Publicity Tips for Bringing in Speakers
- Publicity is crucial to the success of your events. Publicity is one of the most important and time-consuming aspects of event coordination. Do not get so wrapped up in planning the event that you neglect to publicize it adequately. If you do not have the time, people, and money necessary to publicize events effectively, you should reconsider inviting speakers. The exception to this guideline would be cases in which you are deliberately trying to appeal to a small audience, perhaps for a lecture of a more specialized nature. Remember, publicity for your event will also increase awareness of your club!
- Divide event-coordination responsibilities among two people if you can: one person to do the general planning and one person to take care of publicity.
- Prepare publicity materials as far in advance as possible.
- Prepare your publicity budget in great detail before making publicity materials. The amount of money and time you have will determine the types of publicity you should focus on and the quantities you should purchase.
- Changes to the event title. It is okay to change the title of the event in order to make it sound more appealing as long as you do not deviate from the talk’s subject matter.
- Adhere to all university rules and regulations regarding student organizations' publicity materials. This information is available from your student government.
- Scheduling publicity. Plan a detailed schedule of when you are going to do which publicity tasks. See publicity checklist as a guide
- Get club members to help you. People will be more likely to help you if you ask specific people to take care of specific tasks than if you ask the club in general to do something. After assigning tasks to people, follow up to make sure they are actually doing what they committed to do.
- Publicity requires repeated exposure. Your goal in publicizing an event is not just to see that people hear about your event one time. You want people to see your advertising many times. The more that students hear about your event, the more likely they are to attend the event. Also, publicity for your event increases awareness of your club and of Ayn Rand in general.
- Make sure your publicity materials are good. People will judge the merits of the event, your club, Ayn Rand, and Objectivism by the quality of your advertising materials. Watch out for spelling and grammatical errors. Make sure materials contain all necessary information. Make sure your wording is clear, direct, and easy to understand. Organize visually-based advertising so that it is neat, can be read from a distance, and attracts attention. You can use or get inspiration from our sample event flyers.
- There are many ways to publicize events. The publicity methods you use will depend on the amount of time, money, and people you have available. The following methods are listed in order of importance, along with helpful tips regarding each. We also have a publicity check list, event planning check list, and generic events budget available on our website.
A. Posters/Flyers. You can use or get inspiration from our sample event flyers.
This is the primary method of events advertising. A flyer is 8.5”x11”; a poster is 11”x17”. Black-and-white (B&W) flyers generally cost 9 cents each; color flyers about 50 cents ea. Posters usually cost about twice as much. Post them about 10 days prior to the event. Which combination of posters and flyers you should use depends on your budget. Usually, student organizations may post only on designated bulletin boards, so it’s important to use big, color posters rather than flyers because posters attract more attention and take longer to be buried by other groups’ materials. If a university does not have a strict bulletin-board policy, student organizations often post flyers everywhere on campus. When this is the case, it is better to go with B&W flyers, and you should post an obscenely large amount of them in places where people’s eyes naturally go as they conduct their daily business (e.g., doors, tops and bottoms of stairwells, bathroom stalls, water fountains, etc.) as well as on bulletin boards.
B. Facebook social ads/Facebook event
Create a Facebook event about three weeks prior to the event date. Invite all your friends to it; ask other club members to invite their friends as well. Every time someone responds that they are “Attending,” the event shows up on Newsfeed, which gives you additional advertising. Be sure to include all relevant information, including costs, who may attend, and directions to campus. You should test any copied hyperlinks to make sure they are still active.
As many as five days before the event, you should create a Facebook social ad. Target the ad to people over the age of 18 in your area who have listed the words Ayn Rand, Objectivism, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, philosophy, politics, economics, or capitalism somewhere in their profiles. Make the ad say something like, “Attend a free lecture on Ayn Rand’s philosophy at [your university].” When people click on the ad, they will be taken to your Facebook event page.
The pricing structure for these ads is confusing. Try paying by impressions rather than by clicks and choose a maximum amount of $15-20 dollars per day. For starters, try setting your bid about twice as high as the suggested bid. (This will make more sense once you've purchased an ad.)
C. Mailing lists
Email your club’s mailing list three weeks, two weeks, one week, three days, and one day before the event. You should also contact other student organizations. Be respectful of the other lists. Only send announcements to a list if the event is clearly of interest to its members. For example, don't send announcements for events that have nothing to do with politics to the Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians.
Other Mailing Lists:
HBL – Instructions for how to post to HBL: http://www.hblist.com/howpost.htm
Noodle Food – email Diana Hsieh, Diana AT dianahsieh.com
Websites like http://www.objectivismonline.net might be amenable to posting information on your events too.
D. Free food will draw a crowd!
More people will attend your event if you give them free food. A lot more. On some campuses, offering free food will also allow you to announce your event over the Free Food mailing list. You can offer drinks as well if you want, but serving drinks has some disadvantages. Drinks are heavy and messy; they cost money, and since people will be drawn by the food whether you serve drinks or not, this added expense will probably not increase your audience size. Be sure to pick food that is broadly appealing and that is not too messy, difficult to eat, or difficult to transport. Pizza is ideal. Try to order enough for everyone. Be sure to offer napkins, forks, plates, etc. as well. Label your food so that people know what it is. Start serving food fifteen minutes prior to the event so that it doesn’t hold up the speaker. Make sure you bring extra trash bags, clean up the room, and take out the trash after the event. Have someone watch the food table to make sure that trash is cleared out of the way, that all supplies are available, and to answer any questions people might have.
E. Student Government events calendar
Some schools require you to post your event on the student government's event calendar in order to qualify for student-organization funding. Even if you are not using such funds, you should post your event on that calendar. An added benefit of this publicity method is that your event might be automatically announced to the student government's mailing list, which goes out to all students at some schools.
F. Chalking
Chalking is when people write information about an event on campus sidewalks. Do this two days prior to the event, since chalk wears off quickly. Chalk in places where people walk (e.g., in front of libraries, stores, and buildings where undergraduate classes are held) and where people stand around waiting (e.g., bus stops). Universities often have rules regarding places where chalking may be done and what information must be included. Try to have more than one person chalk. Assign specific locations if you’re having more than one person do this so that everyone knows what territory has already been covered.
G. Banner in Student Organization Office or Student Activities Center
Make the banner as big as permissible. Make Ayn Rand’s name as big as possible to attract attention. University rules may apply. You should post it up to two weeks prior to an event.
H. Table tents
Table tents are relatively labor-intensive since you have to design them, get permission to post them in various places from various people, print them, cut them, assemble them, place them, and retrieve them once the event is over. In some ways the table tents are a good form of advertising because people have to spend their whole meal with your advertisement. On the other hand, people often throw them away. If you have enough people, you might consider replenishing your table tents every. The dining halls would be the best place to post them.
I. Club website
Put the event on your club's website. People do see your web page. Furthermore, it is important to keep your website updated so that people know your club is active and that it is being competently managed.
J. Newspaper advertisements
These are usually expensive and may not be effective, but if you have a ton of funding, you might consider purchasing an ad in your student paper. If nothing else, it will increase awareness of your club and Ayn Rand on campus.
K. The Undercurrent website
http://the-undercurrent.com. The Undercurrent, a newspaper published by Objectivist students and distributed on college campuses across the United States, has an event calendar. Its website has a link in the lower right corner for submitting events.
These recommendations are based on material provided by Maria McRaven.