What Scott Thomson and the Yale Team have done to Recruit for BWC

Here is the brief review of what we have done so far to plan, prepare and recruit for BWC.

Spring '05 we started talking about the new conference with our student leadership team. Over the course of couple weeks we tried to address some of the challenges this new format presents. We affirmed with them that we would be participating, and not going off to do our own thing.

September '05 we touched base again with the student leadership team and got a feel for who might be a our "champion" or early adapter to get behind in advertising and recruiting.

Thursday September 29th we did our first announcement at our weekly meeting. I did a rather comprehensive announcement outlining: the reasons for the shift, why it is good for us as a campus, why it's good for you individually, and then specific details surrounding the conference. I highlighted the speakers, the price (giving them some good perspective), the day of outreach, and that we would coach anyone on raising support that is interested or has need. I also established myself as the staff contact person to answer any questions

Friday September 30th we created a short travel reference sheet to put in the BWC brochures. It gave the students a few suggestions in terms of their travel arrangements (where and when to arrive).

Thursday October 6th we had a very brief reminder of the conference from out meeting emcee, directing people to talk with me.

Friday October 7th I created a brief timeline for raising support, and some helpful hints to get them started. We are also exploring as a team other avenues for support besides the letter strategy. This is particularly necessary for our international students. I'm also coaching each student individually through the MPD process. We are trying to make this as easy as possible for them.

Thursday October 13th we had another comprhensive announcement at our weekly meeting. This one was done by one of the students on our leadership team, our early adapter. It was also big that he had registered that morning, thus adding to the weight of his words. With his announcement we distributed the BWC brochures. We also set up some incentive for each week. One of our interns has to eat a donut at our meeting for each student registered.

Thursday October 20th we had a brief reminder announcement with our intern eating the donuts. We also had all the students already registered stand up for others to see.

This coming thursday we are hoping to have a few of those registered say a few words about why they decided to go.


This is where we are right now. I'm attaching also my sample MPD letter, and the timeline of MPD events. The dates on the timeline are flexible and are different depending upon when people register. It is meant to get them moving quickly, and in manageble chunks of work.

Scott Thomson
(Scott is starting his second year on staff at Yale. He is married to Jen and they have each been on staff for about four years.)