The Equinox’s Student Life section reports a lot on various events held around campus, but how many of those events have students found out about only through the newspaper?
Throughout my four years at Keene State, and especially during my time writing and reporting for The Equinox, I’ve been to a lot of on-campus events. Our school, and its different departments and offices, usually has something fun or interesting happening each week. From bi-monthly Bingo/Trivia nights to weekly Wellness Wednesdays to those random one-off events like a drag show or a stand-up comedian. There are academic events, different lecturers or documentaries being screened. There is a lot to get involved with, yet some are noticing a lack of attendance.
One event host once commented to me that they were noticing less foot traffic through the student center, which is where many events take place. I’ve heard that events at the Night Owl Café don’t see many attendees. If I tell my roommates I’ll be at an event to report on it, there’s a good chance they won’t know what I’m talking about. Why is this?
Well, I have a few theories.
To start, the weather has not been kind for any of us these past few weeks. It has been cold, snowy, slushy, icy and rainy most of the past few days. I often don’t want to make the walk to the Zorn Dining Commons for dinner, let alone go to some event. This is definitely a factor.
I also think it’s likely that students are hearing about events but just aren’t interested. Not everything will appeal to everyone; different people enjoy different sorts of things. This isn’t something to try to fix, it’s a fact of human nature. Certainly, I’ve noticed some of the more academic events have a lower attendance than, say, bingo. This theory will probably be the truest out of all of them: You can’t appeal to everyone, and that’s alright.
I also think that it’s a matter of advertising. When I interview students while reporting on an event, I like to ask why they decided to attend. Many times, people will say that they heard about it from a professor or they just stumbled onto it while going to pick up their Lloyd’s order. Students aren’t hearing about on-campus events.
The problem, in my opinion, is twofold. There is both too much and too little advertising.
On one hand, a lot of events are put on OwlNet and the online academic calendar and that’s it. Plenty of students don’t frequent those sites. If an event in the student center is only advertised in those online spaces, the majority of student attendees are likely to be those who got curious while checking their mailbox or getting Starbucks.
On the other hand, there are a lot of physical advertisements, so much so that it becomes visual clutter. Those corkboards in the student center are filled with posters. Some are weeks old and the event is over. I only notice new posters because I actively look for them. If you do not, I doubt you’d notice.
So, what can organizations do to ensure attendance? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that; there are a lot of reasons why students aren’t going to these events. Maybe once the weather gets nicer everyone will want to go to more of them. However, I suggest different forms of advertising. Instead of relying on a few posters that might get lost in the crowd, try word-of-mouth as well. Tell related classes about it or have organization members talk to their friends about it. If an organization has a social media page, post information about it there. Put your advertisements where students will see them! We have so many fun events here at Keene State that students would love to attend if they knew about them.
Orion Corbin can be contacted at
