It may only be July, but the academic year is approaching quickly, and it’s normal to feel just a little bit frenzied and frantic as you try to plan your way to a memorable fresher’s week. It may be an annual event, but it always seems like there’s so much to prepare.

To help make things a little easier, here are some things you might be forgetting…

Sort out your calendar

Scheduling your events is probably the single most important thing you’ll have to do. Chances are this is taking up the most of your time right now… but once your calendar of events is ready, you have to make sure you can communicate it in an easy-to-understand way.

Design an engaging calendar or schedule so students know exactly what’s happening and when. Publish it online, but also be sure to print out some copies to give to students as they arrive. You can also post them in convenient places around campus.

Print your fresher’s passes

Fresher’s passes offer a great way to identify students from volunteers or new students from those who have been at uni for a while. If you’re offering paid events, they also give you a way to distinguish who has access.

Get your fresher’s passes professionally printed and attach them to some quality university-branded lanyards. The students can even keep the lanyards for later use, like for safekeeping their student IDs or residence keys.

Don’t know how many students to expect? No worries — our express turnaround services (with printing in around three days) has you covered.

Secure freebies

There’s no denying that university students love free stuff, and they’ll be expecting freebies as part of their fresher’s experience.

Goodie bags are always a great idea and offer an easy way to promote the university, the student’s union, societies, or even local businesses. You can never go wrong with practical branded pens (why is it that students always need a pen but never seem to have one?), or throw in some branded sweets — after all; nobody loves free food like students.

Branded wristbands also make great freebies. Not only can they be used to keep track of who’s who (consider using them in place of traditional fresher’s passes), they offer an excellent way for students to show their affiliation and can help your promotional efforts longterm.

Finally, consider linking up with local businesses who may want to catch students’ attention by offering discounts or other special deals.

Update your web presence

Students are always online, so make sure they can find out about your fresher’s week activities where they spend most of their time.

Reach out to students’ unions and societies and ask them to submit updated content. Post your calendar of events on your university website and social media channels, or even consider developing an app where everything can be stored in a single, convenient place.

You can even go the extra mile and give new students all the information they need — like maps and students manuals — on a university-branded USB stick for safekeeping.

Fresher’s week is one of the most important weeks in a student’s life, and it’s essential to get things right if you want to make a good impression.  If you want your fresher’s week to go the extra mile this year, we can help! We’re looking to partner with universities and students unions for 2018 intake by offering special discounts on branded products. Get in touch for more details.