Potential Virtual Association
 

Sisters-

Council and the Alumnae Directors are considering creating a Virtual Association that will offer programming to alumnae through webinar technology. I know some of you from GreekChat were originally interested in starting a virtual association back a few years ago so in particular would like to hear from you on what your thoughts were then versus the needs now when we have so many networking/social media opportunities.

We want to be able to involve alumnae that live where we don't have associations or are abroad and just cannot make it to a local association event.

A few NPC groups have started Virtual associations so I am speaking with them on how that works for them but also interested to hear from my Pi sisters on here.

Message me with your thoughts and post on here :)

Loyally,
Renee Iacona

International Vice President of Alumnae Membership
Alpha Delta Pi

I'll bite. I think it's a fantastic idea! Our motto is "We Live For Each Other" and that can be hard to do with limited time or resources. This would keep so many more alumnae in the loop, and make students realize that we truly mean FOREVER!

I've been in charge of nationwide/virtual organizations, and the first thing that's needed is a private website, even if it's with FaceBook. Some people may not care to go through the ADPi message board at first. Get the ladies to state five objectives that they'd like to fulfill (think of the various objectives that are used to define a good alumnae association), and prioritize them. Outside of webinars, it could become a game. Who was able to find a Ronald McDonald house nearby? If there isn't one, what could you do to still help them (my first thought is collecting poptops), and maybe the group could adopt an RMH that doesn't get ADPi attention. I'm sure there's one in Colorado, and we don't have a chapter there, so it seems like a natural. Divide the 100 women into 4-5 prides (covering drop outs), and challenge each other to who can send the RMH the most Christmas cookies or have the RMH residents rate the cookies as to taste, diversity, looks, etc. Little things like that go a long way.

There are probably chapters who could use some alumnae attention, and Skype could help there, too. Again, use prides to take positions on a corporate basis. One alumna might think that it's just fine to allow one thing during recruitment, while others might not - that's where a corporate mentality helps. If you pick a chapter from Winnipeg, an SEC opinion only helps so much, but someone who graduated from the U of Moosejaw might have a much better idea. Any chapter selected needs to realize that they may not see the alumnae often, but that they're there for the chapter, and thank them accordingly!

I could go on and on, but my main concern would be making sure that there was a sort of schedule and objectives. I would imagine that the first few years would uncover some great ideas and where to concentrate. Also, there would need to be a decision made as to whether alumnae near an association could go virtual or not. I see both sides to that - if an alumna has 10 kids, going to a meeting might not be possible, but spending a little computer time with alumnae friends would help her immensely. On the other hand, with 10 kids, she may NEED to get out!

Anyone else?

Oh man I'm trying to rack my brain back to 6-7 years ago when we first attempted virtual violets.

Like Honeychile said is it would need to be a private site. Our first one was through yahoo (best I could do at the time). When a sister wanted to join I had to have their first, last and maiden name, school and initiation year. I then went to pride online to confirm. I'm sure I have all the original stuff for virtual violets on my exterior hard drive.

At the time a paypal account was set up for "dues" (for lack of a better term). We figured we would use the money to get a website and then send some to RMH's who needed it.

I love the idea of prides and helping out those RMH's that don't have a chapter or alumnae association.

We also thought of it in terms of networking and just "meeting" sisters from around the world. I know of a new alumnae who is leaving the states at the end of June to report to Japan. While she would probably be more thrilled to have an actually association in Japan, having at least a virtual association where she can stay in contact and put as much or as little involvement into it as she wants might help.

I think it is awesome that ADPi is truly looking into this now. We live in such a technological world and in a world where people move around.

Was any decision made about this at Convention? How about Memorial Services?