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First talk to everyone both inside and outside the club. Canvass
ideas on recruiting. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas so you
never know where you might find some gems. Start early by deciding
on a date at least three months in advance of the event.
Assess suitable venues for locality, size, cost, accessibility,
car-parking availability, seating, refreshment availability (tea,
coffee) if desired.
Involve all the members in the plans for the event. Ask every
member to bring at least one guest, preferably a singer, to the
recruitment evening. Many men join clubs because their wives or
girl-friends persuaded them , so invite ladies too.
Appoint a co-ordinator and a project team who will delegate tasks
such as booking the venue, producing guest badges and a guest name
register, organising the riser transport, and the provision of refreshments.
He will liaise with P.R.O. on the preparation of advance publicity
materials and guest welcome letters.
The Music Librarian should ensure that sufficient copies of music
to be used on the night will be available.
The project team will keep the PRO fully informed. His role will
be to plan and prepare press releases, posters, handbills and street
maps for the guest night and club rehearsal venues.
An information news sheet on the event can be useful in keeping
club members in the picture. Ex-members, who may consider rejoining
may also benefit from this.
Community centres, branch and central libraries, church notice
boards, youth clubs, scouting associations, college student notice
boards, newsagents, local newspapers and other business and leisure
activity locations are useful in this respect. A club window display
in a local building society can be productive.
Frequently remind members during club-night notices that the date
of the event is approaching.
 One
Month To Go: this is the time when you need to ensure that momentum
for event is building up. Keep pressure on members to name their
guests and establish the need for transport to the venue. Put friendly
pressure on ex-members by telephone or by personal visits.
Now is the time to draft a tentative programme for the evening.
Ask the project team and club officers for comments to be returned
by the following week. Prepare masters of teach tapes for songs
to be used on the night. Lastly, draw up the final programme for
distribution to members and guests on the night.
If you make a list of guests and print name badges you will be
able to make your guests feel more welcome when you refer to them
by name. Teach tape copies for about half of your guests should
be available.
 Hold
a final co-ordination team meeting. Everybody involved in the programme
must know what they have to do, when and for how long. During the
last fifteen minutes of the meeting review contingency plans to
cover possible problems such as sickness, transport breakdown or
the refreshments not arriving.
At the Club meeting this week, make sure every member knows the
time and place of the event (street maps will help) and stress that
you want them to mix with the guests and keep them interested.
Tell the members not to expect someone else to look after guests
-but to get in there and talk to them. EVERYONE must join in as
success depends on every member of the club.
It is a good idea to ask members who are not bringing guests to
get to the venue half an hour early to put up risers and to set
out such things as chairs, cups, glasses and the music stand. Those
bringing guests should try to arrive twenty minutes or so before
the start of the programme.
The 'Welcome Table' will have been set out displaying chorus photos,
club cards, club badges and programmes. Members at the table will
issue name badges and welcome letters to guests as they arrive and
encourage them to sign in with addresses and telephone numbers.
Of course, each guest will receive a copy of the programme for the
evening.
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Do this precisely on time and stick rigidly to the timetable. Intersperse
singing with chat and determine to keep the evening light-hearted.
After the 'Welcome Song' arrange for all the guests, including
the ladies, to be involved with some community singing to break
the ice.
Briefly explain barbershop harmony and its history and teach a
tag or a song. Tell them a little about the history of the music.
Wrap it all up in two hours including a comfort break but do include
informal singing, socialising and refreshments.
It is important not to let this part of the evening develop into
a standard 'parade of the quartets' type afterglow. Keep your guests
involved.
Before the guests leave, make sure they know your regular meeting
place and time by giving them a printed leaflet along with a map.
Make sure that they know they will always be welcome either as a
singer or a visitor. You might also tell them about the dates, times
and places of your next few sing-outs.
Give those who show special interest the teach tapes of a few Barberpole
Cat songs. Arrange to pick them up and bring them to next Club night
or two, or over a longer period, if they have no transport.
Explain the significance of 'Let's get Together Again' and show
them the glow of barbershop fellowship.
 The
next week have folders of all the songs in your current repertoire
available for the evening to issue when the new men arrive. Plan
the meeting to cater very much for them.
Over the next few weeks gently explain your Club's policy for joining,
subs, Chorus Audition system, uniform and sing-outs. Encourage them
to wear the informal name badges; (and members to wear club names
badges too); so that everybody gets to know the other by name. Keep
them singing this week - that's what we all join for!
Have a 'wash-up' meeting to discuss the way it all went. Learn
from any mistakes and put a date down in the club diary for the
next campaign.
Decide how you will run normal meeting nights to get the new men
involved in learning songs and benefiting from craft sessions.
Your newest recruits are now your best P.R. and recruiting agents
- so encourage them to bring their singing friends!
Writing everything down in the form of a programme helps to promote
an evening which is thought out, organised, marketed and planned.
A casual under-organised approach gives a poor impression.
It is important not to let anyone show off. Your guests will respond
by joining when they've sung barbershop rather than when they have
listened to you. Don't treat them as a captive audience.
On the night, you must state fully how they will commit themselves
when they join your club. This will help them to decide whether
they can join. Otherwise you may find that they drift away after
a few meetings.
Try to get commitment from your guests on the night if possible.
Tell them the teach tapes are in short supply but to take them if
they think they will come again next week. This is good psychology
and will give you a firmer idea of the number of potential recruits
as against the mildly interested.
After the event, don't forget your present members. If you do,
they may drift away. Give them all something to do so that they
feel involved.
Look after your new men even more, especially during the first
month. Help them find the music, make them feel welcome every week,
praise effort and invite them to join in informal singing. Telephone
them if they miss a couple of weeks. It could be your fault if you
lose them.
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Planning
the Event