Office of Student Life

Student Activities

Spring 2025 Student Involvement Fair

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Spring 2025 Student Involvement Fair - Two-Day Event!

Wednesday, January 15 and Thursday, January 16 from 4 - 7 p.m. each day in the Ohio Union.

Fair Details and Features

The Spring 2025 Student Involvement Fair will be a two-day event on Wednesday, January 15 and Thursday, January 16 from 4 - 7 p.m. in the Ohio Union Archie M. Griffin Grand Ballroom. 

The Spring Student Involvement Fair takes place each year January, giving new and returning students an opportunity to explore more options for their involvement. Smaller and more intimate than the Student Involvement Fair held during the Fall Semester's Welcome Week, the Spring Student Involvement Fair gives students a perfect chance to meet people and learn about the great things Ohio State's student organizations are doing. 

A list of participating organizations and map of the event will be posted on this page before the event. Students are encouraged to explore multiple areas of the fair to maximize the number of organizations they interact with. 

Instructions for Organization Participation

Student organizations must pre-register for the Fair and be in Active or Pending status to be eligible to participate. Organizations can register on the main Student Involvement Fair page and can check their status in the Student Organization Management System. 

  1. Read the Rules & Expectations for participation at the Involvement Fair. The 2025 Rules and Expectations will be posted here and at the top of this page. Make sure you are prepared and are compliant at the fair or you may loose your tabling privileges. 
  2. Prepare materials and logistics for your table.
    • Utilize the Resource Room for the Involvement Fair. The Resource Room has many supplies to help make a great display! Every active student organization has a $250 line of credit to be used on services in the Resource Room which includes, flyers, poster printing, buttons, copies, trifold boards, poster boards, and lamination. 
    • Plan your table display. In addition to posters, flyers, and buttons that you can get in the Resource Room, discuss if your organization will have other items at your display. This could include a sign your organization has with your logo, a recruitment video you will have playing on a laptop, an interest form to fill out with contact information of people who want to learn more about your organization and join. If you are planning to have any large or special displays at your booth that you have not already told us about, send us an email at SIFair@osu.edu. 
  3. Determine day-of-roles for officers. 
    • Discuss who is bringing what. Make sure you assign people to bring each item to your table so everything you prepared is there. Allow extra time to get larger items to your table.
    • Identify who be present at your table. Make sure you have organization members available to help set-up your table, be present at the table to talk to student during the fair and have people available to help you clean up the table after the fair.
  4. Update shareable organization information. Ensure your organization is ready to connect with interested students by updating any external platforms (Student Org Directory listing, social media, websites, etc) and providing ways to connect with your organization at the fair. 
  5. Enjoy the Fair! Have fun talking to students at the fair and sharing about how great your organization is! Make sure you collect contact information from students who express interest so you can give them more information about your organization and get them involved after the fair. 
  6. Contact potential members after the fair. Get in touch with interested students! Send them information about upcoming meetings, events, info sessions, and contact information for you all so they can get involved in your wonderful organization!

Booth Customization Suggestions/Expectations 

By having different types of displays and materials at your booth, your organization will stand out at the fair and get more people to stop by!

  • Posters: Catch people's attention with visually appealing posters. Things to include:
    • Your organizations purpose
    • Pictures of members, events, social outings
    • Highlights of things you have done this past year
  • Flyers: Give them information to take home!
    • Your organization's contact information
    • Meeting times
    • Upcoming events
    • Pictures to stand out from other flyers
  • Links: You can easily share these links as QR codes to direct people to your pages and cut down on paper waste
    • Emails: organization's, President's, Recruitment Chair's
    • Your organization's website
    • Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

Post-Fair Success

In order to start the school year as strongly as possible, consider the following ideas:

  • Consider sending out a fun and engaging invitation to potential members for your next connection with them.
  • Establish an operational structure for leadership team meetings, full-group meetings, team-building activities, 1:1s with members, and other efforts for connection.
  • Request a Coach to develop an action plan for operations this school year.
  • Make sure your organization maintains its active status if you are due for registration this semester.
  • Mark your calendars for upcoming programs that will help you learn to support the member experience in your organization. Visit the Programming page to learn about what opportunities are upcoming.

We're Here to Help

Questions? 

What else do you need? What problems do you need to figure out? Contact: sifair@osu.edu.

During the hours of the fair:

  • Look for a member of our team circling the fair. There will be a Check-In Hub that will serve as the main area to seek support from event staff. All event staff will have buttons stating they are “Event Staff” or will be in a neon SIF Volunteer t-shirt to easily identify our team.

Frequently Asked Questions

All information related to the fair can be found at go.osu.edu/SIF. A list of participating organizations will be posted prior to the fair, as well as a copy of the map for the event. We also recommend exploring the Student Organization Directory prior to the event to help identify organizations you may wish to speak to!

Students do not need to register to attend the Student Involvement Fair! Student Organizations, University Departments, and Local Non-Profits do need to be pre-registered to have a table at the event. 

Sign-ups for the Student Involvement Fair often fill up quickly. Organizations who miss the registration window for the fair are welcome to reach out to SIFair@osu.edu to be added to the waitlist. The waitlist will stop taking requests when we are one week out from the Student Involvement Fair. Being added to the waitlist is does not guarantee placement at the event. Organizations who are unable to table at the event are encouraged to explore other opportunties to connect with students and recruit members. Organizations can always meet with a Student Org Coach to brainstorm ideas to recruit members.