Cliff Kincaid visits the Communication Age Classroom
T​o bring a variation to the students classroom activities I worked with Dr. Thomas Flynn the Chairmen of the Department of Communication to bring Cliff Kincaid, the Director of the Accuracy in Media Center for Investigative Journalism into a classroom to speak. We were able to get Cliff to speak in a 400 Level course, The Communication Age. Cliff discussed his career path, his passion for Investigative Journalism, and the past and present advances and problems with the media and its various outlets. This was a unique opportunity for the Communication Department and this collaboration grew into a cosponsorship for our Sports Symposium program.
The Great Debate
"How the Media Can Sway Votes and Win Elections"
Monday, October 22nd, 2012 7:00 PM
The Great Debate Giveaway Promotion Strategy
Our committee used Homecoming Weekend to our advantage because The Great Debate was leading up to the Monday after Homecoming activities. With this in mind we decided to purchase American themed shutter shades and imprinted the Slippery Rock University Program Board twitter name on the frames to increase our number of followers. We purchased over 500 sunglasses and handed them out at the parade, the tailgate and football game, the pep rally, and throughout the weekends other activities. People raved about the sunglasses and it was great to see students wearing these throughout the semester. This was a successful marketing giveaway because the sunglasses are something college students are willing to use on a daily basis and they increase awareness of The Great Debate and our twitter page; which in essence allows us to advertise more information about our event on the twitter pages. ​​
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Program Background
The University Program Board brought this program to the University two weeks leading up to the 2012 presidential election. The University Program Board worked with Wolfmann Productions to bring in Steve Rendall, the senior analyst for Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting to debate against Cliff Kincaid, the Director of the Accuracy in Media Center for Investigative Journalism. By bringing in this program it presented opportunities to students and faculty in the University to become more informed and learn about the current presidential election. It also provided these students with the opportunity to ask any questions they may have regarding either of the presidential candidates or the current needs of the United States of America.
Click on Flyer to View Event Day Itinerary
On Campus Marketing
To reach the fullest potential of the program it is imperative that myself and my committee makes a strong effort to publicize the event to the campus community. The flyer on your left is the primary advertisement we used in all forms of marketing we pursued. I printed a total of 150 flyers to be posted around the campus of Slippery Rock University. 67 of these flyers are posted up in the 9 Residence Halls on campus. Then I use my committee to assist with covering each building in our school with a minimum of three flyers. I also worked with our campus newspaper "The Rocket" to get multiple ads in prior to the event. During common hour in the Robert M. Smith Student Center I arranged my committee members to hand out lollipops with the event information labeled on them to help raise awareness. These are just a few forms of marketing I use to help get the word out to students; my favorite way is to be personable and bring up the program while in a conversation with a friend or someone I just met.