Lack of planning skills and talent can really lead to event failure and image of an organisation being underestimated in future. Last year in 2011, a lot of students from the University of Johannesburg and outside were looking forward to take a break from books and enjoy themselves a little. Students all had high expectations about the event of Freshers Ball but unfortunately they were disappointed.
These are some of the reasons:
- Students only knew about the event two weeks before.
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UJ FRESHERS: Logo for UJ 2011 Freshers ball
Source: rawentertainment |
- The event had venue problems and was postponed.
- The University of Johannesburg Soweto Campus was too small to accommodate all students who bought tickets, thus others had to go back home.
- Alcohol was sold inside, but even before the event was over Alcohol was already out of stock.
- Some of the artists who were suppose to perform did not perform.
As an Organisation, the type and success of the events that you host have an impact on how the public sees you. For a successful event, different departments involved in planning must all fully participate and not take each other for granted. Advertising, Media relations and etc about an event must not be left for last minute things. Perceptions that the public has about an Organisation influences its success and future support that it will recieve from them.
Well its a new year now, and another Freshers ball for 2012 is on its way. People already have a negative perception about Freshers ball organised by the University of Johannesburg, but we will see if their perception will be proven right or rong. If the University of Johannesburg will up their standards in planning and improving their image.
Lack of good planning did not take place, this event is not well planned dates clatches with tests, assignments and other stuff you can see that the organisers are not doing research. And am not happy with the problem of short notices lets hjust hope this year is gonna be a boom-but NO! I dont see that coming.
ReplyDeletei dont see the BOOM coming either Themba, because we as the students of UJ dont even know when the Freshers for 2012 is taking place, all we hear is just rumours.i bet they will do the same mistakes again and clash its date with our assignments and tests.
Deletetrue hey the university organising commitee is not compitent because they always do things the last minutes which is very unprofessional
ReplyDeletei have to agree with you Simangele and the sad part is that we are paying the price. if they are clever enough they should change all the people who were involved in planning last year and give new and vibrant people a chance to plan this event and probably things will be for the better.
DeleteI totally agree with you Dear, last years freshers was a disaster and yes Uj had failed to plan a succesful freshers ball, I doubt there will be as many people attending beacuse from students and outsiders were really disappointed. I guess we'll just have to hope it is a success this year. I am also not keen in attending it beacuse of it was packed at the gate and we waited hours for us to go in, it was a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteyes i also think there wont be as many students who will attend due to the perception that they already have, just like you Motlatse. i guess its a loss for UJ and they have no one to blame but themselves.
DeleteI think event planning should be done by prp,so this shows that uj does not have good event planner.Event should be planned at least 6 months before it took place not few weeks before because people will not get enough time to prepare themselves.
ReplyDeletemy point exactly Marvee, people need time to prepare for an event and, also no event can be a success if its planned in the last minutes.
DeleteI think UJ need people like us to improve and upgrade the standard.We are taught how to organise an event and I think we will do things better.I think this year's freshers will be much better.
ReplyDeleteMuch better I hope my darling, because they just cannot afford to dissapoint their audience once again.
DeleteYes 2011 uj freshers ball was very unprofessionally planned. It takes commitment to achieve good results,for the first time when uj postponed the event it was clear that the event was not well planned.From a PR point of view uj was supposed to hire someone who is fully informed about events,someone who will use the PR event check list.
ReplyDeleteI definately agree with you Moimane that planning such a big event needs someone who knows their story and not taking chances. And ofcourse a check list is very important for a succesful event.
DeleteI also agree with marvee mashiane that freshers ball should be planned by prps, they should give us pr students a chance to host a succesful fresher balls events.
ReplyDeleteYou know what Dineo, it seems as if you Guys know what you are talking about and could make a difference. I think you PRPs should go to the people who are incharge of this years Freshers ball and ask them if you could be of any assistant then we will see the difference.
DeleteIt seems like UJ doesn't want to have a freshers' party at all, I mean it simply shows because the event is not well-organised, there is either going to be a problem about the venue or dates... They really have to work on their events planning.
ReplyDeleteThey should realy up their standards sister, lets just hope that this year they will be better and impressive.
DeleteTrue, what happened last year was just a total mess. Theses people who pklan the freshers ball need to seriously look at every detail before they can announce when the ball will take place and they need to make sure that everything is well to the plan at hand. What happened lst year was just plain UNPROFESSIONAL.
ReplyDeleteUnprofessional indeed, I also think that if they feel they are not ready then they shouldnt rush things because at the end of the day your reputation as an organisation is at stake.
DeleteI like your words "students only knew about the event in 2 weeks of the event" the concerned committe is not using possible communication to inform us,there is a Ujfm and Uj Obsever newspaper why they dont use these mediums as a form of gaining publicity? but Im still waiting this year's freshers ball.
ReplyDeleteI like the points you have raised Mthokozisi, there are a couple of mediums which they can use to communicate effectively with us about their event but they are not using them. I say lets wait and see what they have for us this year.
Deletewell the only word that comes out of my mouth right now is total incompetence from the ever greedy organizing commetee who are always disapointng us and even this year no one knows about the actual date of the freshers ball.
ReplyDeleteWell its quite clear that they have not learned from the mistakes that occcured last year, my worry just like you my brother is that even this year there will be a short notice about Freshers.
Deletei realy think it is time that they gave the uj pr students the chance to plan the event .because the src clealy dnt kwn what they are doing
ReplyDeleteYou know what Clive, you are not the first one to suggest that hence I say if you guys are really up for this then you should talk to the right people and ask for a chance to prove yourselves.
DeleteWhat do you think will be the best planning strategy in making this years freshers ball a success?
ReplyDeleteIt should be planned by the upcoming PRPs from UJ as they are also not happy about last years Freshers and are up for the challenge.
DeleteI think it would make more sense if freshers ball could be made in the beginning of the year, like February, because then new students will feel welcomed and they will get a chance to meet new people, in the middle of the year its cold, and students are bombarded with lots of work, this should also be looked at.
ReplyDeleteThats a very good point there Doris, because after all the aim of Fresher is to welcome new students who are from High school to University so it does not make sense to welcome them in the beginning of the year.
Deletewhy do they say the freshers ball is for the first years only?
ReplyDeleteBecause its main objective is to welcome the new kids who are from High School to the life of University but that does not mean its only the first years who attend the event.
Deletewhat will make the event a success and who are they really targeting?
ReplyDeleteThey are targetting all first years because after all they arethe ones who are being welcomed to the life of University. Ofcourse the event cannot be attended by them only so they target ol students
DeleteIt is good that entertainment kicks in at some point - studying is no child's play, I'm just concerned about some of the things that students get up to during such events as the freshers ball! I would really like to know if the university has any plans in place when organising such an event to ensure that students don't engage in illicit behaviour.
ReplyDeleteSome get drunk - then unsafe sex kicks in - then babies kick in - then drop outs! what role is UJ planning i this?
UJ gives away free condoms, more security and the traffic department will be there to ensure that students do not drive while they are drunk.
DeleteI have never been to any freshers ball by the University of Johannesburg, but with the way peole were complaining about last year's events I feel like I was there myself, UJ have a very poor communications, I mean students need to be made aware about the events at least 2 months before so that they arrange everything in time and UJ must share information diligently with students regarding events like this. Lastly, I must say that the University need very good event organizers not some greedy organizing committe so I just hope that this year freshers will improve than last years and that it will everyone happy everyone happy because you can't have delegates or attendees complaining about such events since they are very important to an organisation's corporate identity
ReplyDeleteAn organisations Corporate Identity is very important indeed and I also think the UJ needs to be reminded of that. Your target audience is what makes your organisation thus as an organisation you must make sure that they are at all times happy with what you offer them and you exceed their expectations.
Deleteso true SIPHOKAZI, because such has happend i nolonger feel the need to attend the Freshers because of my bad experience. what can UJ improve ?
ReplyDeleteIt must start by improving their planning check-list and maybe change the people who planned the last event which was a disater and give new and vibrant people a chance, maybe they can make wonders.
Deletei dont attend fresh ball i would'nt know what happen but according to me an event is supposed to be organised and well prepared before the due date and if the audience are not happy they will never come again
ReplyDeleteYou are very right my darling, your target audience must be well informed about your event weeks before, so that they all plan their things well and avail themselves for your event.
DeleteI agree that there was lacking of planning for the 2011 Uj freshers but sometimes you cant put blame on organisers hands alone. Corcerning this years Freshers Ball its has been postponed twice so far by Unioversity and since u are a orgsniser and keep postponing dates with the Deejay line ups and artist so you see not always organisers fault there are other factors involved.
ReplyDeleteOfcourse we cannot put the blame on only the organisers but the organisation as a whole.
Deletefor me they totally had no idea of what they were doing and and i think they need much more experienced people to run the the whole organisation of the event.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it will be better if they analyse their target audience and ofcourse get more experienced people who specialise in planning such events.
DeleteWell they seem to have encountered the same problem this year.Its postponed to the 19th of May,i happen to find this very inconvenient because most of us wl be preparing for exams.I seriously don't get it but after all i guess its about putn your priorities first which is School ofcos.
ReplyDeleteExactly, this event is suppose to be attended by all students but how do they expect us to attend it if they make it where we have Assignments and Tests lining up.
DeleteUJ does not know how to plan events and thats final. what happened to our freshers ball this year?
ReplyDeleteFreshers ball for this year is still on its way and I think the date is on the 19 May 2012. Lets hope for the best.
Deletecommunicating wrong messages to the public is highly unappriciated because the students who were there and bought tickets felt bad ,they were looking foward to it but were dissapointed.i m not impressed with the way things were done at all.
ReplyDeleteYou are not the first one who is unhappy, it was really bad for students who took their time and money wanting to attend the event but at the end were not allowed to enter because the venue was full.
DeleteI think UJ lack good public relations practitioners when it comes to the people who are to organise the freshers ball,they dont plan in time and events that are not planned become disasters.
ReplyDeleteA recipe to a disaster event is to make last minute plans and not informing your target audience in time, that I have to agree with you. Maybe they should really give a thought to having new and young PRPs to help in planning the event.
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