We get a lot of questions about "awareness weeks." Everyone likes to program around awareness weeks, even though most of us have no idea why these observances exist at the time of year that they do.
January and February are big for multicultural awareness programs, with MLK Day and Black History Month. On most campuses, you'll see at least one or two programs aimed at issues affecting the African-American community, even though many dislike the concept of limiting these discussions to one month a year. Because of that, we're seeing lots of programs aimed at a variety of multicultural appreciation programs in February. We have a program on religious diversity that is getting many bookings, which I find exciting.
February is also a big month for "healthy relationships" and safer sex programming, thanks to Valentine's Day. Because March is Spring Break month, we also do a lot of pre-Spring Break bookings at the end of February on issues surrounding alcohol, sexual decision making, sexual assault prevention, and impaired driving prevention.
March also brings Women's History Month, which means lots of programs on sexual assault prevention, women's achievement and motivation, and Panhellenic programs. We also book a lot of programs on issues surrounding eating disorders and body image for women in March.
Tip: If you're booking a speaker for March, be sure to know when your Spring Break is. You'd be shocked how many people book speakers with us, then call and reschedule because they booked the speaker during their Spring Break. Also, avoid the Monday immediately following your Spring Break, and avoid the NCAA Final Four basketball championship game nights.
April is not a big month for awareness week programming in the college market, but there are tons of Greek Life bookings in April thanks to Greek Weeks. It seems that by April, everyone's starting the slide to summer and it's a bit harder to get audiences together.
The Spring is big for speakers on "leadership" topics since most student organizations have new officers.
Here's one big piece of advice for Spring programming: get creative on the spaces you use. If you haven't reserved rooms early, it's hard to get programming spaces on a lot of campuses this time of year. If you're booking a speaker, call the office that books the rooms and get a list of available open dates BEFORE you call to book a speaker. We get lots of cancellations this time of year because people book speakers, then find out there's nowhere to put them. Don't be afraid to get creative though: cafeterias in residence halls, outdoor venues, sports facilities, etc. I once did a program on a racquetball court, no joke.
.jpg)
