How can you help?
We all know that a well-delegated group is a growing and healthy group. We are constantly looking for volunteers to help us develop materials and support events for the group. If you are interested, or have any ideas or suggestions, please email us. Here is the breakdown of the sorts of things we do:
We all know that a well-delegated group is a growing and healthy group. We are constantly looking for volunteers to help us develop materials and support events for the group. If you are interested, or have any ideas or suggestions, please email us. Here is the breakdown of the sorts of things we do:
- Tabling
- Hand out business cards and flyers
- Post flyers and use sidewalk chalk (check out rules)
- Spread the word generally, invite friends to meetings
- Join the blog as a contributor, and write posts to pass along news and events of interest to our group
- Be an administrator/officer
- Join our Facebook group, subscribe to the blog via RSS, receive new posts via email to keep up with news and events, and come to meetings!
The best thing you can do for the group right now is spread the word, and support our events and meetings with your attendance and involvement.
The most imperative events of our group are the IDEAL Student Organization Fairs, which are a way to get new members (especially underclassmen) at the beginning of the semesters. We then try to have a meeting the same night as the IDEAL SOF to invite interested parties to, and have tabling at least a few times in the first few weeks of the semester. We have a portable table, table materials (including posters, bulletins, magazines and descriptive materials from our affiliated groups), and we will be recruiting during the typical student organization drive in the first month or so of each semester.
There is an IDEAL Student Organization Fair each semester, and the fall is crucial to our success at growing the group. I would just say that so long as the group makes a focused effort at spending 2-3 weeks at the start of the fall semester doing the IDEAL SOF and tabling, it will be fine and it will continue to grow, contingent upon us actually doing things which will spread the word and pique interest and attendance.
We have some handouts and flyers (all new versions available HERE or HERE) for use with these sorts of events. Especially note the business card, which can be printed six to a page at the dimensions of 2.5" x 3.5", and is the best way for you to pass along AAFSA information. Just print yourself out a few dozen and keep some in your wallet or purse, and hand them out whenever you find the opportunity.
Unfortunately, UF has many regulations regarding how we can put up the flyers/handouts (versus handing them out directly). Therefore, we can’t just go around stapling out stuff to all the bulletin boards on campus, or else we’ll get in trouble. Check the rules out, if you decide to do so.
Another way to go about advertising the group is to use sidewalk chalk. Again, there are regulations regarding how it may be used, which makes it less practical and viable than handing out our business cards. We must follow the university policies for student organization advertising on-campus.
A most facile means of spreading the word includes using internet forums, e-mail signatures, bulletins, Facebook messages, AIM signatures…these are all free and easy ways to spread awareness. You could just put a standard line in your signature with “Gator Freethought: http://www.gatorfreethought.org/” for emails and/or AIMs.
Join our Facebook! Make your own flyers or advertisements and share them with the group. When it comes to advertising for GF, here are a couple of guidelines I will stipulate, on top of those regulations the university has:
The most imperative events of our group are the IDEAL Student Organization Fairs, which are a way to get new members (especially underclassmen) at the beginning of the semesters. We then try to have a meeting the same night as the IDEAL SOF to invite interested parties to, and have tabling at least a few times in the first few weeks of the semester. We have a portable table, table materials (including posters, bulletins, magazines and descriptive materials from our affiliated groups), and we will be recruiting during the typical student organization drive in the first month or so of each semester.
There is an IDEAL Student Organization Fair each semester, and the fall is crucial to our success at growing the group. I would just say that so long as the group makes a focused effort at spending 2-3 weeks at the start of the fall semester doing the IDEAL SOF and tabling, it will be fine and it will continue to grow, contingent upon us actually doing things which will spread the word and pique interest and attendance.
We have some handouts and flyers (all new versions available HERE or HERE) for use with these sorts of events. Especially note the business card, which can be printed six to a page at the dimensions of 2.5" x 3.5", and is the best way for you to pass along AAFSA information. Just print yourself out a few dozen and keep some in your wallet or purse, and hand them out whenever you find the opportunity.
Unfortunately, UF has many regulations regarding how we can put up the flyers/handouts (versus handing them out directly). Therefore, we can’t just go around stapling out stuff to all the bulletin boards on campus, or else we’ll get in trouble. Check the rules out, if you decide to do so.
Another way to go about advertising the group is to use sidewalk chalk. Again, there are regulations regarding how it may be used, which makes it less practical and viable than handing out our business cards. We must follow the university policies for student organization advertising on-campus.
A most facile means of spreading the word includes using internet forums, e-mail signatures, bulletins, Facebook messages, AIM signatures…these are all free and easy ways to spread awareness. You could just put a standard line in your signature with “Gator Freethought: http://www.gatorfreethought.org/” for emails and/or AIMs.
Join our Facebook! Make your own flyers or advertisements and share them with the group. When it comes to advertising for GF, here are a couple of guidelines I will stipulate, on top of those regulations the university has:
- We are not “of UF”. We are “at UF”.The former phrase presumes official endorsement / sponsorship, which UF strongly emphasizes that officially registered student organizations do not have.
- We are Gator Freethought at UF, never Gator Freethought of UF, never UF’s Gator Freethought. They recognize us, that’s all, and they're picky about this.
- Good choices for flyers and sidewalk chalk are short quotes by famous freethinkers (note the flyers I wrote up). They should be catchy, challenging, but need not be overly confrontational or belligerent (e.g., “Jesus is dead, deal with it,” is not a prime choice). However, “I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic…” (Albert Einstein, link), is fine. I think you get the drift.
- Flyers should have a big bold message that catches the eyes, then the follow-up info. It is most important to have our name and homepage, but other information is nonessential. It may be easier to just put "gatorfreethought.org" down instead of the full http://www.gatorfreethought.org
- Try to be concise. Just make sure you get the spelling right on the URL and name :)
- If we can organize 1 hour for one week (say 3-4 days) from two people (or more), devoted solely to flyers, and/or tabling, you would be amazed at how fast and far the level of campus awareness would be raised in a matter of weeks. We saw this in action during the Tabash debate, and the word was spread very effectively just by a few people making an effort for a few hours for one week.
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