In an attempt to increase student attendance, the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL) and other event organizers rebrand and expand advertising.
“Not only have we rebranded our event from Late Nights to Union After Dark, but we have also adopted the idea of themes,” Erik Kahl, Associate Director of CSIL.
Themes for Union After Dark are based on the season, holidays, or even performers.
“Every month is different but we always try to do a mix between a craft and a stage activity,” Alejandra Prado, the 7220 Entertainment Advisor, said.
In addition to the adoption of themes, the venue for Union After Dark has expanded to encompass the entire Union instead of limiting itself to the third floor.
“Our attendance for Union After Dark usually ranges between 200 and 500 students throughout the night since the venue is an open building,” Prado said.
One other adjustment in event programming is the types of activities that students find appealing.
“A lot of folks are not after skill-building programs right now,” Kahl said. “They just want social activities, they want something where they can take a break from all the other stuff happening out there in the world right now.”
That is where input from student coordinators comes in.
“Our whole thing is programming for students,” Wyatt Jones, a 7220 student coordinator, said. “Our events go from anything from Union After Dark to concerts, to movie showings, and everything in between.”
While some of 7220’s main events like trivia nights and bingo remain popular with students, student coordinators are still trying to accommodate the shift in student interests.
“Lately we are trying to think out of the box,” Jones said. “With NACA coming up, we can only hope to gain some new ideas and bring them here to campus.”
NACA is the National Association of Campus Activities conference where student coordinators can participate in education and entertainment workshops, as well as meet talents for hire.
“Engagement has fluctuated,” Kahl said. “I think the nature of what folks are looking for, based on the survey data and what we have seen anecdotally, has shifted the types of programs and offerings that people want to attend right now.”
Despite the fluctuation presented in survey data from Richard Raridan and Shelby Kennedy at the Service, Leadership, and Community Engagement office, 7220 is still trying to reach off-campus students.
“We have done a couple of strategic partnerships with other organizations,” Jones said. “Most other organizations have found the same thing that when they partner with someone else they get better engagement so they are usually just as excited to do it as we are.”
Other attempts to reach off-campus students include through social media platforms, utilizing bulletin boards through downtown businesses, and even radio advertisements.
This outreach program is a dramatic shift from pre-pandemic practice.
“To me, as a Laramie native, there wasn’t any kind of access to that information,” Kyle Gonzalez, a former UW student, said. “Union events are primarily for people out-of-state or international students who need those social circles.”
Gonzalez notes that while the pandemic has had an impact on how students engage with one another, it has provided a new way to communicate with students.
“Pre-pandemic a lot of teachers used their own websites, there was no WyoWeb,” Gonzalez said. “Now, students could opt into something like an online bulletin board because even students living on campus either don’t know where all of the bulletin boards are or are too busy to look at them.”
While survey data from Raridan and Kennedy suggests that an average of 2.9 out of 5 students learn about events through the poster run, Kahl admits that it has lost its effectiveness.
“We exist to help our student organizations survive. To create student experiences that are memorable and to build networks and social connections,” Kahl said. “Any way that we can do more of that, or do that better, we are always open to that feedback.”
