Where does using room reservation data to promote student organizations fit into your university plan?
Student organizations play a central role in any campus environment. Beyond university departments and academic buildings, they’re often the reason for a healthy campus community. These events lead to more student engagement. Student organizations build leadership skills and ultimately become a precursor to student success. At the same time, student organizations need a healthy infrastructure to succeed. Their leadership teams should find it easy to schedule meeting spaces. The easier it is to reserve an event space, the more easily they can plan events that attract and engage the larger student body.
At the same time, these reservation requests can also become a powerful tool for universities when used the right way. In fact, institutions of all sizes can leverage room reservation data to promote student organizations by increasing participation and streamlining event coordination. This is how.
The Role of Room Reservation Data in Student Organization Visibility
To understand the power of room reservation data to promote student organizations, let’s start with a basic definition. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll define it as the core tangible information collected about an event:
- Its meeting times
- Meeting room locations (including whether the event will be hosted in-person or online)
- Whether it is a recurring or special event
- Any other event details your audience might need to know
Typically, universities will collect this information in an event planning software platform that might include a request form where registered student organizations can enter all relevant data. Sometimes, a staff member from the event services office may collect the information manually to help with the reservation planning.
At its best, this data is then shared with the larger student body and, where relevant, even with non-university audiences. In the process, it becomes the hub through which students can discover and engage with student organizations without having to happen across them in the student center or seek them out more proactively.
4 Benefits of Room Reservation Data for Universities
At its core, the ability of room reservation data to promote student organization revolves around making those events more visible. But it also goes further. It increases your ability to make efficient use of campus spaces whenever a student organization requests a space.
Increased Awareness and Engagement
For the average student, actively seeking out sponsored events from student organizations can be difficult. They need to know not only where these events take place but also the contact information of who’s hosting them to find out meeting times and other details.
Consistently collected room reservation data, on the other hand, streamlines the process. Each time a club wants to reserve space, they submit a standardized event request. This can then be shared across university communications channels for the entire student body. That, in turn, leads to increased awareness and engagement for the events themselves. It also promotes the organizations that have taken ownership (and sponsorship) of the event.
More Equitable Promotion for All Student Organizations
Established campus clubs and organizations probably don’t have much trouble gaining significant awareness. When they publish an event and event date, their membership alone may be enough to get the word out. But for smaller or newer student organizations, that process can be more difficult. Collecting and sharing room reservation data allows them to gain visibility on the same level as their larger and more established counterparts, helping to spread the word more equitably.
More Efficient Use of Campus Spaces
Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, campus space usage has become a major issue across colleges and universities of all sizes. Space usage has shifted drastically, sometimes leading to budget inefficiencies and underutilized rooms.
That typically happens for two reasons:
- Reserved rooms are empty or almost empty because the organization did not efficiently promote the event.
- Unreserved rooms are difficult to book because audiences (including clubs) don’t actually know whether they’re available.
Efficient use of room reservation data can address both of these challenges. Students become more aware of ongoing meetings and events. Organizations can also choose more appropriate spaces based on the expected turnout. For example, they may decide to book outdoor spaces, multipurpose rooms, or classroom spaces based on attendance and reservation information for previous events.
Finally, student affairs and event services administrators can use the information more broadly. Through data and reporting tools in their event management system (EMS), they can understand which spaces are typically booked by student organizations and promote those rooms for future use.
Improved Event Attendance
Finally, and perhaps most comprehensively, the purpose of room reservation data to promote student organizations becomes enhanced by improving attendance at their events. When the event details are actively shared through communications channels like digital calendars and emails, students become more aware—and more likely to show up when it matters.
Event attendance, of course, is an especially important indicator of student engagement. Studies show that when students become more involved in their campus organizations, they become more likely to remain enrolled through the following fall semester—and, ultimately, get to graduation.
4 Strategies for Using Room Reservation Data to Promote Student Organizations
A desire to promote campus events is not necessarily new for many institutions. Finding unique ways to promote your campus events, however, can be difficult. Room reservation data can help, thanks to its ability to connect to multiple pieces of your communications strategy.
1. Integrating Reservation Data Into Campus Event Calendars
For many colleges and universities, event calendars are managed manually. Also, they often focus only on major campus and fundraising events like commencement, homecoming, and a day of giving. Collecting room reservation data consistently enables institutions to pull that reservation data into a more comprehensive digital event calendar.
As a result, the event calendar becomes a central destination for any users looking for things to do on campus. To succeed in this endeavor means connecting your reservation system with your web and digital event calendar and building the data bridge to avoid manual data entry.
2. Enhancing Email and Digital Marketing With Reservation Data
Digital marketing is among the best promotional tools for student organization events. It’s no surprise, then, that using your room reservation data to promote student organizations can also benefit from digital marketing.
For example, consider sending regular, targeted email blasts featuring upcoming student events. Similarly, a weekly events update on social media can give students a rundown of everything that will happen and where it will happen. For larger student organization events, like your annual club fair, you can even run targeted digital ads specifically for your new or all current students.
3. Displaying Event Information on Campus Screens & Bulletin Boards
Campuses have made a strong move toward digital bulletin boards in recent years. Screens and interactive kiosks are replacing the corkboards that often become difficult to manage. Consider a dedicated space for campus events on these boards, on a separate slide that always gives students an easy overview of what is happening that might align with their interests.
4. Reducing Scheduling Conflicts and Improving Room Utilization
Finally, leverage your room reservation data to help make bookings easier for your student organization. Allow them to see more easily which spaces might be available for their needs, including details like capacity and audiovisual availability. Making this information public for anyone able to book a room or space on campus streamlines the process for them, reduces scheduling conflicts, and improves space utilization across your campus.
How to Implement a Room Reservation Data Strategy
In theory, using room reservation data to promote student organizations is simple. But in reality, it’s not automatic. Instead, you need a dynamic and intentional strategy to ensure that your data is collected, analyzed, and used as effectively as possible.
Ensure Data Accuracy
According to Educause, data accuracy is among the biggest technology challenges higher education institutions face today. Manually collecting room reservations can lead to considerable issues in that realm.
On the other hand, an automated system for your campus events can significantly enhance that accuracy. Manual data entry errors can be reduced at every step of the process, from the initial request form to the automatic syncing between room reservations with event promotion tools.
Automation, in other words, is key to not only keeping up-to-date information but also providing reliable information related to your event. Prioritize the tools you use to ensure data accuracy.
Customize Event Listings
An effective way to collect room reservation data has to enable students and leaders of student organizations to be specific. Allow your requesters to personalize their events listings, including details like time, location, branding, and calls to action specific to their events.
Allowing this level of customization helps to increase engagement among all audiences interested in the event, ultimately driving attendance. It also makes the process more relevant and user-friendly to all requestors, making it more likely they’ll use your event and room reservation system in the future and fully leverage its benefits.
Use Multiple Formats
Finally, don’t rely on the event management system itself to get the word out. A digital campus calendar is a great hub that your room reservation system can connect to, but even that won’t be enough.
As part of your strategy, get specific in how events will be promoted across campus. Your website, student portal, social media, digital signage, and email should all be on the table to maximize reach and participation.
Manage Your Campus Spaces Better With Concept3D
It’s time to leverage the full power of room reservation data to promote student organizations and, ultimately, student engagement. With the right strategy and systems in place, you can help spread the word about each of your organizations.
You do need the right system, of course. That’s where Concept3D and its room reservation software come into play. Our system presents a smarter way to manage campus spaces and promote student organizations, thanks to extensive experience in both the higher education and digital platform spaces.
Ready to learn more and take your student organization event management to the next level? Book a Concept3D demo to learn more today.