Mandatory Events
 

One thing our chapter prides itself on is being different from the rest. We are the first, and only Non-pledging fraternity on campus, and we have a lot of differences between us and the already existing fraternities. One thing that we like to boast, is that we do not require you to participate in everything because we feel that you can have a life outside of our brotherhood. With this, we haven't made any events (that aren't deemed so by IFC) mandatory for members to show.

Today we had a new fraternity have a colonization ceremony on campus, I anounced it to everyone of the chapter, and requested that some please show up to show support. Well, it happened just as I figured it was, I was the only one there from my chapter, and the rest of the fraternities/sororities (that actually participate in stuff other than partying) had at least 5 members (mostly exec board). Our "competition" as they call us, had almost everyone from their chapter there, and they stuck out like an apple in a basket of oranges, and there I was, a grape being slowly pushed to the bottom. As you can tell, I am not too happy at the current moment, and was wondering if anyone else has had similar situations, and if so how you got people to start doing thigs? Or, should I just start making things mandatory?

The only meetings I would consider making 'mandatory' events would be formal chapter meetings, pledging ceremonies and initiations. Unless you have a valid excuse (class, work, family emergency), you are expected to be at the meeting at the appropriate time in the appropriate place.

Before swinging the proverbial baseball bat and/or 2x4 by threatening fines or disciplinary board hearings, may I suggest setting up a merit/demerit points system. For example:

+10 points for paying dues and fees on time
-2 for paying 2-5 days late
-5 for paying 6-10 days late
-10 for paying 10+ days late
-10 for returned checks to the chapter

+5 for attending regular chapter meeting
+10 for attending and participating in rituals

and so on... Based on the total number of points earned in the semester or year determines eligibility for running for office, preference points for housing, etc.

Anyone else have any other ideas?

We make anything such as meetings, community service projects, rush events, etc. mandatory. If you can't make it for any reason, you have to call the recording secretary and let her know beforehand. Otherwise, if you don't show up, there's a $5 fine for it.

I do think that some things have to be mandatory (Initiation, meeting, special ritual or alumnae events) but to increase attendance get an incentive program going! A point system is great, with incentives to reach different levels of points. Really important events get a lot more points. Get creative with incentives. Blockbuster gift certificates, free ticket to Spring Formal, I dunno.. things guys like! A weekly travelling award for the brother with the most points that week, etc.

Dee

Even now when something is really, really important I'll say, "It's a chapter function!" Of course my non-Greek staff and board have no idea what I mean.

<vbg>

We use a merit system ... if you dont come to stuff then you cant go to like the mixers formals etc

Mandatory events within my chapter were chapter meetings, ritual, anything to do with rush (retreat, work week, rush itself), and anything Panhel made mandatory. You would have to be on your deathbed to be excused from initiation. :p

For social activities, we had to go to a certain percentage. Formals counted as two activities. This was a good compromise between sisters in relationships (who really weren't interested in mixers) and sisters not in relationships (who wanted to skip the date party).

For everything else, we had a points system. You got points for things like attending other GLOs' charity fundraisers, doing community service with the chapter, etc. I think we got points for the social stuff too. The sister with the most points each semester got an award and a small discount on her dues. If you didn't get a certain number of points, you were called to standards.

Would something like this work? The carrot and stick approach, but more carrot than stick.

ETA: Something else we tried was specifying that once you agreed to attend a non-mandatory event (especially mixers) it became mandatory for you and you could face repercussions if you didn't keep your word. This was especially important with mixers because we were one of the smallest GLOs on campus, so if the majority of sisters didn't want to go, there wasn't much point to scheduling a mixer... then if we held the mixer and only 5 women showed up because a bunch of women who said they'd go bailed, it made us look bad and offended the fraternity.

Meetings definitely.

Definitely meetings with an attitude, eh???


(couldn't resist)

Mandatory events in my APO chapter included rush (everyone had to go to at least one rush meeting), induction, initiation, and CPPC. (chapter planning retreat, where we reviewed what we'd done and planned for the next semester. This was usually combined with a service project and brotherhood retreat. It was much more fun than it sounds!) You also could only miss I think two active meetings per semester. If you couldn't go to any of those, you had to work it out with the membership VP. (There were makeup activities allowed but it was on a per-case basis)

Since we are a service fraternity, everyone had to do a minimum number of service hours per semester. I think it was usually 25 hours, of which at least 10 had to be in-chapter hours. It was possible to do all your hours as in-chapter (official chapter service project) hours, although volunteering with outside organizations was very much encouraged. Most people usually exceeded that and there was always a prize given to the brother with the most service hours at the end of each semester.

:D

In our chapter, anything can be made mandatory, but we usually vote on whether it will be or not. We also have a rule that there must be 2 weeks notice before anything can be made mandatory.
Rush Functions: We have a lot of summer rush functions... so lets say we have 5 rush trips in the summer, we have policies that say if you do not go on at least 3 of these trips, you do not get to vote in bid-session in the fall.
Ritual: $25 fine for missing ritual
Drop-ins or Mixers: Often, we have to pay for a bus or something, so everyone has to pay $5-10... whether you go or not.
Of course anyone can get out of these fines if they turn in an excuse to the secretary...
It seems to work pretty well for us. Often, we don't have to make things mandatory though, we just really sell the event in the meeting and question the brotherhood/dedication of those who would refuse to go.