skit or no skit?
 

This is the dilemma my chapter is faced with:

Third round of parties is sisterhood round. Chapters can do pretty much whatever they want to convey their sisterhood to pnm's, slideshow, skit, game, whatever.

My chapter has not done a skit in 6 or 7 years, neither does one of the other chapters, however one chapter does. their night has a theme and a skit and a slideshow...the whole sha-bang, they've done the same theme every year for at least 5 years and it always works well for them.

my chapter decided we would try a skit this year, as well as a theme. We don't have trouble with numbers, or return rates, or quota, but we just thought it would be a good idea to step up our game a little.

however, we're out of practice with this kind of thing, we're having a slideshow and have made the entire night way more sophisticated and classy, but we're on the fence about the skit.

my question to ya'll is: how important is the whole concept of a skit? not idealistically, honestly. If we up the decorations, still have a cute theme, up our polish and our practice, will the skit still make a better impression? the skit house has the best return rates and most pnm's really enjoy their party. do we need a skit? are there other equally enjoyable activities? I feel like if we do one, then the third house will be pressured to do one, and then we'll be all frilly when we're not suppossed to be. ahhhh!!! be frilly like the skit house or non frilly as usual, or something in between? any advice is welcome!!!!

ditto.

i think that although it may be fun, it is a lot of hard work. it really doesn't show much about your sisterhood other than how good of a dancer or singer you might be. if you are already doing well with your recruitment numbers, then it would be silly to add something this big. you might look at changing some decorations or maybe a theme of another night. sometimes if it is not broken...it is not worth fixing!

I know, and that's what's so frustrating. I also really don't want to get into the whole comparision thing like you said either...I just really want to make the best impression possible and am trying to look at every angle. can you tell that I'm recruitment director and recruitment is less than a month away and I'm starting to overthink/stress about every little thing?:p

Thanks, Jocelyn, for reminding me about what's really important about being a Sigma (or any greek woman for that matter ;) )

Sorry to barge in :) We have a skit day during recruitment at Elon. While it is one of my favorites, it does give women dumb reasons to cut houses, just like Jocelyn stated above. My house incorporates a slideshow into our skit, so we at least get to show them that. I guess the good thing about ALL the houses doing it is that we all look cheesy. If I were you I'd get some fun songs and do a slideshow.

--Sharon :D

Our "skits" were usually things like David Letterman's top 10 - nobody was really into the whole idea of costumes, dances, memorizing lines etc. The 2 chapters that always did skits had high return rates, but so did another chapter that didn't do a skit either (at least not when I rushed).

I know we have some chapters (we all do) where they just can't conceive of NOT doing a skit - if they were told they had to bag it it would probably completely upset them and throw them off. That can go both ways.

If you can be relatively low-key as far as costumes and such and have fun with it, fine - but if sisters are going to get all hung up about whether they're learning lines, getting things for costumes etc - if it's going to be more stress than it's worth just because you're not used to it, skip it.

Alot of schools do skits as a recruitment round, Auburn being one of them.

This year, we did DG and the City, complete with costumes, dancing, singing, and memorizing lines.

I think skits are a cute idea, but sooo much work goes into them. Whether it's practicing or costumes. This year we decided to film a short film (like 4 minutes, with very little dialogue) instead because it would be easier to get girls together for one whole day than several days to practice for a skit. Plus, I'm with the other ladies that say skits sometimes affect decisions.
Good luck whatever you decide!!!:)

every house at nc state does a skit. this is our second year of doing DG and the city and last year it went very well. it was like a mini production. we had costumes, dancing, singing, memorized lines, and even commercials (the joy of DG (or pepsi), and the mastercard commercial). i thought it looked awesome, but i know how much time it took. i was there for most of the rehearsals and they put LOTS of time into it. they stayed up way later than they should have, which wasn't good cause our rush is right around the time of everybody's first tests. there are pros and cons to doing a skit, but i definatley like the idea of doing a slideshow or video. that way they see a more realistic view of sisterhood. good luck!

If everyone else is doing them, and you need them to stay competitive, then yes, do a skit.

But if your return rates are high without a skit and not everyone does skits, please encourage your chapter to mull this over: what interviewee would select to join a company based on viewing the employees of one company performing a mini-Broadway musical, as opposed to clicking with the other employees and believing in the company's mission and objectives?

You could always do a choreographed door song if you wanted to go in the skit direction.

maybe a more positive view of a skit would be that it showcases that you have girls that are talented in the dramatic arts area, dance, and vocals. that shows part of the diversity. plus, if it's done well, it will be something that the PNM's can just sit back and watch, giving them some time to not worry about what they are going to say next. just a thought.

If you can find something that really fits, do it - something that communicates who you are. We did a Leader of the Pack skit complete with cigarettes rolled up into t-shirt sleeves (no rude remarks, Sheila, I know you hate Leader of the Pack).

It worked because it fit us - we were a little edgier and noisier than the some of the sweeter girls who did more sentimental things like Wizard of Oz. If we lost girls because of it, I think they were those who wouldn't have been comfortable with us.

But if your hearts aren't in it, that will probably come across, and it's not going to help.

Have to admit, I've always been mystified by skits. I know they're a treasured tradition at some campuses, which is fine, but I can't imagine why you'd introduce them. You have so little time in formal recruitment to actually talk to the PNMs and understand them as people; why cut back on that limited time to show off dancing skills that have zero to do with sisterhood? If you want to have fun singing and dancing with your sisters, why not host a cabaret as a benefit for your philanthropy?

I don't think that skits are inherently bad or a time-waster. They aren't supposed to take up a whole party - they should only be like 10 min. out of a 45 minute party, if that.

They're supposed to allow the rushees time to relax and not think about what to say for 10 minutes, while conveying something about your chapter. This last part is important. If you don't do this, you should forget about the skit. Our skits (such as they were) definitely conveyed that we were lower key and down to earth. ABC's skit that was like something from a Hollywood movie conveyed that they were the group with perfect clothes and every hair always in place. I don't see the point of doing a generic skit from a rush handbook that says nothing about who you are. i.e., don't do "XYZ Hoedown" if you all hate country music, just because it's in your rush handbook.

I've never really gotten why people so ga-ga over skits. We didn't do them for a couple years, then when we did, got rave reviews. When I went through rush I pretty much thought they were horribly cheesy and I would've rather been getting to know some of the girls

Rush is stressful enough without organizing skits. Tensions are high and people are tired. I agree with the senitment that if its not broken, why fix it? Video or power point would be great, polished, classy and all that good stuff. If you interact with the media presentation, it would make it much more personal. Besides what is more fun, photos of what you are really going to be doing in a sorority or college women dressed up like the wizard of oz (I can't stand that theme!)?

I love skits! They are fun and show that a chapter can get it together. That is if it is polished. A Skit must show something more about the heart of the chapter to be effective. It is time consuming, can be expensive and always stressful. If not done well -- skits are cheesy and a turnoff. If done well it will show the PNM's how your sisters interact with each other. It can be very telling of your sisterhood.

If your chapter is on the fence -- it may be better not to do a skit. If you are ready to put your heart into it -- it will show.

Regarding slideshows / powerpoint presentations and videos: Remember when you were 18 (or even now) did you want to sit and look at pictures of people you didn't know? Probably not - since most people don't enjoy this. (Like your Aunt Ruth's vacation pictures of the grand canyon?) It is good as a conversation starter, but not a productive use of your limited time for conversation during recruitment events.

Always ask these questions when you are making recruitment decisions: Will this help the PNM make a decision? Will this help the PNM choose my sorority?

i think the whole make it or break it point at the skits is all after or before the skits when sisters have to conversate with pnm's. i honestly was a rho chi last semester during spring rush but i noticed that when one house got to the know the girls and had the cheesiest of skits they got the most girls. its all about gettin to know the girls

Every chapter at my school does a skit, so it's pretty mandatory. Our rush days look like this for most houses:

Day 1: Philanthropy during conversation(and some do house tours as well) ~ 11 parties
Day 2: Skit ~ 8 parties
Day 3: Slideshow ~ 4 parties
Day 4: Pref ~ 2 parties

The biggest question on our campus is which day to have skit/slideshow. A couple of houses do slideshow on Day 2, but I think that's generally becaues they have a weaker skit/stronger slideshow (and Day 2 cuts are the first 50% cuts). We also do a lot of singing and choreographed dancing to our slideshow throughout; we take newish songs and re-do the lyrics, it's pretty exhausting for the whole chapter.

I've always been of the opinion that showing PNMs a slideshow too early in recruitment runs the risk of boring them with pictures of GIRLS THEY DON'T KNOW YET. An interactive video/slideshow would be a better bet, and you can incorporate a mini-skit into the video to make it more entertaining. I think funny and entertaining is key.

For skits, if you have a good theme and funny skit, I think you'll see that girls really respond to that. Also, if you have a couple of really good dancers, that will influence the dancer PNMs a lot!! I've seen this over and over at my school, that the dancers going through rush are HUGELY impressed by the houses that display their amazing dancers: it's just a matter of similar interests.

SO... since time is running out, I would contact the rush chairs of your other chapters ASAP to get a hold of their skit scripts. Why try to write out a script now and stress yourself when I'm sure you have several chapters who will gladly give you their awesome and time-tested skits. You can look through them and see if any of them convey a message that fits your chapter, and you can always do a sizable amount of editing in a single evening as long as you have a base to work with.


Good luck!

At UCF, we down-sized and went from skits to videos. The videos are amazing and you can incorporate a theme, as well as footage of events on campus and in Greek Life. One of my favorite parts is that our video at ADPI included sister testimonials-- putting a "face" to the sisters. We still dressed and decorated under our theme and did the door songs, but more time was spent learning how to make effective conversation and get to know they girls during our pre-recruitment workshops-- so when recruitment rolled around we were really prepared and able to help carry conversation.