As a make-up event for those who didn’t attend the beach cleanup workshop, we held a schoolwide swap event. However, as a result of poor timing & planning on our behalf, the outcome was not very successful. We began by advertising the swap event about a week before it happened, both through the IMA newsletter, NYUSH events newsletter, and word-of-mouth. The swap was held on December 5th at 6pm, but what we hadn’t considered was how that week was a busy final project preparation week for many people who would have been interested in attending. On the day of the swap, nobody showed up to the 2nd floor cafe besides us, the student event coordinators, and Marcela + additional IMA faculty. Marcela helped out a lot by creating the event poster and having University Communications come to document the event, but with the small turnout we had, there was nothing to document. At about 6:15, we decided to informally hold it outside of the IMA lab in the 8th floor lounge.
We used the tables that were previously used as lost-and-found containers to put the few items that people brought to swap. I brought a sweater, a reusable glass bottle, and an umbrella for the swap. Marcela brought a coat that was too large for her – which I ended up taking, and Sara took the sweater that I no longer had use for. Outside of our class, Professor Minsky brought a pair of shoes that were too small, and we also added some other household objects that were lying around the lab for people to take.
Some takeaways from this failed event were:
- Organize it well beforehand – i.e. boost advertising by making more flyers, telling more people, and planning it earlier
- Hold it during a time where people are not as busy/at a time where people would have things to swap, i.e. at the end of the year when people are moving out of their dorms/apartments
- Make the location somewhere with a lot of traffic
- Have additional incentives for people to come to the event: i.e. music, food, community
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