
With all the other things on our plate, we teachers don't have time to plan multiple meetings each year to recruit for our tours. I am going to share a secret with you, that--if done correctly--will increase the number of people who enroll on your tour.
So what's the secret? NOMINATION LETTERS
What are nomination letters, you might ask? The answer is quite simple: Nomination Letters are sent out to your students, letting them know that they have been nominated to travel on an EF Educational Tour.
What exactly does a nomination letter say? Click here to see a sample nomination letter. Go ahead. Take a look, and steal away! You can copy and paste it if you like!
How do I get started? I like to start by asking the teachers at my school to make a list of students who they feel would be good candidates to travel with me on an EF Tour. I take those lists, and send letters to the students that they nominated.
Why is this important? In the letter, I like to tell them about my upcoming tour and I also include the date and time of my upcoming recruitment meeting. This letter is essentially an invitation to my recruitment meeting.
What else should I know? At the bottom of the letter, I include a tear-off portion that serves as an RSVP. It is good to have a head count, and get an idea of how many people will attend the meeting.
Why does this work? By sending the letter home to the parents, it will actually make it out of the back pack, and the parents will get a chance to read the letter. Often times the students forget the letter at school, or are afraid to ask their parents for a trip because of the cost involved. If you can get the word directly to parents, you will have more attendees at your meeting.
My story
I used this method to recruit for my Summer 2018 tour. I sent out about 100 letters, and had over 50 people come to the recruitment meeting. When the parents looked around and saw how many people were interested, they knew that space would be limited. The tour filled up in January 2017, a whole 17 months before departure! Thanks to this method, I only need to have one recruitment meeting last year. One and done!
The nomination letters are a great way to spread the word about your tour, and invite parents to the meeting. Try it out! I want to hear about how this method worked for you!