The Club Support Committee will hold a public relations workshop to educate club leaders on advertising events and membership on Wednesday, March 22. This committee has traditionally assisted clubs with recognition and chartering, so this will be the first workshop created to assist clubs after the chartering process.
The first half of the event will feature a speaker from outside the Brandeis community. Scott Farmelant ’86 from Denterlein company, a Boston public relations firm, will explain a professional approach to advertising on a small or nonexistent budget. Clubs request funding each semester for advertising, but Class of 2020 senator and Club Support Committee member Tal Richtman hopes that the lecture will show club leaders that money is not always necessary to encourage participation in a club or an event.
The second half of the workshop will include a panel of executive board members that hold a marketing or public relations position. Gabi Tucker ’19 from TAMID, Venus Sun ’19 from BC3, Cindy Xu ’17 from BAASA and Sarah Levy ’17 from Student Events will speak about what advertising methods they found useful when recruiting members or encouraging attendance for an event.
The club support committee used a survey to help them select the panelists. The survey asked first-year students which clubs they thought were most attractive based on advertisements and word of mouth. The committee then reached out to the E-boards of these clubs and asked if they would participate in the event. “The Brandeis community has a lot of people with creative ideas, and we can help each other to improve,” Richtman said.
The workshop itself will serve as an example for how to organize an event. The hour-and-a-half event will be publicized about two weeks in advance and provide food for participants. The workshop is geared toward club leaders, but any member of the student body will be allowed to attend. “Anyone can learn something about public relations,” Richtman said. He hopes to continue club support workshops in the future.
