Ideas for "No Frills" Recruitment?
 

Hey everyone!

My campus is working toward a "No Frills" recruitment, which basically means eliminating most decorations and skits. I'm wondering if anyone else has a no frills recruitment, and if so, what does the first night look like? What do you do instead of skits?

If anyone else has any suggestions, feel free to add your opinion!

Best,
E

NPC has been urging no-frills recruitment since the mid-late 90s. It's not new. Most campuses have taken some steps to move toward it, or gone totally no-frills. Many campuses keep things like entrance/exit songs, but eliminate food, skits, certain decorations, costumes/matching attire, etc.

What do you do without the skits? You talk to the PNMs. In my opinion it's a better use of the limited time you have with them, anyway.

I think that no frills is great, because PNM's shouldn't choose a chapter based on things like matching outfits or decorations. However, if you are on a campus with a ton of chapters, these things serve to keep the chapters straight in the PNM's mind, so I wouldn't eliminate them entirely.

I also think that CPH's need to standardize this stuff as much as possible, because no chapter is going to give up frills unless everyone gives up frills.

At my school, the CPH issued guidelines re: food/drink. We had a ton of chapters, and recruitment was very long and usually in very hot weather. Therefore, everyone still served water, and several parties during the first round were designated "snack parties". So, if you visited 14 chapters for open house, the fifth and tenth offered you a snack.

There was also a specific list of things you could/couldn't do to decorate for all rounds up until pref. For example, no changes to the lighting of the room, but you can hang things on the walls. You may still have a theme of some sort, but it is seriously scaled back.

Pref was left alone, save for some guidelines on how much a chapter could spend.

My school is extremely no-frills. The rooms are usually decorated though, but mostly in simple ways. All of the days focus heavily on interaction with the PNMs. Instead of having a skit or a slideshow that shows the aspects of their sisterhood, chapters show PNMs scrapbooks, paddles, ect. and set up posters with pictures and explanations of events.

As far as clothing goes, there is still a sense of uniformity. Usually chapters wear either matching t-shirts with jeans or wear color-coordinated stuff. They won't buy the exact same dress for every girl, but they might have everyone wear pink and green cardigans or something. Panhellenic sets a maximum budget for each chapter to spend, so the cost of recruitment is the same for everyone.

Our campus is no frills, which means that there are no decorations, food, skits, etc. before, during, or after any party. The sorority house must look during recruitment the same as it would on any given day. The one exception to this is during pref, when each sorority can use candles or other items that are required in their ritual. During first rounds (house tours) each sorority woman is required to wear a Panhellenic-distributed t-shirt, so every sorority looks the same. For second rounds, third rounds and pref, each sorority can pick its own outfits, and they can match.
I do understand the rationale behind no-frills, but I have to say that so much of the excitement of recruitment was sparked by the chants, singing, etc. I don't necessarily think that PNMs would base their final decisions on a door chant anyway, but I feel that as an active, a lot of camaraderie and sisterhood went along with all that was involved in frills recruitment. In short, no frills is no fun for some actives -- especially if they have been able to experience both and can contrast the two styles.
I do agree with the above post that eliminating the skit does open up more time to talk with and get to know the PNMs. Check with your Panhellenic on just how "no-frills" they really want to be. It means different things on different campuses.

NPC has been urging no-frills (or at least less-frills) since before I rushed, which was in the early 1990s. PNMs were offered snacks, water, and soda. There were skits - which don't cost money aside from costumes, some of which could be assembled from items people already owned or items the chapter bought once and then re-fitted to whoever was cast in the role of "Cinderella" or "Dorothy" or whoever each year. Panhel got one helium canister that all five sororities shared for inflating any helium balloons they wanted to use as decoration. Pref was pref - every chapter was given the speech about how lit candles violated fire code, and every chapter cheerfully disregarded the speech and used candles anyway. :p

Each year, the budget was shaved a bit. I remember, when I was Panhel rep, one chapter whined about how they'd have to change vendors for their T-shirts, and as a result the colors wouldn't precisely match. They were pretty much told to STFU.

With a no-frills rush, there's no reason you can't sing the PNMs in and out, put on skits (without super-elaborate costumes), and serve nice drinks and snacks. But the main emphasis should be on conversation and letting the PNMs get to know the sisters in the chapter for who they are, not what they're wearing or how well they sing.