and programs to interact except through chat, which was asynchronous and never resulted in meaningful conversations.
“The Residency Fair is so important for both sides. Students can’t make decisions based on a brochure web page and a few chats. Programs can’t choose students based on paper applications alone. We lost a lot when we went virtual in 2021”
—Susan Claffey, Director, Office of Graduate Services, at AACPM
For the 2021 Residency Fair, AACPM wanted students and programs to have more opportunities for interactions, and they wanted students to be able to go into video rooms with program directors and residents. AACPM also wanted program description pages that showed off the programs, their specialty areas, and their unique offerings and strengths.
Solution
The 2021 AACPM Virtual Residency Fair was designed to be a completely different experience for both students and programs. After consulting with AACPM staff and volunteer leadership, the BeSpeake created a virtual meeting site that featured:
- A virtual lobby that featured “halls” that grouped podiatry residency programs by region of the country. Each hall featured the programs from that region and each program had its own video room.
- Video rooms that were staffed by program directors and residents. Students could move around the virtual meeting site, between halls and between video rooms.
- A hall that was reserved for the schools so that students could check in with their advisors and deans.
- An attendee search and attendee list so that students could seek out attendees by school, and programs could search for students by name, school or graduation year.
- A message center that allowed students and program directors and residents to send each other messages.
- An appointment scheduler that allows attendees to request private meetings with each other. For example, if a program wished to meet further with a student, a program staff member could request a meeting. The meetings took place in private video rooms within the platform.
- A custom design for the virtual residency fair that featured AACPM branding so that the experience felt unique and special.
AACPM’s Virtual Residency Fair hosted an impressive:
participants
registered users who actually logged in
students who want virtual residency fair to continue
students who rated the BeSpeake platform Good, Great, or Superb
Over 8 consecutive business days. Brought from conception to completion in 82 days.
Results
By all accounts, the 2021 AACPM Virtual Residency Fair was a huge success.
- The 2021 Residency Fair had 1,481 participants, which represents more students than in previous years.
- 99% of the people who registered actually logged in.
- 84% of the programs said AACPM should continue to offer a virtual residency fair
- 87% of programs found the BeSpeake platform Good, Great, or Superb, with 53% rating BeSpeake Great or Superb.
- 95% of students said they would recommend a virtual residency fair
- 90% of students found the BeSpeake platform Good, Great, or Superb, with 62% rating BeSpeake Great or Superb.
- 95% of students said AACPM should continue to offer a virtual residency fair.
- Perhaps most significantly, 74% of students said they found programs that they would not have considered for residency before the virtual fair.
In the early part of 2022, AACPM weighed the pros and cons of having an in person residency fair vs. a virtual residency fair or even a hybrid residency fair. After much deliberation, AACPM decided to do another virtual fair in 2022.
