Edward King

Get Ready for Fall: Part 1

Jul 18, 2011 at 12:20 PM

By Edward King

Over the next seven weeks, YAL members will receive an exclusive series of emails to help you and your chapter prepare for the Fall school semester.

This week's preparation step is simple: Get in touch.

Contact everyone from your chapter and ask them to be ready to hit the ground running once back on campus. If you don't get an email reply from someone, give them a call to confirm that they'll be awaiting your next update.
Once YAL is back on your activists' radar, ask them to officially join YAL if they haven't already (i.e. pay yearly $10 dues on our national site) so they'll also get our members-only emails -- like the newsletter -- which will help them prepare for fall.
Finally, get in touch with your school's activities office, the sooner the better. Find out what you need to do to reserve space at your school's fall activities fair for incoming students. Likewise, now is the time to reserve a prime meeting location for your regular chapter meetings throughout the school year. For both spaces, make a reservation immediately if possible, but if not, find out what deadlines you'll have to meet and mark your calendar.

If you have any questions about these steps or getting ready for fall in general, don't hesitate to contact your representative on YAL's Leadership Team.

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Chapter Building Strategy: Effective Recruitment, Part 4

Jul 11, 2011 at 12:46 PM

By Edward King

The Informational Meeting

This is where all of your hard work potentially pays off. You grabbed someone's attention. You engaged them at your table. And now they're sitting five rows back at your chapter's meeting.

Will they take interest in your group and become a consistently active member? This is the measure of the success in your recruitment efforts.

It's essential for you to have a well-executed and organized first meeting if you plan to make a good first impression and sustain membership growth. You have only 30 to 60 minutes (the optimal target is 45 minutes for a meeting length) to make your case, so how do you make the most of it?

Organize and Prepare

First, be organized and look professional. Arrive to the meeting place at least 15 to 30 minutes ahead of time to make certain that the room is unlocked and multimedia equipment is functioning properly before people arrive.

PowerPoint Presentation

It is preferable to give a PowerPoint presentation which will keep the discussion focused. This will also force you to prepare beforehand. This method also allows the use of other digital media resources such as photos, videos, and demonstrations of internet tools.

Chapter-Building Strategy: Effective Recruitment

Jul 1, 2011 at 7:14 PM

By Edward King

Part 3: Execution - Grab Attention for Your Table

Devote a significant portion of your preparation to develop an effective strategy to gain attention for your YAL chapter. Stand out from all of the on-campus distractions. You will compete with other groups, activities, and events for students’ time.

Think beyond bowls of candy or your spread of liberty books. Of course you'll want a professional-looking table, but what else can you do?

Think big. Bold. Loud. Think of a display passersby simply can't ignore.

Below are a few ideas which might turn heads and aid your efforts to draw new people to your table:

If you are outside and it’s cold, give out hot drinks (cider, coffee, or hot chocolate) and advertise loudly that you have it...and that it's FREE. Free food always appeals to students as an alternative to dining hall fare. Alternatively, pass out bottles of water if it is warm.

Chapter Building Strategy: Effective Recruitment

Jun 27, 2011 at 10:37 AM

By Edward King

Part 2: Preparation

Before you jump into the deep end of chapter growth, lay out your plan for the most effective recruitment strategy.

Successful planning for your recruitment effort will take time and require an extensive amount of brainstorming and preparation. Keep this in mind if your YAL chapter plans to participate in a student activities fair -- and plan your leadership meetings accordingly. Keep your chapter’s leadership focused and plan to develop and generate ideas and assign tasks.

Consider the following questions:

What days during the semester do you plan to recruit?
Where will you set up operations? Are there multiple locations (indoors and out) you could table or recruit?
Who will help recruit? Make a sign-up list with specific times so you can schedule volunteers throughout the day.
Do you need to register for your school’s student activities fair? Register now! This is a perfect opportunity to introduce your chapter to new people.
Do you need to receive permission to set up a table or to petition on campus? Ask now! Don’t give unsympathetic administrators any reason to hinder your efforts.

Chapter-Building Strategy: Effective Recruitment Strategy (Part 1/2)

Jun 10, 2011 at 11:40 AM

By Edward King

Expand the Liberty Movement

You can make a significant impact on the liberty movement by recruiting new students to our philosophy on your campus. Colleges and universities provide a fertile ground to find the next generation of pro-liberty activists and advocates.

To ensure a strong, effective chapter, as well as to ensure a sustained presence on campus, you must constantly recruit -- in other words, expand the liberty movement.

As a leader within your chapter, you must always think ahead about your chapter’s growth, especially near the beginning of the fall semester when large numbers of incoming freshmen search for opportunities to get involved on campus and meet other students. Even beyond the beginning of the school year, constantly improve your group’s creative capacity to recruit.

Remember these three questions:

How can you leverage each activism event, each speaking engagement, and every interaction with the student body to expand your membership (and the liberty movement)?
What approaches -- including your rhetoric and accompanying visuals -- will appeal to the most people, especially those who have never heard a complete and comprehensive philosophy of liberty?
How will you retain your potential new members once you engage them or convince them to attend a meeting?

Chapter-Building Strategy: Leadership Structure

Jun 3, 2011 at 11:06 AM

By Edward King

Early Leadership and the Leadership Mindset

As your chapter’s leadership team takes shape, consider a few things about your officers and members.

First, establish a clear structure for the tasks and responsibilities of the chapter so you can hold individuals accountable for specific tasks. Clear organization will project competence to your members and will eliminate redundancy when assigning projects.

Next, encourage the development of your officers’ leadership skills. Why type of mindset and rhetorical approaches will make your leadership more reputable when providing guidance to the group?

Keep in mind, YAL differs from all the other political organization on your campus. Your members likely engaged in the political process to effect real change, not climb the ladder of a major political party. Remain organized, but keep things fun, exciting, and interesting for your officers and members.

Chapter-Building Strategy: Funding Your Chapter

May 27, 2011 at 9:13 AM

By Edward King

Find out if your school provides startup money to newly forming organizations. If not available on your campus, create an initial plan to raise approximately $150 to purchase essential materials and resources.

It won’t severely limit your chapter’s first few steps, but if you plan to grow a young chapter, you should have a small pool of money to materials to help present your group as professional. The more a student views your chapter as legitimate, the more likely he or she will join.

A newly formed chapter won’t likely have the necessary experience or personnel at this point to raise significant funds from large donors; however, you can take a few steps to help with initial purchases.

It Starts With You

Consider how much you can donate personally. Then, approach your other core members to match your investment. Think about how much money many college students typically spend, outside of their meal-plan or home-cooking, on food and drinks throughout a typical week. Let’s assume it’s at least $20 (we all know that’s absurdly low).

Chapter-Building Strategy: Recruiting Leaders

May 20, 2011 at 10:06 AM

By Edward King

Recruit Your First Group of Leaders

In order to earn official recognition from YAL National, your chapter must recruit at least three dues-paying YAL members.

Whether you began the chapter formation process with a group of other like-minded people or not, you should always look for other leaders (students who share your passion to see a liberty-oriented group of students organized to impact your campus and local community are invaluable).

Look for Members in Existing Campus Groups

After petitioning the people you know on a personal level, explore other groups of people whose members might be interested in the creation of a YAL chapter. Potential recruits might be found in college libertarian groups, College Republicans, and other politically focused organizations.

Ask Your Faculty Advisor

If you have already found a liberty-minded advisor, he or she may be aware of other students who share similar political ideas. Ask him or her to connect you with these students.