College students love trophies

I think the subject line on this post is pretty self-explanatory, but let me explain: College students especially love trophies.

Trophies are an exceptional prize for events with college students (thesis topic, anyone?) because college students are nostalgic, appreciate recognition, and proudly display tacky momentos in their living quarters.

Disclaimer: I don't have facts to back this up, but...

I think college students are especially nostalgic because they are going through a transition and can't help but reminisce about the "good ol' days" before all this responsibility. A video that circulated through 4 of my Facebook friends' walls provides more evidence for my contention that college students (and young professionals) are very nostalgic. 

College students appreciate recognition (who doesn't?) and like to receive credit for their actions. A trophy is a symbolic pat on the back that lasts for as long as they own the trophy.

Finally, college students proudly display tacky momentos in their residence halls and apartments. College students also have a lot of shelf space but not a lot of shelf-worthy items. This results in proud collections of weird tacky objects (the perfect nesting grounds for a trophy).



Last night, we had a National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week euchre tournament with 9 teams. We got a lot of comments about the trophies, suggesting that they are "legit" and "totally official looking." I had to agree that the trophies look "totally official" because they are, in fact, totally real trophies from a trophy store (QuickTrophy.com).

In conclusion, trophies make better prizes than $5 gift cards to Starbucks.

[Photo courtesy of Sorcyress. Licensed under CC BY- NC 2.0.]

Written permission from Xbox to let students play games at campus event

I'm writing this post to hopefully help future student affairs graduate assistants and professionals avoid the run-around while planning a campus event that includes allowing students to play Xbox games.

Allow me to summarize this week-long process...

Our department recently purchased an Xbox 360 with Kinect because we planned to have the game set up for our alcohol-alternative Late Night events in the Student Rec Center. The Xbox 360 with Kinect motion sensing camera is a great system that promotes physical activity. It's a lot of fun and a great way to attract students over to an information table!

Because the Kinect requires the players to get up and move in front of the screen, we couldn't use a typical projector because the students would be blocking the image. I heard a rumor that IMS rented rear-projection screens, so we submitted a request.

Denied! They told us we needed written permission from Microsoft in order to play Xbox in public at our event. I knew things like movies required a license to show in public, but I didn't know video games were subject to the same rules.

I called Xbox Support, and the customer service rep told me that there was no reason I couldn't set up an Xbox in our Rec Center for students to play at the event. I asked him if I could get that in writing, and he put me on hold to check with his manager.

20 minutes later, the answer was "No." In fact, the answer had changed from it being "no problem" to play the console in public, to being a violation of the terms of service - which specify that the console is for personal use only.

I checked with our Office of Campus Activities, because I knew they had set up video games for students to play at previous events. They told me that video game rights are essentially the same as movie screening rights. In the same way that you can't publicly screen a movie without purchasing the viewing rights, you couldn't publicly use a video game either. The problem is that unlike the film industry that issues temporary licenses for public showings, there is no temporary-license-equivalent in the video game world. In the past, student organizations had gotten away with it by playing out-of-print games, which removes the event from the legal challenge of infringing on market share.

Oh heck! So what can I do? I called Xbox Support a second time, and explained my predicament. They directed me to email promos@xbox.com and see what they could do. I blindly sent a "To whom it may concern" email and waited... Nothing.

Four days later, I sent another e-mail to promos@xbox.com. This time, I got an auto-reply that directed me to the website sponsormexbox.com. The site is a sponsorship request form were you can formally request that Xbox station a booth at your event or provide funding. Well that's not really what I needed. I just needed permission to play the console we already have - but I could tell I was getting warmer!



I submitted a request, filled out all the info, and ended my event description with "We already have an Xbox, we just want permission to play it."



Two days later, I received an email from Wunderman3, the agency responsible for Xbox sponsorships. I was told: "Since this is something informal, we don’t require you to receive any permissions to have Xbox at your event." Good enough for me! [PRINT]

VICTORY!!



What I learned: Campus-wide events for 2000+ students are considered "informal," which makes my life easier!

@EricTeske That was extremely helpful, Eric. Nice job! Thanks for putting it out there.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyIan Martin
Ian1225

nicely done. Too many ignore obtaining rights RT @ericteske: permission from Xbox to play games at campus event http://t.co/6SoZGkP #sachatless than a minute ago via HootSuite Favorite Retweet ReplyMike Severy
MikeSevery

@mikesevery @ericteske Agreed - I've never heard another schools obtain rights to use xbox. They just use it.less than a minute ago via HootSuite Favorite Retweet ReplyTom Krieglstein
tomkrieglstein

Wait, is this Coke expired? Yes... yes it is.

It's time for a much needed Spring cleaning in the storage room (we're a little late on the 'spring' part). Tackling this racquetball court of crap was an all-morning job, but we finally sorted the boxes of condoms, lube, dental dams, and t-shirts into their appropriate piles. Although it still looks like piles of junk, at least now everything is nestled into little corners of organization.

Then again, a neat pile is still a pile.

Regrettably, 90% of our Coke stockpile is expired. Rather, it expired back in February around the same time as our late night event for which the product was originally intended. But we got the Coke through a request from Campus Activities, and they have a "deal" with Coke, right? Did they give us expired product?



In a word: Yes. Yes the Coke expired the same month we got it. Should I be so shocked? I don't work in event planning, but I hear this is a pretty typical move for getting rid of about-to-expire beverages. It's pretty harmless, unless you are planning to use the leftovers 6 months later and it's all gone to Flatsville.

Being the eco-friendly grad student that I am, I decided it would be best to personally open every can, pour the Coke down the sink in the janitor's closet, and recycle the cans. I didn't realize that opening cans of pop would turn out to be back-breaking labor, but it was! The janitor's sink was low to the ground, and I had 315 cans to go through in a confined space. I tried several strategies like the hunched-over-multi-pour, and the sit-on-the-floor-two-handed-pour. No matter how I tried to improve my efficiency, I always ended up in a position that strained my back and legs.

After an hour and ten minutes the task was complete, and I gave Mother Nature a big sarcastic "You're Welcome!"

What I learned: There's no such thing as free Coke, and when it's free it's probably expired. Also, wearing jeans to work makes manual labor totally worth it!

The only reason a town this small has a planetarium

It's exciting to think about living near a college campus for the rest of my life. College campuses are generally more liberal than the surrounding areas (with some exceptions), and have a slew of activities, lectures, and facilities just begging for your patronage!

I finally convinced my partner, Chris, to take me to the planetarium at Bowling Green State University for a show on celestial bodies on national flags.

I hadn't been to a planetarium since I was 9 years old. Since I've been watching the Science Channel non-stop for the last 18 months or so, the planetarium is the obvious choice for a romantic date with someone who fancies himself a scientist!



After the show, the host offered to take the audience up to the observatory on the roof, but it was a bit chilly and partially cloudy (and Chris had had enough of this science stuff), so we called it a night.

What I learned: The stars are projected through tiny holes punched in metal discs that can accurately recreate the sky from any location at any point in time. How could a town this size have all this cool stuff going on!