I am trying to start a team for the 2006 competion at my university and i have no idea how to get the word around or attract big crowds. this school, the University of Alaska Anchorage, can be very unmotivated too. i was hoping that someone could give me suggestions as to what i could do about awareness and participation, as in what events to plan.

ANY advice would be great

Erin Urvina
U of Alaska Anchorage

Erin,
pictures say a thousand words. Put up some posters of some other teams car in all engineering/manufaturing/business areas, put some contact information on there and a first meeting time. Also see if you can get the meeting time up on your universities 'things goin on' list or the website. Finally I would say word of mouth, things spread fast that way.

Some of our professors let us come into classrooms and show a short video advertising a real meeting. You could probably get something from one of the teams if you search this forum. Definitely get a faculty sponsor if you don't already have one and I'm sure they will help recruit as well. We've also got a student activities fair where we have set up a table and a car to attract attention. Since you don't have a car, try and find some articles or pictures from the competition to grab attention. As soon as you can get some interested members, I suggest you search the forum for sponsorship and fundraising.

See if you can score class credit for the work as well, perhaps as some sort of project work credit or design credit. This will be an added incentive for students to join the effort.

Offer food at the intial meetings, or beer if you can swing it. This will bring in the crowds.....