Recruiting on a Tuesday

It's Tuesday morning and an hour from kicking off Spring Recruitment at Lanoka Harbor Elementary School in Forked River. This is always an exciting time and an opportunity to directly connect to our exact audience.

This year's kindergartners will get their first direct opportunity to join the Scouting movement. They will get a few minutes to hear my pitch and receive a flier to take home to their parents. We have spent a great deal of time and energy trying to make the call of action as powerful as possible.

Every flier will this spring will tell parents to come to the school on a certain night, contact someone directly, or visit www.BeAScout.org to find their local and most applicable unit.

I do wonder however, how long this form of delivery can stay relevant. We essentially rely on the sales pitch in the classroom to make it home to the parents on the shoulders of a 6 year old. Our message must be viable and viral.

One of the greatest recruiting tactics we have is for parents to talk to parents. Parents can transcend the impact with much greater impact than any attempt that I may make in the classroom. We, as an organization, have make the commitment to expand on that and provide the tools necessary to close the gaps and leave no child behind.

In the works are a lot of projects to gain exposure on sites like www.Facebook.com, www.Twitter.com, www.Blogspot.com, www. TwitterMoms.com and even www.EVite.com. Through these new channels, we will expand and see greater and greater strides towards what the next 100 years of Scouting will look like.