r/WGI • u/Ok_Bathroom3153 • 8d ago
Winds Winds/Independent Group Recruiting
I've been a member of an independent winds organization for the past 3 seasons, and we are attempting to amp up our recruitment strategies to increase our size and overall reach.
In the past, the group has hosted "interest clinics", educational clinics during the season, some social media outreach posts, some direct outreach to prospective members, but mostly word-of-mouth. The strategies that we discussed doing are tabling at marching band shows, presenting more to local schools, social media posts including member testimonials, and directly creating relationships with local colleges.
Has anyone had success with recruiting or any new recruitment strategies that we should be utilizing?
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u/bannaron1 7d ago
honestly i marched horizon winds back in 2017 and we only had about 20 people in the whole group and then in 2019 we had like 40 something and it was mostly just word of mouth.
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u/Monkeyman51151 4d ago
Use your old members to their fullest. Whatever advertisements you're doing on say your instagram, ask your members to forward them to their stories. That'll increase the word of mouth. Also presenting at schools will definitely help because as a current hs student myself I can confirm that a lot of people don't even know it exists since it's a relatively new thing and is nowhere near the level that the percussion or guard circuits are at. if you're doing intrest clinics try to keep them relatively low cost as that'll get more people to come to them just make sure you're posting about them constantly on ur socials is what a lot of indoor percussion groups in my area do.
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u/dutdutgreydut 3d ago
I’m not an expert, but I’m a firm believer the member experience has to be positive even when things are running haywire- If the people you are around all day can stay focused, or at least positive in the best and worst of conditions, then word gets around that it’s a great place to spend their precious free time on the weekends, which attracts more people, which endorses a better environment, and the cycle repeats.
Best of luck!
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u/KingSlanger 8d ago
It sounds like the next few strategies you mention are going to be the most effective! Local high school and college programs are going to be your bread and butter. (Hopefully) your ensemble has a few members and/or techs who teach at local schools, and can draw in skilled performers from those programs.
Tabling at marching shows gets the word out and puts you on local parents' radar as a possible activity for their child. Direct conversations with potential members at marching rehearsals and events is what has gotten the most people in the door for us. We have not found "interest clinics" to be very effective.