Directing Your Guests

UC Santa Cruz campus is a beautiful campus, but it is not the easiest place to find your way. Here are some best practices for directing your guest to their on-campus destination.

• Provide narrative directions. Use campus road names (see map below), and include the number of stop signs your guest will pass before making a turn. For example, to direct someone to the Music Center:  "Follow signs to the West Entrance of campus; turn right into campus on Heller Drive. At the third stop sign, turn right on Meyer Drive; then turn left at the second stop sign, on McHenry Road. The Music Center will be on your right, and parking will be on your left."
• Link to the Campus Map website. There are driving and parking instructions for over 30 on-campus locations under the "Printable Maps" tab.
• Mark up your own custom map and link to it from your event publicity.
• Check what Google shows. Try typing in your destination on Google Maps and see where it gets you. If you think it will be misleading (especially if parking for your event is not adjacent to the event site), consider putting the message "Don't use your GPS!" on your publicity.
• Look up the address of the event location. ITS has created a repository of each campus building address. If Google provides a more accurate result by using that address, consider adding it to your publicity.
• Don't rely on temporary signage. While you can order temporary wayfinding signage from the Sign Shop, it isn't always the foolproof solution that event planners hope it will be. At any given decision point, visitors will scan all available information. The more information there is, the more confusing it can be. (This is particularly true if there are multiple temporary signs up in that location.) Instead, provide them street names, and permanent sign locations if appropriate (e.g., "Look for the brown horizontal slat sign at the intersection that says "Cowell College.")
• If you are concerned the guests will get lost between where they park and your event, order pedestrian signs from the Sign Shop. They will provide them for you to post along the way. Consider using a name that can be reused, and keep the signs as a resource for your organization.
• Don't put up your own temporary signage. Outside of student programming-related signage within colleges, there are only two entities on campus authorized to post temporary event signs. TAPS can post parking-related signs in parking lots only; all other signs MUST come from the Sign Shop.