Posting Procedures

Postering Off-Campus
Where NOT to Post
Postering On-Campus
Kiosks and Bulletin Boards
Bascom Hill
University Housing
Posting RSO Events Electronically on Today @ UW

Effective publicity requires that you think about who is most likely to be interested in what your organization offers and how you are going to reach them. There is no formula; each organization will need to develop its own best methods to publicize events. Publicity serves the dual purpose of spreading the word about your organization and its activities and involving your members in working for the good of the group.

Part of determining your target audience is thinking about making an attempt to involve everyone. Obviously not everyone in the campus community can attend your event and that should not be your goal. But, would everyone be welcome at your event? Is your publicity gender neutral? Is your meeting accessible to people with physical disabilities? Would there be any type of race, ethnic, or sexual orientation prejudice? Being inclusive and sponsoring events that are open to the differences in others should be a goal of any RSO event/activity.

Developing a successful promotional campaign for an event takes time, planning and at least a minimal budget. You need to allow yourself sufficient time to publicize an event. A good tool to utilize is a backward planning calendar. This will assist you in establishing deadlines for tasks to be completed, working backward from the date of your event. Essential to any promotional campaign is understanding the limits or opportunities offered by your budget.

Publicity should be creative, attractive, and of high quality. Double and triple check the information for accuracy. Publicity should always include the day of the week, date, time, description of activity, location, rain date/location (if applicable), admission price (if any), sponsor (Registered Student Organization name/email address/phone), and a person to contact if special accommodations or more information are needed.

Remember that student organizations may use university facilities only for events intended primarily for students, faculty and staff. The name of your RSO should also be listed as the sponsor of the event/activity on any publicity. If a university department is co-sponsoring the event, refer also to the Departmental Sponsorship of Registered Student Organization Events or Activities Minimum Requirements for further information.

Postering Off-Campus:

Any publicity off-campus for an on campus event must indicate that attendance is limited to students, faculty and staff and is not open to the public. The general public may NOT be invited to a student organization event or activity unless the event or activity is sponsored and approved by a University department. Do not post on private businesses or residences without prior permission. Posters placed off campus for on-campus events must include a statement that indicates the event is limited to students, faculty and staff.

Where NOT to Poster On- and Off- Campus

Be certain your members know not to post flyers or signs on telephone poles, light poles, garbage cans, sidewalks, stairs/steps, fences, trees or buildings, and that they must not destroy or deface other organizations' posters.

Posting of flyers or signs in any of the above places is a violation of UWS Administrative code 18.06 (17) and carries a $153.50 fine. It is also a violation of Madison Ordinance 23.02 and carries a $68.75 fine per occurrence.

Postering On-Campus:

Kiosks and Bulletin Boards

As a Registered Student Organization, you can post your publicity on campus kiosks and bulletin boards. In campus buildings, postering is only allowed on bulletin boards. Ask about approval to post in various buildings. In most cases departmental bulletin boards are maintained and regulated by individuals in the department's main office. In "general use" buildings (Memorial Union, etc.), consult regulations posted on the board or contact the public service information desk.

Bascom Hill

In order to place any signs or post anything on Bascom Hill, you must receive permission through the Central Reservations Office at 608/262-2511. Remember that placing any signs on Bascom Hill is allowed only on the bottom third of the Hill and all items must be removed before sunset.

University Housing

To poster in the seventeen undergraduate Residence Halls, the following guidelines must be followed:

• Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), are allowed to post information about programs or events in residence halls.
• The name of the RSO must be on all posters.
• Postings need to advertise a program or an event. A flier espousing a viewpoint only will not be approved for postering.
• No commercial solicitation is allowed in the advertisement.
• Agencies or individuals unrelated to the university are not permitted to post in the residence halls. Non-RSOs and anyone unrelated to the uniiversity are able to posts on kiosks outside Holt Commons and Gordon Commons.
• Candidates for public office can request to post campaign fliers in the residence halls only through an RSO related to their campaign. That related RSO can then request permission to post campaign information in the halls about a specific candidate.
• Ideal poster size id 8 by 11, andything larger will be folder.

To receive poster approval, please send one copy to Amanda Thwing or Jaci Hausman, 109 Witte, or via email to amanda.thwing@housing.wisc.edu.
Upon receiving the poster copy, Amanda will contact the front desks informing them they have been approved to be distributed to the respective units. We will no longer be sending out these posters to each of the halls ourselves, your RSO will need to deliver to each of the front desks at least 10 days before the event. . Any postings received less than 7 days before the event might not be posted.
The requested numbers have been determined by each hall staff as to amount of bulletin board space they have available in the units. Please do not deliver more than requested.
Desks will hold on to the posters you have delivered and will NOT distribute posters until they have received the approval from Amanda or Jaci, so please get the approval copy to Amanda or Jaci as well as appropriate copies to all fronts desk ASAP.

The numbers are:

Any postings found within the halls that have not gone through the approval process with Amanda Thwing or Jaci Hausman will be removed. Any RSO may be denied future approvals if unapproved posting is an ongoing problem. If you have any additional questions about posting, please contact the Amanda Thwing or Jaci Hausman at 265-6616.

We will NOT be able to accept email requests to send out information to our staff members. We encourage you to utilize Today @ UW (see info in next section). Mailbox stuffers in the residence halls go through a separate process than above, please see the section under University Housing for mailbox stuffers for detailed information.
See also the Marketing Your Organization section of the Student Organization Handbook for additional ideas.

Electronically Posting RSO Events on Today @ UW

Let the Student Organization Office (SOO) assist you in advertising your events! It’s easy to do and by advertising your programs on our website, your events will automatically be included in the Today @ UW calendar. Events may be automatically included in the Student Link email that is sent out by University Communications and will also be sent out to other student groups and email subscribers. To submit your events and to see what else is going on—go to soo.studentorg.wisc.edu; select the “Upcoming Events” menu pick and then select Student Organization Events Calendar.