Recruitment
 

Hey everyone it is my first time doing recruitment this year and I need some ideas for pref night. In our chapter we usually do a high tea but I feel like it getting over done and I'm asking for some ideas of how to change pref night Please I need some help with some awesome ideas so we could beef up our recruitment this year!
Thanks

We know absolutely nothing about your organization, your campus, the NPC system there or what regulations your campus PC may have in place regarding recruitment. Before we go off just shooting in the dark, we will really need some background information to make any sense at all. What are the "traditional chapters" doing?

Yes we are NPC sorry let me clarify, we are a smaller chapter (22 women), also we are a fairly new chapter on campus and do not really have really any regulations on recruitment. Many of my friends do things like ceremonies and such, we do not have many traditions like that. I just want to see what other things i could do to make our recruitment a little better and more organized is more my question. Sorry for being so broad.

I suggest that you reach out to your advisors and to your headquarters ("nationals") for support with recruitment, parties, planning and the like. I'm sure that there are recruitment guidelines, and regulations (I'd be surprised if there weren't) and I am also sure that they want you to succeed and are more than willing to help and support you. You need to ask!

thank you i will did that! :)

I can only speak for ASA of course, but "behind the scenes" at the national level, hours of work and creativity is put into planning successful chapter programming. We have a rich volunteer structure that makes certain that our collegiate sisters have the information and support they need during recruitment and the rest of their sorority year. Everyone from the national council down to the district teams to the local advisors wants our women to feel good about their work in their chapters. I'll bet your sorority has similar support and written materials in place. I think you will be pleasantly surprised! Good luck. :)

If you are an NPC sorority chapter, there is most definitely a ceremony you are supposed to be using. The details surrounding the ceremony (food/no food, wishing wells, note cards from sisters, etc.) will vary based on money, campus culture and your traditions, but I would be highly surprised if there isn't a mandatory part and a bunch of templates for you to follow. If you don't have great advisors for your chapter, start asking for national support now. Squeaky wheels, after all.

Really? Is this a new concept? We never had anything mandatory - as a collegiate and as an advisor.

No, not necessarily. Some NPC groups have a almost-ritual that every chapter is required to do at pref, some have MUCH more leeway.

I'm guessing if she was in the former, she'd already know it unless everyone on her sorority's national council and volunteer teams is in Antarctica getting drunk for a month.

peaceloveast - If you have graduated sisters who went through formal recruitment, reach out to them - the last thing you want to do is unintentionally copy another group's pref, especially if you are a new chapter. Don't "force" yourselves to have an elaborate ritual if it's not required by your national group and that's not who you are. The best traditions are the ones you make because they mean something to the people who made them, not because you were trying to be like everyone else.

Well then, I guess you learn something new every day. I really thought every one of the NPC sororities had a similar program that was on the edges of ritual. Or stated another way, ritual but not secret. All the more reason to seek support from headquarters.

Okay, so I am torn on this. On one hand, I think that HQ will have a bunch of suggestions, and they may be able to use something. On the other hand, we all know of situations where HQ pushes something totally inappropriate for that campus. I think that, if I were in the OP's shoes, I'd see about maybe contacting a similar chapter or two first.

Have to chime in on this to say my group ( kkg) does not have a pref ritual. There are suggestions and templates available but not a pref ritual per se.

OP, if your group does not have a ritual, you might use your symbols, etc to create one for your chapter - something like each pnm is given your sorority flower as they enter and then one by one they place the flowers in a vase to form a large bouquet, etc.

I'm guessing by your username that you're an AST. If you are.. hey, sister! :)

As far as I know, we do not have an official pref ceremony. When I was my chapter's Recruitment Advisor, the actives held a short "ceremony" on bid day (we only did informal at the time). It was a nice way to welcome the new members into the chapter and surprise them with their bids.

If I remember correctly, we found this ceremony (intended for pref) in the Recruitment Handbook which we accessed through the Officer Resources area of the national website. I believe there were a few optional ceremonies, but nothing official.

I would confirm this with an advisor, or with someone higher up. But I would think that if we had a mandatory ceremony, your chapter would have been informed.

My oldest daughter( an ADPi) said they change their pref ceremony every year. What they do/ did is not exactly what we did when I was in college. My younger daughter went to ADPi for pref, but her description was nothing like what her sister and I experienced. I think you would want to do something that would create a wonderful moment/ memory for the PMN. I have read too many stories here about girls describing it as weird or strange. Don't try to be too unique.