During Council of LionHearts’ first meeting, we played a fun icebreaker where students were in groups and one member of their team was blindfolded. The goal of the other team members were to try and instruct the blindfolded member to lightly toss balls on the court to hit the other blindfolded members. The results were hilarious:
Despite the seemingly random activity, after Council members compared the feeling of being blindfolded to that of first years walking into the involvement fair: people are throwing things at you, yelling, and you are completely confused. So, the question is, what makes that experience better in the activity and how can that relate to methods of best practices in recruitment for Council Orgs? These were some of the things the leaders talked about:
- Being clear in communication and provide directions that are easily digestible (brief and clear)
- Have a pitch that is standard and brief
- Start with a small step; just get them to the next activity or meeting. You don’t need to tell them about the whole year all at once. Shorten your list of goals
- Icebreakers are important; make sure they get people talking. The goal would be for people to be so connected that they talk to one another even after the meeting is formally over. Pick your icebreakers carefully and intentionally.
- Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate with other Orgs!