Gonzaga Bulletin Submission for “Best Event Plan/Promotion” At Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, most of our school year is buried under layers of snow and a blanket of near freezing or below-freezing temperatures. When a day above 40 degrees peaks out, all the students flock outdoors to soak up every bit of Vitamin D they can get. This lends itself well to our Student Publications snow cone social which takes place at the beginning of our school year. The 2012-2013 school year was the initial launch of the event and we handed out 225 snow cones in two hours while distributing the most recent copies of Gonzaga’s various publications including the Gonzaga Bulletin as well as our literary journals. From this first effort, we saw how this event could grow and get our image in front of the Gonzaga public. In this current school year (2013-2014), we aligned the date of our snow cone promotion with the Gonzaga University annual club fair. This helped increase our brand awareness greatly as Gonzaga’s 100 clubs were on display for the students, staff, and faculty in the main thoroughfare of campus. In preparation for the event, we created a “Free snow cones” poster (figure 1.1) and hung copies around campus in the main administrative and academic buildings as well as the student center. We promoted the event on Facebook and Twitter over the course of two weeks leading up to the event and heavily the day before and day of. We recruited members of our office to form a street team to help with the distribution of snow cones and promotional material highlighting the various student publications offered at Gonzaga University. We ended up serving snow cones to 415 individuals in one and a half hours. There was a consistent line and having used our information from the previous year, we
ran out of some supplies and required an emergency supply run mid-day. Overall, we reached approximately 600 students with our messaging. The street team would navigate the club fair handing out our materials and advising students to “like” and “follow” our Facebook and Twitter pages respectively. This event was a great success in its second year running. With an increase in Facebook likes from 968 to 1,020, we started off the year on a good note for our social media growth. To date, The Gonzaga Bulletin Facebook page has grown by 24 percent since the start of the 20132014 school year.
Timeline for Gonzaga Bulletin Snow Cone Social •
Upon arrival in Spokane o Set date for Snow Cone Social. o Review successes and areas for growth of last year’s event. o Coordinate supplies needed with Student Publications Manager.
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Three weeks out (from event date) o Coordinate with Graphic Designers to create promotional materials.
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Two weeks out o Begin posting every other day on social media platforms promoting the event. o Reserve items needed from student center.
Tables
Chairs
Tablecloths
o Hang posters up around campus promoting the event •
One Week out o Post daily on social media promoting event. o Coordinate street team members o Print promotional materials o Pick up nonperishable goods
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Day before o Post heavily on social media promoting the event o Confirm all street team members involvement
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Day of o Pick up perishable goods o Set up station o Direct street team in handing out protocol
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Day after
o Create evaluation and recap of event Figure 1.1 Promotional poster displayed around campus prior to event