Jeffrey M. Fazio, M.Ed. 

 

 

 

Publications: Programming Magazine

This article was written for Programming magazine that is published by the National Association for Campus Activities. This article was published in the October 2009 issue of the magazine


JITTERS: How to Grow, Promote,
and Enjoy a Successful Coffeehouse Series

By Jeffrey Fazio, Penn State Schuylkill (PA)

People are creatures of habit. And what is habit, really?

A stale definition of habit might describe it as a regular pattern of acquired behavior. A more insightful definition might be that it is a sneaky tool used by clever student activities programmers to ensure successful events (over and over again).

Like the rest of us, students are creatures of habit. We can embrace this by programming our campus events in series. Making a conscious choice to establish a series of events prepares a clear schedule that students can get into the habit of attending. But series programming offers even more than that. We’ll get into other benefits in a moment.

Notice the suggestion that series programming is a “conscious choice.” Many programmers might argue that they are already scheduling in series; however, they may not be taking full advantage of what series programming offers if they are not doing this consciously. Series programming is much more than simply having the same type of event on a regular basis.

A majority of Penn State Berks’ programming is done in series. They operate monthly Berks Bus trips and a biweekly movie series simply called Berks Movie Nights. On the first Monday of each month, they host a comedy series called LOL. Of particular interest is their coffeehouse series called JITTERS.

JITTERS was the brainchild of Amanda Farnum, a graduate of Penn State Berks. Farnum became the Campus Activity Board (CAB) president at the beginning of her sophomore year in 2005. During the fall semester, she attended her first (of seven) National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) conferences. 

While at one of those conferences, she was inspired to create a series of events featuring poets and musicians in a coffeehouse setting. During the next few weeks, Farnum worked with John Gallagher, assistant director of student affairs at Penn State Berks, to fully develop the concept. The fruit of their brainstorming was the JITTERS coffeehouse series that enjoyed its inaugural event in the spring of 2006. The name was derived from the aftereffect of drinking too much coffee.

 

 Six Key Factors

There are six key factors that contribute to the ongoing success of JITTERS:

1.       Programming in series

2.       Scheduling a diverse mix of performers

3.       Arranging a specific room setup

4.       Purchasing catering services from another club

5.       Marketing in a variety of ways

6.       Providing worthwhile incentives to CAB members to

work every aspect of the events 

1. Programming in Series

There are several benefits to working events in series. The most obvious, as stated earlier, is making the events part of students’ habitual behavior. With everything going on in students’ lives, a lot can be said for making events part of their routine. JITTERS takes place two or three times per month, almost always on a Thursday evening. Once students are used to the pace of the series, it does not take much planning on their part to attend regularly.

An additional benefit of working in series is that it provides the audience with a proven level of quality. If events are randomly produced throughout the year, students need to constantly gauge which events are worth investing their time. In contrast, once a student attends an event as part of a series, they have a good idea of what the rest of the programming might be like.

This is the same psychology that makes people fans of a specific author, musician or television show. The last book/album/show was good, so the next one should be just as good or better, so they’d better not miss it.

A third benefit of working in series is that the student workers and professional staff do not need to learn a new setup for every event. Working this way allows for quicker setup and cleanup as the patterns of work remain pretty much the same.

2. Scheduling a Diverse Mix of Performers

 

Although it is good to be consistent with the scheduling of events, consider being less consistent with the types of acts brought to a coffeehouse. Bringing in a variety of acts allows the series to be marketed to a wider audience and, hopefully, to expose the audience to a more diverse experience.

JITTERS features a vast array of musicians and spoken-word poets. They have had musicians that would be categorized as rock-and-roll, pop, country, hip-hop, folk, etc. They have also had traditional poets, slam poets and everything in between.

A few times per year, a JITTERS event will be held as an open mic night for the students. This gives them a chance to get on stage and helps boost interest in the series because students who perform tend to bring many of their friends with them. It is a great experience for students to share the same venue that the professional performers use. On occasion, students get the chance to open for the professional performer. 

3. Arranging a Specific Room Setup

Since small, coffeehouse venues are not effective in large auditoriums, JITTERS takes place in the multipurpose room at Penn State Berks. As the name implies, this room is used for a wide array of activities. It is not the most conducive space for having a coffeehouse feel, at least not until the students of CAB get a hold of it.

In less than an hour, the students completely change this space from an overly lit, general-use space with plain tables and chairs to a dramatically lit coffeehouse. The fluorescent lights are turned off and a secondary set of dimmer, warmer lights is used for this event.

A small stage is brought into the room along with a mobile sound system. Using magnets, dramatic backdrops of cloth are hung behind the stage from the crossbeams of the drop ceiling. Magnets are also used to hang the JITTERS sign. Using magnets allows for quick installation and teardown without affecting the room.

The performance area is surrounded with soft furniture (sofas and living room chairs). This allows students to be close to the performance while enjoying the feeling of a comfortable living room. Behind the soft furniture, a semi-circle of tables and chairs is set up.

Each of the tables is dressed with two layers of tablecloths that match the backdrops. The centers of the tables are decorated with metal plates that hold a variety of large candles. The candles are completely surrounded by coffee beans that add their wonderful aroma to the room. In a matter of moments, they transform the room from bland to grand.

Having a specific room design offers the event a consistent feel and it also makes the event immediately recognizable to passersby. It also allows for reduced costs because the setup is reused over and over again. Berks has gotten several years out of their initial investment in materials. 

4. Purchasing Catering Services from Another Club

A great way to increase attendance and interest in the coffeehouse series is to collaborate with other student organizations on campus. Berks’ CAB teamed up with the Hotel and Restaurant Society (HRS) to cater JITTERS. HRS provides the coffee and, whenever possible, they make homemade desserts. At other times, they supply store-bought treats. The students who show up to the event can enjoy free food and drinks.

HRS charges CAB for the event, so it is a great opportunity for them to earn some money for their club while gaining valuable experience catering an actual event. They also enjoy the chance to try out new recipes.

CAB benefits from the relationship because they are able to offer additional incentive to attendees and HRS generally brings a group of students with them, which helps boost attendance. As an advisor, I always find it satisfying to see different clubs working cooperatively together. 

5. Marketing in a Variety of Ways

No matter how much work goes into putting an event together, all can be lost without proper marketing. As I mentioned previously, establishing a name and logo for the series will make marketing a lot easier. So, how to advertise the event?

Berks’ CAB has tried a variety of advertising campaigns. Their marketing can be broken down into four distinct types:
 

  • Advertising the entire series
  • Advertising before the day of a show
  • Advertising the actual day of the event
  • Post-event advertising

One more benefit of working in series is that single promotional items can be created that advertise the entire series of events. This offers a lot more mileage for the investment. In the past, CAB created JITTERS T-shirts that list all of the artists and dates for the semester. They have also purchased pens on which the names and dates of the events change on the side of the pen each time it is clicked.

Additionally, they have produced refrigerator magnets that list all of the JITTERS events for a semester. All of the dates are printed in each semester’s activities calendar. In the cafeteria, they place table tents that list the entire series.

Lastly, outside the multipurpose room is a gigantic poster that features all of the upcoming performers. All of this would constitute a lot of effort for a single show, but it is really worthwhile when six to nine events can be advertised and the piece of marketing lasts all semester.

Prior to the day of the show, CAB promotes in a variety of ways. Flyers are of course blanketed around campus. Additionally, small versions of the flyers are placed over the series advertisements in the table tents in the cafeteria. This allows them to get noticed more since they change often. Each month’s events are advertised in the school newspaper. A Facebook event is created and all of the CABBIES invite their friends. The JITTERS events are also included in a weekly activities e-mail that goes out to the student body.

When the day of an event arrives, there is still more promotion happening. All of the CABBIES participate in a Facebook “status attack.” They all change their status on the website to indicate that they will be at the show that night. A sign that reads “JITTERS TONIGHT” is placed outside the cafeteria in a high-traffic area. Lastly, the word TONIGHT! is printed in fluorescent colors on standard mailing labels and the students stick the labels all over the flyers around campus. This is an immediate visual reminder that the advertised date of the event has arrived.

There is one more unique benefit to working in series and that is post-event advertising. This makes sense only for series programming. Berks uploads photos from the JITTERS events to Facebook. They have also produced posters showing photos from the event. The text on the posters reads, “Did you miss out on (artist name)? Don’t miss the next JITTERS!” Just because the event is over does not mean that the marketing stops. 

6. Providing Worthwhile Incentives to CAB members

Berks’ students volunteer a lot of time to make the JITTERS coffeehouse series a success and they deserve some benefits for their hard work. As a general rule, they invite the JITTERS performers to dinner at an off-campus restaurant prior to the sound check. If the artists accept, the only students allowed to go are the ones who signed up to work that particular event. The student workers also tend to take the front-and-center couch for the performance (like NACA’s “Best Seat in the House” fundraiser).

At the end of the show, a photograph is taken of the artist with the CABBIES who worked the event. This picture is posted in the CAB office. In the past, they have also received CAB staff T-shirts or JITTERS coffeehouse series T-shirts. 

Less Work, More Involvement

 Although taking on series programming might sound like a lot of work, over time it actually makes less work and provides an opportunity for more student involvement. Series programming answers the when, where and how questions. All that is left is to pick the artists and start filling in the blanks. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to create your series.

 About the Author

 Jeffrey Fazio is assistant director of Student Affairs at Penn State Schuylkill (PA). Until recently, he served as Student Activities coordinator at Penn State Berks (PA), where he previously had served as a graduate intern. Active in NACA, he currently serves as the NACA Mid Atlantic Diversity Initiatives Coordinator. He previously served as a member-at-large for the NACA Mid Atlantic Regional Leadership Team and has been a member of the NACA Mid Atlantic Regional Conference and Festival showcase selection committees. In addition, he earned a first place in graphic design in the 2008 NACA Mid Atlantic Outstanding Faculty/Staff Designed Non-Poster Publicity competition. At Penn State Berks, where he advised the Campus Activities Board, he was named Advisor of the year twice. He currently advises the Penn State Schuylkill Student Programming Board. He is the author of the book Sponsorship: Amateur Motorsports and was a monthly columnist for the “DriveTime” section of the Reading Eagle newspaper, for which he also wrote a number of feature stories.