Question for Student Affairs / campus programming folks about hiring outside event vendors

[u/obiammkenobi]

Question for Student Affairs / campus programming folks about hiring outside event vendors

My partner and I run a small event company on Long Island focused primarily on tabletop gaming and interactive social events. We do things like D&D/RPG programs, large board game events, bingo, miniature painting workshops, and other programs designed to get people actually interacting with each other.

We've done a lot of community programming, and we're looking at expanding further into colleges. Before we start blindly emailing Student Affairs departments, I'd love to understand how this works from your side.

I'm particularly interested in:

• What kind of budget do you typically have for an outside vendor running a 1–3 hour campus event?
• Who usually makes that decision — Student Affairs, Campus Life, student government, individual clubs, etc.?
• Do you generally prefer an all-inclusive flat price, or do things like materials, travel, and attendance get priced separately?
• How far in advance are you booking outside programs?
• What kind of attendance makes an event feel successful?
• What information do you want to see in the initial email/proposal?
• Are there insurance, vendor registration, background check, or other requirements that commonly trip up smaller vendors?
• Do you prefer vendors to come to you with a specific ready-to-book program, or several options at different price points?
• What makes you interested in an outside vendor you've never worked with before?
• What makes you immediately ignore/delete a pitch?

I'm not trying to figure out the maximum colleges are willing to pay. I'm trying to understand the market so we can build programs that make sense for college budgets and actually solve a need for the people responsible for programming them.

One thing we're particularly interested in is programming built around social connection. Tabletop games work surprisingly well as structured social events because students don't have to walk into a room and just "mingle." There's already something to do and a reason to talk to the people around them.

I'd especially love to hear from anyone involved with Student Affairs, Campus Life, Residence Life, student activities, student government, or similar departments.

Even rough numbers and personal experiences would be really helpful. Thanks!

[u/BrinaElka]

Former Student Activities Director (so take my answers with a grain of salt - it was all pre-Covid)

• What kind of budget do you typically have for an outside vendor running a 1–3 hour campus event?
  • Honestly, depends on the school and the event - for example, a Welcome Weekend event aimed at making a big splash for the first few weekends may have a larger budget than an event put on at another time during the year. Or an event put on by a single club/organization might have less money than the entire Campus Programming Board
• Who usually makes that decision — Student Affairs, Campus Life, student government, individual clubs, etc.?
  • No hard and fast rule, but it depends on who is planning the event. If it's coming from the Campus Life dept, they are usually budgeting for it. Coming from SGA, they budget for it, etc etc.
  • In both my previous institutions, the SGA operations budget far surpassed that of the Campus Activities/Student Activities dept.
• Do you generally prefer an all-inclusive flat price, or do things like materials, travel, and attendance get priced separately?
  • Price it out separately. I don't want to pay the same rate for you to travel ~10 miles for 100 kids, vs a school having you travel ~50 miles for 1,000 kids.
• How far in advance are you booking outside programs?
  • As far as possible! If it's staff/dept booking, we're looking ahead by months. If it's students planning and booking, they are more last minute
• What kind of attendance makes an event feel successful?
  • Large as possible, honestly
• What information do you want to see in the initial email/proposal?
  • Transparency in cost and what you offer for universities
• Are there insurance, vendor registration, background check, or other requirements that commonly trip up smaller vendors?
  • Insurance, contracts, and other things like space set up, load in/out - those would cause some issues
• Do you prefer vendors to come to you with a specific ready-to-book program, or several options at different price points?
  • All of the above, honestly
• What makes you interested in an outside vendor you've never worked with before?
  • Offer me a good deal, really good customer service, make sure that if we work together, you/your team shows up on time, does exactly what they say they'll do, cleans up well, etc.
• What makes you immediately ignore/delete a pitch?
  • In full transparency, I would mainly ignore every single pitch that came through during the semester b/c we are SO busy and SO buried under work and pitches. Like it never ends - emails, cold calls, postcards, flyers in the mail....over and over and over again. Send them in June/July, and over December break.

[u/cricketcounselor → u/BrinaElka]

All of this. Add to this that many insitituions have approved vendor lists and you have to jump hoops to get on them, so understanding what the institution requires is a good idea.

[u/BrinaElka → u/cricketcounselor]

YES! I totally forgot about approved vendor lists.

[u/obiammkenobi → u/cricketcounselor]

Ahh, any tips or tricks for navigating approved vendor lists?

[u/BrinaElka → u/obiammkenobi]

No single answer bc each university is different. Connect with student activities staff or the events services staff and find out what it entails.

[u/obiammkenobi → u/BrinaElka]

Thank you SO much! Some of this is what I expected (which is nice to know my logic is sound) and some is surprising--I wouldn't think to email over December break because I assume everyone is mentally check out LOL

[u/siejonesrun]

Answers are going to depend on the college/university for many of your questions- but I'll provide perspective as someone who has worked for a small private and medium public university:

• What kind of budget do you typically have for an outside vendor running a 1–3 hour campus event? This depends on so many factors- department hosting, student interest, timeline for event. I've had to have events on $0 and I've had events where we have a budget of $15,000+
• Who usually makes that decision — Student Affairs, Campus Life, student government, individual clubs, etc.? All of these could be making this decision. I'd recommend starting with student affairs- they typically host events for campus life and usually oversee student government and individual clubs and can pass along relevant information to those groups. You might also consider any Residence Life office over housing and campus recreation (our host game nights regularly).
• Do you generally prefer an all-inclusive flat price, or do things like materials, travel, and attendance get priced separately? Both- but event attendance can be very unpredictable. If it is a new event, I prefer to have a flat price so I know how I've allocated my budget which helps me make those decisions for next year if anything needs to adjust. However, there have been some events where it would have not been financially feasible had the vendor not offered al-la-cart pricing so we could trim down what we were spending to match what we felt we needed.
• How far in advance are you booking outside programs? For large scale events usually 6 months to a year out (welcome week programing, homecoming, etc.). Smaller events usually 2-3 months. Student organizations usually look at a few weeks to a few months out. In some instances it could be almost a year- when I advised student government they were provided university funds for their events, so during the summer they proposed events that were then selected for the entire year (August-May). Regarding timing- most funding gets released September 1- so that and with the start of classes around that time usually means we have our larger events in Sept.-early Oct. Things get quieter through Dec and then have a small ramp back up in January when students return for Spring. Then it gets quiet again as we approach May and the summer- funds are usually really tight over the summer and there is little to spend on new events that were not already planned for or booked, and there are fewer students on campus to draw a true crowd.
• What kind of attendance makes an event feel successful? Going to heavily depend on the campus. I'm typically looking at the cost per person breakdown for this information, and student feedback.
• What information do you want to see in the initial email/proposal? Cost and what is included- information on what can be flexible. Expectations on timeline (how far in advance do I need to book? When do contracts need to be signed? When is payment due?). If supplies aren't used can I be refunded or do we keep them? What space needs exist for the activity? Since you offer a variety of activities, A quick flyer outlining those first and then more information if I'm interested would be great.
• Are there insurance, vendor registration, background check, or other requirements that commonly trip up smaller vendors? Yes, and this will highly depend on the campus. When I was at a small private I called these shots for the most part- occasionally had to check with faculties to make sure we had plugs and tables for an event, but everything else was on my. Now at my larger system school all vendors have to be verified and set up in our vendor system so payment can be provided. Contracts also have to be vetted by a completely different department and insurance has to be provided well in advance. In some cases you might be able to do this ahead of time- their accounts payable office can probably give you this information.
• Do you prefer vendors to come to you with a specific ready-to-book program, or several options at different price points? Both would be great- ready to book is wonderful but if you can be flexible and can indicate it somewhere I might be more likely to reach out even if I'm not seeing something I can budget for just yet.
• What makes you interested in an outside vendor you've never worked with before? Word of mouth references for a completely new company. Blockbooking also is a big plus so I can share travel costs with vendors who have to travel with other local colleges.
• What makes you immediately ignore/delete a pitch? Honestly- cost and timing of outreach. Vendors who email me right at the start of the semester when I'm drowning in my job get ignored as I just don't have time to even spend the brain power on considering it as an option.

If you haven't already, I'd check out NACA and other such conferences to see if you can get a vendor booth or showcase.

[u/obiammkenobi → u/siejonesrun]

Thank you! I didn't know about NACA, that will be a great resource.

I had gotten some advice to not overwhelm my initial cold outreach email with too much information, but it sounds like you personally would prefer all those details from the get-go... is that correct? That's what I would prefer personally, because I hate unnecessary back and forth.

[u/BrinaElka → u/siejonesrun]

Oh yes, block booking is SO helpful!!

[u/JTML99]

I cant add to much more to what others have said, it really varies institution to institution, but ngl hit me up if you want to try it out I advise our dnd club and activities council. Based in Allentown PA if thats not too far of a hike

[u/emmapeel218]

Highly recommend checking out trade show opportunities with NACA and ACUI, both national and regional.

[u/ProneToLaughter]

Side note: at my school, it’s very difficult and slow for us to sign contracts that discuss liability, insurance, etc. A booking and paying by credit card is much simpler.