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Originally Posted by RushIUPiKA
That is good to hear. Only one percent of PIKES are ever colony and chapter members, so joining that group puts you in with a select few. One of the first things you guys should do, I believe, is to put in place a "business" aka recruiting plan. Focus on our four cornerstones of SLAG. Appoint one or two guys for each.
For example, find two of your smartest guys, and appoint them in charge of Scholars. This means these guys are out talking to professors about people in their classes that are academic standouts or even going around and speaking to honor societies/clubs. I am fairly sure that they can also get a list of the incoming freshmen GPA. After getting that, go through, and pick out every guy with atleast a 3.0. Email each one of them and tell them what we're about.
Next, you want to take the opportunity to do a SWOT evaluation. Our consultants do this when they make recruiting and expansion visits. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. In doing this, it gives you a very strong idea of where your colony stands. This also helps establish your target market and shows you the guys that you should be going after.
I did this for our IU Colony over the summer, and thus far, 2 and a half weeks into rush, we have recruited 21 guys. To give you an idea of how successful those strategies have been so far, we signed 15 guys TOTAL (fall and spring) of last year. Granted, I think we have the second largest Greek System in the US, only behind Illinois, however every other chapter on campus has been established for quite sometime. Most of their pledge class numbers right now are at 17 or 18, so we're even AHEAD of them.
If you take these ideas and roll with them, it will guarantee you a successful rush and successful chartering. Feel free to email me at kablessi@indiana.edu. You can also call my cell @ 812-325-4948 if you have any other questions.
Fraternally,
Kyle Blessinger |
kyle, thanks for the advice, I definitely appreciate it, we just submitted our final roster with 20 men on it, which is bigger then some of the smaller fraternities on campus and close to the top tier guys, then pike is going to come and recruit more, so hopefully with luck we will be able to become as big as or bigger then the other fraternities
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Chris and Kyle,
I firmly believe that fraternity membership as a colony member is drastically different than membership in an already established chapter. There are several key things which make being part of a colony truly unique. They are:
-The ability to start something from scratch and to grow it into a successful organization of like-minded men (this is essentially what entrepreneuers do when they start a new business).
-The opportunity to recruit specifically based on need rather than based on what shows up. A colony is generally successful because it addresses its' weaknesses through recruitment. This strategy is rarely practiced by existing chapters, and I believe it is one of the greatest opportunities for a colony.
-The ability to build traditions and norms that will be practiced for years to come. This may sound overly philosophical, but Pike can be whatever you want it to be on your respective campuses. No other organization can change their culture at the drop of a hat.
I think, however, there is a common idea among colony members that the colony has to be 180 degrees different than the existing fraternities on campus. While this idea may seem true, that the Pikes should conduct themselves drastically different than the others, it is important to always remember the climate of the campus and competition from other organizations.
It sounds like Kyle and the Indiana boys are headed in the right direction by appointing specific men to target specific areas within recruitment. Every few years, Bobby Bowden at FSU has to recruit a long snapper, a fullback, and even a placekicker (I say this in jest, Firehouse, the FSU kicker didn't blow the game vs. Miami this year!). Recruitment is exactly the same. If there is one area where we need to be creative, and to think differently than the others, it is in recruitment. If the average at Hofstra is 4-9, Pike should be double that. If at Indiana, where the well-established chapters take a traditional pledge class in the 20s, let's buck the trend and take two 20-man classes in the fall. These concepts may be hard to swallow but they are what keeps Pike at the head of the pack and what makes our expansion process so successful.
Fraternally,
Andy Axsom
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I understand what your saying, but I have a question--- you say we should double the existing size of other fraternities pledge classes, how would you reccomend we do this?
Other groups obviously would want to to do this as well, what is stopping them? it would seem to me that if other fraternities struggle getting pledge classes over 10, how would we go about doing it?
and firehouse, shock and awe, by this do you mean recruiting aggresively and becoming very active socially on campus?
thanks for all the good words
Chris