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So we have a program, meets, coaches and speech pieces ready. What's missing?

Students.

It is clear even with the best planning and organizing a speech program cannot run without students. Finding students and creating interest can be difficult. It is hard if this is a new program but maybe harder still if the program has been in place and numbers are dwindling.

There are several steps which can be taken to attract students to forensic programs. Some of which are to talk to the school counselor who may be able to identify the students who may be interested, writing letters to these students, talking to classes, and call team meetings. Maybe you have tried these out and seen no results? Not enough results?

 You can start with the feeder programs with middle school programs and making opportunities where these younger kids can compete. This will allow for students to have more time to be interested in forensics. These younger students grow up to be your varsity speech team with five years of experience. That is an awesome concept. I know I worked with junior high students in speech. It was great because the students are often still at the age where they will make a fool of themselves trying something new and not feel bad about it. The students developed speaking skills and built their confidence just at the time they needed to do it. Plus these students were easy to get excited. They haven't had all these experiences yet so pizza parties and bus trips are still very fun.

Another way to change preconceived notions about speech is to show the many different aspects of forensics which student may not know about you may be able to draw several people into the program. By showing categories or potential speech pieces that are not traditional, you may tap into a group of students who had not thought they would enjoy speech.

But one of the best ways to connect with students is to present this information in different mediums. The students are on the social media, if you can be there as well you will get a great response. Or creating a social collaboration private group on ActivityVine. This creates a closed network others can't access and allows for discussion, calendars, photo sharing and file sharing. All of these features can be used in speech really easily. Calendars are a great way to set up practices (even sending invites to particular students and having them RSVP) and to put the meet schedule online. Photo sharing is great for posting pictures of students receiving awards and allowing them to download the pictures they want to from the season. The file sharing would be great to be able to put up forms they need to fill out or different lists of pieces that students could easily access.

Getting the word out in different forms will cultivate the best responses.