June 06, 2019
9 Smart College Event Ideas Students Will Love and Share
On-campus events are important for establishing the intellectual and social fabric of your school’s campus. However, if you want to draw a large crowd, you’ll need to look beyond traditional event ideas. Study group, job fairs, and lectures are all proven methods for acquiring the interest of your student body, but college students (especially freshmen students) are always looking for authentic and unique ways to connect.
Make your college event stand out with these nine smart, social media-worthy ideas.
1. TEDx Talks
Did you know that the famous idea-sharing event TEDx started as a campus forum back in 2009 at USC? Now, TEDx encourages other campuses to produce their own versions of the critically-acclaimed lecture series.
Capturing TEDx talks on video is a great way to curate viral and powerful social media content. It also helps encourage student discussion and inspires students to connect with each other and share their thoughts on popular topics.
2. Farmer’s Market
Reach out to local vendors and farms to prepare a farmer’s market for your school campus. Not only does this give students the opportunity to support local businesses, but it also helps them to practice community engagement and healthy eating habits.
3. Campus Film Festival
Nowadays, anyone can create a film using user-friendly tools online and on their smartphones. Since college students love their newfound freedom of staying up all hours of the night, give them the opportunity to do something valuable with that time. Brainstorm a list of creative themes and prepare some general rules of subject matter and length.
Next, create a variety of different groups and provide themes based on a lottery system. Finally, give each team 24 hours to complete their film and select a day to showcase each film to the entire student body. With snacks and awards, you can host an entertaining film festival that can gain a lot of social media notoriety.
4. Community Service Opportunities
Out of all the traditional college event ideas you can imagine, community service will always be relevant. That’s because Millennials enjoy coming together to promote a positive change within their community. You can team up with a local organization to orchestrate and promote important community events.
For example, you can convince students at your university to clean up a beach, raise awareness for a special cause, or organize a themed open mike night where all of the proceeds go to a charity.
5. Open Workshops
Create and host a workshop where students can participate to make their own decor. By getting inspiration from Etsy, Instagram, and Pinterest, you can encourage students to build their own hangers, recycled frames, and terrariums.
If your idea is successful, you can cause participants to make posts on their social media accounts showing off their creations.
6. Cooking Classes
Cooking classes are ideal for students who want to become more self-sufficient and eat healthier. The goal of this idea is to create a unique theme for your cooking class and plan meals that are college-friendly, affordable, and simple like stir fry, pho, homemade ramen, or mac n’ cheese.
7. Battle of the Bands
While this idea may not mean the same as it did back in the ‘80s where bands were extremely popular, it’s still a great idea for modern-day college campuses. There are bound to be several students on your campus who are musically inclined.
Hosting a “battle of the bands” is an effective way for others to showcase their skills and form authentic relationships with other talented students.
8. Hike Night
For this idea, send out groups (with an experienced guide) out late at night to hike a trail. Designate the guide to go further along to have each group navigate their way on the trail alone. This is an incredible bonding activity that can be taken up a notch with s’mores and a retro-style bonfire.
9. Go Ice Skating
Have you ever been ice skating? Regardless of your answer, it’s likely that many students on your campus haven’t even been on an ice rink. Plan an event your student body hasn’t experienced before by visiting Artificial Ice Events.
Give us a call today at (800) 275-0185 to receive a free quote!
