1. Have a fantastic Fresher's Fair
This is the key day to get people enthused about your group early in the year.
- Promote your stall - put up posters all over the campus and make a banner
- Get a great spot for your stall - right in front of main door or near a club which is giving out free beer, lollies, pens, etc
- Include information about your own group's activities and information on Amnesty in general
- Be on your stall early and sort out a stall rota
- Be enthusiastic... and then be enthusiastic some more (all day!)
2. Plan your first meetings thoroughly
Hopefully lots of people will be coming along, so it's a good idea to have action-packed meetings planned.
- Don't assume everybody knows about Amnesty - make sure you give a short introduction, just to make sure everyone is on the same wavelength
- Focus on the positives - what people can do to improve human rights, rather than on the nitty-gritty hard-hitting stuff
- Make sure your first meetings are fun and social - include quizzes, screenings of something like the Secret Policeman's Ball and a pub-stop afterwards
- Provide lots of information and be prepared to answer questions
3. Involve members in planning meetings and campaigns
- Themed meetings work really well - they enable members to get involved in a specific part of Amnesty's work
- Decide which campaigns to focus on as a group and get as many members as possible involved
- Give presentations on different campaigns followed up with letter writing and actions
4. Be organised
- Have a clear structure for your meetings - try starting with letter writing so people can join in easily if they are late
- Feed back any updates on actions and good news to your group
- Email your members each week including links to actions
- Promote your group's work - write articles on the student website, send out press releases, get on your student radio station. Find out more in our student media centre
5. Have fun and be creative
- Make banners - this is a great way of involving people
- Take part in creative campaign actions such as the Greeting Cards Campaign
- Organise actions that are fun for group members and other students to get involved in
6. General things to remember
- Make sure your group is visible around the campus with posters, stalls and events
- Email your group with actions and updates each week
- Keep a friendly atmosphere by holding regular socials throughout the year
- Check the events calendar regularly so you can keep your members up to date about conferences, actions, and events at the Human Rights Action Centre