I joined my organization it our third pledge class when we were still a colony. I had the honor to serve as colony/chapter president when we received our charter.
In terms of the survey, yes I mean a real survey. Delta Chi's needs assessment survey has the following questions:
- What are your hobbies/leisure time activities?
- What kinds of parties/social activities do you like best?
- What sports do you enjoy participating in?
- What sports do you enjoy as a spectator?
- What are some subject areas/discussion topics you find interesting? (You don't already have to know much about them)
- What kinds of cultural activities do you enjoy, either as a participant or spectator?
- What are your major academic concerns?
- What are several major personal hassles you have had in the past few years?
Basically you hand this out two weeks before a retreat and have them work on it and turn it in at the next colony meeting. Then at the retreat compile a list of this the colony does on a weekly basis. The distribute the results of the survey. Most likely the things the colony does weekly are not the things that are on the survey results. The degree to which the lists do not correlate is an indication of the colony's failure to meet its members needs. Work with the colony to develop ways to meet these needs.
For example if half of your members enjoy camping, why not plan a semesterly camping trip. If many of your members enjoy playing football, have your brotherhood chair organize a weekly pick up football game on campus. If a large portion enjoy reading, start up a book club, and so on.
The reason I warned against becoming to "me-centric" is because one of my greatest failures as colony/chapter president was failing to realize that I was supporting my fraternity's want and needs and not my own. It definitely kept me from being more successful in the position, and I don't want this to happen to you.