I'm from Venezuela and here we've been struggling for a few years to find new competitors, last year in the ICPC Latin American Regional Venezuela sent only two teams and this year only one :c

My friends (lmn0x4F, jesuswr, JoTaR, totito) and I are planning on give a series of lessons recruit new competitors from our universities and teach them at least the basics. So there are two main questions we'd like to hear anyone's thoughts on

• What is the best way to get people interested?

  We'd like to hear how did you learn about competitive programming and what kept you around, what things you think newcomers would find more appealing or interesting.

• What topics do you think should be covered first?

  In your opinion what would be the ideal way to teach someone who knows nothing about competitive programming

We're open to any suggestions and we would really appreciate your help to bring back to life the culture of competitive programming in our country ;-)