Stephen, I like and use both of your strategies for engaging students. Bringing in successful graduates is powerful as you know because they are living what the students are going to school to do. As for competition we face competition in everything we do so I work with my students to help them to see how they can "brand" themselves to be more employable. I use a lot of games for review like Family Feud and Jeopardy and the students enjoy playing the games, learning occurs and you are right about attendance and class participation increasing. This is a win win for everyone. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.