Tabling Outreach Activities
In addition to the use of social media, this communications campaign utilized tabling as a pathway for community engagement. Although social media is effective, it does not provide the opportunity for face- to- face- interactions and discourse about climate change. The three events we tabled at; Metamorphose, the Eugene Marathon Expo, and the ASUO Street Faire were chosen for their high attendance rates, variability in audience and expected community reach. Additionally, we tabled on campus on a non-event day in order to compare foot traffic for an event versus a non-event. We went into tabling events knowing that the games we created would be a tool to draw people in with. Once they were engaged, we explained who we were and what our campaign was about. From there, we presented the handouts that often fostered organic conversations about reducing individual impacts. At each event, we counted the number of active engagements (one = verbal contact with one attendee) and adjusted our methods accordingly.
We created a total of four thought-provoking and interactive tabling activities that people could participate in when they stopped at our booth. Each activity focused on a different aspect of climate change. The first game we created was to emphasize individual waste generation. We weighted a bucket with 20 pounds to make a physical representation the average amount of trash one person produces in three to four days and had people guess the weight. The second game we created focused on water usage. We filled up two gallon sized jugs of water and attached a sign saying, “What daily activity wastes this amount of water?” The third game we created was regarding carbon emissions in a typical experience. Participants were asked to match six different objects with their annual carbon emissions in metric tons per year. We used this as a learning tool in an attempt to educate the public about annual carbon emissions in common activities. Finally, the fourth game was about general climate change related activities comparing pros and cons. People would draw from the deck to guess if that object or action was harmful or helpful to the climate.
Events
Metamorphose
St. Vincent De Paul’s annual Earth Day event, Metamorphose, focuses on healthy living and upcycling and seeks to engage the community in Earth-friendly activities. The event includes vendors, artists, and a repurposed fashion show. We chose to table at this event because it promotes climate action to the community. It also gave us an opportunity to practice our tabling skills with a smaller audience before our two larger events.
Eugene Marathon Expo
The annual Eugene Marathon attracts runners from all over to compete in the event. The Eugene Marathon Exposition takes place the Friday and Saturday prior to the marathon at the Lane Events Center and each participant must come by to register for their run. The Expo features a variety of companies and organizations that support healthy living among other environmentally-friendly actions. Our booth at the event was provided to us by the City of Eugene and offered us a great opportunity to engage with people of the Eugene community as well as travelers abroad.
ASUO Street Faire
Twice a year, the ASUO hosts a street faire on campus that includes a variety of vendors and student-led organizations and is an extremely popular event, especially in the spring. This event does not directly engage us with the Eugene community outside of the University of Oregon, but attracts students that fall within the age demographic we are trying to engage with. Tabling amongst this demographic gives us experience discussing our campaign with our peers as well as providing us the opportunity to collect important information for our final report.
