Rush Starts for us Tonite...
 

Wish us luck. Although technically, we are always recruiting, Formal Recruitment events begin tonight. We are hoping for 25-30 quality guys this semester, which would keep in projections for our growth, which we are aiming for continous, steady slow growth.

Am headded to the recruitment event after I leave here (work).

Just thought I'd jump in the fray up in here.

Good luck!!!I'm sure you guys will get great guys! We started our informal recruitment tonight. It was great. Met some great girls who I could see being a great addition to our family. I'm excited!!!

Best of luck! If you find guys who are ANYTHING like YOU, it will indeed be a successful recruitment!

Good luck with that! Mad probs for being active alumni. YOu better have a good rush. I want your title (largest avg. chapter size) and its no fun competting against people who don't do well.

Best of luck:D

Thanks everyone. Last night went pretty well, it is usually one of our better events. We had about 30 guys show up. We went to hooters for wings. Of course we have those guys who show up to eat and bolt, but for the most part, it was really good meeting all the new guys, and I can definately see many of them as brothers. Pretty coolstuff. They seem to be a good group of guys.

Tonight is the test for our recruitment marketing. I work for a graphic design firm, that has a business relationship with a marketing specality company that produces custom water bottle labes for bottled water. I designed a lable and got the chapter a great deal at cost, so they have been giving away water with our chapter logo and rush schedule on it., as well as website (that I built) and rush chair phone number. So far they have given away about 80 cases (24 per case). Our first listed event is tonight, so well see how well it all goes and how successful of an event it was.

As I told OTW, I hate formal rush. Time for fake smiles and no-doze. ugh. Too much stress and drama. Anyway tonight is Pool at a billiards place around the corner. Since I dont wanna be left outta the rush thread fun, I'll let yall know how it went tomorrow.

Keep us posted, lifesaver. Hope those bottles of water pay off in a big way for your brotherhood! I like reading recruitment threads, so if there's any other men out there getting ready to go through recruitment feel free to tell us about it. I'll be here reading.

Christin

lifesaver, when this is all over, can you tell us (like the OTHER theads) what stood out to you, what was a turn off and how you think the rushees felt about different types of interacting.

LSU just finished up their rush and a good number from here ended up in basically 3 fraternities. My son asked where everyone went and when I mentioned 3 guys in particular he said, "Well, I'm not sure I WANT to be in a fraternity." (yes,I have him trained to say fraternity) I asked why and he said "Because I'm not LIKE them." I responded, "That's why there are so MANY fraternities.!"

ANYway, I'm saving different posts and thoughts that several of you guys have shared so I can slowly start slipping it to him in a way he won't feel is TOO intrusive.;)

The water bottle idea is very cool...it's a unique way to get people's attention. Hope it works for you!

Day 1 Results...
 

Well things went well last night.

We played pool at the SMOKIEST pool hall ever. yuck. Anyway, we had about 20-25 PNM's show up. Whats cool is that they were different guys from Tuesday night, so our exposure is increasing. Most seemed to be good quality guys, withthe exception of 2 or 3 guys. ANd there was 2 or 3 blue chip guys too, that woul dreally be good for the house. I can tell the brothers are starting to get burned out tho. We have been rushing our asses off for the last 2 weeks and I can see it taking a toll. You can see it on their faces. FORTUNATELY its all over Sunday.

The question I am thinking about is this. My brothers RULE informal recruitment. Hang out with us and if the fit is right, your in. Formal recruitment is not our bag. NIC has a 5 step recruitment process that works very well for informal recruitment, 1) meet the pnm, 2)make friends with the pnm, 3)introduce the pnm to your friends in the org., 4) introduce the pnm to the org., and 5)invite the pnm to join. The problem is Formal recruitment forces you to start at step #4 and then go back to step #1. That having been said, we prefer to make them feel very comfortable and hang out with us. We dont want them to feel that they are being "rushed" but how to we educate them about the differences between us and the other orgs? Do we wait for them to ask? I worry that they will think the lack of our "rushing" them with the facts and info that the other orgs do equates to us not being interested in them? What do yall think?

:D Hey, hey , hey! My son is now "sucked" into your thread via my "retelling" of your post! Can you tell I'm excited!!!

Ok, his "advice" (I'm really smiling right now!) If you're thinking about joining a fraternity, you know it isn't cheap. The other ones are talking about the costs and stuff when that's the LAST thing you want to hear. Go for a good time and getting to know each other. "That's what I'd want to do."

He thought the labels on the water bottle were really cool.

Maybe this will WORK!!!:D

I too like the label on the water bottles. What a cool idea :) Thank you for posting a story from the guy's point of view ( we really needed to hear), and good luck with recruitment.

Thursday night's installment...
 

Well it was a really successful event. Thursday tends to be a slow day, I dont know why , but historically it has been. Anyway, last night was great. It was sports night, and being the advisor to the recruitment chair, I had been pushing for him to have the event at the medical center. Their athletic facilities are way superior to the dinky ones on campus. Also, theyre are more facilities...volly ball, softball, football and some basketball courts. His concerns were that it was too crowded there, (which it sort of is) so he decided to go to a local park and play football there. I was kinda hesitant about this, because I dotn just want them to focus on football, some guys liek soccer more or vollyball. But I chose to fight the battles I could win, so whatever.

It was a great event. Everyone seemed to have a good time. We had about 22 PNM's show up. There were about 8 who called to say they wanted to come out, but felt the need to study. Thats impressive that they called us to say they couldnt make it out tho. I think it is a testament to the type of personal relationship we try to build with the PNM's. Our goal is this. Have them see that we are just liek their close group of friends from back home, just with a little more structure. If they see that, the leap to fraternity life doesnt seem so daunting. Anyway, as it stands now (going into the event tonight), there are about 40 guys who are interested in our house. Our goal has been to sign 25 or so. (maybe a few more or less). The recruitment chair feels that there are 25-30 he feels comfortable giving a bid to.

Tonight is our poker night. Its really classy, The girls that are dating the brothers/good friends withthe chapter make all the food so its nice. There are all kinds of snacks and sandwiches, etc. Then a few brothers break the room up into gropups and gives a small poker workshop for those who dont know how the game is played. Then we begin the tourney and give a way prizes for the winners. Its a lot of fun and we hype it as one of our biggest. I'd expect between 40-50 PNM's will show up.

Tomorrow is the Alum BBQ. The alums host it and throw it and its a great event to let the PNM's se that its for more than 4-years, and a get sense of the fraternity as a whole (we have some alums from other chapters). Alums make great salesmen, too. Sat night is our night off. (Thank god).

Sunday is Pref Dinner. If you get an invite to the dinner, it means we are really interested in extending an invitation to join. its not guranteed, tho. We all go to a nice resturaunt, ($20 a plate or so) and eat, then have a speaker talk about the fraternity. and a few members and alums get up to talk about what the fraternity has done for them, etc. Then we explain to the PNM's how the process goes from then. At midnight, its no contact period for 14 hours.

Bids are given out by the school at 10am to 12 noon on Monday. Then STEPS happens at 2pm in quad. EVERYONE goes out there and the PNM's havent told anyone their decision ('cept the school) and the are all lined up by the Greek Advisor, brought up on stage one at a time, and their name is called and they say who they signed with. They then run down the steps and join their new chapter. Lots of whooping and holloring, etc. Its a great event. Theres a DJ, and its a GREAT way to be welcomed into the greek community.

So our numbers look like we'll sign around 25. Fortunately, this year it seems well be able to be a bit more selective than we have in the past. Which is cool with pretty much everyone. We could take 35, but I dont think we will. We tend to have too many discipline problems when we cast wioth a wide net.

I dont know when I'll be able to update again. Will try on Saturday to let everyone know how tonights event went.

Good luck to everyone else out there, regardless of what side of the process you are on. :cool:

Heres a pict of the lable I created and we used.

http://www.geocities.com/chopperpridesa/water1.jpg

Thought yall might be interested.

JAM- Good point, never thaought of that. Go for the fun. Thats what seems to be working. I have heard that from a few brothers. Thanks.

Oh lifesaver, it all sounds so wonderful and EXACTLY the right way to lead into it. I really like the way you all have paced things, saving the meaniful talks for those who are honestly interested.
The Alum Bar-B-Q is sure to impress any INTELLIGENT young man with the meaning of brotherhood BEYOND college!
FYI-I am editing out MY responses and saving yours for my son!

THIS IS THE BEST! PLEASE, he is REALLY interested in this. (He asked- How's lifesaver doing) It's a LOOOOOOONG story WHY he knows your name. I can't WAIT to compile your thoughts and impressions for him!
JAM
PS-His friends are asking HIM questions about "rush"!!!

lifesaver, it sounds like you guys really have your stuff together! You really remind me of a group on our campus that are seriously the nicest, sweetest guys in the world and have an awesome brotherhood! Anyway, best of luck to you!

Friday Night Update/Saturday Update
 

Tahanks KDhoney for the compliment. I appreciate it.

Well, things are definately looking good around here, recruitment wise.

Friday Event…
It was very successful. We had about 35 PNM's show up for Poker. They were all pleased with the food and especially the prizes. It was a great bonding event as all the brothers got a chance to meet most of the PNM's. Numbers are beginning to come together as well. It looks like we have about 22 definites, and about 8 most likelys. We will probably extend about 30 bids and sign 25 or so. Which is fine with us. Like I said, right on target.

Saturdays Alumni BBQ……
It went well as well. Historically it’s the lest attended event, because by this point, EVERYONE (PNM's and brothers) are sick of recruitment. But today there were about 18 PNM's out. There were a few new faces, but we pretty much know who is going to sign with us and who isn’t. Also, one of the blue chip guys we met at move- in, but haven’t seen since came out again, so that’s a good sign. I don’t know if he will sign on Monday, but our bids are good for one year, so we can take time to work on him.

The event was nice. Tropical Storm Fay decided to move on top of us, so we had to move the BBQ indoors, and had pizza and watched the Notre Dame game. There were a descent amount of alums out, and at the end of the event the alums were recognized and said what the house had done for them. It was pretty cool. One of the alums was speaking and doesn’t really understand the new way of recruiting we do (we never call them prospects and don’t really push chapter business or info..we just hang out… We NEVER ask them if they are going to join or are rushing. BIG TABOO! Sometimes ladies or girlfriends will ask "are you rushing Lambda Chi?" and I cringe. But real fast I get to find out what their interest in the org is.). Well, Vic, one of the oldest alums asks the crowd who wanted to join (he doesn’t get to come out that often, so he wasn’t familiar with who is a brother and who is a PNM) and all of the guys raised their hands, so we know they are definitely interested.


Our guys have definitely worked their asses off on this recruitment. I am very proud of them. I tried to explain to them how hard recruitment is and how tiring it can be. Since we have had several large groups come in over the last few years, our chapter tends to be very young. For a large number of them, this is their first recruitment from "the other side." I don’t think they understood that recruitment is a war, and you cant stop or slow down for anything. They do now. I am also very please with the professionalism of the recruitment process. Everything looked good; the banners and posters, the fliers, the recruitment web-site, the water bottles, the recruitment shirts, bids, pref dinner programs, etc. It all looks very well put together, and I am hoping that makes an impression on not only the PNM's, but the rest of the school as well.

More importantly, if we do sign 25, it will prove to us that we have broken free of the yo-yo cycles we have experienced in the past. Historically, we'd experience a 4 semester cycle. A big rush of 20+ guys, then a small rush in the next spring. A small rush the next fall where morale was at its lowest, and then the next spring, we'd understand that we were in a crunch, and put all energies and efforts into recruitment. We'd still have a poor rush, but we'd begin gearing up for the fall, and start all over again with a big group of 20+ guys.

Now, if we do sign the 25 guys, it will be the third fall semester in a row that we have signed at least 25 NM's. Finally, stability in recruitment that has a historical base and can be quantified. I can say this much. Having active, involved alumni does make all the difference in the world.

On Monday, I will let you know how Pref dinner went and how STEPS went. Wish us luck.

Re: Friday Night Update/Saturday Update
 

Wow, I have loved reading this thread. It *can* be done, and I hope that your goal is indeed achieved. The determination and dedication of your brotherhood is something to be respected and emulated. Hard work pays off, and it sounds like that "yo-yo cycle" is hopefully about to be broken. Kudos to you and all alumnae who remain active, it truly does make a difference.

Christin

Sunday's Event…
 

Well, things are drawing to a rapid close for us. And things couldn’t have gone better.

Sunday was our Pref Dinner. We had it at the County Line, which is a pretty cool restaurant not too far from campus. We had 24 PNM's show up for the dinner, which is invite only. We had some really nice programs printed up for the event. We had shown up early to decorate the place. We put up our banners all over the place and had our chapter flag hanging form the ceiling. We ran the event like a program, with an MC, and several brothers got up to speak. I spoke on behalf of the alumni association, and was really honored, because my brothers and the PNM's gave me a standing ovation when I got up to speak. It meant a lot that they thought of me to do that. I was very moved.

We voted to extend bids on Saturday night. We had a total of about 45 PNM's visit the chapter. We only voted on 36 PNM's and of those, 31 were extended bids. I expect us to sign 24-26. They are at bid signing right now , and so I'll know something this afternoon. I expect us to sign 18-20 today, and the rest throughout the week. The other fraternities often tell their PNM's that they have to sign today or not at all. For us, that’s not a big deal. As long as you are signed by the second new member ceremony, its no problem. So that actually affords us two weeks to answer any concerns the PNM's might have or assure them if they are unsure.

I was very pleased with the way things turned out this semester. Most of the guys I met are quality. I will be doing a post-recruitment evaluation with the recruitment committee to see what our deficiencies are and what we could do better this spring. I have identified several areas we need to improve on, most notably the organization of the process. Our recruitment coordinator was very disorganized, and that must be corrected. We have also decided, that since fall rush is primarily freshman, we are going to focus spring recruitment on recruiting student leaders and upper classman. For too long we have treated spring recruitment like it was fall recruitment. I think that needs to change, because at our school, they are different creatures.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it all went later.

Wow congrats! hope it all works out the way we all want it to!

The numbers are in...
 

We have signed 24 NM's, and 5 more have said they will sign tomorrw when they are on campus, for a total of 29, which is the second largest in chapter history, and will push our chapter size to 70 men. All I can say is wow. We had one person we bid join another org, and the remaining person we bidded said he will wait until the spring to firm up his financial situation. I am very pleased with our recruitment critertia, as we got almost everyone we wanted. I guess we must also be improving at our closing abilities, as we have a 95% closing ratio.

We were the group with the second largest new member group. There was another org that signed more, but their retention rate isnt what it should be. Hell, for that matter neither is ours. Ours is better than most on campus (actually its one of the best), but I would like to see it approach 90%, which is reccomended by our HQ. Also too, we hold for grades. Our NM period lasts about 4 months. We do not initiate till after we get the grade reports in January. I think it would be a good feat to have 90% with holding for grades.

Anyway, I am very pleased with the results. Our new member ceremony is Friday at the Old San Francisco Steak House. Its a nice facility and I look forward to it. Now, I just gotta find a date.....

Thanks for everyones input and support on this thread.

Andy, sounds like you guys have the PLAN!:)

I like the Alum BBQ idea! Our guys are always trying to come up with some good ideas!

We have several times had a miniture golf thing in the House!

We do a volley Ball thing in the yard!

Also, I am trying to put put to all Alums who come to the house, bring Food for the Drive! We are shooting for 50,000 lbs! Hell that is a bunch!

Got e-m from last HA and we have 22 New Assoc. and looking for what we charged them at mentoring session of 30! They are shooting for 40! It would be the biggest ever!

We are going to need help to Initiate them all!

An Alum from William-Jewell offered to have his Brothers come down and help!

Is that Brotherhood or what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, just a pass alpng!

Oh By the Way AK AK, you must be taking lessons on typing from me!:)

May we all have GREAT RECRUITMENTS and The Greek System Grow!

JWOW, Hope He Goes LXA! Then I can call him my Brother and you can be my Aunti!:D :) :cool:

Come back to Kansas TOTO! You would have to be the Good Witch of the North!!!!!!!!!!!:)

Yay! Congrats to you and your organization! You're proof that hard work and dedication pay off in big ways!:D

Way to go Lifesaver!!!

I DID post a congratulatins, but it just never showed up!

Hey, you did GREAT! I know my son will be interested in the outcome. DO they still have te lady inthe swing at OSFSH???

Tom- I have been so impressed with the way the gentlemen on GC have represented thmselves as well as their fraternity.
LXA is no exception. The very fact that BOTH you and "lifesaver" are brothers speaks volumes.

One thing for certain, my son is so much like my daugter in the sense he will look for honesty, integrity and friendship. If the fraternities at LSU have brothers like all the wonderful young men who post and share a tiny bit of their life, it will be a most difficult decision for ANY young man seeking fraternal life.

Again-Congratulations-Ya DUN DID GUUUUD!

Lifesaver, Congratulations on your successful rush! If these guys are as outstanding as you, your fraternity will have a great future! :cool: :D :)

Congrats to you and your chapter Lifesaver. Have fun at TOSFSH-I use to go there all the time as a little girl and swing during dinner-ahhh the good old days. They have the best bread.
BTW, what is a blue chip guy-I may have missed the definition in my post reading-so forgive me if I did.

Karen

Congrats on your successful recruitment! Beta Epsilon has begun their "Formal Recruitment" and I will keep you updated on that as soon as I hear from those guys! (Since you used to be part of that chapter I figured you might be interested?)

Thanks Everyone...
 

Just a quick note to say thanks for your support.

We have a challenge ahead of us, but it will work out.

Aggie- A blue chip is a term borrowed from sports; Websters calls it: blue chip
Function: noun
Date: 1929
....2 a : an outstandingly worthwhile or valuable property or asset b : an athlete rated as excellent or as an excellent prospect
- blue-chip adjective

The guy the other fraternities signed, that you are glad you got....that will be a good asset to your org, athletic, academically strong, popular with the ladies, well rounded I guess. After they are initiated,we refer to them as "face guys," Guys that are mature, make the grades and arte good chapter salesmen... the ones you stick out to parents when they come by, or to admin when they need a representitive at a function, etc.

Formal
 

First of all, congrats!

I don't really understand, though, how this is formal recruitment. Other than the fact that bids are all given out on the same day, there doesn't sem o be much structure. Do guys visit every house? Are events by invitation?

Re: Formal
 

First to answer the easy questions... Guys dont have to visite every house. I wish they woul don their own tho. Compare us to anyone else on campus and I can out sell them. I believe, comparatively, we have the best program to offer. Each chapter has to bust its ass to educate the campus as a whole about its events. THe school publishes this info in its Greek Life Guide, and each chapter puts a schedule on its recruitment tables in the quad. Events are open, non-invite and usually range from paintball to football games, to poker nites, to miniture golf to pool tourneys. Each chapter generally has the same events year to year and its kind of understoof that you dont screw with anothers event. Example: The TKE's big event is a BBQ nite at the best BBQ joint on the planet. Damn I wish we wouldda thought of that, but we didnt, so we wouldnt dare have an event there later int he week. Thats uncool. so we all do different events. Many of the chapters have a Pref Dinner, which is by invite only. Thats about the only yhing thats invite only... and its dont the last night of recruitment.


hahah...compared to the ladies, I dont think guys really have formal recruitment.. at all. It all depends on your defination of formal recruitment. Its split half and half across the nation. Some schools have a very formalized period of recruitment, where PNM's have to fill our applications, attend convocations, and get stamps ina book for houses visited. While this is very fair to all houses, the trend nationally has been to move away from this type of process. The college student is becoming less traditional, and many of them often have to work to support themselves in college. So often its not practical to ask a PNM to be able to take half a week off from work to visit houses, etc. So many schools, recognizing this are no longer requiring such a structured process, to make it easier on PNMs to schedule around. THe downside of that is that it puts mmuch more responsibility on the chapters to get off their asses and get out there, since they are no longer guranteed visits. That in turn often hurts the smaller chapters. So its a double edged sword..do you sacrifice fewer PNMs for equality, or do you put the responsiblity on the chapters themselves and give them more controll but with more PNM's? I dont know that we know the answer.

Many other schools, (mine included) rely on a less structured system. The school holds a meeting for interested PNM"s, and educates them on chapters and the process. All chapters agree to have events from Wednesday to sunday. On Sunday night/Monday morning, we are all on silence, no-contact while the PNM's are evaluatying their options. THen on Monday bid drop. THe schools only involvment is the intital meeting, bid drop and coordinating rush monitors to ensure that their are no violations of the recruitment by-laws. Thats about it.

I honestly cant say which system is better.

Lifesaver, do you mind if I ask you a few more questions? I know guys's rush at my school lasts about three weeks ... but it sounds like yours is less than a week. Is that typical?

Also, and this is maybe just different from school to school, but several of our chapters do similar events. Like I know that lots of chapters were going to an Indians game. (But still, no one messes with anyone's signature events!) Do ya'll do anything like that?

Thank you!!!

Ask all the questions you want babydoll. :)

Technically, ours lasts about that long, but there are some rules that affect what we can do and such.

We USED to really start rush the first week in June. The freshman would come through ortientation, and had the oprion of meeting the student orgs..we'd have a table set up there and talk with freshamn. We'd get a super large amount of PNM contacts. Two years ago the OL (Orientation Life) staff got rid of the event. So wed hang out at the orientation. God we used to be so tight with the staff too, th'd ask us for help with ours or whatever if they were short staffed. They l;iked us there because we could give unbiased opinons of the university and it made the freshman feel better about school, to have upperclassment to chat with and have at lunch, etc. Well that all changed this year...

Lang about mid -june this TROLL of a greek who is some big whig in his chapter (we'll call ABC) who happends to be on orientation staff with 3 of our brothers, and is in tight with the director of greek life (so tight that when she talks he has his hand up her ass making her mouth move). (I also dont know why he is so threatened by us. We recrutit two totally different groups. I seriously cant think of a single member they have EVER had who would be a good fit in our house. So I dont know what he was trying to accomplish with all this stuff) Anyway, he started filing her head whith a bunch of crap, (we were taking freshman off campus, getting the drunk. Not true this year..yeah, about 5 years ago.) etc, so they started sendign letters, etc. Fortunately our chapter advisor is an atty and was able to shoot down all their BULL SHIT mid-management arguments;
1) The freshamn werent students.
A: Yes they are. They get ID's and register. Does any other school let non-students register? The regents rules say they are, and thats like our cosntitution. B. Even if they werent, the school cant keep us from socializing with non-student either. Better come up with soemthing better.

Two weeks later we got another letter:
2)We couldnt be in the student center while orientation was going on.
A. Not a single rule prohibiting that. Anywhere

Finally they hit us with:
3) You must follow any rule or directive given by a faculkty or staff emember, and anyone who does not is in violation of the regents rules. (that is on the books) THe legal version of your moms admonition as a child, "go to your room till you learn to behave." WTF is that crap? Her boss was out of the state the whole tiuem this was going on. Pissed off our advisor to no end. So now he is basically going after her job and demanding a letter of apology.

I guess the GL director is pissed because our brother that was her little bitch graduated and cant be her fu*k buddy anymore. :( So sad fer her. Anyway, hookah is gonna be pushing a brorom by the time its all done.

(Sorry for that not so brief tangent..needed to vent...feel better.)

So we now start rush at the beginning of school, at move in. We help people move intot the dormas and apts on campus. Great event. Hot as hell - 100 degrees, humid as anything. UGH. then we have a few get togehters , bbqs that weekend, and school starts the next monday. We set up tables oiutside of the biggest lecture hall bldg. We do that for 1-week. The next week, we do that, but also have our main recruitment events. (in the meantime our members are identifying blue-chip PNM's and making visits to them at theior dorms or apts. THen we have our events and follow up.

I couldnt imagine a longer rush whith formal events. I am so sick of rush right now. Glad its over. Our dinner and NMC is Friday night. Cant wait.

I can understand the need to vent lifesaver and I'm glad you got everything straightened out, but your tangent can work against the image you have as a good guy that is a member of a class-act organization. Just my 2 cents...

I know, its just outta frustration that I say that. Theres only one other person from my school on here, and anyone atmy school knows theres no way my brother couldda been hooking up with her. Shes recently married and about 7 months pregnant.

They were just rally close which was cause for some speculation. I was playing off that. And anger. Plus, If I cant vent on an annonymous bullieten board, where can I vent?