Word-of-mouth may suffice to recruit enough members for a single DI team. However, many more children will have the opportunity to benefit from participation in DI if you can get the word out to other parents who might be interested.
In order to do this, you’ll want to schedule a DI Information Night. Here’s how to do it:
- Choose a date. Allow 2-3 weeks in which to publicize your event. Once you have some dates in mind, please let us know! NH-DI can often arrange to have experienced volunteers attend your DI Night to talk to parents about the program, and organize some fun activities for the kids.
- Publicize in multiple places. Let lots of people know, and you’ll increase your turnout. Some suggestions include your website and weekly newsletter, morning announcements, flyers home, a blurb in the community newspaper, or publicity posters.
- Prepare for the event. Create a sign-up sheet to get kids’ names and contact information as well as a registration form available for parents and kids to fill out and return; give a deadline of a week or two. Be sure to ask parents to help by being Team Managers, Appraisers, gofers, etc. We have sample forms that you can customize in the NH-DI Library.
- Present your event! To help you out, NH-DI has a ready-to-run DI Information Night presentation.** This includes a handy set of slides to use, and we also have easy-to-prepare activities for the kids and parents. You’ll find everything in the NH-DI Library.
- Follow Up. Contact any interested parents and kids to remind them about the registration form and answer questions that might have come up.
** For our less-experienced or brand-new coordinators, NH-DI also has a team of volunteers who can help you set up and run an Information Night. Contact questions@nh-di.org for more information!