With the central theme “School Management and Innovation in Learning: How to Address the Challenges?,” the 3rd Bett Conference hosted a discussion on educational management, inclusion and diversity, and digital transformation in private elementary and secondary schools.

Organized by Bett Brasil, Latin America’s largest education and technology event, the conference took place on October 5 and 6 in a hybrid format, with an online broadcast directly from the Event Center in Recife. The event will be available on demand on the Bettonline platform. And on Educador21, the event’s content partner, you’ll find complete coverage of the event. Simply click on the “Bett Special” tab in the website menu.

3rd Bett Conference Brings Together Administrators at a Hybrid Event - Coverage

One of the new features of the event was the interaction between speakers and the audience. Since it was a more intimate event, the organizers tested a new tool in the Bett Brasil app, developed by the edtech company Layers. Using the QR code on the back of their name tags, participants were able to answer the questions that kicked off the panel discussions and submit questions to the speakers.

More than 1,000 interactions were recorded across the event’s eight panels, along with more than 1,000 responses to polls, more than 150 questions addressed, and more than 150 visitor guides, totaling more than 3,000 visits to the Jornada Bett app by the just over 300 event participants. This success is expected to be replicated on a larger scale at Bett Brasil 2023, scheduled for May 9–12.

Technical topics were the focus of the second day of the Bett Recife Conference

The morning of the second day of the Bett Conference featured two panels on complex yet complementary topics: maintaining a healthy cash flow and communication. In both panels, an interactive survey of conference attendees guided the discussion among the panelists.

The panel discussion titled “How to Maintain a Healthy Cash Flow?” broke down basic financial planning terms and highlighted tools that schools can adopt to optimize their financial operations.

In light of the results of the interactive survey—32% of administrators are unable to control spending and cash flow and lack a basic understanding of finance—Raquel Santos, founder of iDelas and Lucrativa, spoke about the basic tasks that administrators should perform daily, noting that they need to monitor cash flow to ensure the school’s budget is accurate.

"Many school administrators don't understand finance, which is why professional development and training for administrators are also essential to addressing schools' financial difficulties," said the expert.

For his fellow panelists—financial management expert Wallace Morato, Chief Financial and Technology Officer at Beit Yaacov School, and Anderson Morais, co-founder and CEO of Agenda Edu—part of the solution to institutions’ financial problems may lie in developing good relationships with parents and guardians. Morato emphasized that it is essential to identify students who are behind on payments and seek solutions based on those relationships.

Therefore, it is also necessary to focus efforts on attracting, retaining, and satisfying students. “Student turnover is linked to macroeconomic conditions and the local situation. If the community has suffered more economically, this will also have an impact on nearby schools, because they have been more severely affected economically,” said Anderson Morais of Agenda Edu.

Morais's presentation ended up setting the stage for the next panel. "How to Maintain a Good Relationship with Families Starting at Enrollment?" addressed, among other topics, the concept of customer loyalty—in this case, students, parents, and guardians.

Rossandro Klinjey, a psychologist and the founder of Educa, believes that schools need to build a lasting relationship; to do so, institutions must be consistent and truthful about what they promote and what they deliver. "Past strategies will not solve future challenges. The old model no longer works, and the new one does not yet meet the needs and urgent demands of education. That is why schools are places that usher in the new,” said Klinjey.

For Helena de Salles Aguiar, director of strategic planning at Colégio Bandeirantes, schools’ marketing efforts should be transparent to their audience: “The school should invite parents to talk with them, so they can understand the changes and what happens inside the school.” This same channel of communication outside of social media was also highlighted by panelist Alcindo Ricoy Junior.

"It is inevitable that digital channels are the primary means schools have today to communicate, especially since we are in a process that is almost 100% digital. But we must take into account the importance of building relationships and remain attentive to these relationships, both online and in face-to-face conversations. There are many channels of communication," said the relationship coordinator at PUC/Campinas and CEO of EEGO Digital.