Mid-Year Membership Recruitment

The battle on recruitment has been won yet the war on recruitment has yet to be decided! The war lingers on the horizon, ready to reappear when school starts up again. Stay in the good fight — the fight to second semester recruitment efforts.
The incentives and tactics first semester are still relevant to membership recruitment in the second semester; however, make sure to keep those in your back pocket.

Second semester is about the final stretch in sight — as an active member, or officer, in your chapter, show the benefits that FBLA has to offer on a local level. The spike of second semester laziness can easily be countered with convenient incentives that allow members to continue their involvement, and at the very least interest, in FBLA. This is the time that members have finished their competitive events and are preparing for their stand-and-deliver if needed. What I propose is to show that FBLA is not solely competition orientated or professionally strict; in fact, consider tying in all classes through the school with a fun-fundraiser masked as a social event. (The best fundraisers are social events in disguised and the best social events are fundraisers in disguised.)

For instance, the fundraiser would have to be low effort and easy for students to be able to participate, have ease of access to the fundraiser, and have necessary publicity, interest, and acknowledgement [of students]. Also note, do not exclude the attendees to a targeted demographic or just the FBLA chapter/members; this will generate an unnecessary rift between members and those interested. Simply craft a positive image of FBLA to the students in the school ergo to the parents in the community (parent interest and involvement translates to student interest and involvement; remember, a single student interested in joining is good yet having a parent interested in getting their child interested in joining is great. Also a parent could have numerous children that could get involved — bandwagon).

An example of a social event that espouses the above criteria in practice would be a movie night held at the school — straight after school or possibly students get out of class to attend it. At the movie night, a number of concessions can be sold (try to divide up the type of concessions at different locations of the stand; for instance, don’t put all items for purchase in the same line but rather create a distinction in a the lines if enough members are present to run the register), the proceeds of which go towards the competitive event fees inquired of the FBLA chapter (i.e. traveling to conferences, hotel fees, study material).
Make sure, whatever the event your chapter decides on, to run the proposal through the check list above (in the third paragraph down):

• Is it low effort for students to participate? (Monetarily inexpensive.)
• Does it have ease of access? (Physically convenient and doesn’t conflict with other obligations or responsibilities of students.)
• Does it have the necessary publicity, interest, and acknowledgement? (Flyers, RSVPs, member signups for help, “grape vine” talk and discussion throughout school.)

If your or your chapter’s idea didn’t work out nearly as planned, work through a new proposal and give it time — gaining members, especially second semester, is a slow growing process all you have to do is ensure the chapter’s growth isn’t in a disjoined growth process and contribute to a better tomorrow: a better tomorrow for your members, a better tomorrow for your school, a better tomorrow for your community.

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