Fall Recruitment

[sigmakborn]

Hey, I'm the new Vice President of Recruitment for my schools Panhellenic Council and I'm busy planning fall recruitment but I was wondering if any one had any good ideas for events we can do to socialize. They can't be huge because we only have 3 sororities. Every year we have an ice cream social but I want to be able to do something fun and exciting to get the PNM's pumped about going greek! Any ideas?

Thanks!

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by sigmakborn

Hey, I'm the new Vice President of Recruitment for my schools Panhellenic Council and I'm busy planning fall recruitment but I was wondering if any one had any good ideas for events we can do to socialize. They can't be huge because we only have 3 sororities. Every year we have an ice cream social but I want to be able to do something fun and exciting to get the PNM's pumped about going greek! Any ideas?

Thanks!

A little off track here, but what did people do before the internet (rhetorical question)? What happened to brainstorming? Have you talked to your committee?

Recruitment ideas may not work on every campus. Sure, people can spoon feed ideas, but wouldn't the members on your campus be a better resource? Talk to the alumnae, find out what was successful for them "back in the day". You might find something cool to resurrect and put a modern twist on it.

Just because you hold the title, doesn't mean you do it all yourself.

[GeorgiaGPhiB]

Are you ready for some spoon fed ideas?

A) It is all about orientation. Be at EVERY new student orientation and have each sorority set up a table (along with every frat and school organization that would like to sell themselves to the new students as well) with posters and examples of how great greek life is and have sisters in their jerseys or letters. Give the sisters flyers to hand out when they talk to the new girls, that have all the details on how to register for recruitment on it.

B) The week before Recruitment have events going on EVERY DAY that week that brings out the greek community on campus. Three sororities means your working with a small community and not going greek is not the end all, be all of your school. These events are a good way to let all the girls on the fence about going through have a chance to meet sisters in a less formal and scary environment. Examples = Monday - Meet and Greet, Tuesday - Movie Night, Wednesday - Greek Cookout, etc. Also during the first weeks of school, they will not have much to do other than figure out campus and go to campus events, so why be a greek one?

All of this has worked with three sororities, I'm proof ... because I'm now greek.

I hope you have a large mouth!

[FSUZeta]

if you don't already do this-see if you can get on the agenda during each orientation to talk about greek life. have the greek life advisor speak first and give a general overview, then you and your ifc counterpart could each explain how recruitment works at your school.do go into great detail because you might make their eyes glaze over, then have greeks positioned in the foyer behind an ifc table and a panhellenic table, and any other council that would like to participate, with printed literature that is a recruitment booklet. in the booklet, it should tell a little about the different greek councils, the member organizations of the councils, some general information about them, dates and times of recruitment and how to enroll.

you may need to emphasize that there should be no self promoting of their chapters-that everyone is representing panhellenic, ifc or multi. councils and should not reveal their affiliation.

you could organize a greek tailgate before a fall sport, host coffee and donuts/bagels for prospective pnms or hand out chilled water bottles with "go greek'and the dates of recruitment labels on them during freshman move in and help them carry boxes to their rooms.

do your recruitments have a theme each year? if not, pick one, print t-shirts and have each sorority member wear them on a chosen day to promote recruitment.

[TinyDancer98]

When is your school's recruitment? I'm assuming you have deferred or at least a slightly delayed recruitment, if you have time to have Panhellenic events prior to recruitment (please correct me if I'm wrong). How you run events will be dependent upon what your contact rules are for PNMs/freshmen prior to recruitment, who can reveal their affiliation, etc. Don't forget to utilize the rest of your council, as well as recruitment counselors and chapter recruitment chairs, in planning and executing these events.

My suggestion would be to utilize events that are already in place to open Greek life to independents and freshmen. For example, Homecoming and Greek Week- have a Greek picnic/barbeque where PNMs can socialize with sorority women in a casual setting. Like other posters have said, let each chapter set up a table with scrapbooks, mementos, and other things so women can learn about the chapters, while in a Panhellenic setting. Have your council man a table too, with information about formal recruitment, sorority life and other questions that may be more appropriate to ask Panhellenic officers than the individual chapters. It will be a good setting to raise overall Greek spirit as well as do some recruiting.

There are lots of other events you can hold- like progressive dinners (using a college building so girls from each chapter can mix in each room), mocktails, picnics and other things that encourage mingling and talking to a lot of people. Chat with your council and Greek advisor to see what they think of your campus and what might work!