Preference Ceremony
 

Hello All!! I am the VPCR for my chapter and I am trying to plan out Fall 2011 Recruitment and I was curious as to what color dresses each chapter wears for their Pref Ceremony. We always wear red so i just wanted to see what everyone else does!:)

Black!

Mine also wears red, but requires them to be "Crayola red" and "badge dress". I recommend not doing it that way...it's very hard to find that exact shade of red on a dress that is flattering and cute but meets very specific requirements. Girls often end up in unflattering dresses. Red dresses with more leeway would look great. On our campus the other chapters either wear white or black for Preference, so it's nice to stand out. :)

Alumiyum- Crayola Red?? I'm impressed that your chapter was able to find that specific of a shade!!! I'm guessing that when a store carries a dress in that shade, more than a few girls end up with it lol

Yeah...basically bright red. No maroon, burgundy, wine, etc. You do see repeat dresses, which didn't seem to be a problem, but I would facepalm every year at some of the dresses that would show up. It was hard to find dresses in the color that weren't strapless/above the knee/low cut/backless and for whatever reason we couldn't ever convince the powers that be to relax the rules for Pref. I had mine made.

One of our big problems last year was all the various shades of dresses and some of our girls bought a dress that didn't fit them correctly (ie: too small in chest or stomach area). The other chapters at my school wear black and it looks so classy and looks great with pearls! :) I am really wanting the girls to wear black but im not sure if its in our bi-laws that we have to wear red?? If not, do I have to get special permission to make the change?

In my chapter, it's VP Recruitment who makes the clothing choices for the parties and preference. I feel as if something like that wouldn't be in the by-laws, but I could be wrong. While sometimes I wish that we could do red dresses, I like that black and pearls looks very elegant and clean. I don't think the Type A in me could handle 25 different shades of red :eek:. I don't know if this is possible due to the size of your chapter, but we discuss all of the clothing about a month beforehand so people have a chance to get anything they need (but total on my campus is 30, so its a reasonable number). You could send out an email survey to find out how the other girls feel about changing it to black?

That's a great idea! Thanks!:)

Yeah what we do is announce before they're even initiated that they need to buy red (and we specify what red, "crayola red") dresses, and tell them what the specifications are. One option is to do what I do and have one made (then again, I have a relative that sews, so it wasn't expensive). On our campus we stand out because everyone else wears black or white with pearls, but it definitely does take some extra effort to have all the red dresses look good together. The idea of sending out a survey is a good idea. If you do stick with red have the girls start looking for dresses a semester in advance and have a dress check a month before recruitment.

Yeah, we tried a dress check this past fall and our VPCR didnt really emphasize how important it was so many of our girls didnt show up to have their clothing checked. that brings me to another point, which is off topic of pref night, my chapter has a big issue with showing up to mandatory events. im not sure if its lack of motivation or what but last summer at our RTS's (recruitment training) we only had about 7 of our 20ish girls at the most show up. 2 of us were still new members because we were held over from the spring. any ideas on how to motivate girls to come to these events?

For my chapter, training like that is mandatory, so not going = a fine (except for emergencies). It sucks to have to enforce the fines (I believe it's VPO who notifies people and VPF who actually collects) but it has to be done. If I were in your position, I would try talking to the VPMD (for mediation), or the President (she should be able to help by talking to whomever). Or, if you have an open relationship with your advisors, you could try talking to them, see what they've done in situations like these. Try explaining it to the girls who are missing the training like this: If you aren't trained for recruitment, how can you help your chapter in recruitment?
And for other mandatory events, explain why they're mandatory. It's usually not just for the hell of it, but sometimes people forget that.
Sorry, I'm a little confused- how come you're planning recruitment if you're VPCR? Or did your chapter amalgamate VP Recruitment and VP Campus Relations?

Pardon my crash, pertinent thread...

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=19801

I personally like the suggestion one poster had about business suits. Being from a sorority that has red and white as our colors, I can totally relate to some people just looking like crap in red, depending on coloring and/or body type.

We do fine girls that don't show up to mandatory events, but then they can take it up with EC and do community service instead of paying their fines. 1 hour of service=$10 of the fine. Most girls would rather do that than show up to our events. and I am so sorry I am not VPCR, but VP of Recruitment. My mistake! We had to make some of our girls leave the room last year because they had not shown up to training or practices and were hurting us more than helping us and had a very bad attitude towards everyone and everything. i really want to avoid a similar situation this coming year.

Haha, that's totally fine! In my chapter we mix up Member Development and Personal Development all the time, or at least until they were made the same office :) . They would be the most confusing conversations EVER lol... I think that the community service for fines thing should only count for missing certain events. Not being in the recruitment room can hurt the chapter, and not being trained for being in the recruitment room can hurt the chapter. It's a complicated situation, for sure! I know that in my chapter, every once and a while, sometimes it helps to have the chapter advisor (or recruitment advisor) in this case come in. It's probably not going to be a rainbows and unicorns kind of meeting, but sometimes we all need a change in attitudes. You don't have to answer this question, but I would ask these girls why the attitude- is it because they don't want to put the time into training or they don't like recruitment itself (I personally find it fascinating [don't know why but I do] but it's just not some people's cup of tea)? If it's the time thing, then ask them how they would do it differently, to find out where they're coming from. If it's the not liking recruitment thing- well, unless they want the chapter to fold, they've got to suck it up lol. Even in my chapter of ~25, we have all of these problems. It takes time to solve them, but usually something can be done :)

I love recruitment as well! Since we only have 3 panhellenic sororities on campus we get a little bit more time with the girls about 45 mins for 2 nights and then an hour for pref so i feel like we can form a little bit of a deeper bond than just name,hometown,major etc. This past fall we only had about 19 actives so each person played an extremely important part in the room. It was very evident that we were unprepared and my best friend/roommate went through formal recruitment said the said thing when i asked her. And that was a hard thing to hear. that is why i am starting planning NOW. i hope with the newly initiated girls as well as the remaining older girls we will be able to have a new attitude about the sorority in general and actually be proud of what we do.

as a motive to get girls to come to our recruitment trainings (other than the fines) i was thinking about personally providing donuts and drinks and maybe an Alpha Gam door prize? thoughts on that? good idea? or not worth it?

In my chapter, we are fined for missing mandatory events. Girls were only excused from work week if they had a damn good reason. This works because notice is given far in advance. In the case of work week (which is an extended rush workshop, and includes a dress check) notice is given months in advance. And fining generally works. Even if they begrudge being there because they have to be, they're there. It's usually not hard to get them into a good mood as long as they show up in the first place.

Remind your actives that recruitment is the lifeblood of the chapter. If they don't recruit well, the chapter won't thrive. You don't need just quantity but quality and that takes work. They NEED to practice conversations, rotations, decorations...whatever you use for recruitment. It's not your job to recruit girls alone (or the VPR's). And point out that these work shops can be fun and can also be a great opportunity to bond. Many times girls that haven't been around much the previous semester for whatever reason find that these events help them reconnect with the chapter. Make sure to use more positive reinforcement than negative (for example, it's obviously more desirable to have girls showing up because they want to than because they can't afford a fine...be upbeat and compliment them on what they're doing right) and try to include some downtime for girls to enjoy themselves. For instance, during an all day workshop have a 2 hour break for a pizza lunch and games. Your donuts and prize idea is great. Things like that are morale boosters.

You might also consider talking to your EC about eliminating the option to work off fines. My chapter also had that option and we had the same problem as yours...people would rather clean the chapter room at the end of the semester than show up to required events. The actives I know tell me that since fines are now set in stone, members take them more seriously. Fines shouldn't be over used...if a girl has a valid excuse (sick, genuine car trouble, family emergency, that sort of thing vs. homework she forgot to do, tired, forgot to ask off work), she doesn't need to pay. But those who aren't pulling their weight sometimes need a little reminder to get back in the game.

I think i will take your idea and talk to EC about elimating the option to work off their fines, atleast for certain events. We usually do our RTS's during the summer so that may be a reason for lack of motivation, however we put out our schedule in January so there really is no excuse for not being there. This semester i am holding an RTS once a month while school is in session so the majority of the chapter should be in town and available. I just really want the fall recruitment to be a success!!

Ours is in the summer, too, but what we do is take an entire week before school starts. That way most people are done with any summer school or study abroad programs. We also encourage sisters that have apartments in town to make arrangements to have actives that live on our dorm hall stay over for the week. One VPR started teaching the chapter a recruitment song during every chapter meeting. Little things like that can help cut the amount of time you spend in recruitment workshops. As long as you don't over program them, they really shouldn't be complaining. Just remind them occasionally that recruitment is what keeps the chapter running.

My chapter is pretty similar. Our training is a weekend, and we go to someone's cabin- so from about 6pm on Friday to about 4pm on Sunday, all of us are together. It's pretty much straight recruitment training, with sisterhood stuff mixed in. We do the song thing throughout the year, too. From what I've seen from recruitment (and it's not like I've a ton lol), a positive attitude can really help a lot. Conversely, a negative attitude can damage the chapter's recruitment a ton also. For your training, I think you should work with sisterhood to have some fun stuff every once in a while. Although you might have to spend three hours doing conversations starters, it helps if you know that you have something fun coming. And if you involve sisterhood with it, it's another officer who can help you out if you need it.

My chapter doesn't have the community service for fines thing. This is just my opinion, but I don't think that it's really appropriate. A smaller thing, it associates philanthropy with a negative event (fining). Bigger, you're (generic you) being fined because you missed a mandatory event. For most college students, money isn't everywhere. Having to pay will help remember that lesson you were supposed to learn. Also, while having more philanthropy completed is never a bad thing, those hours can't replace the girls who can't be in the room during the recruitment. If money helps them to remember that (which in my personal experience, it does), then I would stick with fining. Oh, the complications of EC lol.

Working with the sisterhood chair is definitely a good idea! I also want to get some of our older alumni to come in and do an RTS for us to show us how to properly talk to the PNM's and such. What kinds of things do you all cover during recruitment training? is it just converstaion starters and stuff of that sort? or do you get into the nitty gritty details? we usually save those for Polish Week, but maybe we should go over them sooner.

The alumnae are usually an awesome resource!! The younger alum are helpful because they're usually still in tune with the dynamics on campus, and the older alum have a lot of valuable tips that are picked up in the real world. Plus, it's also a good bonding experience to hear alum stories :)

In my chapter, we have a full weekend of training that's 2-3 weeks before recruitment (depending on the year), and then we also have shorter training sessions before. So, pretty much everything is covered at our RTS. While it can be awkward, it's not like practicing conversation starters/how to answer "problem" questions can ever be done too much! If nothing else, it will make your Polish Week go even more smoothly. I'm a big fan of doing things ahead of time, and I think that in terms of people skills, it can really pay off in the long run. If you notice that some people are maybe having difficulty at RTS, then it can give them extra time to become more comfortable. How long is your RTS, and is it long before recruitment starts?

Yeah we need to get our Alum back in the loop of things. I know hardly any of them:(

We will have an RTS in Feb, March and April and it will be all day Saturday and then on Sunday if its needed! And then we will have one the weekend before school starts (end of august) and then polish week the week before recruitment. Like i said before we used to have one in june, july and august but we had problems with people coming so we decided to try something different this year!

Whoa, you're ultra ahead :). I'm personally all for continuously working on people skills; they're beneficial in all areas of your life lol. Being able to talk in stressful situations never hurt anyone :p.
Yep, it's definitely good to give people a break in the summer. Plus, I don't know the demographics of your school, but I don't think many girls in my chapter would travel to get to the city for training in the summer if they're away at a cottage (or further, if they live in another province). The summer does give you time to refresh, but I would plant those seeds before the summer, so that it's not a whole ton of information/training at once. Your recruitment sounds like it's going to be well planned!!!!

Ha ha thank you! i hope it all goes smoothly.

what is your chapters budget for recruitment? we have the smallest budget ever ($200 for COR and Formal) and i want to compare to other chapters to see the difference.

A tip (as a young alum) for getting them involved...ask nicely, be appreciative, and send thank you notes or find some easy (and cheap or even better, free) way to say thanks. Facebook is a great resource for contacting alums, especially the recent ones.

As for conversation, having sisters pair up and giving a prompt (shy PNM, aggressive PNM, yes/no answer PNM) can help girls practice what to do in sticky situations. It's hard enough to carry on a conversation with someone who is basically a stranger, but when they aren't socially skilled themselves it can be like pulling teeth. And practice can help your actives feel more at ease.

Make sure you don't over program. Taking an entire weekend every month might be too much for some girls, especially if several of them have jobs when you take into account everything else your chapter will have going on. Using opportunities like chapter to practice small things like songs can help cut down on workshops. You can have one PNM "situation" acted out at every program, and you can introduce rotation groups (if you use them) during this time, too. The middle of the summer can be difficult for those that are taking classes, etc., so I do think avoiding June/July is a good idea.

PM'd you.