“Congratulations on a well-conducted session, especially considering it was just days away from Christmas. With everyone’s minds on the upcoming holiday, your ability to keep us all engaged is commendable. Your skilful management of the discussions and how you kept everyone engaged were noteworthy. The session felt remarkably brief despite spanning six hours! Your well-directed questions prompted thoughtful discussions, leading to interesting initiatives by the end of the day. Thank you for your time, and well done on a highly successful session.”

“Stephen, I thought your facilitation of our session was outstanding. I was most impressed at how thoughtful and balanced you were. I thought the way you managed the team for 6 hours was brilliant. I thought everyone was highly engaged and we must be mindful that it’s the end of the year and everyone is exhausted – so that is even more amazing that you could generate such energy and participation. I have had several messages from Board members saying they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. You did an awesome job.” 

“Ashley Hall has been privileged to work with Stephen Holmes of 5Rs Partnership in our strategic planning process. What attracted us to Stephen’s work is his focus on building reputation, a concept that is easily understood by every member of a school community. Through his desktop analysis of all of the materials that we use to represent Ashley Hall both externally and internally to his time on campus with large numbers of our constituents to a well-crafted survey digging deeper on salient issues, Stephen has developed quickly a deep understanding of our school and presented with clarity those areas on which to continue to build and those where we need focus and discernment. Our team is excited about the emerging direction and the possibilities he is helping us discern and articulate.”

“At the beginning of this strategic plan, I was not sure what to expect having never participated in one before, but Stephen and his team set out a road map which was essential. Then, he set to work really getting to know the school, its stakeholders, views, goals and dreams, as well as its blind spots. In the end, Stephen offered a detailed plan based on what he heard and saw, combined with insights from his wealth of knowledge of other local and schools from around the world. For any school, new or old, I see now how important it is to do a strategic plan especially under the direction of Stephen who is a genuine expert, hard-working and good person making the whole process thoroughly enjoyable.” 

“Dr. Holmes’ presentation on reputation management provided extremely valuable insights that led to strategic changes at our school. His emphasis on benchmarking and building authentic evidence enabled our Board to make more informed decisions to shape our school’s future.”

“Thank you for a great presentation at the EARCOS Annual Conference this year.” 

“Stephen Holmes represents the rare consultant that understands both the financial and managerial data, as well as the perennial driving goals of the client organization. His research uncovers hard to find trends that encompass market capture, pricing determinations, essential family values that are at the core of what independent schools need to deliver, and a host of other factors vital to consulting intelligence.”

“I want to say your report has been valuable in shaping our strategy and community engagement efforts. We’ve achieved significant milestones.” 

“Stephen – wonderful job with La Scuola leadership yesterday. It was well facilitated, and you made ample space for all voices to be heard and noticed. Well done.”

“I first met Dr Stephen Holmes in the US – he is the first and only person I’ve encountered who has a formula for defining, monetising and commoditising reputation; it’s something every school/college should understand.” 

“Thank you for an insightful three days of professional learning; I have been challenged and am looking forward to some robust conversations with our College leaders as we shape the future of our College.”

“Dr Stephen Holmes facilitated at our Strategic Planning workshop in August 2023, presenting to our Board sub-committee and the Senior Leadership Team. His messages came across clearly and were very relevant and topical to our current needs of Strategic Direction and Priorities. Stephen came with an impressive reputation from attendees at the ICGS conference in Cleveland, Ohio, USA in June and certainly delivered.”

“Stephen, I really appreciated your session; reputation management and crisis communications and found this session particularly helpful. I’ll be leaning on the information you shared. Thanks for being at the ICGS Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.”

“I was really impressed with your approach for schools today in your presentation at the International Coalition of Girls’ School (ICGS) Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. The lens you are using to test strategic goals for managing the reputation of the school has real value for schools. At our School, we have worked hard on working out our “why” as a school and have a firm commitment to the vision for the school. Your work provides an approach to clarify how the goals and actions of the strategic plan can work towards the reputation it is seeking for the school. Brilliant.”

“Dr Stephen Holmes presented a hugely impressive data-driven workshop at the ICGS conference in Cleveland Ohio in June, attended by heads of school and marketing managers from girls’ schools from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. His messages were of absolute and vital relevance across these educational jurisdictions. Stephen’s years of professional  and unique practice as regards placing reputation in a highly nuanced framework of marketing were generously shared in a compelling yet compressed delivery of radical marketing and reputational strategy. He rightly had many of queuing to engage him for further bespoke work in our schools.”

“The program covered a range of topics that were very relevant to my role as an admissions officer in an international school, and I particularly appreciated the strategies for creating compelling content and engaging with students and parents through social media. I feel much more equipped to showcase our school to prospective families and build relationships with them through various channels.”

“Thank you so much for coming to speak at our conference Dr Holmes! Your presentation was truly excellent, and many of our guests found your session inspiring, informative, and thought-provoking.”

“At the workshop today, the new parts for me were the Relative SWOT and making sure you consider the marketability within the plan. It was very informative. Thank you Stephen!”

“Thank you. That was an interesting presentation!” “Thank you for the presentation! You provided some great insights!” “Thank you Stephen. This was very supportive. Having the language around reputation here from you is excellent.” “Thank you very much for the presentation. It was very helpful!” “Thank you so much! The gears are turning!”

“Thank you for sharing your time, energy, and expertise with our educators and school leaders during the Educating Girls Symposium. You provided much food for thought and brought a fresh perspective around everything from strategic planning to reputation building.”

“Stephen, thank you again for an excellent presentation with CAIS today.”

“Thank you! Very helpful.” “Thank you so much Stephen. This was a fantastic session – real food for thought.” “Thank you very much for the workshop!”

“Thank you Stephen. This ICGS workshop has been very helpful and interesting. And timely. We just went through a strategy ‘refresh’ process, and our strategy planning steering committee didn’t have comms/marketing at the table, so you’ve helped me to advocate for that in future.”

“Thank you very much for the workshop, it was very insightful and I look forward to discussing our marketing and reputation plans with my team.”

“The JCIS presentation provided a comprehensive overview of marketing essentials which will help us think about our current position and to plan for the future.”

“Thank you for the wonderful talk with ICGS today – it’s given me a lot to think about.”

“Thank you for a great presentation to CAIS Heads today.”

“Thank you for the workshop Stephen. It provided very helpful insights and has certainly stimulated some thinking at my end!”

“Dr. Holmes was a great presenter. His well-researched content was thoughtful and actionable!”

“Thank you very much for an informative presentation.” “Thank you very much for the fantastic workshop.” “Thank you very much for the great workshop.”

“Stephen’s webinar on measuring and building school reputation for members of the American Chamber of Commerce Thailand was very well received, scoring an unusually high 4.85 out of 5 stars. In Bangkok’s noisy and saturated international education market, Stephen’s practical advice on how schools can establish areas of valued differentiation and uncontested space is incredibly valuable. We appreciate Stephen’s support of the Chamber’s education committee and look forward to welcoming him back in the future.”

“The session today was great. Thank you so much for your time and insight.”

“Great session, I really enjoy the perspective of the speaker. Nearly 40 participants participated in a survey review. The session scored an average rating of 4.83 out of 5.”

“This was a well-researched, detailed workshop that engaged school leaders and gave them a chance to reflect on what their school does, and why it does it.”

“Recently Dr Stephen Holmes, the Founder and Principal of the 5R Partnership company, supported Aoba Japan International school group leaders in developing a new school vision and mission. His capacity to quickly understand multiple campuses’ contexts, cultures and histories, combined with his extensive experience and expertise, meant his insights positively impacted our leader’s thinking about the group’s next phase of development and growth. As a result of his excellent work with our leadership, I feel relaxed in recommending Stephen to any school looking for strategic advice and guidance.”

“Stephen’s presentation for the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools, USA 2022 conference was excellent, very knowledgeable and helpful to school leaders. He provided a rich and informative presentation.”

“Thank you for sharing your knowledge and broad experience in this area. You clearly are well informed with genuine experience and knowledge which is very valuable to those doing the everyday job.”

“Very interesting workshop and Stephen was a great presenter. Great to hear about other schools within Australia and overseas. Great slides with great ideas with assessment sources. Overall, great introduction for our new and developing department and great insight on where to start.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. It was very informative and well organized. Learning about the different metrics of school success and how a school can improve was particularly beneficial. As a school, we can implement many aspects mentioned to achieve success in the future.”

“A thought provoking workshop which allowed us to consider all aspects and approaches to marketing our school.”

“It was a great workshop. This workshop gave me a new outlook about the whole marketing world. As someone new to this education world, it was really helpful for me to understand the different areas.”

“We attended the workshop to take a step back and enable us to assess how well we are currently doing on our school marketing. We came away with many useful frameworks, fresh ideas and great contacts from other schools. Thank you!”

“Stephen, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on school reputations. I really enjoyed your presentation and found it to be incredibly helpful. I now have an understanding for what must be done. Thank you!”

“Kazakhstan International School in Almaty engaged Dr Stephen Holmes to assist us in updating and improving our Mission and Vision statements to reflect the educational changes and improving strategic direction and growth of our school. Stephen undertook a comprehensive survey of our stakeholders that provided the data for many discussions with the constituent growths. At the Advisory Board Retreat in February, Stephen led the final discussions to conclude this exercise with the publication of the new Mission and Vision. Stephen’s approach was comprehensive and sympathetic to the needs of the community to ensure that these statements reflected the culture of our school and the desired learning outcomes for our students. Through his insights and experience he led us through this process with aplomb. We are all delighted with the outcomes produced.”

“Stephen, thank you for bringing the Board and other community members forward into an engaging two days of creating pathways with much to do for follow up. Good to see the level of engagement and reflection.”

“To walk away with clear, individualised and strategic ‘to-do’ and ‘to consider’ frameworks for the school community was fantastic. The ‘so what?’ element was also a really valuable touchstone. The workshop was excellent. We covered a wide range of vital areas around identity, marketing, enrolment and communication and Stephen’s expertise in the field was self-evident. The workshop was collaborative, constructive and nicely balanced between theory and positive, practical impact for each individual school.”

“I would highly recommend this 2 day workshop for school leaders and their Marketing counterparts to strengthen the direction and understanding of the centrality of these topics in school leadership. I thoroughly appreciated the time to stop and think more deeply about these topics and hear sound expertise and advice in such a warm and inclusive environment. Thank you Stephen.”

“A fantastic 2-day workshop. Dr Holmes provided a comprehensive and approachable framework to enhance any school’s marketing communications and reputation management process and then next steps. More than just steps, these were practical processes that will improve every school. It has been such a pleasure to meet you this weekend.”

“An outstanding, comprehensive, evidence based report on tuition fees and scholarships that leads our management team and Board to so many potential strategic options and pathways.”

“Australian International School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam engaged Dr Stephen Holmes to assist us in differentiating our messaging and services between our two feeder primary schools. Stephen undertook a comprehensive review and his final report was detailed, strategic, clearly written and full of useful and practical suggestions and insights. It has been a very successful engagement.”

“Thank you Stephen for a wonderful session on School Reputation. I really appreciate your expertise and our conversations. The information is timely and applicable to our school in these unprecedented times. Your webinar has changed the conversations we are having at our school by causing us to think differently about our practices. This webinar is invaluable to all leaders in schools and well worth our time. Thank you!”

“Not for the first time I attended one of Stephen’s workshops on reviewing and building your school’s reputation. He always gives you plenty to ponder upon, beyond the marketing piece. His approach is accessible for all organisations, as it relies on a strategic approach based on clarity and data. Where are you reputationally situated as a school, right now? What does your school want to achieve through its reputation? How can you build the aspirational reputation of your school? All key aspects supporting ongoing school improvement.”

“Thanks for your presentation yesterday Stephen. It was both interesting and timely, drawing together a number of things that I’ve been considering recently.”

“Despite Dr Stephen Holmes’ excellent reputation, he has exceeded my expectations! I have been working with Stephen for 6 months, and the transformation at KIS (Kazakhstan International School) has been phenomenal. I can highly recommend his services. Thank you Stephen for your support!”

“Thank you so much for your webinar today – It was extremely informative and had some fantastic take away’s for teams to do post webinar.”

“I enjoyed the recent ACAMIS School Reputation Course immensely!”

“Reputation matters. With disruptions from COVID-19 accelerating changes in education worldwide, especially in a competitive market for international schools like Shanghai, reputation and managing it effectively matters more than ever. Stephen Holmes’ thought-provoking course on Reputation Management was an incredibly valuable experience for us as a school — for academic and school leaders as well as team members working on marketing, admissions, communications, parent and alumni relations, and institutional advancement. It forced us all to take a step back from our often siloed thinking and look critically at our actual reputation and how we can cultivate and actively nurture this reputation with staff, students, parents and the community writ large and communicate it more effectively. It is also helping spark important conversations and strengthen connection with other schools within our Yew Chung Educational Foundation group, helping us contextualize and better leverage our reputation through the YCYW family of schools. Already, we are seeing concepts, questions, and data explored in the course driving initiatives, promoting community engagement and framing discussions in terms of our strategic priorities moving forward. We are excited about engaging Stephen Holmes and his 5R’s team to help us gather and analyse data through his Reputation Assessor tool so that we can make more informed data-driven strategic decisions to manage our school’s reputation.”

“Thanks a lot! The Reputation Management course very useful. Especially the questions to help us reflect!”

“Stephen, I am thoroughly enjoying the Reputation Management course.”

“I enjoyed the Reputation Management course very much and could benefit from a number of suggestions that you gave us.”

“Thanks a lot! The Reputation Management course was super interesting!”

“I do hope I can participate at another time in the Reputation Management course and learn from Stephen – he is one of the best.”

“Stephen, I recently heard you speak about reputation management at an ISNZ event and came away with so many thoughts and ideas!”

“Often it’s hard to really know the reputation of a school by looking inside from the inside. Stephen Holmes and the team at The 5Rs Partnership have provided Aoba-Japan International School with a validated objective assessment of our reputation. Their assessment is valuable to us because it informs, affirms and confronts our thinking and planning.”

“This is an excellent article that resonates with my thoughts before and post Covid world. You have articulated areas where schools must have action plans provided that they are serious. I am glad that you forwarded the article to me for me to read and I now have a better grip of the word ‘reputation’. Often it is linked with marketing and most people are confused. Thank you.”

“Working with Stephen and his team on the Reputation Assessor was a pleasure. The detailed reporting and way in which it was collated, presented and explained was a true insight of excellent proportions. It will help us understand our community’s thinking and how we can orientate ourselves to align with our vision, mission and values. Thank you The 5Rs Partnership!”

“Thank you for the report for the Reputation Assessment… it makes really interesting reading.”

“Thanks Stephen for the online webinar (‘School Reputation – How to Endure and Build in Unprecedented Times!’), it was fabulous!”

“Thank you Stephen for the online webinar (‘School Reputation – How to Endure and Build in Unprecedented Times!’).”

“Thank you very much Stephen for the online webinar (‘School Reputation – How to Endure and Build in Unprecedented Times!’) – much appreciated!”

“We were extremely lucky to be able to meet with you the week before our Government imposed compulsory isolation for all incoming passengers! Thanks again for the great work you did with us.”

“Thanks again, Dr Holmes, for the PD session. I found it very informative and it enabled me to look at our marketing and reputation development in a different way.”

“Thanks Stephen for the great workshop today. It certainly gave me a lot to consider with respect to continuing to build the reputation of Te Puke High School for international and domestic students.”

“Thanks Stephen. I really appreciate the opportunity to be part of your workshop! I have already made a good list of actions I can implement, including a few quick wins!”

“I found this workshop beneficial, having just joined the School Marketing sector. Very helpful for me being new to the sector. It was extremely insightful to listen to other experiences on various topics in the discussion groups.”

“Thank you so very much for an excellent workshop. Highly worthwhile, I’ve walked away greatly inspired!”

“As a school principal, this workshop has given me the tools to confidently steer reputation management in the school.”

“The workshop had plenty of useful information, great focus on marketing and was overall a great experience.”

“The workshop was informative, relevant and very helpful.”

“It was a great workshop with a lot of relevance to what we are currently going through at our school. It helped me shape my understanding and provided a clear framework to think about complex issues.”

“This workshop was a very valuable and hands-on session which focused on the important things a school needs to consider: reputation, word of mouth and getting the message clear and focused – only then can we take the right action for the future. I want to thank you for putting on a first-class workshop and offering lots of great content as well as facilitating the sharing of experiences across the group.”

“Very valuable 2 days. Glad I came and will recommend.”

“Excellent presentation skills – quality of information was unique and rigorous.”

“Great and enlightening two-day workshop where you will find solid ideas to move forward for the school communications and marketing strategies.”

“I feel energized and confident to now re-structure our approach to branding and reputation management. Excellent discussion, great points and good feedback to take home.”

“Dr Stephen Holmes Key Note address at the CIS Australian Conference was extremely thought provoking and received with much enthusiasm. His message of marketing schools through and emphasis on curriculum, pedagogy and the quality of teaching provided by a school was refreshing at a time when many schools place emphasis upon who has the best facilities and who has the most impressive exit examination results. The message was sincere and Stephen’s charismatic and witty delivery kept the audience fully engaged and attuned to the far reaching implications of such an approach.”

“Thank you for a great presentation at the CIS Conference. Your points helped me to concrete ideas for our next Strategic Plan.”

“Stephen, I thought your session was one of the highlights of NZIEC; very focused and a skillful combination of frank insights and practical, achievable advice. I heard lots of very positive comments about it from other people too.”

“Loved everything you had to say in your keynote today!”

“I attended two of your talks and thoroughly enjoyed your insight and knowledge.”

“I would like to express my appreciation for your inspiring presentation last week. Your years of research, your depth of understanding and practical knowledge made for a great workshop.”

“I attended your “Marketing that works!” seminar last week. Thanks again for a very insightful and fabulous session, it gave me a lot to think about and heaps of great ideas.”

“Stephen worked with the leadership team of St Bernadette’s to review the marketing strategy and messaging that the school was promoting into the wider community. Part of this process involved us receiving a detailed report on our current approach and advice for future direction. The leadership team and whole staff found Stephen’s advice invaluable in ensuring that we had consistent messages and effective channels of communication. I highly recommend Stephen as he provides clarity and expertise in this most important and competitive area of building the reputation of a school.”

“I attended the Marketing that Works PD at the Catholic Leadership Centre yesterday – great day, thank you.”

“Australian International School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam engaged Dr Stephen Holmes to assist us in differentiating our messaging and services between our two feeder primary schools. Stephen undertook a comprehensive review and his final report was detailed, strategic, clearly written and full of useful and practical suggestions and insights. It has been a very successful engagement.”

“Thank you Stephen for giving up your time and expertise to support our Japan Council of International Schools (JCIS) group as we pondered the importance of nurturing and communicating our own reputation while set in the context of the JCIS ‘brand’ as a whole. Certainly the conversations you facilitated helped us much better understand the strength we have in our diversity as well as the synergy that we share in representing quality educational options in Japan. I’d certainly be happy to talk about our work together to any regional association considering a similar enterprise.”

“Dr Stephen Holmes has been working with a number of GEMS schools over the past year on how to differentiate each of our schools not only from each other but also from competing schools.

During that time, he has brought to us at GEMS and applied unique tools that he has developed over a long period of time specifically to provide schools with platform for identity building and differentiation, most especially through the crucial areas of teaching pedagogy and curriculum. This has provided our schools with a whole new lens as to how they might effectively distinguish themselves and build authentic positioning.”

“Brisbane Catholic Education engaged Dr Stephen Holmes to conduct detailed research into factors affecting parental choice of schools. We were very impressed with Dr Holmes’ professional and methodical approach. His research report and recommendations will form the basis of a new marketing strategy which will strengthen our enrolment numbers and our position in the marketplace. Working with him was a very worthwhile and productive experience for our organisation with its 141 schools and 12,000 staff. I can fully recommend Dr Holmes’ and endorse his well-deserved reputation as a world leader in the field of educational marketing research and strategy development.”

“Thanks so much for your useful workshop at CIS. I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely brought back some ideas to apply at my school.”

“I first met Dr Stephen Holmes several years ago and realized immediately how much of an impact he could make in the school communities we serve. His specialized knowledge and ability to present and explain it in a clear way is already yielding results in both our school and university communities. With his unique professional background, Stephen engages leaders in thoughtful dialogue to look at how they position their institutions. He is thoughtful, considerate, organized, thorough, timely, naturally committed and genuinely interested in improving the school communities he works with. He has a passion for reputation management in schools, engaging leaders in discussion to help them look at their marketing and communications work in new, strategic ways.

Every single time I’ve met with Stephen, I’ve learned something new and found new enthusiasm to introduce him to more and more CIS members. For those schools that engaged him, he fulfilled every objective they set for his work with their communities.

We then began finding ways to introduce Stephen to larger groups of our members, most recently when he keynoted at our forum on Higher Education Admission and Guidance last year in Edinburgh Scotland, a gathering of 800 university admission and school guidance professionals. Here is some of the feedback we received following Stephen’s presentation at the Forum:

“Thanks again for the best session of the conference; definitely one of the top five sessions I’ve attended at any conference in the last 18 years! This was also the FIRST session I’ve ever attended on this topic. Awesome! Your session was insightful and different than anything else I attended in CIS this year. I am very keen to share with my team and management the ideas you presented.”

I hope this helps you to see some of the impact he might make on your own community of schools. You will learn much from your engagement with him.”

“Dr Stephen Holmes facilitated an effective school board training session for Overseas School of Colombo in September 2018. He led board members in considering the role of the board, the future of the school, and how to evaluate performance of both the board and the head of school. Dr Holmes also shared his considerable expertise on school marketing and strategic planning.”

“Stephen’s deep knowledge of the education sector is clear. He comes at school marketing from a different angle, forcing us think about new ways of demonstrating what we do. Stephen’s presentation reminded me that we can’t afford to sit back and market as we have been because the educational landscape is changing fast. Stephen knows what parents want and how they want to find out about it.”

“Dr Stephen Holmes is a truly gifted consultant, steeped in the reality and ambition of the independent school world, but flexible and sensitive enough to customize his findings to the lived reality of particular schools.”

“Dr. Stephen Holmes, Principal and Founder of The 5R’s Partnership conducted a very effective School Board Training workshop for the Overseas School of Colombo during the weekend of September 15, 2018. Dr. Holmes’ work consisted of several weeks of initial planning in close contact with the Board Chair and with me as the Head of School. The intent and clear outcome of his preparation was to construct a meaningful training session tailor made to this school’s identified profile. The training session objectives were clearly targeted, and the outcome was notably effective in helping OSC review and refine our governance practices in a meaningful manner.

I recommend Dr. Holmes for his clear expertise in organizing and leading a very productive School Board training session for the Overseas school of Colombo.”

“Thank you for your engaging and thought-provoking presentation at the recent Educate Plus International Conference in NZ. I was particularly intrigued with the revelation that a prospective parent considers both the real-time experience that a school can offer their child, as well as the deferred benefits that could be expected from enrolling at a particular school. The concept of a prospective parent as an ‘investor’, rather than a consumer was interesting, too. This statement is notably supported in the ‘International Student’ market; conversations with parents of International Students clearly approach their decision-making process of selecting a school from an investment angle.”

“I really enjoyed Stephen’s seminars at the EducatePlus International Conference in Auckland recently, particularly around using reputation as a driver to engage the whole staff team. It was enlightening to see the marketing model reframed and to gain a deeper understanding on the huge benefits of investing time in ‘below the line’ strategies around reputation and word of mouth to support ‘above the line’ initiatives and strengthen brand value.”

“Stephen, I attended your sessions at the recent EducatePlus Conference in New Zealand and thought they were excellent. I look forward to putting into practice the ideas around reputation management that I gained from you.”

“Thank you so much for providing a most stimulating and thought provoking session. You certainly are the guru in marketing and your insights are most valuable to those of us on the ground.”

“In his presentation, Thought Leadership Marketing & Reputation Management, Stephen provided some hard truths for the education sector, things we needed to hear. He was able to demonstrate a new way of thinking about marketing and reputation that will help safeguard the future of my school! So thank you again!”

“Thank you for the fantastic workshop this morning …. very thought provoking and beneficial.”

“I attended the COBIS 5th Conference for Marketing, Development and Admissions in March in Bucharest and I found your talk about building school reputation very interesting and inspiring. In his talk on Building a world class reputation, Dr Holmes brought up a number of important insights into the process of building a reputation of a school. The principal message I took home was that a solid reputation can only be built on values and actions and not by advertising. He also stressed the long-term nature of the concept and the importance of sustainability. For me, the whole strategy is summarized in the idea of a “Reputation Manager” instead of a “Marketing Manager”.”

“Thanks very much for the great PD today, your input has helped me to focus what we are trying to do.”

“Your presentation was really helpful yesterday and it has made me rethink a few strategies and thoughts I’ve had about marketing.”

“Thank you for providing these articles I shall be very interested in reading them. I wish to say how much I enjoyed your presentation for the CEM in Melbourne yesterday and how valuable it was in stimulating ideas, discussion and providing us with guidelines and strategies to plan with confidence, an achievable way forward in marketing our school. It was hugely energising. I wrote all over my copy of your notes and wish to provide a copy to our Leadership team. It would be very timely, where we are at the moment, for a Marketing Plan to be rewritten by me (thanks to your guidelines ) or I think better still if possible for you to share your expertise with the College Leadership for them to gain an insight into the power of Marketing and the strategies to develop best practice!”

“Yesterday’s workshop sessions with you were fabulous. I really enjoyed them. Your ideas are so practical. I have started some of your suggestions already.”

“Once again, I thank you very much for providing your time and expertise to our Board of Governors and Principal, and I believe that your input also generated very valuable discussion that will certainly improve and enrich our future governance of Uplands.”

“We engaged Stephen Holmes and his 5R’s team after we found ourselves struggling with our marketing direction. Stephen was the consummate professional; following a school visit, he laid out a plan of action, delivered each stage on time and came in with an inciteful, deep-reaching, evidence-based (so Board members couldn’t dismiss the findings as subjective!), but more important, doable action plan. Thankfully he is not a ‘parachute advisor’ – he comes back in to advise and measure the impact of what he has suggested. To my mind, certainly worth every penny!”

“First off let me say how awesome your presentation was! So much so that when I went to my next session directly after I had to leave halfway through to do a “brain dump” with all the information and ideas I had pulsing through my head. About two hours prior to your session I received an email from one of our AVPs. I think you are exactly what we need to get us going. Thanks again for the best session of the conference and one of the best sessions I’ve attended at a conference in years; definitely one of the top five sessions I’ve attended at any conference in the last 18 years! This was also the FIRST session I’ve ever attended on this topic. Awesome!”

“Dr. Holmes, your session was insightful and different than anything else I attended in CIS this year. I am very keen to share with my team and management the ideas you presented.”

“I am writing to acknowledge the outstanding job you did in supporting the school in developing our reputation and engagement plan. Although you completed this work some time ago, I continually see evidence of your suggested approaches in action. Recently, we shared the work we have been carrying out with our governing body. It was clear that the school has made great strides in developing its reputation through higher levels of community engagement. Furthermore, there are some initiatives within the school which have differentiated us from other competitors within the city. The most noteworthy aspect to all of this work is the way in which the individuals leading these initiatives have been empowered to do so. Furthermore, the initiatives we have launched have not only helped develop the school’s reputation but more importantly, they have strengthened and enhanced the school’s culture and community.

I wanted to take a moment just to acknowledge your work as it has been the catalyst for much change in the school.”

“I really enjoyed your session on measuring, auditing and benchmarking last week at EAROCS, thank you! I’m kicking myself for missing out on your session on reputation; it got rave reviews from a number of people who went.”

“I must congratulate you on your outstanding presentation on international market strategy for all of our schools. It was challenging, thought-provoking and I know created some robust discussion amongst delegates. I’m so grateful for the way in which you listen to and interpret the brief, understand your audience and pitch your words at exactly the right level. It was a pleasure and a privilege to welcome you back to our conference.”

“Many thanks again for an outstanding presentation at CIS in Bangkok, 2017.“

“It was my pleasure to learn so much from you during your conference presentation at CIS in Bangkok!”

“I have to say your session was one of the best in that whole CIS conference as it provided me so much useful information and things to think about.“

“Thank you, Stephen, for your thought-provoking and highly informative presentation at The National Catholic Education Conference, for our many media, marketing and communications colleagues. To be able to commence our program of speakers with your valuable insights and breadth of experience elevated the standard for our entire event. I commend you on way you accommodated and held the attention of knowledgeable marketeers and others less experienced in our sector. Marketing and promoting systematic schools has some unique challenges; your acumen in this regard is both astute and valued, as attributed by the wonderful feedback received about your presentation. A wholehearted ‘thank you’ once again.”

“Once again thank you for your talk last week at our school. It was really well received.”

“Thank you so much for your very informative presentation today. It was perfect for the target group and the feedback I heard today was extremely positive.”

“Stephen, thanks once again for a valuable session with our school. It has certainly assisted us with developing a clear direction and point of difference for our school.

I had a meeting with a parent who works part-time in PR and Branding. She thought the direction we are headed was right on target. This is all thanks to the work we have done with you.”

“It was our pleasure to welcome Dr. Stephen Holmes to Princeton, NJ to conduct a training for all ISS Heads of Schools and other leaders. His deep experience based in the international school context helped ensure this session was relevant and meaningful, and resulted in him moving on to do work individually with ISS schools – very different in their size and competitive landscapes. Dr. Holmes is insightful and he meets schools where they are at in this important journey. His reputational approach to school branding and marketing has sparked interesting work in the ISS system, and we look forward to seeing even more positive results as their co-created strategies take root!”

“Stephen gives an outstanding insight into the key opportunities, and challenges, facing Admissions & Marketing teams in the international school sector. His keynotes are invaluable for both experienced and aspiring practitioners in the field of Marketing & Admissions…. the best points of this conference.”

“Dr. Stephen Holmes, thank you for the great keynote sessions that you shared with us at COBIS conference 2017 in Tokyo. I learned a lot about marketing from your sessions.”

“Stephen Holmes brings a depth of knowledge and a breadth of experience in the International school’s marketing world. His passion for his work is exemplified through his dedication to each project and his commitment to giving the best quality of service. Thank you, Stephen, for helping us conduct a market audit and helping us develop our marketing plan. Your insights and suggestions have provided us with invaluable guidance.“

“I have been acquainted with Dr Stephen Holmes for the past nine months in my capacity as Director at the Independent Schools of Riau. The school is using Stephen as a key educational consultant. He is working with our Board in two areas of strategic change. The Board and I feel having an expert with Stephen’s skills set provides us with valuable insight and knowledge.

Stephen has excellent wisdom, knowledge, and ideas that he is able to express to the Board in a practical and sensible manner.”

“Dr. Stephen Holmes was appointed in 2016-17 by the Board of Trustees of the International School of Monaco to support the School and lead development of the Strategic Plan.  As Advisor to the Board, I have been closely connected to this project, working both with Dr. Holmes and the Board.

I found Stephen Holmes to be an excellent facilitator, helping the faculty clarify their thoughts and ideas and then guiding them in the process of establishing and then prioritizing the objectives.  He was particularly helpful in the forming of the Key Performance Indicators, a vital tool to enable the School to monitor its progress.

Mr. Holmes established an excellent rapport with the staff, gaining their respect through his very thoughtful and professional approach.  In his presentation of the overview of the final draft of the Strategic Plan, Dr. Holmes very ably held the attention of the entire staff, involved them and established the goodwill to move ahead to the next step in the process.

For ISM, Dr. Stephen Holmes’ intervention proved not only an asset to the process but a very professional and pleasant experience for the whole school. The Board of Trustees has therefore entrusted to him the continued oversight of the implementation of the Strategic Plan.

I highly recommend Dr. Stephen Holmes to any school looking for a very knowledgeable, highly experienced and very personable and professional consultant to help them.”

“One of the first Professional Development sessions I attended as a new member of Educate Plus (ADAPE at that time) was presented by Dr Stephen Holmes. That was 12 years ago and I had just joined the profession of Education Advancement in the position of Director of Marketing & Community Relations at a regional independent school in Queensland.

The innovative and insightful ideas Stephen shared at that session back in 2005 were invaluable to me. They framed the basis for the marketing and promotion of my school for the next 10 years and proved to be very successful in a highly competitive market.

Since that initial session, I have had the benefit of attending subsequent presentations delivered by Dr Stephen Holmes at a number of Educate Plus Chapter and International Conferences. He continues to be creative, relevant and practical in the marketing approaches he espouses. His broad international experience brings a unique perspective to Australian and New Zealand educational institutions and has been very influential in redefining Marketing & Reputation Management best practice in our region.

On behalf of the Educate Plus Australasian Board, I would like to thank Stephen Holmes for the significant contribution he has made, over a number of years, to PD sessions, Chapter Conferences and our flagship International Conferences, including our most recent on the Gold Coast in September 2016.” 

“Dr Stephen Holmes has credentials that place him at the vanguard of modern educational management. His scholarly expertise in processes of educational marketing is unique and his practical, entrepreneurial talent is similarly outstanding.”

“As a first-time Head, I was quickly faced with the need for us to develop sensible performance measures. The Board wanted these to be objective, honest, easy to understand and truly indicative of how well the school is doing. We decided to bring in a consultant to act as an honest broker, finding ways of reconciling the need for accountability with the reality that schools rarely have neat and easily-quantifiable aims. We searched globally for an advisor who would gain the respect of the educators and of the Board and have been very pleased with what Dr Stephen Holmes has done in this regard.”  

“I spent an excellent two days with Dr Stephen Holmes. I felt that I was back in a business/ marketing studies classroom, but with the benefit of all content being relevant to my role in my school. I would recommend Stephen to anyone in a senior school marketing role.”

“We were so fortunate this week to have Dr. Stephen Holmes spend a day at our school with our staff and share research and his expertise related to marketing our schools reputation.”