MOST OUTSTANDING NEW EVENT NOMINEE
TULANE UNIVERSITY VIETNAMESE ASSOCIATION
TUMEU x MSA x TUVA International Day of Peace Luncheon
Provide a detailed description of the event and the population it served. Details MUST include: date of event, number of participants, program purpose (goals, objectives, etc.), use of resources (finances, community support, etc.), and marketing techniques.
The International Day of Peace Event in collaboration with the Tulane University's Middle Eastern Union, Muslim Student Association and TUVA was an event that celebrated our cultures and facilitated conversations for campus unification and peace. The event was held on November 13th and around 100-200 people attended event (including Tulane graduate students and professors). In celebrating the International Day of Peace there was a Middle-Eastern and Vietnamese cuisine-themed lunch with vegan, halal, and kosher meat options; a multicultural trivia game with prizes of Arab candies and pastries; an authentic henna tattoo station done by e-board members and volunteers; a photo booth to capture memories; and take home bookmarks with names written in Arabic and Vietnamese calligraphy! We marketed a week in advance alongside TUMEU and MSA, creating a graphic that we felt represented our organizations while also promoting it within our general bod members and other campus organizations. It also happened to be during "Parents Week" which brought in many Tulane students' parents who were curious about learning more about our culture and of course, delicious foods!
What inspired your organization to create this new event?
It is a really cute story actually. TUVA during Fall expo--an event where clubs and organizations welcome the freshmen class--happened to share a table with Tulane's Middle Eastern Union. We instantly clicked and shared a lot of laughs together. At one point, we shared our speaker with them to blast Middle Eastern and Vietnamese Music. We also bonded over how our organization was all the way in the back, away from the crowd. Our shared love for our culture and commitment to representation on campus led to our "on-the-spot" collaboration. They invited us to collaborate with them on their International Day of Peace Event which would integrate Middle Eastern, Muslim and Vietnamese culture. Also, this was a historic collaboration event for TUVA because it was our first-ever collaborative event with TUMEU (which is new organization on campus) as well as MSA and definitely won't be our last!
What efforts were used to motivate and involve members?
We were very persistent in our marketing (ie., group me and instagram) and brought various audiences to our events! We made volunteering forms to integrate general bod members in the event planning process and create entertainment that would involve organization members' voices such as the multicultural trivia kahoot and a booth that asked "When you close your eyes and think of peace what do you see?".
Did the organization overcome any challenges that arose while planning and implementing the event? How?
This was probably one of the most collaborative and smooth sailing events we planned because of how involved all parties were in various aspects of event planning such as the decorations committee and entertainment committee. The greatest challenge honestly was bringing all the chairs and tables across campus (LMAO).
