I remember one of my first experiences on campus as a freshman. I walked through the middle of campus and tables were lined up everywhere. Everyone was promoting their club, frat/sorority, or humanitarian organization. There was free stuff everywhere and lots of poster board displays. Everyone was trying to recruit me and it was a little overwhelming.
The clubs and organization fair is a great place to promote your ministry and meet new students. You could just hope that your table will stand out above all the rest or you can do a couple specific things to really make an impact.
Make It Interactive
Grab some portable speakers and pump some music. I’m not talking Bluetooth speakers (although those work if it’s all you’ve got), but something that will be a little louder to stand out above the crowd noise. If your group doesn’t have some speakers and tripod stands it’s likely your church has something you can borrow.
Put together a playlist of secular and modern sounding Christian music (not Chris Tomlin – artists like Lecrae, Gungor, Rend Collective Experiment, Family Force 5, etc.). Even throwing something in there like the Cupid Shuffle might get a dance party going by your table.
You can also put together a fun game to draw people in. Why not do a contest for the funniest selfie? You could have everyone take them on one phone and then display it on a computer monitor for everyone to see. Giving away prizes for games is also a great way to go because everyone loves free stuff. If you want to give away something cool that’s also interactive I suggest playing beta pong.
Make Your Info Simple
Don’t put too much on your table, but don’t make it look too sparse either. You should have invite cards with your meeting info on them (you can get the official BASIC ones by emailing info@thebasicsite.org) and a sign up sheet to collect info. If you’ve scheduled some opening weekend events (hopefully you have) you could put together a small handout card detailing the different events.
Putting a stack of BASICcon brochures on the table will add something and give you the chance to talk about the conferences, which can get students really excited to be involved. You could also put out a stack of freshsemester.com cards (also ordered by emailing BASIC). The only other thing to include is free candy, either on the table or in a bowl.
Keep your table simple, otherwise people will be overwhelmed and uninterested. A quick note – you can create your own flyers, brochures, etc but often you won’t have a professional graphic designer in your group. Save yourself the time and order things from BASIC when possible to make sure your graphics look fresh and up to date.
Have A Video
If you aren’t able to play music, videos are engaging and can draw people in. Set up a computer monitor with a bluetooth speaker and show videos like the main BASIC promo and the promo for the fall BASICcon. You can find them on BASIC’s YouTube channel.
Use Banners
Having a display with banners and even a backdrop can go a long way to making your table stand out from all the rest. These are another thing you can order through BASIC so you don’t have to do all the design on your own. We can also do vinyl banners (not listed on that website) that hang on the front of a table.
These will get you started thinking about how your table can make a big impression, but I’m sure you can come up with even more creative ideas once you get going!
photo credit: pennstatenews via photopin cc