We want you for the Senior Prom Committee!!

Anyone can try and do something by him or herself. But where's the fun in that?

To really have an awesome time, you have to choose to work with awesome people. I chose to open Committee to everyone and specifically invited people for specific reasons. I provided those reasons up front and people seemed to respond well. Word of mouth got going and within a week people were finding me to sign up.

According to About.com's "Recruiting Volunteers - Three Approaches" by Joanne Fritz, there are three methods (duh) for recruiting volunteers. This include the Warm Body approach, targeted and concentric circles recruitment. The warm body approach involves canvasing a large audience and hoping that people choose to be involved. It includes giving out brochures, putting up posters, speaking to groups and using media notices (such as local bulletins or, in the high school case, Facebook) as well as the all-powerful Word Of Mouth. I cite Word of Mouth with such importance because without good street cred, your recruitment won't ever really take off.

The Targeted Method consists of first addressing three questions:

• What do we need?
• Who could provide this?
• How can we communicate with them?
• What would motivate them?

And second, specifically seeking out to fulfill those specific roles. I think there are many benefits to this method. For example, you are sure to cover all of your needs and (hopefully) finding a volunteer staff tailored to your exact needs and objects. However, there are drawbacks as well. In my opinion, if you don't "hold open cast call" for at least some of your volunteers, you will lose access to a segment of the population for which you are planning. With an event like Prom especially, I think you should try and draw as many ideas as possible from as many places and sources as possible. The greater the diversity of the Committee, the greater the potential for a more unique and (even more) memorable prom. I think that is really important.

The Concentric Circles Recruitment method seems to be a form of networking to me. You identify two or more organizations or groups that have a history of working with you and you contact them and they call people as so on. I think this is a good idea because it keeps experience in the volunteer loop but it also limits that open cast call.

So - my two cents: You need a combination of all of these approaches to build an experienced but diverse enough Prom Committee. The people who know what works and what doesn't need to stick around but you also need the new blood and new ideas that come with fresh volunteers. "Warm Body Recruitment" (as tragic as it sounds... shudder... it so needs a new name!) is the all important open cast call. NO ONE should be excluded from an opportunity to serve the Class like this. Every person's input and thoughts are valuable. To exclude someone is to deprive the Class of its full potential. Targeted Recruitment allows you to make sure that the needs of your committee are met. It would suck to get going only to realize that none of your Committee Members have experience with Graphics and then figure out you need someone to design the tickets and invitations. Finally, the Concentric Circles method keeps the old blood in the mix - kind of like Obama (new blood) paired up with Joe Biden.

When I was recruiting Prom Committee Members, I asked people specifically, used Facebook to spread the word and drew from Word of Mouth. One time, my class advisor had given me this mountain of magazines just packed full of everything commercial for decorating Prom. One of my friends touched them at the start of a class period and I said, "Ha! You touched them! Now you've got to join the Decorating Committee!" and it was awesome. We got to be funny and have a good time but still be productive. It raised 'the buzz' in that class too which promoted the word-of-mouth street-cred stuff.

Bottom line: while recruiting for Prom Committee, remember:

• Your class will remember this night for a long time. Think about that. A LONG TIME
• Every idea has value - don't cut anybody and try to keep an open mind
• Cover all your bases - really think about what and who you might need down the road
• HAVE FUN!!!!!!! It's Prom!!! It's party planning!!! Don't forget to make your friends back you up
  

the prom chair :)

How to Recruit Volunteers (About.com)