Sakshi Education
By
Rajasekhar, STED
Engineering life is full of exciting events, none more so than the yearly technical and cultural fests organized by colleges across the nation every year. Every student should experience this organization process at least once during the course of their undergraduate studies. The time spent in organizing these fests not only gives you a huge amount of experience, but also provides you with moments that you will cherish for a long time to come. The organizers of any such event experience a wide spectrum of emotions that run the gamut from despair to euphoric highs.
Organization of fests is a complete team effort therefore; the organization team along with the faculty advisers has to be picked with the utmost care. Success is the result of teamwork, and complete harmony amongst the team members is a pre-requisite for ensuring that the event goes of without any hitches. Petty disputes among the team members only serve to hinder the organizational process. The team leader has to be strict, but also has to allow the team members creative freedom. An effective team leader will consider the opinions of all people involved before making a decision about an aspect of the fest. The majority of the team has to be in harmony with any decision taken regarding the fest. There might be a couple of detractors, but hey, we cannot satisfy everybody now can we? The team leader is responsible for dividing the responsibilities among the team; he or she must identify the individual talents of the members in the team and must make them responsible for a part of organization that is suited to their skill set. For example, a member who presents excellent communication skills, and is a great public orator, might be placed in charge of procuring sponsors. The members that make up the team under each department must also have similar skill sets.
Before the team starts to canvass for sponsors, there are a few things that must be taken care of such as a website dedicated to the fest, and a poster advertising the various events that are going to take place in the fest. Both the website and the poster should have an aesthetic appeal that is able to capture the viewer’s attention at a casual glance. Once these are ready, the sponsorship team should draft a letter, the purpose of which is to respectfully request sponsorship from several top companies. The letter should be able to convey the theme of your fest and the opportunities the fest provides other students. Every possible sponsor will only be concerned with the mileage that their company would get out of sponsoring your fest, so, it is good practice to attach a second document to your letter that sketches the details of what you are offering to that particular company in return for their invaluable sponsorship. It is vital that the sponsorship team is able to convince the company that they will be getting a profitable return on their investment. Every company depends extensively on good advertising to market their product, so the more effectively you propose to market their product, the better chance you have of securing their sponsorship. Once you have adequate sponsorship, you can proceed with proper marketing of your product, the fest!
You need an excellent publicity campaign to attract students from different colleges across the nation to attend and to participate in your fest. The greater the publicity your event receives, the greater the chances of it becoming a roaring success. You have to be able to effectively market your event. The advertising campaign usually revolves around the enticing offers made to students when they attend the event. For example, if you were organizing a cultural fest, than publicity will revolve around the star performer of the night, whereas in technical fests, students are usually drawn to the prize money on offer. Always remember never to market anything that you cannot come through with.
While Sponsors and Publicity are very important cogs in this wheel, the backbone of any technical or cultural fest are the various events that take place during the course of the fest. In case of a technical fest, events pertain to the technical disciplines of the participating students, such as paper and poster presentations, and project expos, whereas in a cultural fest, the events tend to be more informal such as dance and music competitions. The events have to be well thought out and structured carefully so that they capture the attention of the students.
The organization of any event of this kind tests the organizational and leadership abilities of all the people involved. Many valuable lessons on time management and even more important lessons on people management are taught and we have to learn them quickly if the fest is to succeed. Put an end to in fighting and petty disagreements and work together as team to achieve the goals you set for yourself and the event will be a roaring success. The culmination of any successful event such as this is always bittersweet, you are happy for the success of the event, but at the same time, you are sad to see it end.
Rajasekhar, STED
Engineering life is full of exciting events, none more so than the yearly technical and cultural fests organized by colleges across the nation every year. Every student should experience this organization process at least once during the course of their undergraduate studies. The time spent in organizing these fests not only gives you a huge amount of experience, but also provides you with moments that you will cherish for a long time to come. The organizers of any such event experience a wide spectrum of emotions that run the gamut from despair to euphoric highs.
Organization of fests is a complete team effort therefore; the organization team along with the faculty advisers has to be picked with the utmost care. Success is the result of teamwork, and complete harmony amongst the team members is a pre-requisite for ensuring that the event goes of without any hitches. Petty disputes among the team members only serve to hinder the organizational process. The team leader has to be strict, but also has to allow the team members creative freedom. An effective team leader will consider the opinions of all people involved before making a decision about an aspect of the fest. The majority of the team has to be in harmony with any decision taken regarding the fest. There might be a couple of detractors, but hey, we cannot satisfy everybody now can we? The team leader is responsible for dividing the responsibilities among the team; he or she must identify the individual talents of the members in the team and must make them responsible for a part of organization that is suited to their skill set. For example, a member who presents excellent communication skills, and is a great public orator, might be placed in charge of procuring sponsors. The members that make up the team under each department must also have similar skill sets.
Before the team starts to canvass for sponsors, there are a few things that must be taken care of such as a website dedicated to the fest, and a poster advertising the various events that are going to take place in the fest. Both the website and the poster should have an aesthetic appeal that is able to capture the viewer’s attention at a casual glance. Once these are ready, the sponsorship team should draft a letter, the purpose of which is to respectfully request sponsorship from several top companies. The letter should be able to convey the theme of your fest and the opportunities the fest provides other students. Every possible sponsor will only be concerned with the mileage that their company would get out of sponsoring your fest, so, it is good practice to attach a second document to your letter that sketches the details of what you are offering to that particular company in return for their invaluable sponsorship. It is vital that the sponsorship team is able to convince the company that they will be getting a profitable return on their investment. Every company depends extensively on good advertising to market their product, so the more effectively you propose to market their product, the better chance you have of securing their sponsorship. Once you have adequate sponsorship, you can proceed with proper marketing of your product, the fest!
You need an excellent publicity campaign to attract students from different colleges across the nation to attend and to participate in your fest. The greater the publicity your event receives, the greater the chances of it becoming a roaring success. You have to be able to effectively market your event. The advertising campaign usually revolves around the enticing offers made to students when they attend the event. For example, if you were organizing a cultural fest, than publicity will revolve around the star performer of the night, whereas in technical fests, students are usually drawn to the prize money on offer. Always remember never to market anything that you cannot come through with.
While Sponsors and Publicity are very important cogs in this wheel, the backbone of any technical or cultural fest are the various events that take place during the course of the fest. In case of a technical fest, events pertain to the technical disciplines of the participating students, such as paper and poster presentations, and project expos, whereas in a cultural fest, the events tend to be more informal such as dance and music competitions. The events have to be well thought out and structured carefully so that they capture the attention of the students.
The organization of any event of this kind tests the organizational and leadership abilities of all the people involved. Many valuable lessons on time management and even more important lessons on people management are taught and we have to learn them quickly if the fest is to succeed. Put an end to in fighting and petty disagreements and work together as team to achieve the goals you set for yourself and the event will be a roaring success. The culmination of any successful event such as this is always bittersweet, you are happy for the success of the event, but at the same time, you are sad to see it end.
Published date : 12 Aug 2015 04:59PM
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