No More Skit - Ideas Please!!!
 

Hi everyone! I did some searching and couldn't find anything....

I'm President of Alpha Phi and former VP Recruitment @ Old Dominion and we just recently voted to remove Skit Round from Formal Recruitment. We are a commuter school and based on the rush environment PHC felt it wasn't really helping us. We have decided to hold a "sisterhood night." Some chapters are playing "games" and we're going to be showing a short video and mingling but have been asked to do a bonding activity. Any ideas or suggestions on what we should do for this?

If you do this at your school, what does your chapter do?

Thanks in advance!!

Do you really want to bond with all of the girls at the party when you're going to have to cut some of them? Ha ha.

I would just incorporate more conversation, rather than putting more activities in the mix.

Ditto to what 33 said!
 

Hooray for Video Day! We canned skits back when I was in school, too, and at the time, everyone was upset, wondering how can you show your sisterhood without a skit? Well, the very next recruitment with our video in hand we saw that our video yearbook/marketing pitch was so much more effective, and that we could work around a theme.

Don't worry about the activity-- your activity is "getting to know you" via conversations. It will help you stand out as the "house where we didn't have to play stupid games." Make the video your focus, have some sorority memorabilia on hand, photos and achievements and train your members on good conversation.

I was also a little upset about it at first but then the thought of no midnight/2am skit practices and prop-making came into my head and I was thrilled!

I wish our video/getting to know you would be enough, but since the other chapters are playing a game (literally) we have been asked to do a bonding/teambuilding/sisterhood activity. I really dont know how I feel about playing a game the night before Pref but whatev...we just can't think of anything to do!!!!

If the other chapters are playing games, shouldn't you follow suit? "Bonding" activities may come off as a kind of dirty rush. Who asked you to do this? The panhel, your nationals, who?

If you wanted to do a very small, relatively short game that involves a lot of mingling, you could try the "famous person" game. Every person gets a nametag w/ a famous person's name on it, put on the back of their shirt. They then get to ask 1 question of each person they meet to try to figure it out. There's several variations, but it might be a nice way to get the PNMS and sisters to mix (hopefully).

It's a pretty quick game, no real cost/risk of bodily injury or what have you.

Ask your resident assistant for ideas. RA's have to do tons of ice breakers and bonding activities. Someone on your school's orientation team would also have some good suggestions.

I know one chapter is doing a sisterhood game they play normally during COB. Everyone in the room, sisters and PNMs write down a question on a piece of paper and put it in a bag. Then everyone draws a piece of paper and sits in a circle and has to answer the question. They said the questions aren't serious but more funny, get-to-know you type questions.

Panhel has asked us to do this. When we got rid of skit, the PHC VP Recruitment suggested playing a game or doing an activity that shows our sisterhood. I suggested showing a video or slideshow and using the rest of the time to talk with the PNMs, since the reason we got rid of skit in the first place was because it took away too much time to actually talk with the women. We're still showing a slideshow but we were asked to have a game. I am not too thrilled about it but I know we can make it work....but as of right now it's just a big headache!!!

I'm sorry, but is a game really going to get chapters more women? One would think the extra conversation time would be helpful in that regard. It seems to me your Panhel is a little...well, ridiculous in that respect.

We actually did this game (on a smaller scale) during our philanthropy night. We made up questions ahead of time and had them in buckets and the girls at the tables could pull them out and ask/answer them at any time during the evening. It was fun and silly and the girls loved it.

You could try googling for "Icebreakers" because that seems to be the type of game you're going to be looking for.

Okay - have everyone, sisters and PNM's sit in a big circle. In the middle of the circle have a bucket with pieces of paper with statements on them (ex. I put ketchup on everything; I am an only child; I remember my 5th grade teacher's name, etc.). Have one person (recruitment chair?) start in the middle of the circle. Have them pull a statement and read it. If the statement is true for you, you have to get up, run across the circle and find a new place to sit. Last person up pulls another statement. We play this game but make it real personal - you'd just have to have general statements...

I agree!! I really wasn't crazy about the idea but it's what the other chapters voted on...I wanted just the movie and more convo! I think it's a little weird to be playing a puzzle or doing an activity the night before Preference, which is of course more serious.

Drolefille....I REALLY like that! I'm going to bring it up to my Recruitment Advisor and VPR tomorrow!

Here is a link to some ice breakers we have used:

http://www.wilderdom.com/games/Icebreakers.html

We thought it was a lot of fun, and you can make it more of a game kind of thing if you want, or just use it as a complement to the slide show (Which is what we did with Philanthropy night, plus a craft). They're really good for a boost in conversation when you have trouble connecting with a PNM for whatever reason.

Bonding could be a good thing at this point. You will get a feel of who is really bonding with your group. After all, prefs are all the women you want to become your sisters. Knowing that you won't get them all, but these are the ones you do want, so start bonding!

You could play this question game....

Put a bunch of questions in a bucket like "what's your favorite color, what's your dogs name, what is your middle name," etc.

Someone picks out a question and answers it while someone else has to guess what the question is. Kind of like eopardy. If they can't figure it out off of that person's answer, another person answers the question. It keeps going until they either figure it out or get too frustrated to keep guessing!!

Example: Pretend the question is "what state were you born in?" and Person A is guessing what the question is...

Person B pulls the question and says "Virginia." Person A guesses "Where you live." Since that is incorrect, Person C answers the question with "California." Person A guesses "Where you like to go on vacation." That is also incorrect so Person D answers with "Florida." Then Person A says "What state you were born in." Then repeat the game and have another person guess. :)

You could have a pillow fight . . .

Have you thought about the order in which you are going to accomplish all three of these activities?

(in no particular order)
Conversation
Slide Show
Interactive Game

How long is the party? Maybe do some limited conversation, show the girls to their seats, run slideshow, pick up your PNM from her seat and have her join a small group of sisters and PNMs to have a group conversation and bonding game within a smaller context than an all chapter loud and crazy "game"-- this will give a few more sisters a chance for a meaningful interaction with a few more PNM's than just an all-chapter game.

Also, if at all possible, avoid having to sit on the floor. I hated that about recruitment, especially if wearing a skirt!

That sounds like fun, and famous people goes with the idea of showing a movie... your theme for the night could be "Be a Star with Alpha Phi" or something. :)

Nothing worse than ice breakers when you're already nervous...
 

I am not a huge fan of playing those types of games in a situation where you are really trying to impress people but I did have a thought...

You might suggest to your panhellenic that they survey the pnms after recruitment to get their thoughts if this isn't something they already do. Ask them to include a question about the games to gauge whether or not the PNMs enjoyed them. If the PNMs rave that they were the best part of the process, then keep the games of course. But if they get lots of responses that the PNMs hate the games, maybe they will remove them next year.

Our round three is Video Night otherwise known as Sisterhood Celebration. The events are 40 minutes long. We mingle, do a "round robin" or "popcorn style" poem and then watch the slide show. It's really the first round where we have a decent amount of time to talk to the women so we don't need anything else to occupy our time.

Good luck!