In early 2022, the McDonald’s Corporation Global Impact team reached out to Notre Dame’s Provost Office to discuss curriculum and implementation of a week of learning for their senior managers around the world. That concept resulted in McDonald’s Global Impact Learn and Connect, July 11-15, 2022, a week of leadership seminars taught by Notre Dame faculty, hosted via Zoom on virtual conference software, CVent.
An internal partnership between Notre Dame’s Provost Office, University Enterprises and Events (UEE) and Notre Dame Studios & Teaching and Learning Technologies (NDSTLT) led to successful planning and implementation of this unique event. After McDonald’s conducted a competitive RFP process, Notre Dame was awarded the contract to deliver this unique event with a corporate partner. 300 McDonald’s managers participated virtually over five days, each day consisting of a plenary session featuring a renown keynote speaker, breakout sessions with Notre Dame faculty and time for participants to interact with colleagues and reflect on their learning.
Jim Morrison, Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives, and Camille Rudge, Director of Continuing Education, led the Provost Office team planning and communication with the McDonald’s Global Impact team. They planned the event schedule with McDonald’s colleagues, designed the curriculum and recruited faculty participation.
Dawn Howard, Sr. Event Specialist, and Kaylee Wolf, CVent Specialist, led the UEE team using the CVent virtual conference software to manage participant registrations and the user experience.
Lynn Langston, Director of Production, and Julie Way, Production Coordinator, led the Notre Dame Studios & Teaching and Learning Technologies team managing the technical aspects of the Zoom sessions for presenters and participants. Tim Cichos, Streaming Engineer, led the NDSTLT streaming engineering team performing pre-event technical sessions with each speaker (46 in total) to ensure proper connectivity, lighting, audio and video performance, along with appropriate IT security settings. NDSTLT managed five plenary live streams through the Martin Media Center control room along with 73 Zoom sessions.
Each day of the Learn and Connect conference representatives from the Provost Office, UEE and NDSTLT gathered in the Rex and Alice A. Martin Media Center to collaborate, communicate and manage the operational aspects of the conference for McDonalds. At the conclusion of the conference, the McDonald’s Global Impact team commended Notre Dame for a wonderful partnership putting on display the breadth and depth of Notre Dame’s intellectual, managerial and technical prowess.