Glenn's Tips for Advertising Events on Campus

Student groups such as the Evolutionary Studies Club and Psi Chi often organize great events for our community. Here are some tips for student groups to help advertise events to increase attendance:

1. MASS EMAIL at Time 1:
- About a week or so prior to the event, you should send out mass emails to all the relevant lists you can think of. If it is a Psi Chi event, for example, you probably want to email the entire Psychology Community (via BlackBoard - look up this "group" under the "community" tab). You may also want to email the entire list of Psi Chi members (if such a list exists) - and perhaps send out a message about the event to everyone included in relevant facebook groups (e.g., the Psychology Community at New Paltz).

2. MASS EMAIL at Time 2:
Repeat step 1 the day before the event.

(note that this step is ESSENTIAL)

3. Posting on relevant websites:
Posting information on websites is hugely helpful - you can benefit form the information being constantly online and showing up in searches. Such sites may include, for instance, the Psi Chi blog site, the Psychology Community facebook site, etc.

4. Lots of signs posted around campus - and, perhaps, flyers in mailboxes of faculty who would be potentially interested in supporting the event.

5. Remember, there is no such thing as over-advertising! (at least, I don't think so!)


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EXAMPLE EMAIL TO ADVERTISE EVENT

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Hi. On behalf of the New Paltz Made-Up Student Society (MUSS), I write to invite you to our upcoming panel on the topic of POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY. This panel will include renowned experts on this topic including:

John Smith, Psychology Department, Importante College
Fred Jones, Political Science Department, Wheresthat University
and
Linda Whoozit, Psychology Department, Bigname University

These panelists, who represent some of the world's leading minds on the topic of political psychology, will discuss the psychology underlying the upcoming election and the implications for our nation's future. This event is NOT TO BE MISSED.

Where: The Honors Center (in College Hall)
Date: Thursday, November 22, 2005
Time: 5:00-7:00

REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED (FREE FOOD!!!)

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Please contact Josie Notforreall (notforr22@newpaltz.edu) for more information.

This event is sponsored by MUSS as well as the Student Association, the Office of the Provost, and the Political Science Club

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Things to DEFINITELY include in your email (which is likely the most important part of your advertising arsenal) include:
- The name of the organization that is putting this all together
- The FULL NAME of the contact person from this organization (i.e., say who YOU are - don't assume that everyone knows)
- Email information for the contact person written in the email itself
- The time, date, and place (done as a list, to make this information stand out)
- The phrase "FREE FOOD" (if applicable and accurate)
- The phrase "Free and open to the public" (if applicable and accurate)
- The names of all sponsoring entities (usually presented as a detail at the end of the advertisement)
- All things equal, not too much information! Just enough to get the basic information out there - and enough to underscore the importance of the event.