WHAT:
I came up with the No Tech Tuesday event as an engagement campaign to get students away from electronics for a day and interacting with eachother.
No Tech Tuesday is an annual event held on the first Tuesday after spring semester finals, as to not disrupt any ongoing classes. The theme and activities change every year, but always encourage participants to have fun and connect with others through group-based games lasting all day. Participants will be disqualified from individual activities if caught using their phones, sprayed with a water gun by an event overseer, and have to restart.
This year’s theme revolves around 19th century to early 20th century classic British literature, with activities based on the books of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, and Frankenstein.
Participants will meet at the hub and pick up their free event materials. They can then participate in any or all of the activities to earn stamps in their provided booklets. If they collect all six stamps, they earn the grand prize of a $20 gift card.
WHY:
The purpose of this event is to get students away from technology and back into the real world, working together to solve puzzles and progress through the various games held during the day.
I wanted a dated theme to bring in the unplugging idea through a time before phones and computers existed. I thought it was a fun spin on the concept, so I brought it to life through recognizable books from my chosen time period.
The text is entirely handwritten or drawn over type to match the texture of the illustrations.
My research for this project started out with conducting five interviews about Bethel students’ technology usage and opinions on the matter. Through these interviews, I found that students were unhappy with the extensive amounts of time they spent online due to schoolwork or societal expectations, wishing they were able to take a break and disconnect.
This research led me to developing a series of fun activities based around connecting with others through team-based games.
I knew I wanted some kind of historical influence, so I experimented with different Art Nouveau inspired typefaces and graphics along with print media like handwritten letters and newspapers.
Before landing on my British literature theme, I considered an 1800s Wild West theme structured around six different “historical” events that I tried to make as ridiculous as possible to garner student interest. While this direction was eventually discarded, it did end up inspiring my eventual lineup, as the Sherlock’s Murder Mystery event evolved to include more books of a similar nature.
The main advertising for this event consists of five illustrated posters pertaining to each activity informing students of the date, time, and place each will be held, as well as the activity name and a short teaser about the game itself. These posters are themed around imagery from the iconic British classic literature they are individually based on.
They are all formatted with one main color and one secondary color in addition to brown and beige. Each of the colors is used once as the main color and again as the secondary color. The bottom panel is meant to look like a ticket to the event with perforated edges seperating each section.
When attending this activity, students will find a display of snacks and drinks inside the LSC with cafe tables outside. Anyone can come and eat for free at any time, regardless of whether or not they are participating in the other activities.
Participants can get this stamp by correctly answering 5 randomly drawn trivia questions about plants. An event staff oversees it and stamps winners’ booklets. Participants can retry as many times as they want. It’s meant to be the easy one.
This activity is only at night, fitting the theme and restricting participants to a specific time period for ease of forming groups.
Participants are sorted into groups of 5 and must evade Frankenstein’s monster (an event staff member) in a game of tag for 5 minutes to receive their stamp. If more than half of the group are tagged, the monster wins and participants win nothing. Only one game is played at a time and participants are free to replay as many times as they want.
The Circle Drive is the initial meeting place, but once the timer starts participants are free to go wherever outside. However, active participants have to wear glowsticks so the monster can identify them once it gets dark. These would be handed out at the start.
This activity is a Peter Pan themed obstacle course with references to the book and its characters decorating the surrounding landscape. It is open all day, so less people will come in at once. It closes at 6 PM so no one gets hurt in the dark, and it also will not conflict with the Frankenstein activity held nearby.
Once participants make it through the trail, an event staff member will stamp their booklet in ‘Neverland’, a setup of tables, chairs, and free water bottles where winners can hang out.
This activity is a team-based game of hide-and-seek consisting of Team Jekyll (seekers) and Team Hyde (hiders). It has a relatively narrow time period so enough people will gather to sort into teams. It starts in the underground and hiders can venture anywhere as long as it’s inside, accessible to everyone playing, and on the first floor.
Team Hyde have 10 minutes to hide and Team Jekyll have 20 minutes to find them, a loose metaphor for Jekyll battling with his evil side in the book. If all of team Hyde is found, everyone on team Jekyll gets a stamp. If any of them remain, everyone on team Hyde gets a stamp. The game can be replayed and participants are free to swap sides when attempting multiple times.
In this activity, an event staff member pretends to be the corpse and lies ‘dead’ all day. Participants have to interview event staff members (the suspects) for their accounts of what happened. Sherlock and Watson (event staff members) are there to give optional hints.
Participants are sorted into groups of 5 and a 30 minute timer is started. Clues are hidden around the library and participants have to identify the murder weapon, motive, and killer to earn the stamp. It’s open later than other events to account for the long timer.
This is a physical hub where participants will gather to recieve their free booklets. They will also be able to gather more information from event staff stationed here all day.
The large signs in the back displaying activity posters will be swapped out throughout the day, advertising the top two recommended activities during each time. Participants may find incrementally checking into the hub less overwhelming than scheduling on their own, as activities are all held during specific time periods.
These booklets contain five empty pages: one for each activity stamp. They come in each of the event's five signature colors seen on the activity posters and stamps.
These are the activity stamps that are distributed to participants who win their designated activity. The final 'winner' stamp is distributed at the hub, where staff will present each participant who earns every other stamp with a $20 gift card.
