[ScarletBlueGold]

Here are a few things that some things my chapter has come up with.

1. Hookah Night: my national office and my Greek Life Office really hate the fact that we do this event. I will tell you that it turns off anyone who doesn't smoke, but we usually get a strong showing of people who don't come to any of our other events. We find a smaller place that can let us rent the whole thing for a week-night, and we usually bring some chips/salsa and LOTS OF BOTTLED WATER. People get so thirsty so fast. Make sure you have some.

2. Whirly-Ball: This is a thing that is pretty much local to where I am from. You play lacrosse in bumper-cars, it's a lot of fun. If you don't have it where you guys are at, look for something that is local and fun. A lot of guys who are not from the area are excited to attend something they can tell their friends back home about.

3. Bonfire: It's cheap, it's fun, and it's pretty easy. Get a couple of your guys who play guitar to bring them. This is a great opportunity to do some sort of ice-breaker that will help you get to know your PNMs better.

4. Service Event: I hope you don't mind me "bashing" your philanthropy event idea, but it sounds kind of lame. I would recommend something where people don't have to spend any money, and that is a little more active. We probably get the largest number of excellent potentials from this event than we do any other. Last year we did this service project called "kayak power" where we cleaned up a lake in kayaks. It was a TON of fun. We called the event "Service and Steak", first we did our service project, and then we grilled steaks for lunch. (You can buy steaks wholesale at a meat distributor as long as you pick it up yourself and get some amazing prices. We did this event for $150 total.)

5. Dodgeball: This event was actually so successful that we started doing it regularly every Tuesday. It's really easy to put together, it's cheap, and you get good time on the side-lines to talk to potentials. I would recommend scheduling some kind of informal event afterwards and switching the teams throughout the event so that you get a chance to meet the most people.

Those are usually the best our chapter does as far as events goes, but I do have a few more suggestions.

1. STOP Buffalo Wild Wings Night: First of all, I am sure you guys are dropping a grip on this event. Not only are you renting a bus (national policy?), but you are buying a ton of food for people. Take the money you would have spent for this event and create a small fund for brothers to take PNMs out to lunch/dinner/coffee with. You will be AMAZED at how well this works. Take all of those names/phone numbers/emails you have gathered from tabling and invite those guys out for lunch/dinner/coffee. Take one extra brother with you (remember the +1 rule) and just talk to him about joining. You will have a MUCH higher success rate trust me (I don't know your campus at all, but I can only guess that 80% of the guys who go to your BWW event end up not joining?)

We got the idea because FIJI colonized at our school. At a school with a population right about the same as yours, they managed to get 32 guys in a single semester while only holding ONE event the whole time. They got most of them by offering free food, but instead of having it at a big event, they just invited the people that they got from referrals. If you are thinking, "Isn't it intimidating inviting a guy we don't know very well to have lunch with two guys he might know even less?". Oddly enough, no. Most of the guys are pretty flattered and happy to feel "singled out" by a couple of guys in a Fraternity. To quote one of the guys we recruited this way, "Yeah, it was a little intimidating, but not nearly as intimidating as being invited out to eat with 50 guys I didn't know".

2. Scavenger Hunt?: I have NO idea how you guys are able to do this, but scavenger hunts are, by far, considered to be hallowed ground that no Greek is allowed to walk on. I know of no Fraternity that is allowed to do this by their national office. Secondly, doesn't this limit the number of guys that get to meet the brothers? I would try something where you get to interact as an entire group. We used to do a Capture the Flag night for our recruitment. We nixed it because of risk management issues, and because we knew there were better events that didn't spread our potential member pool out so much.

The single most valuable piece of advice I can give you would be this: Never forget that these events do very little to "recruit" people. Maybe you could get one or two randoms from having a fun event you try to get as many strangers out to as possible. Dorm-storming, funny t-shirts, and BIG events are fun and all, but they really don't get you as many people as a single brother going out and meeting a guy, making him his friend, introducing him to his friends, talking to him about joining the Fraternity, and then asking him to join.