Tips on conducting initiation (non secret)
 

Question for general (or specific) tips for everyone:

I'm Justice (which is President) of Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity at my law school. Our initiation is Thursday- we're initiating 70 members, plus a faculty initiate and the State Attorney General as an honorary initiate. The initiation is open to the public, and is actually even posted online, so there's nothing secretive involved.

When I was initiated last year we only had about 30 people, and of course I wasn't in charge of it or had any part in it besides being initiated. And everyone who did has since graduated.

I've never actually conducted any ritual before- I had been treasurer in KD and there's no ritualistic collecting of the dues :D

We're doing it in our Moot Court room, which is huge, so i'm scared about projecting my voice for that long b/c to get mics for everyone would be a huge pain in the behind. I'm also just generally concerned about making sure everything runs smoothly.

So any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! I was just going to post this in the Phi Alpha Delta forum, but there's barely any traffic there!

Well, I'm not in Phi Alpha Delta, and I've never seen the initiation, but I did think of one thing. Do you initiate each person seperately or as one big group? If you do it seperately, then project your voice only on the first initiate and the last initiate (for the whole room to hear) or maybe the last regular initiate and then the special initiates. That way you don't have to project the same thing 70 times, but everyone will hear it at least once.

And I'm sure KD and every other GLO does this (or should!), but do a complete walk through more than once before the actual initiation. That will give you an idea of how it's going to look, how long it's going to take, and exactly how much you will have to project your voice.

And congratulations on having 70 people to initiate!!! That's quite a jump from 30!

General Tips:

1) Practice, Practice, Practice
A couple of run throughs of your ritual will expose any problems and will help build up confidence.

2) Seek Advice
If possible ask someone that has run the ritual before and talk through the whole ritual with them. There insights couldprove valuable.

3) Stay Calm
The more you worry about it, the greater likelyhood of problems. When it comes to speaking, just raise your voice a little.... I'm sure everyone will be listening intently.

I was initiated in PAD last year, we had over 100 new initiates. (Im in the william Patterson chapter, and our chapter is supposedly pretty good- im not super active though). I actually think the Justice had a microphone, now that I think of it... we were in a huge room and we didnt have any hearing problems... to be honest, I dont remember much of the ritual, I just remember being annoyed that our membership card had sponsors on it :p

I didnt even know there was a PAD forum, haha.

As everyone else has said, do at least one run-through beforehand.

Speak slowly, and project.

Make sure you have all the items you will need, together in one place, well beforehand. Nothing like having to run off 5 minutes before initiation because you forgot the *ahem!* ;)

If the initiates' names are read, be sure you know how to pronounce everyone's name.

<hijack> Y'know, it's a good thing that fraternity secrets website has gone away - otherwise I'd be wondering how long it would take before KD's super-secret dues-collecting ritual would be posted :p </hijack>

Being Treasurer of my chapter, I can say that while there is nothing ritualistic about collecting dues, there is a large "ritual" that certain members like to practice in the avoidance of such dues. **cough** :)

My biggest tip would be to practice in the space if possible. And remember... pauses are okay! If you need to take a moment during the ceremony... no one but you will notice the pause.

Re: Tips on conducting initiation (non secret)
 

WOW from one PAD member to another Congrats you all did a GREAT job! I am sure this will be featured in the next Reporter!

In addition to what others have already said (especially about practicing as a group-your Marshall should really pull this together for you) I would also add.... make sure you have a photographer for after the ceremony. Also having conducted 2 Induction ceremonies myself during my 2L & 3L days we always had the event catered afterwards (nothing big but something so members new & old could mingle.)

Also be sure to send the invite via the Nat'l Listserve (you never know one of the higher ups may want to come and visit!) and it would also be a good idea to ask your school's Alumni office to send an email to PAD Law Grads or post this as an update on the Alumni webpage! Lastly, we would give little goodie bags out that the new members always appreciated. You could try asking the Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw Reps. they have tons of stuff you can give as small tokens to the new brothers & sisters (I know 100 is a lot but if you have the time it really is a nice gesture)

Also the National office has some items posters, letter head, stickers, etc that can be shared in goodie bags as well! Best wishes!

The Fraternity of Firsts.... :)

I was initiated with a large group as well actually like several chapters from my District I am short so I was close to the front but I was quick to grab a copy of the Rituals from my Justice who helped perform the ceremony to read it slowlyyyy to myself and get the pronunciation down ;)

Andddd Heyyy the GEICO discount came in handy! :)

At my school with my sorority, we dont have a chapter house, we have designated dorm floors, so we have everythign in boxes and black garbage bags that we load up in our cars and take to a place off campus and set up for initiation. That way everythign stays secret and people dont see us carrying all of our stuff across campus to the student center. Most of the other sororities on my campus do that, and i wont mention a specific sorority here, but i happened to be in the student center once when an initiation ceremony was beign set up, and i saw stuff from a chapter as far as initiation attire goes, that i probably shouldnt have seen. I just think in order to keep secrecy that initiations should be done off campus somewhere if chapters have no housing. So i would recommend that.

To this I would add:

Practice. not just what you say but what you do. If you're lighting candles or the like, be sure you know what candles are light when. If you move people in the ceremony, know what you're doing there as well.

Speak slowly, enunciate, project your voice, pause for effect (especially if there is another paragraph) and be sure you know how to pronounce things in your ritual.

Hope this helps.

Be careful with the candles if you're initating girls. :D

One thing I was taught long ago was to always conduct the rituals "slowly and with dignity". You're not going to a fire, and the bar isn't closing anytime soon, so don't rush through the ceremonies.

Try to memorize the ceremonies and deliver your lines with conviction. You won't win the 'hearts and minds' of your candidates if you deliver your lines in a flat, dull monotone.

Shortly after the ceremonies, make sure to review the ceremonies with the new initiates. Especially important is the proper instruction of any of the orally transmitted secret work. It would not do very well if any of your new initiates visit another chapter or meet an alumnus and have no idea how to perform the modes of recognition properly - at the very least they might be forgiven for being a newbie, at worst they could be tagged an impostor!

If your ritual uses any candles, flambeaus or open flame devices, BE SURE to have a fire extinguisher ready and someone who knows how to use it. Keep them away from any decoration, robe or other paraphernalia that may catch fire. Also be sure to know which are the primary and alternate escape routes in case of a fire or other emergency occurs.

If you are using a location other than your own chapter room to conduct initiations, please be sure to return everything to its proper place when you are done with the ceremonies.

Please be careful if you are using fire. At one of our intations (way before I got in) my great great grand big's hair caught on fire. Everytime something comes up with fire until this day taht story is repeated, and we have to be careful at intation with her!

You've gotten some good advice.

This may be hard to convey in a post, but try to speak from your diaphragm, not from your throat, especially if you don't have a PA system. What I mean is imagine your voice coming up from your gut, with your diaphragm pushing it up and out and supporting it. Your voice will carry better this way and will not tire as easily. (This is something you'll want to know how to do for the courtroom anyway.) If by chance you happen to have a friend who is a trained singer, ask him or her to show you what I mean.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone!

I guess i'm just more nervous that i would be anyway because Frank Patek, the Executive Director, is also coming. Then on Friday I get to go to our district conference up in Niagara Falls. It'll be a PAD filled couple of days.

Seriously, everyone, thank you so much for offering excellent advice!