problem analysis

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Victoria League

Professor Wright

ENC 3331-0M02

15 October 2013

Problem Analysis: UCF Event Advertising

This project will address UCF event advertisement and propose solutions for improving

advertisement, but members of the community must first understand why there is a problem with

UCF’s event advertisement. To discover the extent of the problem, we need to examine multiple

facets of the situation. We have to recognize what makes this a problem and what has caused,

and is perpetuating, the ineffectiveness of UCF event advertisement.

There is certainly a problem with the way that UCF and its departments currently

advertise the events they host because UCF students want to go to events that the college

sponsors, but these students are unable to go because they have no information about the event. I

conducted a small survey among 32 UCF students to see how the students really felt about the

situation – do they share my sentiment that UCF could improve its advertisement? What methods

are currently working, or not working? I posted this survey to my Facebook newsfeed and to the

Class of 2016 UCF Facebook group. This is not a very wide range of participants, but the results

are still important because it gave me some insight on how other students really feel about the

situation. Every student is unique, and both my newsfeed and the Facebook group contain a

variety of students with different mindsets and attitudes.

As is shown in Figure 1 in Appendix A, 40.63% of respondents answered that they rarely

go to UCF events, and 37.5% answered that they sometimes go to UCF events. When asked if

they feel like they miss out on UCF events because they were not aware of the event or did not

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have enough information to attend, 59.38% answered that they feel like they sometimes do (Fig

2, Appendix A). As indicated by these numbers, the overwhelming majority of the sampled

students currently do not go to many UCF events and over half of them think that they

sometimes miss out on events. Why might they be missing out on these events? What is causing

them to not receive the information they need to go to UCF events? Students often express that

they had no idea that an interesting event was happened, when it was happening, where it was

happening, and how to attend. Recently, a student told me that he wished he had known about

UCF’s One Republic concert because he would have enjoyed attending, but it was too late by the

time he found out. In the comments section of my survey, one student left this note: “I wasn't

aware of a concert until the day of so I wasn't able to go” (Fig 8, Appendix A). Other examples

where I have heard students complaining about being unaware of an event, or the details about

the event, are the UCF Pink Party, Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam performances at the UCF arena,

various productions put on by the theatre department, film festivals from the film department,

and music concerts hosted by the music department. In my survey, 50% of respondents answered

“maybe” when asked if they would attend more UCF events if they knew about them. 40.63%

answered with a definitive “yes.” Students do want to take advantage of these events, but

something is preventing them from doing so.

What has caused students to be so unaware of the huge variety of events that happen on

the UCF campus? A lack of advertising is the central problem. If UCF and its departments want

students to attend events, they need to advertise them in a way that will reach students and get

them interested. The people in charge of the advertising of UCF SGA events and = for UCF

departmental events are causing the problem by not putting their events out in the public sphere

of knowledge. The rhetorical velocity of their current advertising techniques is low and the

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information is not reaching students – many students are completely unaware of events until the

day they happen, or after they have already happened. I looked into the most accessible and well-

known current advertising methods, which are the UCF main website’s event calendar, the

weekly UCF emails, the CFE arena’s website, and the posters around the UCF campus.

On the UCF website, there is a section titled “upcoming events” with a few events listed

(Fig 1, Appendix B). Visitors can click on “more events” for a calendar that has clickable days

(Fig 2, Appendix B). Visitors can click on the days and see what events are happening on

whatever days they are interested in. The details contain times, names of the events, and brief

descriptions of what will be happening in each event. There is a “submit an event” button,

presumably for student-run clubs and organizations to submit their events to the comprehensive

calendar. I noticed that this website does not have groupings for genres of events, so to find

events that interest them, students are limited to manually searching through every day on the

calendar or sifting through the tab labeled “this month,” which shows the events happening in the

current month. There is also a search function: I typed in the word “concert” and was rewarded

with a list of results that contain the word “concert” in the name or description (Fig 3, Appendix

B). While browsing through this page, I was forced to ask myself if anyone actually checked it

for upcoming events. I personally do not, so I included the question in my survey. 64.52% of

respondents said that they do not check the UCF website for upcoming events, and 25.81% said

that they sometimes check the page (Fig 4, Appendix A). One student commented that they only

visit the website because they “create the calendar for [their] fraternity.” These results show that

this method of advertisement, having a calendar of upcoming events on the UCF website, is

currently not effective. The rhetors have appeared to have misjudged the popularity of the main

UCF website and not considered the ways that their audience usually receives information.

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Next I looked at the weekly UCF emails that are sent to every student’s UCF domain

email. These emails come with the subject “This Week @ UCF” (Fig 4, Appendix B). For the

week of October 21-25, it contains a section labeled “Today, 10/21” that contains some of the

events on Monday October 21st, which are grouped by morning, afternoon, and evening. A link

prompts students to “view all Monday events,” which sends them to the UCF website’s event

calendar. Identical to the Monday section, save for the events themselves, are sections for each

day of the week. At the bottom, the email tells students, “To see all upcoming events visit

http://events.ucf.edu,” which is the page for the events calendar. The drawback to this current

email method is that some events may require students to obtain a ticket or sign up in advance; a

day’s notice, or a few days’ notice, might not be enough time for students to participate in the

events. It also may be difficult for students to accommodate these events in their already busy

schedules if they are receiving notice of these events a maximum of four days in advance. And

again, I asked myself if anyone actually reads these emails. In my survey, 50% answered that

they sometimes check these emails for upcoming events, and 34.38% said that they do not check

the emails (Fig 5, Appendix A). One student told me that they actually delete every UCF email

they receive. While this method seems more effective than the UCF website, it still is not

reaching a wide enough audience for the events to be well-known and attended. The rhetors have

used an appropriate medium to distribute information, since every student receives UCF emails,

but have not considered the way some students view emails (as spam) or the time constraints

involved in giving short notice for events.

After sending out my survey, I realized that the CFE arena actually has its own website

(Fig 5, Appendix B). This website has a section that scrolls between a few upcoming events

(complete with pictures) with links to details and other relevant information if necessary, like

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event registration. There is also a link to view all events. Like the UCF website, there is a

calendar that shows what events are happening at the CFE arena on applicable days. A visitor

can hover over the day for the name of the event, and click on the day to bring up a window with

details. Near the bottom of the page is another section that shows upcoming events, this time

without pictures and focused more in a listing manner than an aesthetically pleasing scroll. While

this website is useful for people who are interested in what events are taking place at the CFE

arena, it does not help anyone looking to see all of the upcoming UCF events.

For most UCF events, posters will be put up on campus to advertise them and interest

students. Most students walk past many of these advertisements every day; posters are placed on

bulletin boards, doors, columns, light posts, and in the student union, marketplace, and many

other buildings (Fig 6, Appendix B). The posters are designed to attract attention and give as

much essential detail as possible without looking bland. In the CFE arena plaza, there are often

large banners and posters set up to advertise the events in the arena. Outside the UCF campus, an

electronic billboard often advertises upcoming events that are expected to draw much attention.

However, do students actually pay attention to these posters and other visual advertisements? In

my survey, 51.61% said that they sometimes pay attention to these advertisements, and 41.94%

answered “yes,” they do pay attention (Fig 6, Appendix A). One student left this comment: “My

classes are in research park, so I don't see the on campus ads often.” Although almost all of the

respondents at least sometimes pay attention to poster advertisements, that comment shows that

this method of advertisement does not accommodate all students. Some students do not have

classes on campus and therefore do not see the posters; however, in light of the majority of the

students responding positively to the posters, this appears to currently be effective in distributing

information.

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Students suffer from the current lack of effective advertisement because they do not

know what events are happening. They miss out on opportunities for entertainment that they

would have greatly enjoyed attending. The people who are involved in the final events, like

performers in the theatre shows or the music concerts, or the individuals who are having their

films showcased in a film festival, are victims as well because they do not have a large turnout

and thus are unable to fulfill their goals of entertainment. The departments might miss their goals

of fundraising when audience turnout is low, and be unable to host events in the future, which is

damaging to the performers and the department itself.

This problem affects large groups of people and creates a neglect of event attendance.

Without improving the advertising techniques and introducing new techniques, students and

performers will continue to experience regret and disappointment in the current state of affairs.

Turnout will continue to be low, students will continue to be unaware of the entertainment

opportunities available to them, and departments will suffer from a lack of fundraising. With

such a wide audience to reach, UCF events need to be advertised more clearly and thoroughly so

that all students will be able to find information about events and attend them. Students in the

survey responded positively to the idea of a comprehensive website that categorized and

advertised UCF events, so that will be an option I pursue when I look at possible means of

solving this problem (Fig 7, Appendix A).

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Appendix A – Figure 1

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Appendix B – Figure 1

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Appendix B – Figure 6 (Cont.)

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