• Tabling: Ideally, you should table every day in heavy traffic areas for constant recruitment. However, it is especially important to table on the day of your meeting, people will see your table and be reminded of your meeting. You also want to have fliers and materials on your table throughout the week.

• Fliers: It’s easiest and just as effective to keep it simple. Put the time, place, and any special features (the Special Guest, Pizza etc.)
  
  

• Reminder emails: There are two approaches that you can take:

• Send out reminder emails: If your meeting is on a Thursday night, send out two reminder emails to you list serve on Tuesday night or Wednesday night – or both. But be careful to not overdo it, so people don’t treat your emails as junk mail.

• Attach reminders to other emails: This is the preferred method for established clubs or clubs that already send out multiple emails a week on their list serve. Instead of bogging your members down with even more emails, simply add the meeting reminder to the bottom of all of your emails. But you will want to bold or draw attention to meeting information.
  
  

• Website: If possible, post it on the website, and keep the information general and simple.
  
  

• Campus emails: Some schools send out weekly emails to the student body, which would be a great opportunity to get the word out. Usually, you can request that your meeting be posted to the email.
  
  

• Signs and Posters: Make sure this is done in and near heavy traffic areas.
  
  

• Make the meetings interesting: You can invite speakers, stay active as a club (see chapter manual), have ice breakers, stay friendly, or have weekly contests. Contests often are an incentive for members to come back the next week to see if they won, and it will keep it fun. Offer some sort of small reward to the winner. Some ideas for good contests are “Who has the most patriotic outfit?” or have a dessert cook off. The sky’s the limit.

• Keep the Same Location and Time! The best way to make sure that people get to your meeting is too be consistent in the location and time.

The Meeting

Pre-Meeting

• Arrive Early: Get to the location 15-30 minutes before the start of the meeting. The last thing that you want is for a new person to arrive and be alone; or worse yet, think it is the wrong location and leave. Arriving early also gives you plenty of time to setup before anybody else arrives. You want potential and existing members to know that your club is well organized.
  
  

• Setup: Change the room arrangement first, for you don’t want to have to tell people to move once they have already sat down. It is generally a good idea to have a table with additional information pamphlets, fliers, a sign-in sheet, and membership forms. Also, if you use a podium or your speaker would like a podium, make sure it is in place. As always, please have the American Flag hanging and ready for the Pledge of Allegiance.
  
  

• Greeter: You always want to have a designated person to stand at the door to greet people as they arrive. This person can be an officer or a well known member. Make sure the person that you choose as the greeter is outgoing and very friendly. The new people should feel welcome and that you take interest in them: First Impressions Count! The chair should personally make a point to at least introduce themselves to every new member. You also can:

• Pass out name tags

• Hand out an agenda to your members. It should contain contact information and other key information, including upcoming events.

• *If people do not feel welcome they will not come back!