Recruitment Night Woes

[Cubmaster Pete]

We do all the right things, I think. Flyers at school, boy talks, then a Recruitment Night Event. 

 

Got 2 parents to show. One Tiger and One Lion. The tiger I am not worried about, its the Lion. Already have a den full of Tigers, not a big deal. But not being able have at least 2 more Lions is an issue. 

 

What are some ideas on what you do to increase join night attendance? We are a small pack but very strong, great parent involvement. 

[DuctTape]

in my experience "join nights" only recruit those who were most likely interested to begin with. In other words, even without the join night, they would have joined scouting.

 

One doesn't fish successfully by tossing a line and hoping the fish come to it, instead they toss the line where the fish are. Instead of join nights (or in addition to) go to an event where the kids and parents already are and recruit them. Summer festivals, or events run by the chartering org are two suggestions.

 

I apologize if you already know and do these things, it wasn't apparent from your initial query, and others new to scout recruitment might benefit.

[Cubmaster Pete]

in my experience "join nights" only recruit those who were most likely interested to begin with. In other words, even without the join night, they would have joined scouting.

 

One doesn't fish successfully by tossing a line and hoping the fish come to it, instead they toss the line where the fish are. Instead of join nights (or in addition to) go to an event where the kids and parents already are and recruit them. Summer festivals, or events run by the chartering org are two suggestions.

 

I apologize if you already know and do these things, it wasn't apparent from your initial query, and others new to scout recruitment might benefit.

Something to try, thanks! 

 

Does anyone do boy talks in the classroom?

[ItsBrian]

Something to try, thanks! 

 

Does anyone do boy talks in the classroom?

I’ve never heard personally of boy talks in classrooms. Honestly, it’s mostly the parents who decide to sign up their childen for cub scouts. I would recommend do advertising in public (e.g. yard signs) and try to have the fantastic events you do published in the newspaper and then put contact info for joining! If parents like what is done, they will sign their child up. Same goes for Boy Scouts, when we did a recruitment night, we got maybe one scout because we did not advertise well enough. But, by using all the ideas listed above, we had gained 5 members.

 

Also, children talk! Try to convince them to convince their friend to join. Same for parents.

[ALongWalk]

Great boy talks in the classrooms are crucial to having a successful sign up nights. Been doing it a while now...when the DE gets the boys excited they get their parents to bring them to sign up. Our district is having a great school recruiting season and it is mostly because the DE is on his game both in the "boy talk" and having the sign-up nights organized and staffed.

Edited September 17, 2017 by ALongWalk

[jjlash]

Packs in my area do boy talks (usually the DE and/or Cubmaster) and fliers a couple of days before the recruiting event.  One pack does the event as a pack meeting so that the current families are there.  They provide hot dogs/chips/drinks.  Leaders mostly circulate and talk to the families during the meal.  After the meal the Den Chiefs and Den Leaders take the boys off to play games while the CM/CC talk to the parents.

 

Other thing that I think is important, especially for Cub ages - visibility in the community.  Have an activity at the town festival, get a banner and walk in the parades, certainly Scouting For Food, adopt a park or road to clean up (and have a sign).  All of these let people know Scouting is alive and well in the area.  I believe this helps with recruiting and also helps with fundraising.

[mashmaster]

The pack I still help out at does boy talks.  I think they really aren't that helpful.  The key is having a great relationship with the principal of the school.  We provide service back to the school like the flags in front of the school and a clean up of the playground.  He lets us email a flyer to every parent in the school and send home flyers as well.  The final think is being friendly with the PTA president.  

 

This year they got 40 new scouts between the spring and fall join scouting nights.  There have been down years with only 5 showing up with doing everything else.  The school size is about 1000 total students.

[CNYScouter]

I haven't seen "Boy Talks" around here in a long time - I don't know even if the schools allow them any more

 

Our scout district is made up of 2 large school districts.

In both of these it's up to the Principle of each school to decide who gets to send flyers and be at their open house.

 

One of the biggest things I have seen to improve recruitment is to get names and contact information of anyone who expresses interest in the program at a recruiting event.

I save seen packs do recruiting events at school open houses, community events and other events that Cub Scout age boys.

 

You then need to call and remind them the night before your unit "Open House".

Any that do not come you need to call them again and let them know that they can still join. Many parents think that if they miss the open house they can't sign up.

[Eagledad]

Our schools have a day where the parents come to pick up the room assignments and equipment list. We set up a table with pictures, pinewood derby cars and uniforms to attract the kids and parents to the table. We ask them to sign a visit list with their phone number. Than I start calling that night to recruit them. The same people show up to the recruitment night as well, but we have them in an assigned den by that time. I would guess 95% of the families we recruit from the visit day list came to the recruitment night. 

 

Barry

[Eagle1993]

Our schools do not allow Boy talks anymore. We do yard signs all around the school (on public right of way) and in leaders yards for the week prior, flyers at school registration and I send an email to every parent in the school talking about the fleeting time you have as a parent and why scouts are a great opportunity. All of these have links to our Facebook page which we encourage parents to like. I don't know which one or combination works but we had 32 scouts attend join scouts night out of a school of 650. 13 joined so far, adding to all dens and we should have around 14 Lions once they complete their applications. Our pack size dwindled to the mid twenties after we were banned by the school (from any contact .... signs, talks, flyers, etc). The methods above have improved our contact with parents

[Chisos]

So, we do boy talks, send home flyers, and have a recruitment night.  We've done ok with them in the past, so I don't know what happened this year...maybe it was just a bad date choice, who knows.  This year's was a flop.  In the past we've tried recruiting meeting/activities, and those seem to work better for us.  Especially when they involve free food and games.

 

I do think the current model (boy talk/flyers/school night) is outdated.  Parents seem to either prefer or need some other (electronic) means of getting information.

[Tampa Turtle]

I think the service model to the school works well. We also working with the local Parents-Teachers-Students Association (PTSA) and would be able to make a quick presentation at those meetings as well as the handout. But it does seem to be getting tougher--this was a big common point of conversation at Scouters at Summer Camp that there was a bigger crossover drop off this year.

[DuctTape]

Recruitment methods can be Cheap, Easy and Effective, but you only get to pick two.

[thrifty]

Recruitment methods can be Cheap, Easy and Effective, but you only get to pick two.

 

LOL. Such a great line.  Thanks.  I've added it to my binder of info next to "BSA says be prepared.  It doesn't say anything about be efficient."

[Tampa Turtle]

LOL. Such a great line.  Thanks.  I've added it to my binder of info next to "BSA says be prepared.  It doesn't say anything about be efficient."

 

"BSA says be prepared.  It doesn't say anything about be efficient."   We are boarding up and tying things down last weekend (in between wondering if we were gonna die) and Scout Sun #2 whips out a Bow Line when we needed one and it all seemed worthwhile!