Event Planning & Promotion

Description

The Office of Community Engagement & University Events provides logistical support for university events and manages the central database of space reservations. Contact the team for event support early, and be sure to start your planning by booking your event space in EMS.

Once your event location, date and time are secured, it's time to think about how guests will access your event. Registration and/or tickets are strongly encouraged for all events, free and paid. Registration processes allow you to track and communicate with guests, efficiently plan your event to accommodate the appropriate number of guests — and it also increases your guests' attendance. University Advancement has several tools available to support tickets and registration, depending on your audience.

Multi-channel promotion of your event is also critical to ensuring success. Whether you are inviting guests via social media or formal invitations, be sure your logistics are secured well in advance and plan to give guests plenty of notice — in lots of ways — before attending.

Promoting Student & Employee Events

If the audience for your event is current students and/or employees, use the DIY took kit for promotional materials.

As soon as your space is booked in EMS, put your event on the university calendar. Calendar posts need to include an event description, time, location, registration or ticket links, and contact information. Be sure to add a photo to your calendar post to increase visibility and engagement. Here's how to do it!
Do you need postcards, posters, fliers or content for digital screens around campus? Locate a template in the DIY toolkit or contact the student-run creative agency, MAPS, for assistance.
Submit information about your event for Pacific’s targeted weekly student and employee e-newsletters. Items can typically be posted up to three times in advance of an event.

External Events

If the audience for your event includes alumni, donors, parents or members of the public, request event promotion assistance from University Advancement at least 14 weeks prior to the event to ensure a full promotion campaign. We can help identify the right registration or ticketing systems to use for your specific audience, develop promotional language for registration forms, calendar posts and web content, put together an email promotion campaign for your event, and assist with any additional print or digital promotion collateral.

Marketing & Communications is unable to provide videography services to livestream events, but we may be able to host a livestream on the Pacific University YouTube channel if you contract with a third-party videographer.

** Are you planning an admissions event for prospective students? University Advancement is happy to assist with promotion your event in collaboration with admissions team members! Complete the event request form to get started. **

Timing Factors

Start early! Secure your event space in EMS as soon as possible. If guests are traveling to your event from outside the Portland area, we recommend 12 weeks of promotion activities (after logistics are finalized). If your guests are from within the Portland area, six weeks of promotion may be sufficient. For on-campus events for students and/or employees, six weeks of promotion is recommended — but two weeks is the minimum.