At the beginning of every semester, the walkway that cuts through the southern entrance of UC Berkeley becomes filled with activity. Filled with tourists, locals (you know what I mean), grizzled students returning from a well-deserved 3-month layoff, and freshman who don’t know what they’ve signed themselves up for. Of course, one cannot forget the myriad of tables that create a visual experience of a landing strip leading up to Sather Gate. Clubs get out early, handing out a non-stop stream of flyers and “are you interested in...?” phrases. From Triathlon to K-pop to College Republicans, clubs for any and every interest come together to form a long line of gray tables with multi-color banners and tents transforming their short, gray rental into a space to gain new members.
The first time I came on the campus as a student over a year ago, I learned quickly the common technique to avoid the awkward broken conversations and flyers left hanging but one of our fellow students turned invisible space. Sunglasses, headphones, and hands in your pockets. It’s not their (the club members) fault. I’m just not pre-med, pre-law, or interested in a fraternity that caters to my ethnic group.
Being on the student side of tabling allows me to be sympathetic to the “annoyance” that plagues Sproul in the early weeks of the semester. The paradox of it all is that most students are a part of at least a club, if not multiple. Tabling serves to connect students to associations that apply to or interest them, even if it’s one of thousands. Being on the tabler’s side allows me to be sympathetic to the people that find themselves with a stack of flyers with the job of handing them all out. In fact, sometimes I just grab them because I feel bad; they know that I know that they know I heard them. One less person that ignores them, I tell myself.
My first tabling experience was in Fall 2015. I was a newly-minted officer for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Berkeley (BJJ @ Berkeley) and thus obligated to aid in recruitment. I tried to go into the task with an open-mind, despite my reservations. The last thing I ever thought I’d do would be flyer-ing during my time at Cal. I didn’t have much faith in the flyer-ing task, particularly when I considered that I joined BJJ @ Berkeley because I was interested in the activity prior to my enrollment. Nonetheless, I quickly learned how to make the task more fun than not. I played to my strengths, avoiding flyering outright. Despite almost exclusively sitting behind the table, I still had to sell the club in the event somebody came up to our table out of interest. Selling the information goes smoothly enough, stick to the script and wear a smile. This approach to tabling allows you to be productive or distracted, on your laptop or phone waiting for someone to come ask you a question. Keeps the energy output low while also doing your job.
The best times I had tabling must be when it’s with my fellow officers. Doing it alone is for sure not the way to do it. My fellow officers use talent that I lack to make marketing our club fun for themselves and those around them, approaching flyer-ing in a way I could never. Regardless, if you table with your friends, it’s really just an excuse to hangout and talk about a hobby you all have in common, while trying to get other people that share the hobby or interest to join a club about it. The key, it seems, is to not take it too seriously. While others put in a tremendous amount of effort into the recruiting process, with their well-designed plasticized-paper flyers, banners, and decorations combining for an overall effect of attraction, I sit-back and relax. Why make it a drag when you can just enjoy the mandatory chill time? It’s all a matter of perspective.
So if you find yourself bitter because of the endless stream of people attempting to coax you into their club, just remember they’re another student simply doing the process of recruitment. How are they supposed to know you don’t like Star Craft?
If you happen to find yourself tabling… avoid being the person with the stack of flyers. It’s a helluva test on your confidence when you get rejected that quickly in rapid-succession. Stick to the plan. Sit at the table and let the banner to all the introduction. Enjoy the time to chill instead. “If you build it, they will come,” right?
