Adjustments made for Josh Peck’s ULS appearance

Josh Peck will take the ULS stage April 2. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/NICKELODEON

The University Lecture Series (ULS) reached its 1,200 pre-registration limit for YouTube personality and former Nickelodeon star Josh Peck.

The lecture will be at 8 p.m. in the Marshall Student Center (MSC) Ballroom on April 2. The line to enter the event will begin forming at 5 p.m.

Typically, color-coded wristbands and different lines distinguish students who have pre-registered and have not. The pre-registered attendants will enter the Ballroom first and the non-registered people will be on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Sabrina Alt, a graduate assistant for Center for Student Involvement (CSI), said seating in the MSC Ballroom will hold approximately 850 seats. The 700-seat MSC Oval Theater will be live streaming the event in case there is an overflow of people.

“We don’t want students to be discouraged because we have met the RSVP limit, we have accommodated for more seating so that more people can come out to the lecture,” Alt said.

Associate Director of CSI Joshua Wilson said it is important for students to join the line at a reasonable time because a pre-registered wristband does not guarantee entrance.

“If someone shows up late, a seat will not be waiting for them,” Wilson said.

In 2017, Wilson dealt with a similar high-volume situation when registration to see actress Viola Davis sold out in six minutes. The event was then moved from the Ballroom to the Yuengling Center.

The Bullsync page where Tampa students registered for Peck’s appearance reached its maximum limit in less than 3 weeks.

“We weren’t sure how Viola Davis was going to go,” Wilson said. “We called other schools and we were prepared to have an overflow into another room, but the registration sold out within minutes so we knew that we were going to have to move to a larger space.”

Wilson said the registration is used to determine how much space is needed for each lecture. Based on the information Wilson and Alt have, they do not believe the event will need to be moved to a bigger venue, such as The Yuengling Center.

There will not be a meet and greet held after the lecture according to Peck’s contract. Wilson said some speakers, such as Amara La Negra and Winston Duke, choose to have it, but it was not a part of the agreement made with Peck.

Peck will be paid $30,000 for the event.

“Like Viola (Davis), the larger the speakers are, the less likely they will do meet and greets because they may know they won’t be able to meet the demand,” Wilson said.

The number of unregistered people and community members cannot be predicted. Wilson said the number could range from 50 people to even 300.

“It depends on if the public has picked up on it or if students are bringing their friends,” Wilson said.

Although 1,200 have registered, Wilson only anticipates 60 percent showing up.

“It’s nice people can put themselves on the registration list, but we have also taken into account over time that not many people show up after registering,” Wilson said.

With memorable moments and infamous quotes on Drake and Josh such as “it’s spherical” and “hug me brotha,” Alt knew that students would be excited about the speaker. She said Peck’s recent popularity on YouTube is also a reason why college students are so interested.

The event is also a part of USF Week, which may be an added factor to the volume of people.

“The generation right now is big on YouTube so we were expecting a little bit of buzz,” Alt said. “The fact that Bulls want to show their pride for USF Week, we knew this would be one of our well-attended lectures.

“We weren’t expecting this amount of hype but we are extremely glad that we got it and I hope that USF students are as excited as we are to see Josh Peck.”