Socials can be hard events to get right. So, here are some ways that we have had success running socials in the past.
It's important to bear in mind that what works and what doesn't work will be closely tied in to your university's culture, and the specific personalities of your group leaders and core group members.
So, take these templates as suggestions to get you started.
Big socials
Having a large one-off social event is good for engaging people into your group's social community who don't come to regular socials, and making group members closer to each other.
You might book a large gathering space, provide food, centre the social around a specific activity or topic, etc. Some more detailed examples are in our templates below.
We don't think these are a top priority, but if you have the capacity they are good to do a couple times per semester.
Post-discussion session hang out
After a discussion session, we think it's good to invite people who want to hang out together. In the past, we've done this by having the discussion session before dinner and then inviting people to go have dinner together.
If you can get a few people to do regularly come and get dinner together every week, this is a great way for them to become friends with each other.
Other resources:
We didn't write these, but we think they might be helpful for you: