Post-Fair Report
2017 Spring American Education Fair
The 49th American Education Fair was held on March 18th to 19th, 2017 in the Eslite Xin Yi Store, 6F Eslite Multifunctional Hall in Taipei. The semi-annual event was co-organized by American International Education Foundation (AIEF), Pasadena, California and AIEF Taipei office for the purpose of promoting American education in Taiwan. It also serves as a platform for U.S. educational institutions to recruit Taiwan students to study in the United States.
Pre-Fair Orientation
A Pre-fair orientation for the fair delegates was held in the morning of March 18th. Eslite’s meals coupons were provided at the event. Dr. Kuh gave a warm greeting to all the fair delegates and then to introduce AIEF. He emphasized that the AIEF dedicated its efforts to promote the American Education, only, for more than 20 years. When students look for information, they would come to our AIEF Taipei office in order to gather complete and useful information. We displayed American education information and provided advisory service for students. AIEF Taipei office has very close relationship with local schools who often invite us to assist their students who want to apply for the American schools. We also gave lectures on some topics at public libraries and schools, as well.
Extensive pre-fair publicity and promotional activities were administered by AIEF Taipei office a couple months prior to the fair. Various promotional activities were launched via following channels:
- Seminars at various local school campuses, public libraries and AIEF Taipei office,
- Text messages via Internet and mobile devices,
- Printed flyers and news releases,
- E-News and E-Announcements to the Taipei office’s student subscribers,
- Online banners, advertisements, and announcements on Eslite, AIEF, USCampus, and various major local websites,
- Announcements on Facebook, LINE, WeChat, and other social network,
- Advertisement on the ground floor of the Eslite Xin Yi Store, and
- Fair invitations and posters were distributed to local schools, including major language institutes, bilingual high schools, and universities.
- More than 1000 Fair flags posted on all Taipei major streets.
Fair Venue & Attendance Statistics
On March 18th and 19th, which were Saturday and Sunday, respectively, the 2017 Spring American Education Fair was held in the Eslite Xin Yi Store, 6F Eslite Multifunctional Hall in Taipei. The location is close to the famous landmark Taipei 101 Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world and a major tourist attraction. At the venue, a pre-trained interpreter in yellow vest was assigned to every school booth to assist American school representatives to communicate with the fair visitors. In addition, a student volunteer was also provided to each booth in order to assist the school representative’s, as well.
At the end of the Fair, surplus school materials at each booth were collected by the student volunteers for display in the AIEF upcoming fair in Taipei.
A total of 1,225 student participants’ data were collected from the event, including the pre-fair registration as well as the on-site registration during the fair.
We were honored to have the speakers as follows:
Dr. Shu-Hsing Li, Executive Vice President for Financial Affairs, National Taiwan University was invited to present his personal experience of studying in the United States.
Dr. Dennis Lai, Senior Advisor of AIEF, Taipei shared the successful learning experiences.
Several school representatives gave seminars at the Fair venue to students to introduce their school systems:
“Introduction to the Kean University and the campus in Wenzhou” by George Chang, Ph.D.
“Introduction to the Cornell University Summer College and University of Pennsylvania” by Dr. Dennis Lai.
“Introduction to the National Taiwan University Summer Program ”
“Introduction to the Kent University” by Hongliang Wei.
“Introduction to the Plymouth state University” by Sandra McGarr.
“Introduction to the Coastal Carolina University” by Amy Williams.
“Introduction to the Wright State University” by Stephanie Cheeseman.
“Introduction to the State University of New York at New Paltz” by Chingo Tsai.
“Introduction to the Washington Academy” by Douglas J. Goodman.
“Introduction to the Saint Louis University” by Ryan Saale.
“Introduction to the South Hills Academy” by Nancy Jepsen.
“Introduction to the Savannah College of Art and Design” by Richard Yip.
As one of the feature services of American Education Fair in Taipei, student data are collected through a student tracking system in the fair and the service is Free to all participant schools. The student tracking system identifies and records prospect students who visited each school’s booth. At the end of the Fair, AIEF Taipei office compiles the student records into a student database. Once the database verification is completed, student data will be sent to each participating school according to the visiting record at each booth.
Complimentary copies of the 2017 Spring Fair Guide were distributed to all Fair visitors. The Fair Guide covers participant schools’ profiles with brief introductions, venue layout, seminar schedules, school introductions, and articles regarding studying in the U.S.A. Reference materials, such as books, catalogs, and UScampus Website were on display at the fair to help students search for information about study in the USA.
Exhibition of Fair Pictures
