Freshers' Week

[Chris Worfolk]

Given the academic year is expiring I would guess many of us are starting to think about the next big recruitment drive - freshers' week. So, given this is such a good opportunity to gain members I might be worth discussing some of the ideas and potential strategies that people are planning to use.

At Leeds, our main focus this year is simply going to be providing a presence. Each society gets one day with a stall at the societies fair but we're planning to be around campus every day handing out free drinks, survival packs (if we can make them) and talking to people.

We're also planning to run two socials that week (no formal meetings because people will just want to party). We tried to keep this as low as possible in terms of numbers of events so that we can make the ones we do big. We decided to do at least two though so that if people have clashes they are more likely to be able to make at least one.

Therefore we're doing one traditional alcohol based one, a pub crawl through town to introduce the freshers to the city centre and we're also doing a craft style "make your own god" event which also works quite well in catering for students who aren't drinkers.

We are also planning to ensure all the committee are in hoodies, t-shirts, etc to really get our name out there. No doubt we will be putting our "Atheist Society" and "there is no god" banners up too.

[AlexMagd]

Oxford is more restricted in terms of what's allowed and what isn't (example: badges are fine to hand out, stickers forbidden). You have to stay behind your desk too. It's pretty stupid.

Nonetheless we'll be at the Freshers Fair with stuff to hand out - usually newsletters, badges and that kind of thing. We also have a massive banner that a previous President made which tends to dominate any room its put in, so that'll make the trip and entice people to the stall.

Bit of a debate whether or not, as a secular society rather than a specifically atheist/agnostic or humanist one, we should be in the Political or the Religious section. Being in the Religious section is pretty fun and people looking for us usually go there first, but technically we don't really fit there. Plus people in the Political section take themselves way too seriously; last year there was some bitchiness between the Animal Rights Society and the Pro-Test group's stands (what genius put those two next to each other?!)

Anyhow, our usual procedure is:

(a) On the stall all week on a rota, handing out free stuff
(b) A social or drinks event the week after (so much on the door, then unlimited drinks after that)

The socials are great because you get to show what a nice friendly society you are, and people are far more likely to take the leap into joining if they've had a few drinks in a nice atmosphere (under the shadow of the aforementioned banner).

TL;DR = a constant Freshers Fair presence followed by an informal social is the way we've found to be most effective in turning people signed up to the mailing list into actual members

[Chris Worfolk]

Oxford is more restricted in terms of what's allowed and what isn't (example: badges are fine to hand out, stickers forbidden). You have to stay behind your desk too. It's pretty stupid.

Yeah, we've found our societies fairs becoming more and more restrictive, hence this September we are basically planning to turn up with a paste table and set up shop in random places on campus. Worst university security can do is tell us to move on.

[Alex Kennedy]

In those halcyon days when I was on the committee of LSE SecSoc we found that being out on the street was more effective than having a stall inside the freshers' fair. Which was lucky since we had left it too late to book one...

[grammar king mike]

We have a few events planned. A few times during the week we'll be setting up a table in the main university/union area (Bristo Square for those who were in Edinburgh), and holding a prayer contest. This is an experiment we ran last year where we randomly generate a 4 digit number, and get people to roll 4 10-sided dice whilst praying to a deity of their choice, in order to determine which deity you should pray to if you want to see a real difference in your life. We hope to somehow get a top-gear style rolling board to show who's winning at any given time, but that would require someone to know what the number is, which is kind of un-scientific (><).

We'll also be walking up our local mountain, Arthur's Seat, possibly stopping along the way, Mount Improbable-style to point out where lungs/legs developed etc. It'll be quite difficult to make accurate, I think.

Other than that I think we'll just be having a large presence at the Fresher's Fair (we need a large banner, I'll get on it when I get back to Edinburgh) and showing a couple of films (I think the Life of Brian was selected).