Every term, our student groups give you a chance to do something you love, try something new, or spend good time with each other, with our Give It A Go programme. 

Give It A Go is a programme of events and activities hosted by Durham SU student groups, which allows you to try stuff out without committing to a membership.

Give It A Go events can take place throughout the year, but many groups run activities for a week in Michaelmas Term (October) and a week in Epiphany Term (January). 

Please use the steps on this page to plan your event. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Opportunities Team at dsu.engagement@durham.ac.uk.

STEP 1 - Decide on your event or activity

• First, you need to decide what kind of activity best represents your group. For some, such as sports and martial arts groups this is straightforward, but for others, you may need to be creative. Activities in the past have ranged from learnng sign language, rock climbing, cheese and wine tasting to website development. Things like bowling are inevitably popular and you could find yourself competing with other groups, so try and do something different and something that showcases the aims and activities that your group does. 
• You should work with your committee to devise a title, a short description and an itinerary of the event. Make sure that you allocate tasks to your members to ensure that the event runs smoothly on the day.

STEP 2 - Complete your documents

• If your student group would like to host an event for Give It A Go, please complete and submit a Trip & Event form, noting on the form that it is a GIAG event
• Complete your risk assessment using one of our templates, and submit along with your Trip & Event form
• Create an event to appear on the SU events page. Please check that the event on the website is correct, and if not then please contact the Opportunities Team to help make the changes. Please do this in plenty of time before your activity so that we can make sure everything is ready to go! 
• Request a room booking by emailing dsu.engagement@durham.ac.uk

STEP 3 - Promote your event 

• It's important that you understand what type orf event or activity you'll be running to make it as tempting as possible for potential new members
• Make sure to promote it on your groups social media pages, why not also share it in our Refreshers' Event or Freshers' 2022/23 Facebook group for more exposure?
• Get in touch with our Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Emily McMillan (emily.mcmillan@durham.ac.uk) to discuss ways we can support your event, such as:
  • Instagram Takeovers
  • A space in an upcoming student email
  • A description and image on our website
  • Reshare your social media posts (tag @durhamsu - the more people who interact with posts, the more potential attendees will see that your activity is taking place!)
  • A supported by logo
  • Communications plan
  • Blog post or feature article
  • Fill out this checklist here to get the ball rolling!

Step 4 - Hold your Give It A Go Event!

Step 5 - Evaluate your event

• We would love for you to send us some information and pictures about how your activity went so we can put this on the website and share it through our social channels
• It's really important to learn how to evaluate your event and measure how it went, as these skills coould come in handy if you ever want to demonstrate its impact or reach (e.g. in an application for grant funding, a sponsorship agreement or a future employment opportunity)
• If you have any questions about Give It A Go week then please get in touch with the Opportunities Team at dsu.engagement@durham.ac.uk 

• Make an event on the website for people to sign up to
• Let you know how many people have signed up and send participants a reminder email
• Provide the Give It A Go logo which you can use on your social media and emails
• One Facebook post a week will go out about that week's GIAG activities
• If you provide us with images, we will share these on Instagram
• Retweet any tweets that we are mentioned (tagged) in