When event planners are called upon to host an event on a college campus, they must understand the crucial role the affair will play in molding both a social and academic foundation. The school is counting on you to know how to attract a large percentage of the students and entice them to participate and connect beyond the lecture halls, group studies, and career fairs.
Sometimes it’s up to the up and coming event planners on campus to organize activities, fundraisers, and other college events. In this article, we hope to spark some creative event planning ideas for both existing and upcoming event planners that are asked to put together an event that will fascinate college students.
In order to help event planners organize an event that includes some creative ideas that will stand out and encourage students to share their experience on social media, we’ve put together some of the best event concepts to appeal to college students.
3 Crafty Event Concepts that Will Appeal to College Students
College Film Festival
The college years are known to be a young adult’s most creative (and sleepless) life phase and displaying their craft on a big screen is quite exciting which is why a film festival would be very alluring. An exciting concept that will appeal to #teamnosleep types is to invite them to produce a short movie using all of the available digital resources that exist today.
The students will have the opportunity to design a themed movie within a limited time frame. Draw up a list of themes and provide participants a few ground rules as far as how long or short their film should be and what the subject matter is. Let them know how long they have to create their film from soup to nuts and then select a day for them to showcase their production. Make sure to include food and beverages at the film festival and end the night with an award ceremony.
Battle of the Bands
There’s nothing healthier than to put together a competition that will get everyone’s adrenaline pumping around a college campus. I mean who doesn’t love a good battle of anything creative?
Chances are pretty good that any university will have an overabundance of creative types who are musically inclined and would love to bring their homemade band from the dorm room onto a stage. Announce an upcoming battle of the bands to be held at a local theater or large campus venue and encourage entries by offering an attractive prize for the band who delivers the best performance.
If you’d like to turn this event into a fundraiser or all-day event, you can convert this battle of the bands theme into a music festival where bands will be allowed to play on various stages on a large field. In between the stages, you can have food stands, local vendors selling their goods at a booth (or a table), sponsor booths, etc.
Late Night Scavenger Hunt
Here’s an activity that is fun for all college students whether they have a creative bone in their body or not. Plus, it’s at night! Design a trail that includes a reliable guide that maps out the entire trail and then send the students out in assigned groups rather than allowing them to pick their own teams. This is a great way to get students to begin learning about the benefits of networking with others outside of their comfort zone. Be sure to select a number of students to act as guides throughout the trail that will have clues to help participants on their scavenger journey.
End the scavenger hunt with a favorite outdoor night activity like eating s’mores around a bonfire at the end of the trail.
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