Buzzing for Change 2016

On April 16, during the annual Buzzing for Change event, members of the GW community came to Kogan Plaza to buzz their heads in solidarity with those fighting cancer or donate 8+ inches of hair to make wigs. There was a $10 minimum donation for a haircut, but all of the money raised goes to Camp Special Love, a summer camp for kids battling cancer.

Two APO members after their haircuts

For the first time ever this year, the event was sponsored by GW’s chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a gender-inclusive community service fraternity. In the past, APO members planned and participated in the event, but Buzzing for Change operated as its own student organization. Now, the event is all APO’s. As chapter president this year, I was ultimately responsible for this new-to-APO event. We created a 4-person “core team” consisting of our EVP, two excited brothers, and myself to spearhead the planning.

Though I could talk about a lot when reflecting on the event, I’m going to focus on the aspects of the event most difficult for me: working with our major stakeholder groups and marketing the event.

We had a variety of players--each with different needs--involved in the event. Our first stakeholder, GW Events and Venues, required us adhere to all university policies and regulations. There were numerous forms we had to send in before holding the event. E&V wants their student org events to be successful, but they also have to ensure everything stays kosher. Next, our chapter members wanted the event to reflect well on our chapter and raise money for Camp Special Love. To help with the event, we required brothers to “make a commitment” to Buzzing by staffing it or donating. Representatives from Camp Special Love, the third stakeholder, were at the event talking about the organization and thanking donors. The Paul Mitchell School, our fourth stakeholder, brought ten cosmetology students. We appreciated them donating their time and they liked having the chance to practice haircutting, but ten was far too many people. There was never more than four people at a time wanting a cut, so the stylists seemed fairly bored at times.

A family from Camp Special Love buzzed their heads together

This last point brings me to our other big challenge hosting the event: marketing. We knew that the more people at the event, the more donations we’d have and the more of a “success” the event would be. In the weeks leading up to Buzzing, we tried as many marketing methods as we could think of. We made posters to hang around campus, found student orgs to cosponsor the event, mass-emailed other orgs, created a profile picture and posted on social media, added our event to GW calendars, and even created a customized Snapchat geofilter to appear around campus throughout the duration of the event. But I don’t think it was enough. We had a steady flow of donors for the first two hours, but hour three was a dud. We just couldn’t find a way to draw more people in.

Overall, I was happy with how the event turned out--especially because it was new to APO. We raised a good amount of money for Camp Special Love, and shared who we are with the GW community. There are many ways for future APO leaders to expand the event and make it even more successful.