Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Top Tips for a Fab Freshers 2010
If you’re planning your STAR freshers stall then have a look at our top tips and what you should be telling students about… and get ready for an awesome year!
If you’re a new student starting university this Autumn or looking for a new society to get involved with, then go here to find out about Joining STAR at Freshers 2010
Top Tips
Freshers Fair is quite possibly the most important day of your STAR year. But relax. See below for some helpful advice on how to make it a success.
Book your stall.
If you haven’t done it yet then make sure its not too late! If you have any choice, try to get in a prominent place with similar societies (not in a cupboard with Engineering Soc). Find out how big your table is, whether you have a noticeboard or a place to plug in your laptop, etc.
Order your materials.
Contact STAR national team in advance to get your resources to help promote STAR and refugees (banners, t-shirts, stickers, leaflets, posters).
Plan your first meeting.
Meet together as a committee or group and set a date, book a room, invite any speakers and decide what you’re going to do. Make it interesting, fun, a good opportunity for people to meet each other, and be clear on what they can do next.
Advertise your first meeting or event clearly.
Have a poster or flyer with clear details of how to find out more and what they can go to over the next few weeks (with a set date, time, location, etc).
Plan your volunteering.
Freshers week is the best time to recruit new volunteers so get organised and make sure you have all the information you need.
- Get in touch with your partner organisation to find out when the volunteering will start, how new volunteers can get involved and if there will be any training volunteers need to attend.
- If volunteers can’t start straight away e.g. because they need to have a CRB check, plan some activities to keep people interested. This could be a training session, a visit to the project, a speaker event or just a volunteer get together.
Advertise your volunteering.
Make some eye catching posters and flyers to hand out which tell people clearly what the volunteering is and how they can get involved. Make sure everyone helping on your freshers stall knows about the volunteering opportunities and can talk to potential volunteers about it.
Make your stall stand out.
New students will often have a huge number of societies they can join, so you need to ensure that your stall will get noticed. Put up signs and arrows, give out freebies like stickers or cakes, use the STAR banner, have photos from last year, display quotes from STAR members or refugees you have helped in your volunteering project, play music, show a video, maybe have footprints leading to your stall…
Know what you are talking about.
You are competing against lots of other societies for new members so when people approach your stall you want to be able to get them interested quickly. It is good idea to prepare what will say beforehand and you can even practice your ‘pitch’ on your friends. Make sure it covers what STAR is, why they should join and what they can get involved in if they do (e.g. what volunteering can they do). Keep it short and make it sound fun and interesting.
Organise who is on the stall.
Make a rota and have enough helpers so one or two of you can wander around giving out leaflets and directing people to your stall. Make sure all the helpers know what they should be saying to people.
Prepare a sign-up sheet.
Make it as easy as possible for people to sign up to your mailing list! If you can use a laptop then typing emails straight in avoids a lot of mistakes and admin work later. But otherwise make sure you’ve got plenty of sheets with enough space to write, pens that actually work, and that you don’t lose them underneath all the leaflets and cookies.
Have a small activity on your stall.
Get people involved straight away with a petition, a quiz, a short video…
Get students to take action for the Right to Work – you can order postcards from STAR national or have a laptop on your stall so people can email their MP right there and then!
Be friendly and approachable!
Try to be welcoming – if you start to get grumpy after 3 hours then take a break!
Spread the word!
Right to Work – Take Action!
STAR is calling on all MPs to support permission to work for asylum seekers.
Since 2002 people seeking refuge in the UK have been denied permission to work.
Many people who have fled torture and persecution are now living in poverty or complete destitution. Help us to bring an end to destitution in the asylum system and put pressure on the government to give permission to work to asylum seekers.
You can help by:
- emailing your MP now!
- sending the link to your friends
- sending the link to all member sin your STAR group
- asking students to sign the Action Card in your freshers packs
Read more about the Right to Work campaign
National Conference 20-21 November
All students are welcome to attend STAR’s National Conference to learn about refugees, meet other STAR members, share skills and be trained to take action on campus!
Read more about the STAR National Conference 2010
5 Things You Should Know About Refugees
Your Freshers pack contains a pack of postcards and posters for you to spread around your university campus… make sure everyone knows at least 5 Things about refugees!
Posted by STAR team on 15/09/2010 at 05:05 PM
