[thetygerlily]

I would agree with everyone that advised befriending people to turn them into PNMs. That's really what made me go through formal (we had deferred). An upperclassman was hanging posters in my dorm, and we randomly struck up a conversation. She was so nice and interesting- and then gasp, she was the president of one of the sororities! She invited me over for coffee later and I wound up going through recruitment... and joined her group. She wound up being my big sis.

Another consideration is how visibly active the members are around campus. The more non-Greeks see Greeks doing the same things they're doing (going to class, the cafeteria, library, sporting events, etc) the less strange or foreign they will seem. It's especially good for a chapter, but even better for an entire Panhellenic system. Pick a couple of days a week where everyone wears Greek apparel (and change it up since you see a different group of people every day). When you are thinking of favors or other group-wide items, think about anything that you use frequently that others will see: totes, water bottles (nice ones!), jackets, or travel coffee mugs. Picture frames, glass jars, mugs, and the like will be great in your bedroom but probably won't be walking around campus with you. Something that works double duty as a PR tool is always going to be a good option, as long as it's decent quality that you'll actually use.

Otherwise I think it's just about being outgoing... taking the initiative to strike up conversations, invite someone to sit with you in the cafeteria, ask someone to go to coffee, join a group going to see a movie. If you can get past small talk with classmates or coworkers you can play off shared interests to push the relationship further. It's similar to what you do in recruitment- "oh, you love XYZ? You have to meet my sister Susie- she absolutely loves XYZ too!" That's a great skill that if you hone it well in college, it'll serve you very well in your career. I'm really only so-so at going deeper with people (one of the areas I constantly work on, I'm not super outgoing) but every job I've had after college was came from a connection. It's been a lot easier than it otherwise would've been because of my sorority experience... but I wish I had known then how much it'd come into play in the real world!