Friday 15 Feb
Pre-Orientation
This is meant to be the biggest event of the year with an expected ~200 first year students showing up.
Greeters
First year students were greeted at the door and lead into the Main Common Room for name tags. The name tags had symbols on them so that when students needed to be separated into smaller groups for events later we could match them up. This went well as we two people on the door at any time and two people at the desk.
Icebreakers
Person Bingo
Students were given a list of tasks e.g. “Meet someone doing the same major as yourself” and crossed off the list. The winner would get a prize.
Passwords
Students were given a list of words and got into groups of three. Within these groups the goal was to get the entire team to guess all of the words. Students would take turns saying one word related to their password and the others would guess until correct.
Notes
Both of these events were run at the same time which made things confusing. Communication was made difficult because the two events were happening at the same time, and music was playing when instructions were being read out. Person Bingo could be improved by making other people sign your sheet. Passwords could be improved by speaking on stage, without music, and running the event as a standalone. Overall, both ice breakers did get people interacting and meeting new people and were therefore a success.
Welcome and Greetings
The introductions went well although some people rambled for far too long. Maya curbed this behaviour deftly once, but it carried on for too long twice after.
Tour
The tour was organised really well. Leaders were each assigned a route, and each route was staggered so that there was no overlap. The tour covered a loop of the university and covered a lot of common lecture halls for first years, student services, emergency telephones, and a little bit of history.
Two groups were combined when a senior leader took their group, and another group was quickly ushered out - this combined group was not too big and both leaders took turns running the tour and played to their strengths.
I would recommend running two people with different major per group.
Lunch
What can I say - it’s lunch.
Mythbusters
First years were encouraged to write down questions they had about university life and culture. Some groups were more eager than others to participate and leaders were encouraged to write down questions also.
Brevity is important here, I think. There are always going to be a lot of questions, and there is a lot of content that could be talked about. First years will zone out when we talk about the same thing for 5 minutes. It’s important to answer the question efficiently and move on so they don’t get bored out of their mind.
Some leaders were encouraged to answer questions about services they are actively involved in - this usually dragged on for far too long.
If you have any more questions about this feel free to ask ___ afterwards.
Notes
- Oh I feel so good - Stretch - Sandi will remember this
- Have a list of mythbusters that we know will be asked
- Should start at midday
- Should have sent out a text
- Usually marketing and comms helps with this
- Decided not to call the repeat a repeat - If we get a higher turnout on Thursday then name could be important
- We didn’t mail out post cards - this could be a reason for low attendance
- Student Learning Development - no tight connections with them
- Mythbusters should not be the last event - this is a downer
- UniStart is being run by SLD this year
Saturday 16 Feb
Games on the Lawn
Hungry Hungry Hippos
Setup: 200 ball pit balls. 4 washing baskets. People placed in 4 teams.
Play: Teams take turns running into the center and grab as many balls as possible. Most balls win.
Capture the Flag
Setup: Flags are placed at either side of the lawn, and people put into two teams. Play: Standard rules apply.
Board Games
Board games are always good. We set the first years up with Pit and Cards Against Humanity.
Notes####
Leaders and First years got involved in the physical games which was really good. First years got together to play board games, while leaders played their own games. This worked well as groups and friendships formed really quickly.
Monday 18Feb
Student IT
Not good - was meant to be on Friday but it wasn’t. There was only one person who took advantage of it.
Student Village
Popcorn is going well. Students are signing up and the team is very active and friendly.
Pre-Convocation
Notes
Communication mishap with building services - Sound equipment has been left up in the MCR.