Planning Your Imagine RIT Visit – Top 5 Things Visitors Should Know

Are you planning to attend Imagine RIT on Saturday, May 7 – these are the top 5 things all visitors should know:

5. Imagine RIT is Free and Open to the Public
There is something for everyone at Imagine RIT. So many parents have contacted us to tell us about the spark in their children’s eye as they see science, technology, engineering, mathematics, art, and so many other disciplines come to life through hands on exhibits. But Imagine RIT isn’t just about kids. Curious minded adults find Imagine RIT to be a stimulating look into the future. RIT alumni report coming back for the first time in years and being so proud of their alma mater. Business leaders have reported recruiting talented students for co-ops and full-time jobs. In fact, people from all over the world will visit Imagine RIT on Saturday to see the campus come alive.

4. Parking
Parking is available on a first come, first serve basis at RIT, but parking is also available at Monroe Community College (MCC), with free shuttle bus service to RIT.

3. Getting Around
Exhibits are set up all across RIT’s 1300-acre campus, so bring your walking shoes!

2. Food
There will be over 20 different dining locations at the festival this year. Visitors will be able to choose from the traditional hot dog and hamburger to fried cheesecake, Italian sausage, and gyros.

1. Plan Your Day
With so much innovation and creativity at RIT you aren’t going to be able to see it all during this 7 hour event, so make the most of it by building an itinerary for the day.

Imagine RIT Provides Young Visitors the Chance to Imagine Their Future

Standing outside the Gordon Field House on May 3, 2008 I was so excited to watch car after car pull into the parking lots and visitors to the RIT campus make their way to the first annual Imagine RIT: Innovation & Creativity Festival. Having pulled together the program for the day, I knew we had organized a family friendly festival, but it was a pleasant surprise to see all of the parents with children in tow. Year after year, children of all ages realize that Imagine RIT is a fun way to spend a Saturday and a great chance to learn something new.

In addition to hundreds of student, faculty and staff created kid-friendly exhibits, we are always thinking of ways we can engage our visitors – especially our younger guests – while they attend Imagine RIT. Our Discovery Journey, a creative and informative self-guided exploration of RIT’s art and architecture on campus, has been fun for all ages the last three years. In an effort to help families find some of the most hands on and interactive kid friendly activities, we introduced “Imagine RIT 4 Kids” last year. We are retiring the Discovery Journey this year and have created a fun game for visitors, ages 10 to 17, to take its place.

The activity called Imagine Your Future has three parts. First, our young visitors will be provided a board-game like information sheet that includes 12 exhibits broken into four themed areas. If they get their game board signed by an exhibitor at three exhibits in any one of the themed areas, they can return the game to any Welcome Tent to earn an Imagine RIT Badge. Each of the interactive exhibits will allow children to engage in hands on learning and possibly realize new talents.

In the activity, if a child answers a few short pre and post festival questions about their career interests, they will be entered into a raffle to win an iPod Touch. Questionnaires can be completed at any Welcome Tent and parental consent must be obtained. The third part of the activity provides children the chance to let us know what they learned at Imagine RIT by visiting our web site. Any child that uploads a photo, sends us an email, writes us a letter, or mails us a drawing will be entered into a raffle for a Nook eReader.

Here’s an insider tip for those interested in participating in the Imagine Your Future Game: Consider adding these exhibits to your Plan Your Day itinerary:

Comic Book Collection Inspires Super You!

This Is Print

RIT Metalworks

Measuring Up the Savings

Sustainable Playhouse

Solar Race Cars, Photovoltaics, and Microelectroni

Explore the planets in 3D

Science in your Kitchen!

Making Cement!

Magic Mirror

Toyota Production Systems Lab

FIRST Robotics Experience

What’s New in 2011

Each year after Imagine RIT ends we review all the feedback from our visitors in search of ways we can improve the festival. We thought you might like to know some of the feedback we received and some of the changes we’re making for 2011.

1.  Sixty percent of the exhibits at Imagine RIT are brand new this year! Visitors can look forward to seeing great new exhibits, as well as some of their old favorites.

2. We have redesigned the Plan Your Day site this year. With tags, kid-friendly exhibits, pre-made itineraries, and popular exhibit suggestions, creating your itinerary for the festival has never been easier.

3. Brand new this year is our mobile website. Visitors will now be able to view the mobile version of our Plan Your Day site on their smart phones. The mobile website includes a “Search Nearby” feature, which will allow visitors to search through exhibits that are close by.

4. As mentioned in a previous post, we are utilizing QR codes in a huge way at Imagine RIT this year. Each of the hundreds of exhibits will have a sign, which will include their own unique QR code. Visitors to the festival can scan the code with their smart phone to learn more about the exhibit.

5. A number of visitors to the festival indicated that they had a difficult time finding their way around campus. We are providing more signage across campus this year. In addition, there will be more volunteers called “roamers” to wander through campus and provide extra assistance to visitors, not only in finding their way around campus, but also to answer any questions or assist visitors in any way they may need.

6. In addition to increased signage, we received many requests related to food. It was suggested that we should increase our variety of food and offer food at more locations throughout campus. Food will be available at over 20 locations this year. You can now choose anything from cheeseburgers and chicken spiedies to fried Cheesecake and kettle corn.

The most frequent request we receive is to make this festival a two day event. Many visitors exclaim that there is just “too much to see and not enough time to see it.” We agree that there a lot to see, but we hope this inspires you to return next year!

Do you think these changes will help improve your experience at Imagine RIT? Let us know. Leave us a comment and tell us what you think!

Imagine RIT Launches Mobile Plan Your Day Site

by Ashley McCall

There are so many things to see at Imagine RIT. In previous years, visitors reported feeling overwhelmed by the experience, because there is so much to see in just one day. One new feature being introduced this year to help visitors find exhibits, view entertainment schedules, and locate food vendors is Imagine RIT Mobile: http://www.rit.edu/imagine/m.

The goal of Imagine RIT Mobile is to further actively engage visitors in the festival with the use of QR codes, social media, and location based searching. The benefit to a mobile website is that it’s not device dependent. Any visitor with an internet connected phone will be able to access Imagine RIT Mobile on the day of the festival.

Paralleling the innovation of the festival, Imagine RIT Mobile will help merge the gap between the current Plan Your Day website and the day of the event. Last fall, Andrew Quagliata and Lauren Shapiro (’12 New Media Design and Imaging major at RIT) began painting the picture for the mobile website. Lauren began designing the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) components of the mobile website in January. The design was then passed off to Jared Lyon, from RIT’s University Publications, for development. The site is based off a redesign of the Plan Your Day website, created by Lauren and Mark Marcello, also from University Publications. There are plans to develop a native application for future festivals.

One special feature of the mobile website, that’s not offered on the regular Plan Your Day website, is the feature “Search Nearby.” Visitors will be able to use their current location to search for surrounding exhibits. We can’t wait for visitors to use our new mobile website. We hope that visitors will find the site useful, especially in helping them find their way around at the festival.

Top Five Marketing Tips for Imagine RIT Exhibitors

by Ashley McCall

Exhibitors frequently ask how they can get out the word about their exhibit. We have developed this top five list to help.

1. UPLOAD AN EYE-CATCHING PHOTO

Let’s face it, whether we like it or not, people do often judge books by their cover. Remember, when visitors are on the Plan Your Day website they are more likely to click on an exhibit that has a photo, especially if the photo catches their eye and makes the exhibit look interesting and fun.

 2. CREATE A YOUTUBE VIDEO PROMOTING YOUR EXHIBIT

Upload your video file to fileexchanger.rit.edu and email abqpro@rit.edu. We’ll post it to the Imagine RIT YouTube Channel where we are creating an online festival.

3. PROMOTE YOUR EXHIBIT ON FACEBOOK

Include information about your exhibit on your Facebook page. Encourage friends to “Like” your exhibit on the Plan Your Day website. Also, “Like” Imagine RIT on Facebook and join in on the discussion about Imagine RIT.

4. COLLABORATE WITH OTHER EXHIBITS

Rise Above the Crowd, an exhibit sponsored by the Knight Foundation, will surely capture the attention of many this year. This exhibit, which encourages visitors to upload photos, videos, texts, etc. to help report on Imagine RIT, is a great way to market your exhibit. Encourage visitors to your exhibit and friends to use this application to bring attention to your exhibit. Register here.

5. CREATE A SIGN FOR YOUR EXHIBIT

You can do all the marketing before the event, but with all the options visitors to Imagine RIT have, you need a great sign to get them to stop at your exhibit. You will be provided with an 8.5×11 sign that will display the title and location of your exhibit, as well as a QR code that will direct visitors to the unique website for your exhibit. If your exhibit is located in the Field House, you will also receive additional signage. However, consider if having creative signage will help attract visitors to your exhibit.

For more marketing tips, visit the Imagine RIT Exhibitor Wiki.

Do you have any other ideas? Have you successfully marketed your exhibit using a different technique? If so, let us know by posting a comment.

A Cappella Contest Winners

“You start with an idea. Make it come to life with hard work and time, until it comes out right. Harder than it looks. Creating something new. But in time you’ll see, hard work will pull you through,” are just the opening lyrics to Proof of Purchase’s Imagine RIT inspired song. After singing their last chorus, “with a flash of genius, you can make your dreams come true. With a flash of genius, oh, I believe in you. Yesterday you’re wasting time. Here’s the moment you’ve arrived, come on and let it shine. Imagine RIT!” the room resounded with applause from RIT’s president, Bill Destler, along with Festival Chairman, Barry Culhane. It seemed like choosing a winner for Imagine RIT’s first ever A Cappella Contest might be easy. However, no one was prepared for what came next.

“We’ve got robots, music, games galore, dorm-side bears and tigers (ROAR!). Everything you want and more. The answers are inside our doors!” Eight Beat Measure rapped. After performances like that, Dr. Destler knew that his choice wasn’t going to be easy at all. So, because he thought both songs were incredible, he decided to declare Proof of Purchase and Eight Beat Measure co-winners!

In order to hear the entire song, you’ll have to attend the Opening Ceremony at Imagine RIT on May 7. Each group will perform their song at the 10 am kick off!

Video Contest Winners Announced

Congratulations to Kate McFadden (3D digital graphics), Yi-An Chien (computer graphics design), Anthony Castaneda (3D digital graphics) and Yu-Hsin Chang (computer graphics design) who were selected as the winners of Imagine RIT’s Video Contest.

The first in a series of three videos, all of which feature 3D digital graphics, made its first appearance April 13 on a variety of RIT social media outlets. The remaining videos will be released in the upcoming weeks. The winning group will receive a cash prize and gained great experience interacting with real clients.

Plan Your Day

The Plan Your Day section of the Imagine RIT website has undergone another redesign. The goal of each redesign is to help visitors get an idea of what to expect at Imagine RIT prior to showing up the first Saturday in May. After our 2010 Festival we received a number of great suggestions from visitors, volunteers and exhibitors in our post event survey. Here are some of the features to look for on the recently launched Plan Your Day section of our site.

1. Tags: In addition to being able to search by location (we break the festival into 13 zones), you can find your favorite activities by using the tagging system we implemented this year.
2. Kid-Friendly: Users of the site specifically asked for a way to identify “kid-friendly” exhibits, so we have created a tag for that this year. Kid-friendly exhibits are identified by the exhibitor as an activity appropriate for children 12 and under.
3. Premade Itineraries: For visitors that are not sure where to start, we have developed a number of premade itineraries based on area of interest.
4. Performances: There is a special section for performances on the site. These are the events that appear on one of the two performance stages and a variety of other locations across campus.
5. Food: The feedback we have received each year suggests visitors want to know more about what food is available at Imagine RIT. In addition to highlighting food options more prominently in the paper version of the print program (available the morning of the event), there is a “Food” section on the Plan Your Day page.
6. Exhibit-Codes: An arbitrary number has been assigned to each proposal in the past, but this year each exhibit has been assigned a six-character exhibit code. The first three characters indicate the building where the exhibit is located or OUT for outside exhibits. The second three characters are aimed at helping visitors find the exhibit within the building. For example, if the three-digit number begins with a 1, the exhibit is on the first floor. If the three-digit number begins with a 2, the exhibit is on the second floor.
7. Facebook: If there is an exhibit that you think is really cool you can click “like” and it will post a message on your Facebook wall. Exhibitors that want to promote their exhibit to their friends will appreciate this feature.
8. Popular Exhibits: The exhibits that have received the most interest (based on the number of itineraries that they have been added to) are featured on the main Plan Your Day page.
9. Itinerary: The itinerary has undergone a number of improvements as well. Most importantly, the exhibits are automatically sorted by zone, so when the itinerary is printed, the exhibits near each other will be easier to find.
10. Mobile Website: Plan You Day will be mobile friendly this year, allowing visitors to search the site and view their itineraries as they walk through campus the day of the event.

We hope these features improve your planning experience, but most of all we hope our Plan Your Day site helps you make the most of your day on May 7.

QR Codes: What Are They?

You may have seen images like this in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or elsewhere, and wondered what they are. A QR code is a special type of barcode that has information encoded into it, such as a URL, email address, or coupon. A QR code is deciphered by dedicated bar code readers and camera phones with the appropriate scanning software.

Imagine RIT plans to utilize QR codes in a huge way this year; possibly larger than they have been utilized to date at a festival. Each of the hundreds of exhibits at the event will be assigned their own QR code. With some help from Interlink One, a sign with the QR code along with other relevant information, such as its location and exhibit code, will be posted at each exhibit. When the QR code is scanned, it will link visitors to its unique website, providing them with more information about that exhibit.

One exhibit, hosted by RIT’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), located in the Gordon Field House, will showcase examples of various QR codes being used in our daily lives. They will also offer more information regarding QR codes and provide the technology to scan a QR code if visitors don’t have a smart phone of their own.

If you do own a smart phone and are still unsure how to properly use a QR code, download the free app, i-nigma, which is just one of many possible apps designed to read QR codes, by visiting the mobile web address: http://www.i-nigma.mobi/. This app will allow you to scan the QR code, perhaps the one at the top of this page, which will then take you to a website that the code is linked to, or allow you to view an address, name, coupon, etc.

Although QR Codes have been used in Japan since 1994, they are just catching on in American. What are YOUR thoughts? Did you know what a QR code was prior to reading this blog post? Do you think they will be helpful, especially at Imagine RIT?

Imagine RIT 2011 Poster Contest Winner

Congratulations to John Lindsay, a fourth year graphic design major, for winning the Imagine RIT 2011 Poster Contest. Over 2,000 votes were cast on over 20 entries to the contest. The top vote getters were selected and given to President Destler, who selected the winner.

“I feel that Imagine RIT is a powerful opportunity to experience creativity and innovation in many forms, not only for students and faculty, but for visitors as well. I wanted my poster to reflect the many disciplines represented, but also mix in a bit of fun that the festival has to offer as well,” John stated, in reference to what inspired his poster.

John will receive a $500 gift card to Barnes & Noble. Copies of his poster will be mailed to local schools, and over 5,000 copies will be distributed at Imagine RIT on May 7. In addition, this poster will be the profile picture of the Imagine RIT Facebook page for the next year.

Great job, John!