Building a college fest website? A checklist from the fests we have built
Registrations, schedules, contest submissions and a site that stays up on the busiest day. What we learned building Rhythm and Technova for DCRUST Murthal.
A college fest website has an unusual life. For most of the year nobody visits it. Then, for a few weeks, everyone does: students checking events, teams racing to register before the deadline, parents looking for directions, sponsors checking where their logo is.
We have built websites for Rhythm, the cultural fest, and Technova, the technical fest, at DCRUST Murthal. Here is the checklist we now start every fest website with.
Before the fest: what the website must do
Event pages that students can actually use
Every event needs its own clear section: what it is, the rules, team size, timing, venue and the coordinator to contact. Students open these on their phones between classes, so they must load fast and be easy to read on a small screen.
Registration that does not break at the deadline
Most registrations arrive in the last two days. Plan for that rush from the start:
- One simple form per event, not a long common form
- A confirmation on screen and by email, so students do not register twice
- A registration ID they can show at the venue
- A clear message when registration closes, instead of a broken form
Contest submissions
Technical fests need more than registration. Coding contests and hackathons need submissions, and email inboxes full of attachments are where entries get lost. Submissions should go straight to a dashboard the organising team can sort and download.
A schedule that can change
Fest schedules change constantly: venues move, events get delayed. The schedule on the website must be easy for the organisers to update themselves, so the website never shows old timings.
During the fest: what matters on the day
- Speed. On fest day, the site is opened by everyone at once. Pages that are generated in advance (static pages), like the event list and schedule, stay fast under that load. Rhythm's site was built with Next.js for exactly this reason.
- Directions. "Getting here" with a map, gate numbers and parking is one of the most opened pages on the day.
- Live updates. A clear banner for announcements: results, delays, venue changes.
After the fest: do not let it die
- Put up results and winners within a day
- Add a gallery while the excitement is fresh
- Thank the sponsors with their logos and links
- Keep the website live, because next year's team will build on it, and sponsors will look at it
For the organising committee
Start the website at least a month before registrations open. Decide early who can edit events and schedules, and who gets access to the registration data. Most website problems during a fest are actually planning problems.
If your college fest needs a website, talk to us. We know how busy that last week before the fest gets.