10 Tips for Recruiting Your ACIS Group

You’ve picked your ACIS tour itinerary and are ready to start building a group. So what happens now?

For starters, you will want to host a trip meeting where interested students and parents can get more information on the adventure ahead. Here are 10 recruitment tips that will prepare you for the meeting and give you the best chances of registering more student travelers.

Pre-Meeting

1. Invite students to RSVP

Treat the meeting as you would a special event by encouraging everyone to RSVP with their name and email. This will make it easier to do outreach before and after the meeting. We offer sample templates on our Group Leader Academy page, but past group leaders have also used Google forms to track responses. 

2. Leverage your ACIS Program Consultant to prepare

Your Program Consultant is there to make sure you have everything you need to plan the trip of a lifetime. You’ll be provided with a custom Powerpoint presentation and flyers that sell your specific trip. Chat with your consultant prior to the meeting to get their best suggestions for meeting preparation, presentation delivery, and attendance follow up.

3. Start a Social Channel

Meet students where they are and create a social channel (we recommend Instagram) that you can use to post trip updates and general travel inspiration. Sometimes, it’s that shot of the Eiffel tower at night that turns an interested student into a registered traveler!

At the Meeting

4. Recruit a past traveler to speak 

For repeat ACIS groups, there is no better voice to have at the meeting than a student who previously traveled. These trips are life-changing and hearing from peers always helps students feel more assured in their consideration. 

5. Deliver with confidence

Share your enthusiasm for the trip – and don’t be apologetic on price. We offer the most value for educational travel experiences and the program fee reflects the level of care and service that will go into your trip. Speaking with conviction on the ACIS value will be more effective, as ACIS Group Leader Erin can tell you!

6. Use the Tell Me More Feature

Every TripSite features a link for interested students to request additional information. Once they click through, they are labeled as interested participants.

You can then easily email them right from My Account to answer questions and encourage them to sign up for the trip!

Post Meeting

The most common mistake first time Group Leaders make is thinking that hosting the meeting is the last step. The most succesful group leaders…

7. Follow up with everyone!

Check in with every meeting attendee and anyone who RSVPd but did not make it. The latter may still be interested and looking for information but couldn’t make it due to basketball practice, the school play, etc.

Be sure to explore some of the existing templates we have for email communications on the Group Leader Academy – it will make the lift lighter!

8. Share Trip Planning Milestones

Use the RSVP list you created to your advantage and send out big trip milestones, such as the first participant registering and countdowns to the trip itself. This is also a great way to use deadlines to keep students engaged.

9. Keep Your Classroom Stocked with Trip PDFs

Set aside space for a stack of your custom trip flyers. Students can grab them on their way in and out of class and share them with their friends.

10. Remind Students and Parents about Payment Plans

It’s good for parents to be reminded that the program fee is not due all at once. ACIS offers monthly auto-payment plans that break up the expenses, typically 12-24 months before the departure date.

Need more tips for planning? Download our How to Plan an Educational Tour Brochure and check out additional resources on our Group Leader Academy.