Bingo Book: Shoot 'Em Down and Get 'Em Hooked

(Goal of Article: Guide readers with useful tips to retain members.)

~Let's take a journey together, and let reality mix with the dream realm~

It’s the Wild West, you're in a saloon

on one hot and lax afternoon.

On the table a glass of Ol’ Red Eye

in your pocket a tattered book filled with wanted posters of brothers gone awry.

The bartender bazoos up a conversation

hinting about criminals and bunko artists revered across the nation.

In the corner sits one of them; chiseling a deadbeat out of his dinero.

Heeled and determined by hook or crook,

that this is shody four-flusher is going to calaboose.

You flannel mouth the crook and lure him outside,

to fight like Kilkenny cats.

You draw your gun

A bullet swims through the air and as the smoke clears…

By now, we can assume that you have already have had a successful recruitment period and you got people in the door but now we must beg the question of actually keeping these members. Your number one goal should be to get people in the door and to stay in the room as long as possible - try to make them smile and laugh and hang out after meetings. When you ask people to recount events, call on the people you think will hype up the events the most.

The first thing you should worry about is first impressions. Show them how passionate you are without scaring them off. The first thing you should do is introductions! Keep it brief, time is of the essence.

An introduction normally goes something along the lines of…

1. Name
2. Class (You can say Freshman, Sophmore, etc. or Class of ___)
3. Position/1 sentence of what your position does if it’s not a normal position.
4. Division/Faction/Region/District and mascot if you have one.
5. A quirky fact about yourself.

After that, you can explain what your club is and what you do, the function/structure, and some major annual events that you have as well as any miscellaneous information you think will help peak their interest. Keep your introduction brief - at least 1 minute and at most 3. Try not to to talk about any benefits that will “buy your members.” Your members should be as dedicated to the club as much as possible - not to the benefits. You can always talk about the more positive aspects or surprise members with food so it becomes a cherry on top.

On a normal basis, when you need to talk about informational events, I suggest if you can use a powerpoint, do it! Use your powerpoint sparingly - it’s supposed to function as a tool to aid you, not cripple! Your powerpoint is a visual representation that helps present a professional image to your meetings while aiding the members to help catch on with what you are actually saying. On your powerpoint should be any official business that members may get caught up in like pledges or cheers; you can put them on the first few powerpoints, but try to wean members off it so they can learn for themselves. It should include upcoming events, days, times, and places as well as the function or what members will be doing at these events. I think that a really good tip would be to include a certain goal for some events like attendance rates or something along those lines. Here are some tips to keep your powerpoint game on point!

Tips

• Create a template powerpoint to just copy and paste to save you time in the future.
• A good thing to do is to have a private email you pass down to future boards, so they can see what you’ve done and be able to look at your past work as references.
• Make your powerpoints the same format - changing the format can confuse members.
• Decorate your powerpoint! Make it look nice - even if it seems like its doing extra work, decorating your powerpoint can serve to emphasize your point and draw eyes to important information.

I generally don’t recommend icebreakers or a long lecture. A rule of thumb should be if you get bored or tired during your powerpoint, it may be better to forgo the powerpoint. A good tactic for the first few meetings would be to break members up into groups depending on how many are on the board you have and have them explain this information themselves to add a more intimate/personal touch.

Keep your members active! Give them plenty of opportunities for socials, community service events/projects, competitions, and fundraisers so that way they can back that they are making good use of time during dead periods where members are least active. Thank them for coming and when you recount it praise all the members for coming by talking about attendance rates, if anyone won something or something positive that will make them look back at it as their job well done.

Have someone contact members and talk to them to see if they need rides, if they are doing anything that day, and basically gun them down (talk them) into going to the events (this should usually be a very persistent person). For clubs that have more deadbeats or leeches have your stronger board members persist with them. Be understanding if they are busy, but there will be some members who don't want to go to events and end up doing nothing at home - then you want to do some Sherlock Holmes level investigation and try to get them to slip.

Then get 'em hooked! Play off popular trends like Hunger Games/ Divergent, or classics like Harry Potter/ Lord of the Rings to get people interested. Be creative with the way you do things. Keep it simple and classy! It’s more fun to do when you aren’t stressing about every last detail. If one member is enthusiastic and you join in, then people will bandwagon with you; it feels a lot more powerful and fun than if you were doing it solo. Usually it’s not always about the content, but how you present it that makes it important. My school for example has this “too cool for anything and everything vibe,” frankly irritates me. Pretentious, my behind. A majority of people whittle their time away, are disrespectful and don’t get involved in school at all and yet they constantly complain about it. Just a while back some guy started throwing his backpack in the air and people started cheering him on for it. HE WAS JUST THROWING A BACKPACK. He did that for the entirety of lunch, as people egged him on for doing it. Many people kept on watching and it was almost like someone started a fight. As they egged him on, he did the same for them. Imagine if my school was more active, the things we could do, the ventures we can achieve, the legacy we can leave. So, what legacy do you want to leave behind and how will you convince these members to work with you together, hand-in-hand, to achieve it?

Until next time dreamers-sweet dreams,

Marilyn Nguyen