Posters: The DOs and DON’Ts of Advertising Student Org Events
Marketing events is hard. The Law School has 70 student organizations, and if the Italian Americans and Swifties get it done this year, we’ll have 72. (Or 71, if they instead choose to register as a collective–an organization which I would personally be doubly inclined to join, if we can make that happen). In September and October, there can be upwards of six events per day. Time is precious. How can you capture the attention of your peers, who hurriedly clear their GroupMe notifications after escaping from Civil Procedure?
A student organization has three channels for advertising an event: (1) GroupMe, (2) email/list-servs, and (3) the bulletin boards. In any of those, the poster reigns supreme. Here are the DOs and DON’Ts of student org event posters.
DO describe the event. The number of words it is going to take to do that adequately varies by the event. But you need fewer words than you think you do.
DO use those little circles around the speakers' faces; I like those.
DON’T say, generally, “Food Provided!” I’d like to know what the food will be. Not because it necessarily matters, but because if I know the food, I visualize the food. If I visualize the food, I want the food. Now I’m picturing myself, at your event, eating your food. Now I’m more inclined to attend.
DO lean into stereotypes. Being memorable is important. Having your poster shared—and thus having more eyes on your poster—is important. Humor is under-utilized in our posters. PLAVA boldly employed the “ambulance chaser” in their graphic. This is the only event I remember from last week. Any reverence for the profession they may have discarded, they bought it back and then some by being self-aware. Though, sure: There is a limit to this. It would be ideal to have your poster shared for the right reasons, not the wrong reasons. I am certainly not the person to opine on where that limit is.
DO follow previously established poster conventions. You know what I like? When a panel that has something to do with constitutional law or recent SCOTUS cases has the Court as the translucent background. I know immediately some of the information you are going to communicate to me.
DON’T be so beholden to convention that you don’t try something new! ACS has naturally followed the SCOTUS-background convention before. But last week when they mixed it up, they hit me with a little “We The People . . .” in the background. I liked that.
DO use color and font to communicate the vibe.
DON’T have all of the poster’s text in ALL CAPS. I AM SENSITIVE TO LOUD NOISES. PLEASE STOP. I KNOW IT’S ALL IN MY HEAD, BUT IT FEELS SO REAL. I AM GOING CRAZY.
DO ask for RSVPs if you need them. Admittedly, I went back and forth on this one. On the one hand, the perceived pressure to commit to attending when one is busy and doesn’t know what other obligations they will have. On the other hand, you have to place a food order. I get it.
If you’ve tried all of the above and attendance is still lacking, I have one final tip, but we can’t ALL do it, so it is for emergencies only:
DO lie and say attendance is mandatory. See who comes; you might get a few.
Now, a template for you to see how the application of these guidelines might look:
Author: Alexis Pudvan, ‘28, nrt9un@virginia.edu