XKI Recruiting: Class Thread

[Enigmatic]

Welcome everyone. This is a great day for the region as well celebrate the opening of the University. Over the course of this class you will learn the ins and outs of recruiting as best as I can teach them to you. This is my first time teaching so I ask that you bear with me as I learn what works best. Speak up at any time if you have any questions. Lessons will be once a week, except for maybe the first two which might fall in the same week because today's will be a short lesson. I don't want to overwhelm you all at once and regrettably I haven't been feeling well these last few days.

The first lesson will terminology. You might be familiar with some of these terms, but it's best to cover all the bases.

IMM: Short for Immigration.

10KI or XKI: an abbreviation of 10000 Islands

tg: short for telegram, what you will besending and possibly receiving in NationStates as you recruit

pm: short for private message sent over the forum. A few of your recruits might contact you over the forum once they have registered.

XKI Buddy Program: established to help new recruits learn the the forum and the game. I encourage everyone to take part in helping your new recruits.

The Feeders: The Pacific, The North Pacific, the South Pacific, the East Pacific, the West Pacific, and the Rejected Realms. The first five are where new nations are founded and where you will do the majority of your recruiting. The Rejected Realms is where nations go when they are ejected from a region.

Team Battle: A competition between two teams carried out over the course of the month. It carries certain rewards beyond those of regular recruting

Tag Team Match: Two or more individuals "competing to see who can gather the most recruits over the course of the match while conversing and having fun. The forum Chat Room or some sort of instant messeger is a must.

Immigration Stick: where your IMM achievements will be recorded.

Immigration Records: the subboard in the Department of Immigration that contains you thread.

Your thread: This is where you will record all of the IMM work you will do and also where your Immigration Stick and list of recruits resides. You may choose not to post your work, but you will receive no credit for your work if you choose not to post.


I think that'll be it for today. I mahy have forgotten something but we'll cover that next time. No homework on the first day. And don't forget to ask any questions if you have them. Take care and have a good day.

[Govindia (Denivogar)]

I have a few questions:

1. Isn't Lazarus one of the feeders as well?

2. is it too late to sign up for this class (I already posted in the sign-up section)

[Enigmatic]

Yeah, I suppose you could count Lazarus as a feeder, but I left it off the list for the simple reason that it's not exactly prime recruiting ground.

No not too late. Real universities have a drop/add periond; why shouldn't we?

[Govindia (Denivogar)]

Fair enough

[Enigmatic]

Alright, now that you know the terms and where you will be doing you recruiting it's time to go over the steps you will need to take when preparing to recruit. You can take care of these in any order.

You need to make sure to change your forum name to reflect that you are recruiting. This can be anything from adding an "R" before or after your name (The Enigmatic Nation *R*), adding the word "recruiting after your name (Enigmatic Recruiting)), or having a whole sentence (Enigmatic is out recruiting) It really doesn't matter as long as we know that you're recruiting. This is done in an effort to prevent one nation from getting multiple recruitment telegrams.

You need to have a way to record the names of all the nation you have sent telegrams to. You can use Microsoft Word or some other word processor and then copy and paste into your thread or you can record them in your thread as you go along.

Perhaps the most important you need to make sure your recruitment telegram is in order. The easiest thing to do is of course use one of our pre-written recruitment telegrams which can be found here or you could write your own (We'll have more on that in a later lesson). In either case I find it best to keep the letter in a document saved to your computer. This way it is always at the ready and, if your using one of the letters provided, you don't have to remember to get rid of those pesky x's and put your own name in every time.

You of course need to log into NationStates. You should all be familar with how to navigate so I won't go over that unless you need me to. There is no reason to leave the region to recruit. I find it best to recruit with a nation that is in the region. Now you can start sending out telegrams provided you've done what I've listed above of course.

One more thing. Check your telegrams often. A few will sometimes send you telegrams in response to your first one either to ask questions, deny your offer politely , to deny your offer in a manner all together impolite, or to inform you that they will be joining the region. Answer all telegrams, with the possible exception of the rude ones. I'll leave that up to you. Even if they wish not to join send them another little message telling them you understand. wish them luck, and let them know that should they want it there is a place for them here.

I think that covers everything. So let me take a minute and talk about homework for this class. I have asked Sinn to create threads for those of you that don't yet have one. When those are up I will begin handing out your homework assignments. Homework will take the form of recruiting. Go figure. Homework will make up a large portion of your final grade. Don't worry I won't be grading on the number of recruits you get. Think of the homework as one question quizzes. If you complete it you get an A. If you don't complete what I have assigned, well then you fail that assignment.

That's all for now. Have a good day, class.

[People Saying Ni]

Where our threads Professor?

[Enigmatic]

Your threads are/will be in the Immigration Department under the sub-board "Immigration Records"

Here's the link: Department of Immigration :: Immigration Records

Also, when recording names you don't have record the whole thing (The Republic of the Enigmatic Nation) just the important bit (The Enigmatic Nation)

[Bletheropolis: the cat sleeps]

Prof Enig? Do we setup our own recruitment letters to TG to new nations?
and how do we locate new nations?

[Enigmatic]

New nations can be located on the "regional happenings" section of the five Pacifics. Regional happenings is located just below the UN Report. New nations will have "was founded" after their name (1 minute ago: The Republic of The Enigmatic Nation was founded)

It's up to you whether you want to write your own, use one of the ones provided, or take one of the provided ones and personalize it. Recruitment letters will be covered in the next lecture, so we'll work on letters then.

[Enigmatic]

Students, I have yet to see anything posted in the homework thread. Remember homework is a large portion of your grade. Failing an assignment can really hurt you. And if you don't do the assignment you fail. All you have to do to pass is do the work I've assigned. Now get to work.

[Bletheropolis: the cat sleeps]

yo, Prof...

I tried 'cruitin one balmy/barmy night, but the recruit did'nt bite. so if I DID'nt manage to recruit, but still tried, should I still post in my thread?

[Enigmatic]

Yes, indeed. Number of recruits has nothing to do with your grade, I'm only looking to see that you did the work.

[Sinn Féin's Ireland]

I might interject here. For every single message you send out, please do log it in your record page. The reason being i count every single nation entry from the entire department each month, and your entries will effect the final success percentages. It also helps give a more accurate reflection of who is recruiting, and how well. This way over time we can detect IMM paradigms and adjust accordingly.

For example, traditionally the months of July and August have the fewest people recruiting, and also the fewest new nations signing on to the NS game. As a result we know to try extra hard in these 2 months to maintain population levels. Hence last month's roaring success of 131 new nations in 31 days.

That's all. Thank you Professor Enigmatic. Carry on.

Sinn -Minister of Immigration.

[Enigmatic]

Thank you, Sinn, for highlighting why records must kept. I apologize for not highlighting the why of records. As I have said in the homework thread you must record your work in both the homework thread and your thread in the Immigration records subboard. The only difference between the two being that if one of my assignments is completed over the course of several recruiting sessions your work should be posted as one single post in the homework thread.

Example: Assignment--50 telegrams over the course of 5 days. I send out 10 telegrams each day. I post the names of the ten nations each day in my record thread, but wait until I have sent out 50 telegrams before recording the nations names in the homework thread.

I'll have the next lecture up tonight. For those of you have yet to complete your assignment you have until then to get it done. For those who don't get it done, there is no grace period and you will not be allowed to make up the assignment. I have given you more than enough time to do the work.

[MinnaCaroline]

If I may:

Also just because a recruit doesn't come to the Islands the minute you recruit them doesn't mean they don't show up the next day or a couple days later. I've had guys/gals come over days after I've recruited them and I knew because I kept the record. Thanks!!

MC

[Enigmatic]

Hey! Just who's class is this, huh? Mine! That's who's.






Nah, I'm just joshing. Thanks guest lecturers for stopping by; you both have made excellent contributions. Feel free to pop in anytime.

[Enigmatic]

We'll now be talking about recruitment letters.

I can't really say there is any one perfect recruitment letter. Different people respond to different things. Personally, I think the letter needs to give as much information as possible without being overly long. You want to make your case clearly and concisely without overwhelming your prospective recruit. You need to cover what we have to offer and what makes this region great. TITO, role-playing, Taco Island, Assembly of Nations, the great people, etc, etc. I don't think I can really teach this. Personally I started using the first sample on the list and have updated with new information as I've gone along and add a personal touch when I send it out. Although, I've tried writing some from scratch as well.

What I can do is go over our selling points a little

TITO: Of course we want to talk about TITO. We're known for it in the NS world. TITO missions have alerted other people to our existence and has brought them here to us. Our very own MinnaCaroline for example.

Role Playing: We have a very active role playing section. Some people are really into role play so they'll want to know about this. Perhaps you want to update your recruitment letter with the latest popular threads on the Role Playing Board?

Taco Island: Just about everybody loves Taco Island. There's a reason it's the most posted in board. Let the people know what a great time we have there.

The University: Not everyone has a university. Tell your potential recruits about the classes we have here. And how wonderful the professors are.

Assembly of Nations: The AoN gives a voice even to non-citizens. It's way to get involved in the region early on. Surely that's worth mentioning.

Duration: We've been around for coming up on five years. That's not something every region out there can say. We're stable. They won't be joining a region a region that could go under in a week.

Regional Government: Going along with that stability thing we have a strong government. There won't be any coups around here. We know how to get things done. And we give people a say through our duly elected senators and delegate.

The Lottery: Who doesn't like to play the lottery?

Regional Reserve: Business, stocks, hockey

XKI Magazine: Interesting articles. The new Press Corps. Forum Wide Awards.

You also might want to talk about the great people who call XKI home. The great conversations that go on in chat or in general discussion.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, but I know there's more. 10KI offers so much it's hard to keep it all straight sometimes!

Recruitment letters should mentions most if not all of what's been listed. At least that's the way I feel about it.

The only other thing I can think to sat is--Personalize your recruitment letter for the nation you're trying to recruit. Put your prospects name at the top (Greetings, Nation X. Hello, Nation X, Salutations, Nation X, whatever). If you like something you see about their nation comment on it. "What a great flag" "You have such an interesting name for your country, where's it come from?" "I can tell from your name you're a fan of ________________. Me too." "What an great motto." I could go on. Sometimes that extra minute or two you take to engage your prospective recruit goes a long way.

That's it for now. Please ask any questions you might have. I'm fairly certain I've left something out.

[Enigmatic]

Your homework has been assigned.

[Bletheropolis: the cat sleeps]

whee! I've attempted homework assignment no.1!
now to see how it all goes!

see my thread for details

[Bletheropolis: the cat sleeps]

related to the latest lecture:

has anyone ever tried you know... the slow approach? does it ever work?

like.. a shorter telegram.. which will eventually lead to outright plugging for XKI?

[Enigmatic]

I'm not sure, but now is an excellent time to find out. Since I have assigned homework to create your own recruitment letter you can create a telegram as you describe and see how it works. If you write up a short paper comparing and contrasting your short telegram to one of the longer samples I'll count is as extra credit. which can make up for failing the first assignment. If you other guys are interested in doing extra credit contact me via pm and we'll talk about what you can do.

[Bletheropolis: the cat sleeps]

(soft-sell recruitment: a welcome letter to the new nation offering advice should it be needed and a region <XKI> to head for if MORE help is needed)

Hello <new nation name>,

Welcome to Nation States! I hope you'll enjoy the game and make loads of friends here.
Meantime, if you ever need advice or help, or you just want to talk, do send me a TG (telegram).
Alternatively, you could pop over to the 10000 Islands region, where the friendly guys and gals who're chillin' there will be more than glad to help you out or answer your questions. After all, they were the ones who showed me the ropes too! I'm just paying the favour forward.

Hope you have loads of fun here!

Cheers
-Bletheropolis

----------------------

Initial observations:
I sent Template letter no.3 to three nations, the night before, and so far, haven't gotten any response yet.
I sent out my Welcome letter to three other nations, and got an interested nibble. waiting to see what developments ensue.

The nibbler asked what he/she should do after creating the new nation, so I replied with what * I * did as a new nation.
a) check out my nation's profile, b) address my "Issues", c) look around the regions <this, of course has a soft-sell plug for XKI>

[Enigmatic]

Interesting first observation. You will of course need to send out a lot more to get a good sampling.

This brings up another point which I may or may not have made. Recruiting takes a lot of effort. Sending out a handful of telegrams won't do it. If that's all you can manage then I don't want to discourage you from your efforts, but you need to be aware that you won't see much success. One of the reasons I've gotten the number of recruits I have is that I am able to spend a good bit of time doing IMM work. In fact I've just settled in to what will most likely be a two hour session. Every little bit helps but real success comes when you go at full bore.

[Petalumadom]

I would like to add my two cents here...

Recruiting can and is fun... But if IS very boring... The best idea is to get some time sit down for an hour with your favorite music cranked up and paste send back back... past send back back... paste send back back... For about an hour and you will probably end up sending a little more than 100 messages in an hour... and of those hundred messages you will, if your lucky get up to five nations on a good day but usually no more than three... Recruiting takes a LOT of time... thousands of messages must be sent to get only twenty nations to join...

Some days you may send out 100+ letters maybe even 200+ and not get a single recruit... it does happen... and on other days you may start recruiting and nations just won't stop pouring in... I have and many experienced recruiters have had days where we may get 10-20 nations in a single DAY!!! Those are fun days... too bad there aren't too many of them... I have personally only had (i believe) two 12+ recruit days in my life but they are fun... Recruiting is boring, and yet fun... But most of all... very rewarding... You are bringing new friends to your region... people who some day may recruit more cool people... think of the people who have been recruited... Recruiters bring people together and very many of us have been recruited... Without recruiters a region can't survive... thats why they are so vital to any region... and whether you send one recruitment letter or bring in dozens (or in enigmatics case... hundreds) you are doing a great service to your region which in turn benifits you...

Let's get a 'crutin!!!

I wish you all the best of luck!!! Great class Enig!

[Enigmatic]

Excellent mini lecture, Petal. Thanks for stopping in. I like having guest lecturers, experienced recruiters to add their own testimony to the mix. I think next semester I'll make guest lecturers a official part of the class. Yep, that's just what I'll do. Thanks again, Petal. Expect to hear from me around the next time around. =)

[Mutanatia]

This class is hereby declared "retired" because the teacher isn't active.