All the fun of the Fresher's Fair

This morning I took a trip up to Brighton racecourse for our Fresher's Fair. Apparently the largest in the country (according to one of our Students' Union Vice Presidents, Ed, on his blog about the fair). 

As always, the place was buzzing, with sweets, pens, club night freebies and more leaflets than you can imagine stuffed into your hands as you try and walk around.

This was taken before the fair officially opened - already packed

The fair is a mix of student clubs and societies, internal services and local and commercial companies. My colleagues from Student Services, for example, put on a great stall. They were giving out information and useful promotional items like their (now classic!) tea towel.

Student Services - photo by Bob Seago

I believe the fair is a great chance for first years to get a good feel of the range of activities and services available for them during their time at uni. But I think that some of that usefulness is lost with our in-house stalls sharing attention with the commercial ones. As Ed comments in his post, students are encouraged to make the most of the freebies from the commercial advertisers. And they do. The point of the day for many - myself included - becomes getting the best freebies rather than finding out about your town and uni.

An interesting perspective is offered by Reach Students, questioning industry specialists on their views on Fresher's Fairs, and whether this is actually the right time to try and engage students. I like this quote:

"The new student has so much visual noise over the first two weeks of term it is a bonus if they can work out which modules they are taking and how they get to them from their accommodation. The best time to reach them is when they have time in front of a computer and they are looking for distractions (before exams) or excited (two weeks before they arrive on campus)." John Abell, MD at Membership Solutions by Reach Students

I would agree wholeheartedly with this, but if the nightclubs still want to come and give away their freebies knowing the students are unlikely to remember the difference with any of them, then good luck to them. I admit I am not their target audience (by a good 20 years), but would say most didn't manage to stand out in any particular way. However, I will give special mention to the two campaigns that particularly appealed to me today.

1. The Haunt, a nightclub in town. Given what I just said, why did I remember their name? Well because when they gave me a free wristband, they used a metal strip and clamped it on to my wrist! The idea was for students to keep it on as long as possible - all term in fact - to get the discount.

wriststrap clamped on!

2. And a piece of rock from the Samaritans. A simple sweet giveaway, quite fitting for a seaside town, but the message through the rock seemed so apt for the Samaritans and so witty it deserves a special mention!

Samaritans rock - for When Life Sucks

An enjoyable day, and I know that the internal services will have plenty of campaigns long after Fresher's week is finished so the students who were overwhelmed today should be able to get the information they need at a less frantic pace.