ACU Paint Fest was an event held by The Cabinet (Campus Activities Board) a campus-sponsored, student leadership group with a mission to increase student involvement and retention through free university-sponsored events. Ty joined The Cabinet during its first, post-pilot launch year. This presented unique challenges as there were not many established event ideas, and creativity among team members was of the utmost importance. Of the 8 Cabinet staff members, each was responsible for approximately two campus events. Ty chose to take on the largest event of the Spring 2018 semester dubbed “ACU Paint Fest”.
- Create a fun and exciting event that will lead to record breaking attendance for a unviersity sponsered function.
- Promote brand awareness and form brand identity for The Cabinet in its first debut year as a campus organization.
- Increase student involvement and retenition.
Ty was the student director placed in charge of ACU Paint Fest. By far the largest event of the organization’s short history, Ty was responsible for the planning, coordination, and execution of this highly sought after event. By far one of the most challenging aspects of this event was marketing. Trying to promote an event on campus was already a significant challenge faced by many on-campus organizations. To make matters worse, The Cabinet had a lackluster social media following due to its novel status as an on-campus organization. Ty was also responsible for the event logistics including venue selection and preparation, vendor management, audio/visual coordination, and event security.
The event was a tremendous success on many fronts. Over 900 students attended the event, exceeding the target attendance of 500. The event helped The Cabinet gain a significant following among the student body and helped build the brand of the organization. Although hard to measure from a single event, student engagement and retention was up at the end of the semester as reported by the Office of Student Life. Feedback from students was extremely positive and many asked for the event to return to campus again. Among the things that needed improvement was the smell of the paint and the cleanup procedures.
- Client The Cabinet - Abilene Christian University
- Position Student Director
- Date 23 March 2018