Freshers’ parties, varsity tournaments, campus festivals, talks, charity events… Student societies and students’ unions have plenty of formats to keep their community buzzing all year round. The challenge is finding an idea strong enough to make students want to sign up – and come back for the next one.
That doesn’t mean you need a huge budget. To organise a successful student event, the right tools and a well-thought-out plan can be enough to create something your attendees will remember.
Looking for inspiration for your next date in the diary? Here are 7 student event ideas, along with our tips for adapting them to your campus and your audience.
Summary
1. Throw a party or ball with a proper concept
A student party is still a must, but it’s also one of the hardest formats to make stand out. To create a truly memorable night, don’t stop at putting a theme on the poster: bring the concept to life through the décor, the music, the activities and the running order of the evening.
For a nostalgia-themed “Back to being kids” night, for example, you could plan:
- a photo booth styled like a school class photo
- retro video games
- a music quiz built around the TV theme tunes of your generation
- a drinks menu inspired by the after-school snacks you grew up with
The same approach works for an American-style prom, a casino night, a ski party, a film night or a noughties theme. If you’re selling alcohol, make sure you’ve thought about safety and harm reduction, that you have the right licence in place (such as a Temporary Event Notice if the venue isn’t already licensed), and that there’s a good choice of soft drinks so the event feels inclusive for everyone.
For a ball, put more thought into how the evening builds: arrival, dinner or drinks reception, awards, a surprise guest, then the dance floor opens.
Try this test: if you took away the event’s name and poster, your attendees should still be able to tell what the theme is once they’re through the door.
2. Launch a varsity tournament
Football, volleyball, basketball, padel, esports or even dodgeball: a sporting event between universities instantly raises the stakes and gives everyone a team to cheer for.
You could run a one-day tournament, a weekend event, or build a league over several weeks leading up to a grand final. To make it more than just a series of matches, give the competition a real identity:
- kits or colours for each university
- a trophy the winners keep until next year’s edition
- a commentator or MC for the finals
- a supporters’ zone
- individual awards
- a prize-giving ceremony
Several societies from different universities can also share the organising. Each university then becomes a channel for promoting the competition and rallying its own community.
Above all, think about the people who aren’t playing. Music, food, entertainment and a big-occasion final turn the competition into a successful student event that keeps both the teams and the supporters happy.
Tight on budget? Approaching local businesses for sponsorship can often help bring costs down.
For ticketing too, go for a tool that’s easy to pick up, as Guillaume Cazcarra, founder of School Cup, explains:
“It didn’t take us long at all to get to grips with the tool, even though we weren’t specialists in any way.”
3. Create your own campus festival
You don’t need three stages and dozens of acts to put on a festival. A single day can be enough to bring together music, societies, food, activities, art and talks in one place.
Of all the events you can run on campus, this format gives you the most freedom and lets every student shape their own day. You could include:
- a stage for bands and DJs from your university
- a village showcasing local projects
- food stalls
- a vintage clothing sale or makers’ market
- workshops
- a chill-out area
- sports or games activities
The idea is to let people wander and create their own experience. To avoid it feeling like an open day, though, plan a clear programme and one big shared moment: a headline set, the final of a competition, a surprise performance or a closing DJ set.
Your first edition could then become an annual fixture in the campus calendar. If you’re serving food, plan ahead for storage, serving and food hygiene with the caterers and suppliers involved.
4. Turn your university into a treasure hunt or giant challenge
The buildings you walk through every day become far more exciting when they’re turned into a playing field. Treasure hunts, puzzle trails and team challenges work especially well during Freshers’ Week.
A few ideas for challenges along your trail:
- riddles
- photo challenges
- quizzes about the university
- sports challenges
- clue hunts
- mini escape rooms in different rooms
This format is particularly effective for welcoming new students, as it helps them find their way around campus while getting them talking to each other.
Be careful not to add so many stages that the trail takes too long to finish, though. A handful of well-designed challenges and a route that flows will make more of an impact than a long list of tasks.
Finish with a prize-giving that brings all the teams together!
5. Organise a talent show or student battle
Your university is almost certainly home to musicians, comedians, dancers, DJs and artists just waiting for a stage. Turn that talent into an event everyone can get behind.
Open applications several weeks in advance and pick a handful of acts for a grand final in front of an audience. The format can take many forms: battle of the bands, stand-up competition, dance battle, DJ contest, debating competition, talent show or photography competition.
Not sure which discipline has the most talent on campus? You can simplify and centralise all this information with WeezTicket’s custom registration forms. Multiple-choice questions, custom fields, conditional logic… collecting the key details couldn’t be easier!
On the night, line up a judging panel, a host and fairly short slots to keep the pace up. The event can also become a showcase for all the talent at your university.
6. Invite a well-known guest for a masterclass followed by networking
Not every student event has to finish at 3am!
A talk with an entrepreneur, artist, athlete, alumnus or respected professional can draw a big crowd if the topic is relevant right now.
Go for a lively conversation, followed by a Q&A and then a more informal chance to chat. For example:
- 6.30pm: arrivals
- 7pm: talk or masterclass
- 8pm: audience Q&A
- 8.30pm: drinks and networking
You could also bring together several speakers with complementary backgrounds rather than holding out for one big name. The topic is what really drives sign-ups. “How I started my first business at 22” will usually resonate far more than a generic “Talk on entrepreneurship”.
7. Put on a charity event built around a group challenge
Fundraising often gets more people involved when it’s tied to an experience.
Rather than simply asking for donations, you could organise an event where all or part of the profits go to a partner charity.
A charity fun run, tournament, gig, auction, show, challenge day or clothes swap: lots of formats can be adapted for your charity event. You can also set a visible target, such as cycling 1,000 miles between you, getting 500 people through the door, or hitting a fundraising total before midnight.
Share progress regularly to build momentum. Explain clearly which cause you’re supporting, how the money raised will be used and what role the partner charity will play. Having them there on the day, or giving a short talk, can also make the event feel more meaningful.
Make sign-ups for your student events simple with WeezTicket
Between registrations, promotion, last-minute sales and checking tickets, managing attendees can quickly take up a big chunk of your time when organising a student event.
Setting up online ticketing lets you bring all of this together and keep track of sign-ups without juggling multiple spreadsheets and tools.
WeezTicket offers a range of features designed for students’ unions, societies and student event organisers:
- Personalised event mini-site: don’t have a website for your society or your event? Create a personalised page with your artwork, description, practical information and ticket shop, then share the link on Instagram, in your student group chats or by email.
- Free ticketing for free events: running a talk, a society social or a free activity? Manage sign-ups and know exactly how many people are coming, at no cost.
- Multi-event module: does your society run several events throughout the year? Group them all together so students can easily find your full line-up.
- On-site sales: not sold out on the day? Keep selling tickets on the door and bring those sales together with your online sales.
- WeezAccess app: scan tickets straight from a smartphone with our access control app and track attendees as they arrive.
- Real-time stats: follow sign-ups, sales and revenue as your promotion rolls out. It’s a quick way to see whether that new Instagram post or reminder to students has had the effect you were hoping for.
- Payouts every 15 days: keep on top of your society’s finances more easily, with ticket revenue paid out to you regularly.
- Customer support Monday to Friday: if you have a question while setting up your event or managing your sales, our expert advisers are on hand from 8am to 6pm (UK time), Monday to Friday. While your event is live, an emergency technical support line is also available after hours and at weekends.
“We regularly support students’ unions and societies running parties for several hundred students. At events like these, the main challenges at the entrance are speed and security.
“At a recent party for 300 students, the society had several volunteers on the door, each with the WeezAccess app installed on their smartphone. They were able to scan tickets one after another without working from paper lists or checking each registration by hand.
“If a ticket has already been used or isn’t valid, this shows up instantly when it’s scanned. That meant the society could keep the queue moving while keeping entry secure. Having such an important part of the event run so smoothly freed them up to deal with other last-minute issues – including a problem with the sound system.” Sam, Client Services, Weezevent
As you can see, the best format isn’t necessarily the one with the biggest line-up or the largest budget.
A tournament that’s become a tradition, a competition championed by a whole year group or a festival launched for the very first time can build more loyalty than a more ambitious project with no real identity.
If you’re planning a student event, start with a simple idea, tailor it to your community and gradually build the experience around it. A great student event leaves a lasting mark on a year group when it gives people a real reason to take part, share it and come back for the next edition.
Our solutions support organisers at every stage of planning a student event, combining easy-to-use, high-performance online ticketing with reliable, secure access control to make managing your attendees easier.
FAQ
Q: What do I need to sort out before organising an event at my university?
Start by checking your university’s and students’ union’s rules, and the permissions you need to use your chosen venue. Most students’ unions have an activities or events team that can tell you what’s required – this often includes an event proposal form, a risk assessment and, for some events, proof of insurance. If you’re selling alcohol or putting on entertainment in a space without a licence, you may also need a Temporary Event Notice from your local council.
Q: How can we structure our planning when the team is short on time?
For a small team, good event planning is mainly about avoiding scattered tasks. Bring registrations, sales, practical information and entry tracking together using as few tools as possible. Having support available if you run into problems can also save you time. Finally, divide up responsibilities clearly before the day, so everyone knows exactly what they’re focusing on.
Q: How can we grow student life beyond the big nights out?
Varsity tournaments, masterclasses, talent shows, charity projects and treasure hunts all help to bring variety to student life throughout the year. Student-led initiatives like these reach a wider range of people and strengthen your society’s community. For student societies, mixing up formats is also a great way to create more chances for people to meet and socialise.
Q: How can we keep entry flowing at a party with several hundred people?
For busy events, put several volunteers on access control and give them a smartphone scanning tool. That way, tickets can be checked at multiple points at once, with no paper lists or manual checks of each registration. If a ticket has already been used or isn’t valid, the team is alerted instantly and can keep the queue moving.
Q: How can we make a varsity tournament fun for people who aren’t playing?
Think of the tournament as a whole experience rather than just a series of matches. A commentator, a supporters’ zone, food, a big-occasion final and a prize-giving all give people a reason to stick around. You could also put the results up on a screen so the crowd can easily follow how the competition is unfolding.
Q: How can we make managing talent show applications easier?
Collect all applications through a custom form that captures each act’s discipline, technical requirements and availability. You can then pick your finalists and even let the audience vote for some of the acts. On the night of the final, an interactive set-up, a host and fairly short slots will help keep the pace up.
Q: How do we give a student festival a real identity?
Avoid simply lining up stalls and activities. Instead, build a programme with a common thread and one big shared moment, such as a headline set, the final of a competition or a surprise performance. Projects run by different societies can then round out the programme. The whole thing feels more coherent and is easier for attendees to identify with.
Q: Which tools are actually useful for a society managing its sign-ups?
Online ticketing such as WeezTicket brings registrations, sales and revenue tracking together in one place. Access control from a smartphone then makes welcoming attendees on the day much easier, while real-time stats let you track how sign-ups are going. For a society, the main benefit is avoiding parallel spreadsheets and re-entering data, so you can spend more time on the content and the experience you’re offering.
