Senior Wine Night

When you think about your senior year of college, a fancy wine tasting is not the first thing that comes to mind. But then again, if we’re posting about it on Brand Ambassador Friday, then chances are it’s not your run of the mill college event. Sure, we love the fundraisers, the open bars, and the group apparel orders. But every time a creative brand ambassador comes up with a new use for the SquadUP platform, it opens the door for other hosts to take advantage of the event planning tools we provide.

Duke University senior and early SquadUP adopter, Madeline Eskind, took the initiative to coordinate a weekly wine tasting for her senior friends. The event series took place at Parizades, a local italian restaurant, and featured four new wines to taste each night plus appetizer pairings. The task of organizing the event is passed down every year– a long standing sorority tradition. But this is not a coveted position. Asking college kids to fork over nearly $200 can be a nightmare. Seniors at Duke University are spread out across Durham, all living in separate apartment complexes, making door-to-door to cash collection nearly impossible.

Fortunately for Madeline and the Duke seniors, this event is perfect for SquadUP. She was able to create a custom webpage for the event and share it around via Facebook, Twitter, email, and text, reaching more students than ever before. The 2014 senior wine night series ended up being the biggest since it’s inception. Students could pay directly from the event page and see which of their friends had already registered.

After getting used to dealing with college students every year, the owner of Parizades was incredibly impressed with the overall event coordination. He couldn’t believe that Madeline had a complete guest list and everyone’s money in advance. Well, believe it! With SquadUP, hosts can worry about which wines they want to include instead of acting like a club promoter or tracking down delinquent payers.

We’d love to hear about all the creative ways that you can use SquadUP to simplify event hosting. Leave us a comment or tweet @squadup. And of course, let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.