Need COB Help ASAP!!!
 

Hey everyone,
I'm a sister of a newer chapter of AST. We only have 18 members and lack a presence compared to the other three sororities on campus that have at least 60 members each.
I am directing COB for the spring semester and I have seen great ideas on the other threads, but seeing as we have no house and an extremely limited budget, not many of the suggested events would work. Does anyone have any ideas for events that might work for us considering our circumstances?
Thanks!!!:)

COB in an unhoused chapter can be easy, if planned well and a weekly schedule is made early in the semester. I would make sure that you plan events that are affordable for both members and PNMs. Suggestions include: Sisterhood event at a local coffee shop, going to a campus athletic event together, bowling, going to get ice cream, board night a a member's apartment/house -- usually any normal sisterhood event can be turned into a COB event.

Good luck!

These are all good ideas but what may work for your chapter (it has worked well for ours) is simply meeting up with PNMs for "dates", i.e. 2-3 sisters meeting with 1-2 PNMs for lunch or coffee and just having a conversation. For PNMs that are unsure about Greek life, this could be a good option for them. As Phired Up states, "people don't join organizations, they join people". Therefore if they find that they can get along well with a few people from the chapter, they may be much more willing to give your group a try. As I said, it's worked for us. Best of luck!

thank you so much! this really helps!

Although we do have a house, we do many of the COB events other people already suggested. Maybe you could rent out a room in the Student Union or something and have your events there. There are several sororities on my campus that don't have houses, and that's what they do. Some fun things that we have done in the past include a mocktail party where everyone dresses up and you serve cute little drinks... Mix sprite with non-alcholic martini mixers, margarita mix, or grenadine. Pretty much anything can be made into a mocktail using pop! Board game nights are always really fun, Apples to Apples is a great game to play. We had a movie night where we made something for our philanthropy while we watched, and that was a great time.

I joined my chapter when we were in a similar situation (new, small, no house). What we did was reserve rooms on campus (free!) and did something modeled after formal recruitment, but much more laid back of course. Our formal recruitment at UConn goes: Info Night, Scholarship/Academics Night, Philanthropy night, Movie Night, Pref Night, Bid Day. So, as an example, for movie night, we'd have refreshments (can be inexpensive if you do it right) and show the same slideshow movie we had made for the fall, and had plenty of places to sit and talk. Or, for Philanthropy night, we'd show a video about out national philanthropy (contact your org. they'll probably send you one for free), and have a craft that we'd all make to donate to CT Children's Medical Center, like bracelets, or cards. The PNM's always like that. We still did the whole bump groups thing to keep it organized. Doing it that way is good practice for your girls for formal recruitment.

Also, I was PR chair one spring when we were doing informal/COB recruitment, and basically what I did was plaster the campus. I hung flyers up everywhereeee, made and hung posterboards in every major lecture hall, and used my schools resources. Most schools have a list of ways you can advertise your events on campus on the website, so see if your school has one. Good advertising is the biggest thing, cause you can't recruit girls if no one knows you're recruiting!

And finally, small touches make a huge difference. Balloon arches, for example, are really cheap, really easy to make, and make a great impression. Decoration is key!

When I was active we COBed three times and did things like:
-Ice cream sundae bar on the hall, movies and manicures, walking to the locally owned coffee shop and playing games on the porch, going to our university's soccer game and bringing hot chocolate, game night, etc.

We have a hall in a dorm as well as a chapter room, but just about every campus has a lodge or student center where rooms can be rented for free or very little. They might also have helpful equipment available, like a projector and screen if you want to have a movie night. Whatever you do, have your girls practice small talk before the events and remind them to be personable...the things you do in preparation for formal recruitment. It's even more important to be friendly during COB since you have a smaller number of girls in attendance so they aren't being passed off constantly. Remind sisters to talk to the PNMs more than each other. Telling sisterhood stories, funny anecdotes, etc. is a good way to show the PNMs what your chapter is like.

Plan ahead so that everyone can attend and look into the facilities your campus has available...good luck!

We saw a Chapter of FIJI Charter at our school, and it was amazing the way they managed to recruit an entire Chapter's worth of people over the course of a semester with only four people.

We started this last Fall as the smallest Fraternity in the IFC, and we managed to grow to be the second largest after pulling in a huge pledge class (even bigger than a Fraternity more than twice our size!).

The way we did it?

- One-on-one lunches.

The FIJI expansion officers used this almost solely as their recruitment tactic. The entire semester they collected names and contact info. They asked anyone who was willing to listen for recommendations, and they even had a competition between the sororities offering a $200 donation to their Chapter and National Philanthropy based on who helped them the most. (There was some kind of point system. Giving them a name was worth 5 points, but if they actually joined it became like 20 points. Most points in the end won.)

We did the same thing, and we ended up getting tons of excellent recommendations. I would then call them (I know this seems super awkward, but it actually is more professional and actually yielded much better results than Facebook messaging or emailing), and ask to set up a lunch or a coffee with them.

Here is a message I sent to a guy who ended up joining:

"My name is *******, and I am a brother of the Chi Phi Fraternity.

****, ****, and a few of the other Orientation Leaders gave you an excellent recommendation as a potential brother for our Fraternity.

I was hoping to get the opportunity to meet you soon at some point to talk. Are you available any time in the near future to have lunch? (my treat)"