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PODCAST

The Innovation Forge Podcast

The Number 1 Adaptive Enrollment Management Podcast

Data, marketing, and strategy converge to shape the future of Higher Education through Adaptive Enrollment Management. Whether you’re an enrollment manager, an ed tech professional, or someone excited about shaping the future of higher education, this podcast is your new workshop for forward-thinking ideas. We’ll be running two main types of episodes. First, From the Foundry, where I’ll read unabridged chapters from my book, The Innovation Forge. Think of it as your personal audiobook session—no

technology

All Episodes

14:34

S02 E12 Adaptive Enrollment Management 000 - Preface...

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/09/26

🔥 The Forge Bellows: Adaptive Enrollment Management 🔥 Issue 1 is here. You don’t enter a forge by accident. It’s loud, hot, and full of intention. At first glance, it’s chaos. But stay a moment, and you’ll notice the rhythm. Every spark, every strike, every pause They all serve a purpose. That’s the mindset we need in enrollment strategy. The Forge Bellows isn’t a manual or a whitepaper. It’s a working record from inside the heat. A field journal for those guiding applicants, balancing aid,

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14:56

S02 E11 The Great Enrollpression 000 - Preface (The...

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/09/22

It begins before the hammer drops. Before the heat, before the fire roars, before iron meets anvil, there is the quiet ritual of preparation. The forge is cold, its tools in place. The bellows hang slack. Dust floats in the still air. But every blacksmith knows that this stillness is not peace. It is potential. Tension waiting to be shaped. So too with enrollment. For decades, the field of enrollment management operated under the illusion of equilibrium. The furnace seemed well-fueled. The molds,

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28:13

S02 E10 Content Hawk and the Codex

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/09/08

In this Coffee & Coals episode of #TheInnovationForgePodcast, host David Dysart pulls back the curtain on the Slate Codex and the Codex Practitioner, breaking down the #EverydayArtisans that fuels Adaptive Enrollment Management. 🎧 Plus, a challenge for you: What should we name the next Cadre member, the High CSS Voyager?Submit your ideas to theinnovationforgepodcast@gmail.com and be part of the lore. From avatars to analytics, this one’s packed with story, strategy, and a whole lot of Slate. Cold

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56:46

S02 E09 Technical Innovation - Jon Thornton

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/09/01

What does it take to turn a complex, overloaded CRM system into a clean, sustainable, and scalable operation? In this episode, Jon Thornton, CRM Manager at Oregon State University, shares his journey from overengineered solutions to streamlined systems that empower users, and why he ultimately returned to higher ed after a foray into the private sector.💡 Whether you're working in Slate, Salesforce, or any enterprise system, this conversation is packed with actionable insights on documentation,

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28:17

S02 E08 Fieldsmith's Register - Finish Line Fog pt 2

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/08/25

Ever wonder why projects stall just steps from the finish line? Or how a nearly-perfect campaign can vanish into the abyss of edits, approvals, and polite delays?In this inaugural entry from The Fieldsmith’s Register, the enigmatic Threadweaver guides us through the emotional terrain of almost-done work, where momentum fizzles, ownership blurs, and the final push quietly disappears. From The Candle’s Edge to The Cold Handle, and on through The Gilded Loop and The Waning Forge, this episode

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18:13

S02 E07 Forge Bellows 002 - Enrollment Factors

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/08/18

Tools down, minds up. The Forge Bellows is shaping Enrollment Factors.In the Innovation Forge, we don’t guess. We listen for the ping, test the grain, and strike with purpose. And if Batch One was about the rise of predictive analytics, Batch Two is about raw material: the student voice.This month, we’re tempering our assumptions with hard-earned insights from more than 35,000 students across five standout surveys. From the blowback against burdensome processes to the quiet power of sunshine, swag,

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28:24

S02 E06 Report Ghostwriter And The Forgesmith Trials

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/08/11

In this Coffee & Coals episode of #TheInnovationForgePodcast, host David Dysart pulls back the curtain on a quirky new episode type that will debut on the podcast: The Forgesmith's Trials.This new episode chronicles the live polls happening on LinkedIn right now (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daviddysart/), pitting the 10 Enrollment Aces against each other in a March Madness-style bracket. The first round matchups:1 Slate Captain10 The Coach2 Slate Wizard9 The Tech Whiz3 The Architect8 Trend Tracker4

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27:34

S02 E05 From Spark to System Quick Strike Interviews

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/08/04

Visiting Artisan | Quick Strike Interviews from Slate Summit 2025 – Episode 1 🎙️ Presented by The Innovation ForgeWhat happens when enrollment artisans from across the country gather in the heat of Slate Summit? You get insights that are fast, sharp, and forged from real practice.In this first batch of Quick Strike Interviews, seven enrollment professionals reflect on the tools, habits, and mindsets they’ve developed to thrive in CRM work, team leadership, and student success. These are short

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26:56

S02 E04 Fieldsmith's Register - Finish Line Fog pt 1

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/07/28

Ever wonder why projects stall just steps from the finish line? Or how a nearly-perfect campaign can vanish into the abyss of edits, approvals, and polite delays?In this inaugural entry from The Fieldsmith’s Register, the enigmatic Threadweaver guides us through the emotional terrain of almost-done work, where momentum fizzles, ownership blurs, and the final push quietly disappears. From The Candle’s Edge to The Cold Handle, and on through The Gilded Loop and The Waning Forge, this episode

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14:16

S02 E03 Forge Bellows 001 - Adaptive Enrollment...

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/07/21

🔥 Welcome to forge, where admissions strategy meets the anvil. In this fiery debut of The Forge Bellows, we dive straight into the crucible of Adaptive Enrollment Management with four hand-forged insights that turn raw data into relational strategy.🔨 This isn’t a recap, it’s a reckoning. We break down how CRMs aren’t just digital filing cabinets but co-craftsmen in the recruitment forge. We explore predictive analytics that flag a student’s disengagement before they ghost you and how to wield that

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29:58

S02 E02 Field of Stats Mouse and TIF Vocabulary

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/07/14

In this episode of Coffee & Coals, we take a stroll through The Innovation Forge’s vocabulary workshop and meet a tiny but mighty figure: the Field of Stats Mouse. From whispered variables to thunderous queries, every part of The Forge has a lexicon, and this mouse knows the hidden meanings behind the terms we toss around.We talk about how language shapes the way we understand our work and how naming something well can change how it’s used. Whether you’re a Slatewright, a Metricurgist, or just

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58:09

S02 E01 Transformation - Kristina Kelpe

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/07/07

In this in-depth conversation, Kristina Kelpe (founder of Legato Strategic Consulting) shares her personal journey from higher ed administration into consulting, where she now helps institutions successfully implement complex systems like Workday Student and Slate CRM.Kristina opens up about:* The simple grad school lesson that shaped her entire career* How she overcame imposter syndrome and pivoted into higher ed tech* Why Workday Student and Slate CRM work best together, not in competition* The

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6:55

S01 E15 The Innovation Forge Codex (Foundry Footage)

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/06/30

The Innovation Forge Codex: A Mysterious Discovery at Slate Summit 🔮⚙️While attending Slate Summit, I stumbled into something...unexpected. A wrong turn led me not just past the ballroom, but into an entirely different kind of encounter, a forgotten document tucked beneath dusty swag bags and old lanyards: The Innovation Forge CodexInside were six disciplines, each more fascinating than the last:🛠 Slatewright: The weaver of digital workflows.🧠 Mentallurgy: The alchemist of strategy and

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26:03

S01 E14 Chap 3 - Leveraging Excel for Scoring and...

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/06/23

From the Foundry: Chapter 3 - Leveraging Excel for Scoring and Validation, read by the Author David DysartGet your copy of The Innovation Forge on Amazon now: https://tinyurl.com/TheInnovationForgepaperbackIn this chapter, we explore how Excel becomes an indispensable tool for building, testing, and refining student engagement scores outside of Slate CRM. While Slate does a fantastic job of collecting data, sometimes the flexibility of Excel makes it much easier to explore, validate, and fine-tune

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2:43

S01 E13 Felled by Design (Foundry Footage)

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/06/16

When a massive tree unexpectedly crashes in my backyard, an epic battle begins, fueled by sweat, strategy, and just a little Slate-fueled spite.But this isn’t just about yard work.In this cinematic mini-episode, we follow the duel between man and nature, told in classic anime style… until the axe gives way to insight.From fallen limbs to broken logic models, this Forge tale is a metaphor for the work we all do in higher ed, CRM strategy, and Adaptive Enrollment Management. Clearing clutter

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20:02

S01 E12 03 Record Keeper and the TIF Avatar

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/06/09

In this delightfully candid Coffee & Coals episode of #TheInnovationForgePodcast, host David Dysart pulls back the curtain on the quirky, heartfelt origin of the TIF Avatar, a tartan-clad, pajama-wearing, shark-slippered digital doppelgänger born from AI misadventure and Scottish heritage.From publishing hurdles to unexpected ChatGPT "hallucinations" (hello, Forensic Enrollment Management!), David shares how a job interview, a confused search, and a dash of humor led to a beloved character and a

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50:35

S01 E11 Transfer Process - Ben Parsons

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/06/02

What happens when a 180-year-old institution decides to rethink the way it serves transfer students? You get strategy, simplicity, and one seriously powerful process.In this episode, Ben Parsons, Senior Associate Director of Enrollment Operations at the College of the Holy Cross, shares how he transformed a fragmented, manual transfer admissions process into a cohesive, collaborative workflow. With a background in financial aid and a knack for woodworking, Ben approaches system building with both

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50:35

S01 E11 Transfer Process - Ben Parsons

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/06/02

What happens when a 180-year-old institution decides to rethink the way it serves transfer students? You get strategy, simplicity, and one seriously powerful process.In this episode, Ben Parsons, Senior Associate Director of Enrollment Operations at the College of the Holy Cross, shares how he transformed a fragmented, manual transfer admissions process into a cohesive, collaborative workflow. With a background in financial aid and a knack for woodworking, Ben approaches system building with both

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20:58

S01 E10 Chapter 2 - Collaboration and Staff Engagement

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/05/26

From the Foundry: Chapter 2 - “Understanding Engagement Scoring in Slate”, read by the Author David DysartGet your copy of The Innovation Forge on Amazon now: https://tinyurl.com/TheInnovationForgePaperbackHow do institutions track, measure, and enhance student engagement? The answer lies in Engagement Scoring, an approach that turns student interactions into actionable insights.Join me to learn how Slate, a leading CRM, helps colleges analyze event participation, communication, and application

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20:58

S01 E10 Chap 2 - Collaboration and Staff Engagement

The Innovation Forge Podcast ·

2025/05/26

From the Foundry: Chapter 2 - Collaboration and Staff Engagement, read by the Author David DysartGet your copy of The Innovation Forge on Amazon now: https://tinyurl.com/TheInnovationForgePaperbackHow do you strike the perfect balance between data-driven decision-making and the invaluable human expertise of your admissions team?Today, I read Chapter 2 of my Book: “Collaboration and Staff Engagement” We explore the power of collaboration and staff engagement when building an Engagement Scoring

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