EVENTS Over the 2018/19 academic year the GSA ran a range of events from regular weekly events to large ticketed events. The GSA Postgraduate Pub Quiz continued throughout the year with a new quiz master being found, and a regular following throughout the year. A Karaoke Night also ran regularly throughout term 1 and 2 run by student volunteers. A board game night was piloted in term one but unfortunately did not prove popular. Larger events were often themed around national holidays with a Halloween Ghost Hunt Bar crawl and a Winter Gathering formal event with live band selling out of tickets. We once again held the York Heat of the National Chortle Student Comedy competition with a sold-out crowd. We also increased our provision of events over the winter and spring vacations with a range of small scale events to ensure students have options for social activities when most of the University is closed. Most events were led by the Communications and Events Coordinator and the Vice President: Wellbeing and Community with a wide pool of volunteers recruited during Welcome Week and later in the year with the volunteering database.
WELCOME WEEK Welcome Week took place between 17th - 23rd September and was once again our best attended event, with over 3500 attendees over the welcome period. Welcome Week was lead by the Communications and Events coordinator along with a dedicated events intern who worked from July – September supporting events throughout this time. Welcome Week wristbands were less popular this year (possibly due to the price increase to £17.50) but events were still very well attended. Events such as the Welcome Party and Bar Crawl worked well and were most popular with over 300 attendees at each. The Welcome Talk was this year’s most popular event with over 840 attendees (with a queue stretching from Central Hall to the front of the library!) The Retro Party was another very popular event, with many praising its setup and atmosphere. The events at the end of the week including the film night, Ceilidh and comedy night were less well attended compared to last year, with bad weather meaning the film night could not take place outdoors as planned being one of the main factors in the dip in numbers.
EVENTS
Including money raised from this year’s information fair, Welcome Week ran at a profit of £2289.
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OVER 40 EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES DURING WELCOME WEEK
WELCOME BACK WEEK For the first time the GSA ran a dedicate“Refreshers” style week of events for returning students and new PhDs in January 2019. The week included 5 main evening events from Monday - Friday. The Quiz and Bar Crawl were popular and busy events whilst the Retro night despite being popular during Welcome Week was less-well attended. Welcome Back Week ran at a loss of -£107 although reviews from students about the events was overwhelmingly positive. It is recommended to reduce the amount of events throughout the week and add an additional event at the weekend for those who cannot attend events during the week.
3,524 STUDENTS ATTENDED WELCOME WEEK EVENTS