7 Tabling Tips for Recruiting Students to Your Campus Group

It’s that time of year again. Summer is winding down, and students are heading back to college. Class syllabi are being handed out, football tickets are being purchased, and your conservative campus group is looking to recruit students for this school year. Since it is a Presidential Election year, more students are likely to be interested in politics compared to usual. One tried and true way of recruiting students will be tabling. Tabling means setting up a table in a high traffic area and getting students information about your cause. Some of you may love it, and some of you might hate it, but either way it is an easy way to get your group exposure and to reach those who may be interested in your group. To help you out, here are 7 Tabling Tips for Recruiting Students to Your Campus Group:

1. Have a Message

Don’t overwhelm students with several different topics. Have UP TO three points you want them to understand and stick to those. If students ask for more information, give it to them, but if not, just stick to your original three.

 

 

 

 

2. Make Sure Your Table Representatives are Prepared

To be successful when tabling, your representatives need to know what they’re doing and why. Go over the message with them; any particular activities and prizes you may have, and who they can talk to if they have an issue while tabling.

 

 

 

 

 

 3. Hand Out Unique Information

Students will be bombarded with flyers and papers throughout the school year. If that’s what you’re handing out make sure they STAND OUT! If you have creative students in your group, use them to make a graphic or to figure out other mediums to use to hand out information.

 

 

 

 

 4. Have Activities

People in general are more likely to see what your message is if there is something to draw them in. Whether it is a spinning wheel with prizes, trivia, a mascot, or a game, figure out an interactive activity that will help to naturally create a conversation.

 

 

 

 

 5. Hand Out Free Stuff

Okay, nothing is truly “free,” but allocating some of your group’s funds to put your logo onto different unique handouts will get more buzz around your table and will help to gain some name I.D. for your campus group. Sometimes your group’s larger organization will send you stuff to hand out to students, but if they don’t, here are some websites that might be able to help:

• Logosportswear.com
• 4imprint.com
• Vistaprint.com
• discountmugs.com

 

 

 

 

 

6. Stand in Front of Your Table

Body language counts when working to recruit people to your cause. Standing in front of your table will bring energy to your cause and can help bring more students to your table since there is no barrier between you and them. Make sure to be energetic but still adhere to personal space to make sure you aren’t turning students away from your group.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Have the Person Who is Tabling Be the Contact for Students Who Signed Up with Them

You got students to sign up. Great! Now what? Have the person who was speaking with them contact them to get them to come to your next event. Just like a campaign, the better the relationship someone has with a person fighting for a cause, the more likely they are going to give their support to it.

Start off this school year on a positive note. Use your current members’ energy to attract more students to your group. The more students you are able to recruit to your group now, the easier it’ll be to strengthen your cause in the future! If you aren’t sure where to go from there, be sure to request a training with American Majority at https://www.americanmajority.org/requesttraining/.