Through the maze of tables and multicolored poster boards, Eastern students prowled in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union undeterred by the weather outside.

More than 100 Registered Student Organizations filled the ballroom for the second Spring Pantherpalooza on Wednesday.

Kaci Abolt, student vice president for student affairs, was in charge of organizing the student government run event.

Abolt, a junior communication studies major, also organized the fall Pantherpalooza that took place in the South Quad, but said this semester’s event far surpassed its predecessor.

“The union is a central place and a lot of students want to just come in and see what (the RSOs) have to offer,” Abolt said. “If we had this semester’s Pantherpalooza in the (South Quad) the elements definitely would have been a factor.”

Abolt said she thinks that the interactive event was a success because of the decision to incorporate a bingo game and a PowerPoint that gave the numbers of other organizations.

“(The map and PowerPoint) have been really helpful because people can look at where they want to go and it’s not intimidating,” Abolt said.

Jesse Green, a junior finance major and the president of Delta Sigma Pi, said he talked to a lot of people by walking around the room and guiding those interested back to his table.

Green said he thought the rain was a factor in the attendance.

“Rain doesn’t help and it probably made it a little more limited than expected,” he said.

Heather Derby, a senior communication studies major, said she thinks low advertising contributed to what she said was low attendance.

Derby is a member of Public Relations Students Society of America.

“It didn’t get a lot of buzz on campus and I didn’t find out about it until my organization was asking for us to sign up for times,” she said.

Derby also said she felt like the people already in the organizations were contributing a bulk of the signatures.

“The only people checking people out are people already working the tables,” she said.

Sam Trigg, a freshman undecided major, is a member of the Harry Potter Club, which surpassed the average of three signatures per table by having 12 students sign up to learn more about it.

Trigg said she thinks the group’s table presentation is what grabbed the attention of students.

Decorated with homemade wands, house ties and a laptop playing scenes from various Harry Potter movies, Trigg said students stopped once they saw the arrangement.

Trigg also said the wide appeal of Harry Potter has as a brand also gave the group an edge.

“Many people enjoy reading the books and watching the movies because we all grew up with the characters and it was nice to have,” Trigg said.

Jacob Dallas, a sophomore applied engineering technology major, said he stopped by the 2nd Pantherpalooza receives mixed reviews because he enjoys Harry Potter.

“I just really like2nd 2nd Pantherpalooza receives mixed reviews receives mixed reviewsHarry Potter,” Dallas said.

Dallas said he is glad he got to see the different RSOs that are on campus in one place.

Spring Pantherpalooza gives students information about clubs that they might not know about otherwise, Trigg said.

“Not many people know that Eastern had its own Harry Potter Club,” Trigg said. “It’s great exposure.”

Nike Ogunbodede can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].