Snail Mail
 

It seems like snail mail is starting to become a lost art in terms of communications these days.

There are a few chapters of other organizations that I'd like to reach out to in which my chapter has little or no prior connections to. While email/text/Facebook is great for day-to-day communication, I'm thinking about using snail mail, a real signature, and possibly a colorful envelope to get noticed.

Is this a good or bad idea? Will the mail likely get lost, or will it stand out? Comments?

I am a fan of snail mail and assume that those chapters are equipped to handle receiving snail mail. I assume that some of their chapter transactions may be distributed through snail mail since not every NHQ/IHQ accepts email submissions of chapter records, member dues, etc. If you are in doubt perhaps try calling or emailing the chapters to tell them you will be sending something through the postal service mail soon.

Snail mail is not a lost art in Delta. Delta NHQ and alumnae chapters have to reach Sorors who became Deltas years and generations before the Internet became so popular--these Sorors far outnumber Sorors of the Internet generation. Snail mail is still used by NHQ and chapters for journals, official letters, invitations to events, membership dues, and other information that is not day-to-day. My alumnae chapter receives a lot of snail mail, they collect it, read it, and present it at the chapter meetings. The same can be said for many if not most alumnae and collegiate chapters.

If you're talking about chapters on your campus, hand delivery (but still written material) might be a better idea than just putting it in the mail. Of course, whether this is feasible all depends on your campus's housing situation.

Good idea about the hand delivery. The campus has a Greek block, and most chapters have the stereotypical house.

LOL. You were talking about mailing something to campus organizations? I guess that is what "a few chapters of other organizations" meant. Yes, hand deliver the documents to either their campus box or house's mailbox.

And if these organizations are sororities, which seems likely, It probably wouldn't hurt if you not only hand delivered, but made sure you looked your best (suit etc). All about impressions.

Still looking for the "Like" button on GC.:D

If it were me not only would I show up in a suit, I would do it with a bouquet of the sorority's flowers. Even if the person doing so isn't the hottest person in the world, the effort counts for a lot.

Now, just throwing it in the campus mail makes more sense to me.

The wearing a suit and possibly bringing the sorority's flower is based on gendered assumptions. I do not see the purpose behind that. If the OP's chapter is hand delivering this information, they should not look a hot mess but I think the OP needs to operate based on the campus climate/culture before adding any other stuff. And if wearing a suit and so forth is done, it should be done for the purpose of business and done for every campus organization. In that sense, you are introducing yourself to every chapter/organization in addition to delivering something. I do not think it should only be done for the sororities. It makes no sense for it to only be done for the sororities.

It does if this is regarding setting up mixers or Homecoming pairings.

But if it's regarding their campuswide philanthropy event, then skip the suits and flowers (but still look nice, guys will judge other guys for looking like slobs) and take the same thing to everyone - fraternities and sororities.

I don't know.

1. If a guy showed up representing his fraternity and wanted to set up a mixer, I probably wouldn't expect him to be in a suit. Then again, we have our deliveries system, so my campus culture is a little weirder. But I would still expect him to look nice. Or, if this is an invitation to homecoming, appropriate for the place (we had a mixer with the guys we went to homecoming with, and that's when they'd asked us. So they were theme-appropriate, which was still really cool).

Of course, it completely depends on campus culture, and I would make sure I was following standard operating procedure (and if that's a suit, go for it!).

2. Be careful with time. Know that the sorority may eat dinner really early, try to find out if they have a mixer that night or something, etc. Pick a good time based on your campus culture and you're far more likely to get a favorable response.