Bumping: 40 sisters to 35 PNMs- how to?
 

This year our recruitment rooms have a fire code. Our Greek Life director gave us a bumping/swapping system we might be able to use in place of our old 5 person bump group style. Logistically, with 40 sisters and 35 PNMs in the room, it is not possible to do that old system where all the #5s bump to #1s, #1s go to #2s, and so on.

She recommended we do what her chapter did, which was PNM swapping. 4 girls are in a group and after talking for a specific amount of time when eventually, 2 sisters move to the other specified sisters and swap PNMs with those sisters. This would happen 2-3 times, depending on the length of the party.

Has anyone ever done this system successfully? It seems to be our only option based on numbers, but I can't find any information on it.

Bump Groups make my head hurt like OChem class.

Why won't the 5 person group work?

I'm trying to figure it out on paper.

Also, does the 40 include any girls that are typically not picking up? Floaters, lifesavers, whatever you would call them. Usually our President and VPM would not have picked up. Then we'd have girls that could float and drift in and out to help as needed. We also had girls who were strictly floaters, from another chapter, who just filled the room.

My instinct is saying stick to the method you know but have 3 sisters pick up 2 women.

75 is fire code, and based on the amount of PNMs we project to have, 40 sisters including myself and my co-chair, and 2 flolaters, will be all that's allowed in the room at one time. The 5 person can't work because the #5s would always start off not talking to anyone. That's too many people not talking to anyone off the bat, leaving PNMs without a sister.

Can you swap in and out of the room (as long as no more than 40 are in the room at once?)

One chapter I work with has a similar fire code issue so the 5's stay in the hall and then take turns going in to bump. It takes a little bit of finessing (someone in the hallway that's keeping count of who is in/out), but this works to keep the existing bump groups and it also gives more chapter members the opportunity to meet PNMs.

This worked for a chapter I advised.

Have you considered "cocktail" style? It could work.

That sounds like a good idea but unfortunately PNMs will be in the hallway most likely- that's at least how they've done it in the past. The parties are only twenty minutes on the first day, I should add, with only 10 minutes in between.

I'm not sure how it could work when we won't have many floaters! Typically our chapter uses weaker talkers as floaters as well so that they don't have to talk to anyone for long, but they can still participate in recruitment and help the parties run smoothly. Could you give me more insight on how it works?

We recruited hostess-style when I was in undergrad. You kept your PNM the entire round, but you had a "bump group" that you had to get to meet your PNM. They all had PNMs, so we'd go up to a sister and her PNM, make introductions, then either have a 4-way conversation (if that felt natural) or swap PNMs for about 5 minutes (still standing together). But you always had the PNM you picked up right by you.

We kept groups in similar areas of the room but not all clustered together so you could still navigate the room a bit with your PNM. It worked well when there weren't enough people to bump fully.

This is AKA cocktail style. Works very well.

So let me get this straight because I don't think I get it lol and neither does my co-chair (thank you so much for your help though, I really appreciate it). So we tell every sister that she'll pick up a PNM at the door. She will be in a group of sisters that all have to go talk to each other and each other's pnms at some random point during the party (or is it after a specific time?). When she walks over to a group member with her pnm, the four girls enter a group conversation or separate into twos without leaving the area.

If that's the system it sounds really similar to what I'm describing, just instead of sisters swapping pnms and always returning to the same location once they have a pnm, they stay in the same place as their original pnm. How does transitioning work in that case?

It's simply moving around the party with your PNM - like you would your date at a party - taking them around to meet everyone but with pre-designed destinations. And the floaters are still floaters - they just float around like the hostess at a party greeting everyone and chatting for a bit. Hence why it's called cocktail party style.

So do certain sisters stay in one spot while others move?

So in Group A, sister 1, 3, and 5 move around the room their PNM while 2 and 4 camp out with theirs?

That would work but don't make it obvious that you are going around in a circle. Criss cross the room and move in an apparent random fashion.

Some chapters I worked with used "pairs". A chapter member (Sue) would be paired with another sister (Debbie) all day. They both bring in PNMs. At some point during the party, Sue tells her PNM "I want you to meet my little sister Debbie" and takes her across the room to Debbie and her PNM. They meet and Debbie introduces her PNM to Sue, saying "Sue is going to show you our brag board". Sue then takes PNM #2 over to the brag board (scapbook, whatever). You can still use the president, membership directors, and floaters to mix and mingle during the party.