Recruiting members is extremely important when establishing your society. As you are already aware, you will need at least 10 members registered through our website within the first 6 weeks to confirm your status as a Goldsmiths Students' Union society.
Building a membership base is critical.
These students will be engaged and interested in your activity, so it's crucial to recruit them as soon as possible so they can hear about all your wonderful activities. We want every society to succeed, so here are a few tips on how to gain as many members as possible.
There is no minimum membership requirement for communities.
Give people incentives to join!
You'll find a lot of people will support your activity and ideas but may not join if there isn't an incentive. You must make sure that there are perks to your membership if students are paying to join your group. You are less obliged to do so if there is no fee, but it will help you get those vital initial 10 members! Here are some ways you can do that:
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Events exclusive to memberships
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Discounted tickets to members
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They get an item (e.g. a sticker, pin or patch) as a member
The best way to get these deals is through sponsorship - you'll be able to read about this later.
Get thinking about what types of events and tickets your members would be interested in!
Only members can vote and stand in society elections
From 2017, we began running our society elections online through the main website. This has many benefits for your society (which you can read in the Elections section!) but only full members of the society may stand or vote. We really do not want this to be misunderstood by people who are active but not *actual* members, as this can cause unnecessary stress when they want to stand or vote.
Make sure people know this if they are on the fence about joining: "become a member and you can have a say in how the society will be run next year!".
What to do when somebody wants to join
As soon as somebody has said they would like to join your society, you must know how to direct them to the website.
At the Welcome Fair: Direct the person to the volunteers with iPads who will show them how to sign up.
At a meeting or event: Always have a laptop or iPad set up ready to show people how to join the society.
Via email/Facebook: Direct them to your society or community page.
All active participants of your society are strongly encouraged to join so they are covered by our insurance.