In the past, Drew’s club fairs typically featured dozens of tables filled with flyers, email lists and overeager club leaders. But, this semester’s club fair kicked off with different Instagram story posts highlighting a small handful of clubs.
All Drew University organizations were invited to participate in the Spring ‘22 Club Fair from Feb. 14 to Feb. 18. Upon filling out a form, club leaders were encouraged to create a post discussing their club as well as any future events to be featured on the Student Activities Instagram page.
Secretary and Webmaster of Connect with Kids Isla Ubiles (‘24) said she was enthusiastic to participate in the virtual club fair. “I’m passionate about more people coming to the club that I’m on the board of, and I wanted to make sure that people knew about it,” Ubiles said.
While Connect with Kids did not gain any new followers or membership requests on The Path, according to some of the board members, the outreach was still appreciated.
However, Ubiles said she wished the promotion would have been more than just an Instagram story. Instagram automatically deletes stories after 24 hours regardless of viewership, which is not a very long period of time for viewers to learn more about a club and its upcoming events.
Other club leaders also thought the event was not nearly marketed well enough to students looking to get involved with extracurricular activities here on campus.
“Instagram is not always the most accessible thing,” said Ethan Govea (‘23), Music Director of 36 Madison Ave. 36 Madison Ave, Drew’s all-male acapella group did not participate in the virtual event. “If there’s anything every Drew student has, it’s email. Especially since Drew students are more likely to check emails than they are to check Instagram stories for Drew related things.”
The virtual event was publicized on The Path.
The Fall semester’s club fair will be in person with tables and posters, high-energy club members and an opportunity to really get to know and interact with all the clubs Drew has to offer.
