In a little more than a year, NYU Shanghai has been through an immense amount of growth and change. Although NYU Shanghai is a portal campus of New York University, being in a completely different country has given NYUSH characteristics of its own. The current student body has major influence over what kind of school NYU Shanghai will become, which is part of the reason why students decided to come, to contribute and grow together with the school. Students have been creating clubs in order to share their enthusiasm and to come together as section of our university, typically with a shared interest. This passion is displayed during the Club Fair at the beginning of each semester: various clubs have their tables set up, and hundreds of students walk around, writing down their student ID for the clubs sound interesting and collecting Coco’s milk tea. But like the New Year’s resolution promise of running twenty minutes a day, this excitement and motivation seems to fade quickly as the days go by. By mid-semester, club activities and attendance seem to have stagnated. What is going on? I have been involved in founding and leading a club. Outside of organizing events that genuinely excite myself and others, I found that it was difficult to successfully communicate and advertise these events so that students will actually hear about them and show up. This seems to be a recurring problem for many clubs, as their events seem to come and go without much attention from students. Advertising at NYU Shanghai can be difficult, especially when we only have three venues: OrgSync, bulletin boards, and social media. It seems that not many students are inclined to use OrgSync often, and the bulletin board options are very limited. However, social media is one resource I think clubs are underutilizing. In this age, social media is an essential part of college student’s life. Whether it be Facebook, WeChat moments, or Renren—it seems that many students are checking social media sites constantly. Clubs should take advantage of this to promote their club events. They should work on the visualization of their events through posters, pictures, and the like, and promote them on these social media platforms. They should have at least one photographer at the club event who will take photos, and use them to show how entertaining or educational the club event was. When others see the images after the event, hopefully they will want to be part of it and tune in for future events. In this internet age, where information spreads online faster than word of mouth, we should utilize this tool for something other than showing off that delectable chocolate pancake you had at Mr. Pancake House. There are many methods for gaining the interest of students to become members and attend meetings, such as holding a club meeting regularly and creating opportunities for club member bonding. Club development is difficult for NYUSH students now, because we do not have senior classmates as examples to guide us through the process. However, this provides an opportunity for us to explore our own methods to create a successful club. It requires great amount of fervor to sustain such a club, to keep coming up with activities that will excite students. Enthusiasm is contagious, and I think all the clubs have the potential to succeed as long as they themselves are genuinely passionate about holding their activities, spreading it to other students. If you are interested in having an article about your own club, its specific event, or anything related, you can email me at [email protected]. This article was written by Kinsa Durst. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons