Open to a Challenge?
The Open To Challenge is focussed on building towards an Open Night in your Company – an opportunity to showcase what you do and what is on offer to new members. This could be aimed at Company-wide recruitment or you could focus on one age group.
It’s recommended that your Open Night is held 2-3 weeks after restarting, once existing members and leaders have returned and settled back into things, allowing you to ensure everything is ready to welcome new members.
However where there might not be a core membership returning it may be necessary to kick start your new session with an Open Night. Perhaps you could work with neighbouring Companies to organise a joint event?
Preparation
- Are you ready to recruit? Have you used our short Self-Assessment to ensure you have the foundations to recruit?
- Focus and targets – What areas of your Company will you focus on for growth, are you going to recruit in one particular age group?
- When will your Open Night take place and how will you promote it? (see our ideas below)
- Programme – What are you going to do on your Open Night, will you use Programme Resources from our new session taster programme or create your own programme? See our Programme Hub for activity ideas.
- Leaders – Who is available on the night? Allocate roles, including who will be speaking to parents/carers.
- Welcoming – Is your meeting space friendly and welcoming? Do you have signage up and do you have information ready to hand out to new members and their parents/carers? [ARTWORK/ARTICLE LINK]
- Handling Enquiries – How will enquiries be handled? You can use the new OBM Joining Form [LINK].
Have you thought about holding an outdoors open night?
Promoting your Open Night to your Local community
Bring a Friend Invitations
Your Company’s best recruiters should be existing members. You can use our template Bring a Friend invitation [LINK].
Recruitment badges may also provide encouragement.
Parents/Carers Word-of-Mouth
Your next best recruiters should be parents and families of existing members.
Can they help spread the word with people on their street or hand out invitations to other parents/carers at the school gate? Check out our Parents Pass it on leaflet [LINK].
Social Media Advertising
Does your Company have an online presence? Do you have a plan for how you are going to use social media to your advantage during the session? Have you tried using Facebook advertising?
Find out more ideas on using social media [LINK].
Through your local schools
Could you talk at a School Assembly or have the chance to put together a goody bag for a class/year group?
Could parent/carers help build links with your local schools?
Check out our PowerPoint Presentation to use with Schools/Community Groups [LINK].
Wider Community
Are there opportunities to have stall at a community event fayre/fete, or a stand in a local shopping centre?
Are there other community organisations that could help promote what you do?
[GET INVOLVED GAZETTE LINK]
Advertising
Do people know your Company is there and that you are restarting?
Does your church know about all the good work you’re doing? Could you have space in the Church magazine, website, information board or the opportunity to speak during a service?
Are you able to have banners outside your church and put posters up in local shops? Find out more about customisable resources [LINK] we are offering for start of new session.
Have you approached your local newspaper to see if they’ll highlight what you are doing? Check out our press release template [LINK].