Postering rules
The official ASA postering rules are here.
Design your posters
Copy them from previous years (listed in the wiki as child pages) and change the date and location, or get creative and design your own! Be sure to save them into the wiki (pdf and source format) for reuse in later years.
Double check that you have the dates for the start of class and the locations correct. In recent years (as of 2015), we've put QR codes on our posters and made these unique each semester to try to track effectiveness. It's unclear whether this is worth it.
Making copies
If possible, use colored paper, as it stands out more. Try to pick unusual colors, and if necessary go up another price bracket to get colors that fewer groups use. Using color printing can be effective too, but limit its use as it is expensive.
You can have the copies charged straight to our account, and that way you don't have to get reimbursed for the cost. Use the main account number listed on the Treasurer wiki page. Apparently this can only be done at the CopyTech main campus location, but you can also send files there electronically and the printouts will be ready when you go to pick them up.
How many copies to make?
We counted that if you poster starting at the E25 lobby, work down to 66, 56, 16, over to the infinite corridor (picking up boards on spurs in 6, 2, 1, 4, 3, 7), and the Student Center, this requires just over 70 flyers. In W20 there are boards on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd (1 obscure board outside the bathrooms) and 4th floors. You'll also want more copies for postering dorms, and for Tech Squares members to give to friends. And to reposter each time the posters are cleared.
Posters in obscure locations may persist for months, so poster all over first, and they'll be there during the entire recruitment period with no more work from us.
When to poster
At least two weeks before the class starts, and maybe earlier. Keep postering up until the first day of class. We only have two chances a year to recruit new members, so we need to make it count.
Finding space to poster
Bulletin boards at the Institute are cleared on Sunday and Thursday nights (depending on how busy facilities is). People are inconsiderate. My heuristics for "making space" on bulletin boards are:
- Get there early in the day. The boards are cleared after 10PM and students tend to get up later (after their first 9AM class) so being early means you don't have to work as hard to find a spot. It does mean you have to work harder to keep from getting covered over (see maintenance below).
- If the boards are suspiciously full, come by again the next day to see if they get cleared a day later.
- MIT stuff takes precedence over any commercial posters. I have no qualms postering over ads. If they're offers to employ students, I leave them for a second pass.
- Outdated flyers also go without a second thought.
- Any postering in violation of the rules (multiples for a single event/purpose) are toast.
- You can poster over outdated or rule-breaking posters (and often should, in order to get a better spot), but don't tear them down (that's against the rules).
Maintaining the posters
This isn't a passive business; our presence needs to be maintained. Other groups are much more cut-throat and you have to keep things up. If I'm walking and find someone has covered one of our flyers, I don't think twice moving theirs. GET HELP. Other MIT-frequenting members should be recruited to police the postering.
The ASA seems to have stopping having a blackout period, but check http://web.mit.edu/asa/rules/recruitment-rules.html and make sure we're following recruitment rules.