This is a post from Sriya Potham, ACE Chicago Media Team Member and a student at Adlai Stevenson High School.

How to Recruit

Recruit people personally:
Have everyone in you club talk to at least five people. If you have 5 people in your club right now and at least 1 person who each person talked to joins, then look just like that you doubled your numbers.

Put flyers up around the school:

Here’s an example of a Green Team flyer

Point out important things

Make announcements on the PA or make videos for the morning
announcements:

Just something simple but get all the information out there

Put and ad in the newspapers, or have a column just for your club:
If more people see ads for your club, at the beginning they may have been intrigued but not enough to go to the club, but as more ads come around they subconsciously are more inclined to join. Sort of like a political campaign.
If all else fails…. Offer FREE FOOD!
Free food brings the majority of people to a club. My school’s environmental club offers free munchkins. We buy them with the stipend that the school gives us for snacks. They do not cost that much but are delicious enough to bring members to the club.

Large problem is not recruiting… but KEEPING Members

Have a regular meeting time:
I don’t know about you, but when I want to go to a club, but do not know where or when it meets, I often debate the worth of going to the club to see if it is worth it to go find out the meeting place and time.

Be connected:
Have a public Facebook group always updated about what the club is doing when, so people know.

Keep the group engaged:
When people have something to do, they are more excited about coming to the club every week. When they don’t have something to do they get bored and leave.