Ideas for ACM Chapter Events
ACM Crossroads, the student magazine of the Association for
Computing Machinery, wants to help ACM student chapters have
events that are interesting and exciting. So, we're collecting
a list of ideas! If you send us an idea for an event, we'll be
sure to give you credit! Please send ideas for chapter events to
crossroads@acm.org
If you think your chapter has an Excellent activity, website,
recruitment program, community service project, or school service
project, then you should apply for the
ACM
Student Chapter Excellence Program!
Community Service
- Tutoring at your school
- Tutoring at public schools
- Computer setup, program installation, computer maintenance at
public/private schools in your area
- Help students set up the computer in their dorms room at the beginning
of each semester
- Group service in a non-CS related area...like, Habitat for Humanity,
etc., and everyone wears their ACM student chapter t-shirt
- Manning a student-run help desk
- Create and maintain a website for a local non-profit, charity, or for
other groups at your school
- Help a local high school create a ThinkQuest team
- Offer technical help to the local disabled/blind school
Social!!
- Kite flying and Barbecue Day
- Awards banquet
- Pizza and Movie Night
- Volleyball (or other team sport) competition with another club
(either on campus or at a neighboring college).
- Faculty vs Student Trivial Pursuit competition
- ACM Intramural team
- Yearbook picture
- Camping trip or a picnic coupled with informal talks by faculty/grads
- Exchange information/coordinate with nearby ACM chapters, offer exchange holidays/educational visits to selected members.
- Organize a supper for all computer students and professors with a computing theme, maybe even a theme (fancy dress) party.
Educational
- Programming contest for undergraduates and/or high school students
- Workshops on technology topics (PGP, Linux, etc)
- Field trips to Science, Technology, or Computer Museums
- Exam bank -- a collection of exams from previous semesters, labeled
with course number, date, professor, for use as study material. Copies
can be purchased or loaned
- Group programming projects (like a web server, or entries to a
Quest competition)
- Computer "guts" display...take apart an old computer, label all
the pieces, and display
- Computer building workshop (how to pick components, how to put it
all together, how to get it configured so it works!)
- Computer game competition on networked computers in a lab or on
an internet match-up service
- Create and maintain local mailing lists, or a newsgroup
- Organize Student Research Poster Contest, Student Tutorial Paper Contest.
- A visit by a prominent ACM member. Organizing talks by Professors and grads about emerging areas in computing.
- Visits by software companies (say, Gaming companies like ID) that spark general interest. These visits can be coupled with talks, gaming contests and t-shirt sales etc.
- Mentoring: answer student questions, solve programming problems, give advice to buy a computer etc.
- Organize practical workshops where newbies can get hands-on experience on Open Source Software.
- Organize a 'Meet the Faculty Hour' every week.
Career Development
- Tour local computer industries
- On-line resume bank for members
- Car pool to an off-campus career fair
- Career-services workshops (resume critque, mock interviews, etc)
- Guest speakers
- Job Opportunities: Interact with local companies about their recruitment needs/plans and post info on your website.
Fund-Raising
- T-shirts with clever artwork
- Affordable dial-up ISP for students
- Selling computer disks (bought cheaply in bulk quantities)
- Exam-week survival kits (snack food collection in a bag/bucket)
- Custom pens, Buttons, Mouse Pads.
- Using tutorials/talks as a sale point for used computers/spares ... (maybe auctions).
- Disk Quota Rentals
- Develop an online university calendar, ready to run scripts/form pocessing and small tools that are useful locally, make them available on your website. Charge nominally for their use
- Set up local shop for low marketing, low cost alternative software (Linux,
Staroffice to name a few).
Bulletin Board/Display Case
- Photos of hardware, labeling each part
- History of computing: timeline, photos, bios
- Bios of important people (in the news, historical, on campus, etc.
or from ACM Crossroads'
A Day in the Life of... series!)
- Research summary of local students and professors
- Calendar of events, photos from recent events
- ACM Crossroads Magazine Calls for Articles
- CFAs for conferences
Last Modified:
Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/resources/chapterideas.html