i need suggestions badly!!
 

Start by using spellcheck?

Do a power point presentation or use visuals.

Spelling aside....try making it into a game. Especially the first time, use a quick game to determine what people already know.

After seeing this person's post, I don't know if I would suggest THAT...:p

You could make it look like retelling of a story where you are the story teller.

Tell the chapter that taped under a few seats are pieces of paper. Those with the papers should come to the front of the room and read the highlighted sections when it is their turn.

That will get some people moving around. You can also make some props.

Also, have candy on hand and reward people for participation whenever they raise their hands.

Show a movie. Even if it has nothing to do with what you are talking about, people will be less likely to get bored.

Please NO! Powerpoint is maybe the most abused technology around today. I have weathered countless Powerpoint presentations over the years, and in only one or two did the Powerpoint actually add to rather than distract from the presentation. I have come to the conclusion that Powerpoint should only be used by those who really know what they're doing and can be creative with it. Otherwise, it's just flashing on a screen what the speaker is already saying.

/Pet Peeve

Thank you!!! If I want to READ about the topic, I'll buy the book. If I want to be read to, I'll go to story hour at the library.

Yes, thank you. People think PowerPoint is some catch-all that will save a presentation, and it's not. There are a lot of situations where PowerPoint just doesn't work well.

Game shows are the best way to go! Plus giving prizes are fun!

Agree totally with all the PowerPoint hate. I think if my boss could have sex with PowerPoint, she would.

33's boss: Ohhh PowerPoint you make me sooo hottttt!!!!! :D

Starting with the founding of the sorority is a good idea. And going forward I would perhaps suggest talking about different individuals and telling their stories.

For example, if you have a series of 9 lectures to deliver- maybe make the first one about the founding of the sorority, and then each time thereafter do an "era" of the sorority focusing on 1 or 2 distinguished alumni.

Your second lecture could cover the 1930s and talk about what sorority life was like during the Depression. What were women majoring in back then? What was sorority life like? How big was the chapter? etc.

Then the 3rd could be about the 1940s. Maybe some of the sorority sisters joined the WACs or were Rosie Riveters working in the War effort. There was rationing as well back then. How did that affect sorority life? A minor detail, but there could be some interesting stories there.

And then you just go on- each time picking a more recent era and finding out all you can about your chapter at the time plus details about an alumna or two and what they did during and after their sorority days. Especially good choices are alumnae who worked with the sorority after graduation since you can research what the chapter meant to them as adults.

And the newer the eras get, the more luck you will have tracking down living alumnae to give you some first hand accounts.

The big picture goal is to show how your chapter and its ideals have endured through several generations. Do this right and you might have some alumnae start showing up for these events- or ask them yourself. Let them give part of the presentation by telling some stories. Or you could write a standard list of questions that each of them will answer at the end of telling their own stories- like what James Lipton does on Inside the Actor's Studio.

That would be my suggestion. The goal is to avoid history that you learn in the easy places- pledge manuals, general American history etc. It will take some digging, but I am sure there are 100s of untold stories that your chapter would enjoy hearing. And the more you can get alumnae who were there to come and tell the stories first hand- the better.

If your chapter has the budget for it, perhaps you can have these lectures after chapter dinner and make it a special dinner each time where the alumnae invited to join in the presentation have dinner with the chapter.