What do you do to interact with your PNM's during rush?
 

Hey guys, my chapter is in the process of planning out our fall rush, and we are trying to come up with some good ideas of things to have going on kind of in the background I guess you could say to keep people entertained. I'm talking about like having the cornhole board set up and playing cornhole, you know little things like that that brothers and PNMs can both take part in to stimulate conversation and bring each other together outside of simply standing around and conversing or eating food.
Last year for fall rush we had the traditional cornhole, and we had a ping pong table outside as well, and we also had a live band playing. This year, however, is the first time we are going to be rushing out of a sorority house, so our space is a little bit more limited. Therefore, we are looking for some easy and fun things to keep things interesting while the new guys are stopping by. Any suggestions?

OK, need a little more info to help. What's the format of the rush? formal, informal? how much space do you have? how much money do you have?

Ah sorry I knew I should have included that info, haha.
I'm guessing that you would consider our rush "informal" because the guys can wander around to any rush location they want at any time, there's no set schedule. So I guess that makes it informal by your standards?

Anyways. I'm actually not certain on how much space we have because we aren't using our chapter house as the location, we are using a sorority house. I've been to this house before, and they have a pretty spacious front patio area in front of the house which I am assuming will be the primary area for hanging out, with the food being in the lobby/dining room just inside the front doors. Outside of that, I don't know for certain if we have any other space to work with. There isn't much of a yard to speak of.

As for the budget, I'm not sure on either, its usually covered by our alumni so I don't think its much of an issue.

I'm basically just looking for ideas to keep guys who stop by interested, give them something to interact with our brothers with outside of just conversation. Nothing big, like I said, we of course will have a couple sets of cornhole going, stuff along those lines.

what on earth is cornhole?

We've found guitar hero in coop mode to be very effective. Poker is good. If there's any yard at all, having a football out to just toss around works. We've had a hookah several times, which is a lot of fun, although I dunno how the sorority will feel about it at their house. Just any kind of normal activity yall do together anyway. It doesn't need to be special, just something to put the PNMs at ease so you can get to know them.

Cornhole, rushing out of sorority house, and no set IFC schedule. Are you at Kentucky? :)

http://www.unturned.net/blog_images/cornhole.jpg

The American Cornhole Association

DamnProud1873 - If you are rushing out of a sorority house, be sure to confirm with the officer(s) in charge of the house regarding "dos and don'ts". For example, if you are serving food, make sure you know where the rushees can and can not eat it. And be sure that after the rush party, their house is as clean - or cleaner - than when you arrived. If a party goes too late to clean it that night, then y'all be there first thing in the morning to clean. And after rush is over, send the chapter flowers and maybe serenade them while y'all are at it. Send their House Mother a nice thank you gift as well. These little touches will go a long way down the line.

We don't call it this, but it's God's game.

I take it you don't mean "Texas Tech", because I'm pretty sure they play it all the time there.

I grew up calling it Corn Toss or Bean Toss. It wasn't unitl I got to UK did I hear it called Cornhole.

Haha yes man I am at Kentucky! It's funny how little details like that can give it away. And thanks for the advice but we have already got ground rules established for the sorority house and plans on some nice thank you gestures (we do the serenade thing quite well). All good advice, but is there anything else you guys would suggest for background rush activities?

Can you take over the side yard? That particular house doesn't really have as much front porch space as you might think, but there's the whole quad area to the side. You might have to fight the other fraternities for it, though. Does that house also have a small concrete patio behind the house?

A casino night? Set up some big screens and have the olympics going? Outdoor Rock Band tournament? Don't forget to think of some way to do things inside, in case of rain. Google is your here - find out what words at other schools.

We never called it cornhole either until a few years ago, and I'm from LEX. Now my church-lady senior citizen MOM talks about going to the neighbors for a cookout and cornhole.

Good advice ztafromuk.

Just a few additional comments. Some of this may already have been considered.

Rush isn't until Monday, August 25th so the Olympics should be over by then. So instead of the Olympics, have a baseball game on in the background.

And I want to reiterate that any activates that you might have planned for outside, be sure that they can be moved indoors. Or at lease have some backup for indoors only. Cause it could rain. And speaking of rain, are y'all allowed to put up party tents in the quad? Even if it isn't necessary (i.e. no rain), it gives a territory or definition to your outdoor events. As I recall, there isn't that much space in the quad so this might be important to consider if other fraternities rush out of any of the other sorority houses as well. And if you haven't already, maybe get some Tiki lamps (torches) and fill with bug repellent. It can get nasty outdoors and if you are having outdoor events, you don't want the rushees being bitten by mosquitoes.

Finally, some "off the wall" things I've seen over the years. They can be hit or miss, so take them as you will. I've seen girls doing the hula-hoop outside of rush parties. Frankly, it had nothing to do with anything per say. However, a couple of girls "innocently" gyrating outside of the house sure as heck got guys to drop in. Another was a giant "wheel of fortune" thing (not sure what they are called) that was lit up. Everyone won a "prizes". Things that anyone would get by being there. Such as "Free Food", "Conversation with an ABC", "House Tour". On the surface, really lame stuff. But again, it worked in getting guys interested in stopping. Remember, it is a free for all so you first got to get them to stop at your party.

Best of luck and Go Cats!

Guys I appreciate all the help a lot! I'll be sure to mention to the rest of the chapter about the possibility of using our canopy in the quad. The Rock Band thing was a good mention, everybody loves that game and it isn't too intensive so guys can just play a round and then move back to talking to brothers or whatever. As far as the "off the wall" things you suggested Steven, those sound like a great way just to get guys in the place, but we have had problems with stuff like that attracting guys that aren't really cut out for greek life here, who last one semester and then drop out or kill our GPA. But thanks for all the suggestions.

So, what Fraternity are you in at UK? Dare I say it, but I'm at UL. Our Rush week isn't until the 3rd week of school, so Sept 8th-11th. I was actually going to come to our chapter down at UK and see how Rush is done down there. I'm sure our Rush format is very similar though. I just wanted ideas for our Rush week.

DammProud1873,

What do you guys do when you're hanging out and it's not a rush event?

My advice would be to do that.

You're looking to bring in guys who not only are interest in joining a fraternity, but in joining YOUR fraternity. What better way to help them meet you than by showing them how you act when you're not under the pressure of formal rush?

TSteven, et al,

I actually do like gimmicks, also. I personally have had good success with a live band (being a musician, it drew me to our house, and has helped draw other musicians) as well as other similar loud / visible icons that serve to set your house apart from the others.

As always, I hope I can help,

hey guys just as an update, our rush went very well. We were close to doubling our numbers; here's to hoping they all prove worthy when it comes time for initiation. thanks for all the tips. being at a sorority was definitely a different experience, overall positive. The cornhole/football/rockband/music held things over quite well to keep the conversations from getting stale. I'm a musician as well, so i just walked around the rush site strumming on the six string during lulls which definitely helped, i would suggest that to anyone who is able.

thanks for everybody's help.

Congratulations!

And what about that win Sunday?! :D