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Give it A Go Planning

What is a Give it a Go?

Give it a Go is a programme of sessions run by CSPs to offer all students the chance to try out different activities they could expect if they were to become group members. 

There are two goals of Give it a Go: 

  • An opportunity for CSPs to promote their activities and gain members.  

  • Providing students with access to our CSPs so they can learn, ask questions, and try out activities before making any time or money commitments.  

Give it a Go 2022 will take place over two weeks, Wednesday 5th until Sunday 16th Oct to maximise the opportunities students will have to take part. CSPs are therefore encouraged to use the Welcome Fair on 4th Oct to promote booking onto taster sessions.  

To make it easier for people to find an activity suited to them, Give it a Go is split into six main categories, all of which demonstrate inclusivity. These interest areas are: 

  • Share Your Culture

    IC Union is a vibrant multi-cultural body and we aim to have a student-led community representative of this. Individual identity is important to celebrate and this is something our CSPs persevere in the wide range of faith and culture student groups on offer. Not only does this allow our International population to find familiar spaces, all students are invited to connect with their own cultures and practices as well as sharing them with peers! GIAG Culture events are the perfect way to connect with new members.

  • Get Active (Including Sports Trials)

    Keeping active is not only good for the body but it is extremely good for the mind! All of the one-off and continuous activities delivered by our ACC groups and Sport Imperial should be showcased as times to take a break, relax and Get Active! Our wide range of clubs cater to all abilities, whether students are interested in competing or just keeping fit and socialising, they should be encouraged to give our Active events a Go. We ask CSPs to make their GIAG events as accessible and novice friendly as possible, showing sport as an area everyone can get involved in.

  • Give it Another Go

    GIAG isn’t just for freshers. Returning students can get involved in our CSPs at any point so it is important they know it’s not too late! We encourage CSPs to accommodate returning students by running sessions specifically for them so they can give activities a try as casually and commitment free as they could in first-year whilst feeling comfortable around other students in similar, novice positions. All regular GIAG sessions should welcome returning students too but look at level of interest to decide if it would be beneficial to have different timetabled sessions for those Giving it ANOTHER Go.

  • Meet the Committee

    We understand that, for some students, all of the new information from Welcome can be overwhelming. Even the Welcome Fair may leave them with unanswered questions so we are asking CSPs to provide a space to address any leftover questions and really get to know potential new members so that every student at Imperial feels comfortable and ready to get involved with activities. Having dedicated ‘Meet the Committee’ sessions is a really helpful way to introduce who your group are in your own words and give new students friendly faces to look out for. This can be done however you feel is best for your group- volunteering projects may find this brand particularly useful in generating interest. Please add these sessions to the ‘What’s On’ calendar under the ‘Meet the Committee’ brand.

  • Learn a Skill

    GIAG is a chance to offer students opportunities to build on their personal expertise and learn a craft or skill they may not otherwise have the opportunity to. Many of our societies offer more than meets the eye. Think about the types of activity your CSP offers that fall outside of the expected or the expert, for example, learning technical backstage skills in theatre societies or going to technique classes for art or dance. Even media or academic society skills are transferrable when new members may never have used some specialist equipment before. This category is broad and allows you to advertise specific activities within CSPs that may not be obvious to students who are new.

  • Explore

    It’s very easy to get stuck in the Imperial bubble. Here will be the vast range of opportunities to explore some beautiful parts of the UK and beyond. Trips and activities run by our Recreational Clubs Committee such as Mountaineering and Caving feature here. These activities should encourage students to be adventurous at all experience levels so CSPs should use GIAG to make explorative and outdoor activities accessible.

  • Relax and Socialise

    CSPs promoting getting involved in Union groups often does not necessarily mean a large event or specific activity is attached as joining a CSP is a great way of making friends and creating more opportunity for socialising outside of studies with lots of students across the University. CSPs bring students together and provide relaxed spaces to take a break from busy student life so this can be introduced within this GIAG category so new members have a relaxed access point to further meet-ups. These GIAG sessions will introduce students to likeminded people and should welcome them into the thriving Imperial community. You could run free group walks, coffee mornings, games nights or any other relevant recreational activities you wish to advertise your CSP.

  • Be Creative

    From ACapella to Calligraphy, and from Sinfonietta to Comedy Society, we have such a huge range of creative societies here at Imperial. GIAG Create shows that Imperial isn’t just all about being in the lab, we’re a creative bunch too! If students are looking to meet people with similar hobbies or to challenge themselves to explore the arts, there are plenty of activities and performance opportunities for them which they can try out as part of GIAG.

How to Plan Your Give it a Go

  1. Plan your taster sessions! 
     
  2. Submit your Event Proposal Form here. 
     
  3. Once you have received confirmation this has been approved, you can submit a room booking. N.B. The ad-hoc room booking form is yet to launch so still submit your event form with your planned rooms and you can submit a room booking at a later date. 
     
  4. Upload your events to the Union ‘What’s On’ page. 

    You can do this by navigating via eActivities / Administration / Clubs, Societies & Projects / What’s On / Create New Event and filling in the information to reflect that which you submitted on your proposal. 

    We strongly advice you also use the sign-up feature to help you keep track of numbers as you will not be able to collect contact details at the Welcome Fair due to GDPR. 

Please see additional email for details on Club Trials. Times, locations and expected attendance are to be submitted by email by Thursday 1st September. 

What we can do for you... 

We will promote all of your events via the ‘What’s On’ calendar and on our social media platforms (including the College Move Imperial socials for sports clubs). 

We have a range of marketing assets you can utilise such as: 

By being a part of the Give it a Go brand, your event will be most accessible and successfully promoted along with the benefit of CSPs being supported by the Activities team. We aim to help you make your taster events as successful as possible and reach the widest range of students so please reach out for any guidance and to discuss ideas. 

Planning Your Logistics

Event Signup and Register  

  • All Give it a Go events have a sign-up register on the ‘What’s On’ calendar. This is so CSPs can keep track of interest and potential membership uptake as well as review where turn-out is different to the expected numbers.  

  • You can download your event register by going to eActivities / Administration / Clubs, Societies & Projects / What’s On / Event Sign-up Reports - then find your event from the list.  

Where to meet?  

  • For a lot of students, this will be their first time getting around campus and maybe even London. For events that will be based in or around South Kensington, we recommend setting Beit Quad, or a well-known central location around the College as a meeting place.  

  • If you are based in Charing Cross campus, we recommend meeting around Reynolds.  

  • Outside of any Imperial College campuses, we recommend any central locations such as Westfield’s Shopping Centre and tube stations. 

  • Ensure that someone from your committee is waiting at the meeting place in plenty of time before the session and make sure that they are clearly identifiable for the new attendees. 

What to charge?

  • We strongly advise that your Give it a Go events are free of charge (or, if it is unavoidable, as affordable as possible). 

  • These sessions are designed to be accessible and just a taster or light version of the type of activity you run. Sessions that are free of charge have a higher possibility of better attendance and uphold the ‘try-before-you-buy’ ethos of Give it a Go. 

  • Any events that cost more than £5 will not be classified as Give it a Go! 

Health & Safety

Risk Assessments 

  • If your Give it a Go event is a regular activity, ensure that you have mentioned non-members in your risk assessment. You can read more details about CSP annual risk assessment here.  

  • If it is a one-off event, you will need to write a new risk assessment for it and attach this to your proposal form. 

Best Practice 

  • Ensure you take a register. 

  • Brief new members on the activity, staying aware of competence and experience levels. 

  • Ensure you have committee members present to run the events and oversee the activity from an advice, first-aid (if applicable) and welfare perspective.  

Accident Reporting 

  • If an incident does unfortunately happen, please ensure it has been reported via Salus. We also recommend contacting activities@imperial.ac.uk. Please ensure you update your risk assessment following an incident.  

How to maximise your event 

Think about dates carefully. Running multiple sessions may be a way to give students more of an opportunity to get involved. 

Adding your event to the Union’s ‘What’s On’ page will ensure the most visibility- all ICU members will be signposted there. 

Utilise the Union! We have several media outlets for you to make the most of. Make sure you check out Felix, ICTV, IC Radio and the Union Newsletters for ways to promote your activity. 

Be sure to tag @icunion in your posts so we can re-share them! 

Utilise your own social media! Do you have a club Twitter, Facebook or Instagram account? Promote these at the Welcome Fair and regularly update them so new members can easily find you. We’d recommend creating Facebook event pages for Give it a Go sessions. 

The Activities Team are always around to help. If you would like any further support, please contact activities@imperial.ac.uk 

After the Event 

So you’ve delivered a great first Give it a Go event, woo! But what now? .....

Run some more Give it a Go sessions!  

Give it a Go will be running throughout the year, so we highly recommend planning some more events. We have found that students don’t just want to join clubs and societies at the beginning of term but feel that it might be too late to do so once term is in full swing. Running Give it a Go sessions throughout term takes away this worry and ensures that your CSP is always approachable for potential new members!  

Using Give it a Go throughout the year is also a great way to take advantage of extra promotion of your events through the Union, especially during quieter periods.  

Maintaining Interest  

  • Make sure you keep in touch with the people who attended your GIAG event- you’ll have their details via the event register.  

  • Planning in advance helps. Having another event planned and contacting your mailing list shortly after your first session with the details will pique students’ initial interest.  

  • If you don’t have an event planned, we would still recommend contacting them with your club or society details, social media links and any photos from the event (if you have any). 

Feedback Forms  

  • We are committed to improving our Give it a Go scheme, so your feedback is always appreciated. 

  • We ask CSPs to complete our feedback forms so we can adapt GIAG to function best for students. 

  • We also encourage groups to share their own feedback forms with participants.