Organizing an event at your university may not be easy. From thinking of the theme and activities to booking suppliers, there is too much that needs to be done. When you do all this, all you want is for people to come and actually attend the event. There is no need to go through all the painstaking event organizing processes if there will be only a handful of people attending. How can you ensure that students will actually attend your university event?
1. Spread the Word
You need to build anticipation for your event early on. The advantage you have with university students is that everyone knows everyone. So, get the word out there about your event. Let people know what the event is about, why they need to attend, and share a wow factor about the event. Encourage the people you know to share the word about your event. Think of how fast rumors spread and aim for a similar effect.
A good place to start the word of mouth is with your friends. Also, consider talking to influential students who have a big following as these will easily spread the word. Athletes, cheerleaders, and theater squads are good choices.
2. Get Social
Walk around campus and you will see that almost everyone is on their phone. They are most probably looking at a social media site. If they are to notice your event you need to put it on their screens. Post the event’s posters on social media. Remember to make the event sound great and use creative hashtags. Tag your school’s official social media pages and other relevant organizations or people of great influence. Facebook and Twitter have a cool feature that allows you to create events with pictures, booking information, and contact details. Take advantage of these and you will see a boost in the number of attendants you will attract.
3. Perfect Timing
You cannot organize a career fair on the same day as the fresher’s night event and expect any success. You need to do perfect timing. Ensure that major school events will not collide with yours and that your event is scheduled at a time when students are available. Do not plan events during school hours as this is contrary to school rules plus the attendance is likely to be mediocre.
4. Make it Easy to Get a Ticket
Free university events tend to get high attendance rates. After all, students are not the wealthiest folks. If you are carrying out the event for charity or you must charge for some other reasons, be as affordable as possible. In uni, it is easier to sell a thousand tickets at 2 dollars each than selling 100 tickets at 200 dollars each. That said, you need to make it easy for students to buy tickets. Sell the tickets everywhere, from the cafeteria to the school’s official website to roaming ticket sellers, a student should never have the excuse of not knowing where to buy tickets.
To help you ease online ticketing, consider using event marketing software for universities. With such a program, you will be able to sell tickets across platforms. You can sell a ticket directly on social media pages. With a solution like Timely, you are able to receive bookings and sell tickets easily. You can have all the school’s events on one platform so students can make an informed decision on the tickets to buy.
5. Eye-catching Posters
Traditional event promotion methods still work. Posters will help spread the word fast, especially if those posters are interesting. Make posters that have the following characteristics and you will attract the attention of students:
- Has a relevant image
- The title event and date are clearly visible (written in the biggest fonts)
- Background color does not affect the readability of fonts from a distance
Stickers and school newspaper announcements should also be made to stand out. If your university has a radio station, consider placing an entertaining advert for more exposure.
Bottom Line
With some extra effort, you can make your university event one of the best. You can attract the attention of students and have them attend your event in high numbers. Remember to be very clear about the venue, time, and other details in all the methods you use to create awareness of the event.