Roxanne Gasana, Campus Carrier staff writer

Student event attendance has been consistent this academic year, although patterns vary based on the kind, time and promotion of an event. While there has been steady participation in traditional events, smaller events have low turnout, reflecting scheduling conflicts, student preferences and a packed campus calendar.

Student Director of KCAB and junior Abbey Hart noted that while attendance remains the primary way the success of events is evaluated, it is not the sole factor considered.

“Attendance is normally what we use, just because that’s the easiest,” Hart said. “But energy and the time people spend at these events matter. If they come for three seconds, grab food and leave, then we know that we need to do something a little differently.”

Besides monitoring attendance, KCAB gets feedback on events by sending surveys to those who attend. The results from these surveys are compiled into reports that serve as guides for future event planning. KCAB changes certain aspects of events according to students’ preferences, like the kind of entertainment provided and food options.

This method has proven to be effective for the attendance rates during large events this year. According to Hart, participation at these events has reached some of the highest levels ever.

“Our big events have had more people than I’ve ever seen,” Hart said. “Casino Night, we checked in over 900 people, and at formal, we sold over 1,000 tickets.”

Long-standing campus traditions like these tend to attract attendance from students.

“If it’s something we’ve done every year, more people tend to come,” Hart said.

Not all events attract steady numbers, however, as smaller events tend to have inconsistent attendance. Hart said competition with club events often decreases attendance at KCAB’s smaller events.

“We’re seeing more of our smaller events starting to compete with club events,” Hart said. “There are nights where there are four or five different events happening at once.”

Brittani Farmer (15C), director of student involvement, said such cases are fairly common and that the overlap reflects the wide range of events available to students.

“We’ve seen really good engagement this year across the board,” Farmer said. “Sometimes we do have events that are on top of each other, and I wish we could have a better structure for scheduling them, but we still want to give students the flexibility of choice.”

According to Farmer, fluctuations in attendance are not unusual, and they follow predictable patterns throughout 
the semester.

“It’s typically a normal pattern of ups and downs,” Farmer said. “There are weekends when more students stay and others when more people go home or do something off campus.”

Timing also plays a role in turnout. Weeknight events tend to draw fewer participants since most students are studying. On the other hand, weekend events could be affected by other commitments such as planned outings, concerts and sports. Due to this, organizations try to balance scheduling choices to take all these factors into consideration.

The Office of Student Involvement (OSI) provides resources and assistance to support organizations during event planning. OSI holds training, information and feedback sessions to help student leaders learn about management, organizing and other event logistics.

“We do a variety of leadership trainings on event planning and on marketing to maximise our engagement,” Farmer said.

KCAB has also been looking into ways to increase participation through event design. Interactive events, like craft-based activities where students can take something with them, have been successful in bringing in more people. Additionally, advanced promotion of events, including campus-wide activities such as scavenger hunts, has also generated 
more interest.

Communication is an aspect that still presents challenges for KCAB events. With multiple events taking place each week, students receive many emails and see multiple posters and social media updates.

“Sometimes our natural modes of promoting stuff, especially email, have people overloaded with them,” Farmer said. “We’re always trying to find a unique way to promote the event.”

Beyond attendance, Hart and Farmer emphasized that the most important function for campus events is building community. Student involvement events provide chances to meet new people and give students opportunities to take a break from academic responsibilities.