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I've had my recruitment meeting...now what?

10/26/2019

So, you've had your recruitment meeting! How did it go? I am sure that you had a great turn out, and really built excitement for your tour. You are probably thinking..."what now?" The day right after your meeting is the prime time to follow up with everyone who came to the meeting, RSVPed, or expressed interest. Life today is busy, and parents need (and appreciate) reminders about your tour.

Here are my tips for follow up after a recruitment meeting:

Email. Immediately send out an email to EVERYONE who expressed interest. Send it to those who came to the meeting; those who RSVPed, but didn't attend, those who might have reached out and said that they couldn't come. Spread the net far and wide when it comes to follow up. In my experience, parents like to be kept in the loop about the enrollment deadlines, and appreciate the reminders. What to include in your email:

A short message of "thank you" for taking the time to attend the meeting.
The link to your group leader website where they can get all the tour information, and sign up.
A reminder about about the enrollment deadline.
Your contact information, so that they can contact you with questions that they might have about the tour.

Social Media Posts. Use your social media accounts to follow up after your meeting. Thank everyone for coming and remind them about the enrollment deadline. Build energy by letting them know if there are a limited amount of places left on your tour. You can see a few of the reminders that I posted on my social media for my current tour. I use www.canva.com to create all the fabulous graphic designs!

Handwritten note. If you have time to go the extra mile, consider sending out a hand written thank you to families that attended your meeting. I always start with those students who I know well, and want to reach out to with a personal note. I like to collect postcards on my travels, and I write my thank you on the post card and send it in the mail. Its a nice gesture that can go along way. When travelers enroll, I want them to have more than just a trip, I want them to feel a personal connection to me as their group leader.

Phone Call. Before my enrollment deadline, I call families that I know have a sincere interest in signing up for my tour. Having a one-on-one conversation might be what they need to help them make their decision. I always start the conversation out by thanking them for coming to the meeting, and then asking if they have any questions about the tour. Making a phone call is a quick and effective way to provide more information and a gentle reminder about the upcoming deadline.

No matter how you choose to do it, the key to building your tour is to FOLLOW UP after your meeting. Making the decision to enroll on a tour is a big deal for most families. Let parents and families know that that you are available for questions and support.

What do you do to follow up after a recruitment meeting? I'd love to hear all about it! Let me know in the comments below.

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Think outside the classroom: how to recruit new travelers, when you can't advertise at school.

10/25/2019

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All Group Leaders exist on (what I like to call) a recruitment spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, you have Group Leaders who are leading tours that are school sponsored, or have the full blessing of their school/district. One the opposite end of the spectrum, are Group Leaders who teach in schools/districts that have a strict ban on advertising and recruiting for an educational tour. How do you recruit in a school or district where you are not allowed to advertise your tour? Know that you are not alone! Many Group Leaders share the same challenge: building a travel program in a school that doesn't allow it.

While I am lucky enough to exist somewhere in the middle of the recruitment spectrum, I work with many group leaders who are not. I have a few ideas that I would like to share with you to think outside the classroom, and fill your bus full of travelers, in-spite of the challenges that you face being restricted to advertising outside of school.

First and foremost, follow the rules! Don't take any risks that might put your job in jeopardy. It is possible to spread the word about your tour outside of the classroom. There are many successful Group Leaders who cannot advertise at school. I would encourage you to know the rules. Find out exactly where the line is when it comes to advertising your tour. Ask these questions:

Where can I put up posters? (Just inside my classroom? Not at all?)
What are the boundaries on talking about the tour in my classroom? (Can I mention it, but not pass out printed information? Can I use a power point? Is there a strict restriction on mentioning it at all?)
Am I allowed to send out emails to parents, as long as I am clear it is not school sponsored?

Wherever you exist on the spectrum, consider using some of these tips:

Word of Mouth. One of the best ways to advertise for your tour is by word of mouth. Can you...

Attend school extra curricular events, and talk to the parents about your upcoming tour?
Spread the word with community organizations? Parents are the members of those organizations, and are usually excited to hear about travel opportunities.
Post on a neighborhood posting site, or a community announcement board? This will really get people talking!

I created some small business cards that advertised my next recruitment meeting. I keep the cards in my purse and/or pockets when I go to school events. When I strike up a conversation with a parent about my tour, I give them one of the small cards so that they can remember the date and location of the meeting.

Student Ambassadors. Ask some students to be "ambassadors" for your travel program. Ask them to share trip information on their social media, and create incentives for spreading the word to all of their friends! I used this strategy a few years back, and I ordered some t-shirts for the students and armed with with fliers, and pre-made social media posts to share with everyone they knew. My advice would be to only ask students that you know really well, and feel comfortable explaining the role of ambassador to their parents.

Use Social Media. In today's world, it seems as though EVERYONE is connected through social media. Beef up your social media presence and put it to work for you. Here are some ways to use your social media to recruit new travelers:

Create an account or "page" dedicated to your travel program. Use your own personal social media account to "share" the travel related page with all of your friends and followers. For example, I have a Facebook page solely dedicated to my travel program. I use my personal account to share the travel page to my Facebook timeline to spread the word about my upcoming tour. I also created a Twitter account for my travel program (@RaiderWorldTraveler), and I promote my upcoming tour, share pictures, reminders, etc.
Include the link or handle to your social media pages in your email signature or other correspondence that your students and their families might come into contact with.

Advertisements. Can you take out a small add in the local paper? Advertise in a community or neighborhood newsletter? Post a flier on the bulletin board of the local community center, recreation center or indoor pool? Although print advertisements may seem outdated, they still get noticed.

Don't lose heart! You can still let people know about about your tour, even though advertising in the classroom is off limits. Lots of group leaders do it, and you can too!

I would love to hear your ideas about recruiting outside the classroom. Please put them in the comments below!

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Five tech tools that every group leader needs!

10/25/2019

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Being a busy teacher and group leader, we need all the help that we can get when it comes to communicating with our groups. There are so many tools available to help us get the word out to travelers in the weeks and months prior to tour. Here are a few of my favorites...

Social Media

It seems that everyone has a social media account or two (or three or four...) these days! I love to use social media to recruit new travelers, share information with my enrolled travelers, and post pictures and updates while on tour.

I created a Facebook "page" for my travel program called Raider World Traveler, where I post announcements about upcoming tours, reminders to enrolled travelers and LOTS of pictures while on tour. Facebook is a great place to interact with parents about all tour happenings. Check out my Facebook page!

According to my students, Facebook is for "old people." So, to reach my students, I use twitter. I share all the same information on both Twitter and Facebook. In fact-- you can write one post and share it to both platforms to save time! To reach the students, I have to go to where the students are...and you can always find them on social media (just not Facebook!). :)

G Suite

Are you a googlephile? According to Urban Dictionary, a googlephile is someone with an overwhelmingly obscene fascination to use google. I love Google tools and products and put the Google Suite to work for me when planning for my tour.

Google Drive. I use google drive to store ALL my files for recruitment meetings, pre-departure meeting, group lists, pictures from previous tours, etc.

Google Sheets. Google sheets works just like Microsoft Excel, and I use it to record my group members passport and contact information.

Google Forms. I love using a Google Form to collect important information from my group members before departure. Click here to check out the Traveler Info Form I use to find out some very important information from my travelers after they enroll. Feel free to steal it, and edit to fit your needs (just remember to make a copy first).

Google Calendar. Make sure that your travelers never miss a pre-departure meeting by sending them calendar appointments using Google Calendar. You can set up reminders and notifications that help them remember your important events.

Flipgrid

If you've never used Flipgrid, I would encourage you to check it out--I promise you won't be disappointed! What is Flipgrid? According to the creators, "grids are the meeting place for your classroom, your school, your department or any learning community to discuss your topics. "

Using Flipgrid my travelers create a 30 second video introducing themselves, and explaining what they are most excited about seeing/doing on our upcoming tour. I share the link to our "grid" and all travelers can begin to put a name to face, and get to know each other before our tour departs.

For me, one of the best features of Flipgrid is that the travelers don't have to create an account, they just click on the link that you share an record from their device. It is so quick and easy! Click here to check out Flipgrid, and create your first "grid" today!

Canva

Canva is a simplified graphic design tool uses a drag and drop format to create beautiful fliers, posters, social media post, and so much more, with just the click of your mouse. I love to use Canva to create announcements about my upcoming meetings, and beautiful Instagram post and stories. Canva has a ton of free stock photos and fonts to make all of your creations eye catching! Here are a few of the things that I have created with Canva and posted to social media pages for my tours.

Remind

As a teacher, you probably use Remind for your classes and/or extracurricular activities, but have thought about using it for your tour? When new travelers enroll, I email them and ask them to join the Remind class for our tour (check out Remind.com to create an account and set up a "class" for your tour). In the months leading up to the tour, I send out text reminders about upcoming pre-departure meetings, fundraising events, and any other information that I need to share quickly with the whole group. I even send out a Remind message when our plan has safely landed on tour, to put the parents at ease.

What is Remind? Remind is a free(!) web based text messaging service that allows your student to sign up to receive text messages from you. When you set up a "class" in Remind, students opt into receiving text messages by using a code provided by Remind.com. They cannot see your phone number, and you cannot see theirs. It is a safe and reliable way to communicate with your travelers, by using a method that we all know they will see instantaneously--text message.

What tech tools do you use and LOVE? Tell me all about them in the comments below!

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I've had my recruitment meeting...now what?

Think outside the classroom: how to recruit new travelers, when you can't advertise at school.

Five tech tools that every group leader needs!

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