My Chapter Room?

[Sistermadly]

Does anyone here use Mychapterroom.com? Is it really worth the $700 setup fee?

[agrphi]

I'm curious to know more about how this product works. Anyone use it?

[AOQTII]

I am what is essentially a chapter consultant for my sorority and the chapters that I have worked with that do use mychapterroom like it. As far as viewing it from an IHQ viewpoint I think it is an awful thing. I think it detracts from chapters communication. Instead of a chapter member or an officer going to have physical contact with another member he/she will just email it instead. With my background in sociology I think it is just another thing that makes our society more lazy! My suggestion is for any chapter to not use mychapterroom.com keep the virtual contact with your sisters/brothers to email, and try to keep the little physical contact you still have with them in tact. A lot of chapters have issues with their members even checking it so I dont see the use in the $700 set up fee!

[33girl]

How is this different than a listserv, myspace or facebook?

Plus w/ some groups mandating all their chapters use the same financial software, that component would be useless - so why (partly) pay for it?

[jeh818]

my chapter uses it, and it was slightly obsolete for a while because girls weren't logging on. but since we're paying for it, we decided to force people to use it by only putting things on MCR and not offering paper copies of things. MCR has a lot of really useful features if you use them, and it's actually now in our bylaws that girls must log on at least once a week.

[phisiglindsey]

I would never want to use this website. It's the exact same thing our HQ website does for us, and we'd be paying too much for it. I would advise people to explore different options.

[sigep2009]

Originally Posted by phisiglindsey

I would never want to use this website. It's the exact same thing our HQ website does for us, and we'd be paying too much for it. I would advise people to explore different options.

hey you probably won't see this but what program does your nationals offer you? is it as complete as mychapterroom.com and can outside organizations use the same program? my fraternity just switched over to chapterspot.com and we like it but im looking for some comparisons

[OleMissGlitter]

One of the chapters I work with uses The Gin Systems which looks similar. It has helped with cutting down paper costs since this particular chapter has over 200 members. They also post other important announcements over the summer on it. I think it is a great tool. I can see how it can detract from chapter communications however, if it is used properly it really does help with communications. Nowadays, students' inboxes are filled with so much and their facebook inboxes too, so this allows them to login and see what's going on. It should not take the place of chapter meetings and other important committee meetings. The Gin Systems also allows you to text message members important messages. This has been very helpful if a meeting time has had to change at the last minute or there is an emergency meeting.

[socalGPhiB]

Hey guys, I know this thread is a little old but I thought I'd post anyways. My Gamma Phi chapter uses ChapterBoard.com and they really like it (they started using it right after I graduated). I was on my chapter's house corp. board and we actually used ChapterBoard.com as well and it was really helpful since we only met once a month and our board members live all over the place. It was also kind of cool because the chapter execs were on there a lot so they responded faster than with emails. I agree that you should definitely keep the physical contact between members but if an online service can help you get things done faster, I don't see any problem in using it so long as you don't abuse it (i.e. stop talking to members).

I know ChapterBoard.com is free to use (my chapter didn't want to pay for the GIN system because they're 120+ girl chapter and GIN charges based on membership size). My chapter's been using it now since summer 2007 and I think there are a few other chapters at my school that use it too. Just my two cents, hope this helps!

[a-chi-o]

I'm also posting a little late, but from MY own experience, The Gin System completely sucks! lol But My Chapter Room is awesome! We use those forums to each other like crazy and they help out a whole lot!! I'd definitely go for it!!

[excelblue]

$700 just for setup?! Sounds like a ripoff.

It appears that Google Apps pretty much does everything they do, except in a less specific way. However, it's free.

As for privacy: I'd imagine they'd respect it a bit more if you upgraded to a business level account; even that's much cheaper than the $700.

[victoriana]

My chapter uses the GIN System and it's pretty awesome, as long as someone knows how to run it

[BabyBearADPi]

My chapter is just beginning to use the Gin System, but we have been using Omega Financial for our billing and such. Omega allows officers to send out emails to the entire chapter, so I don't see any need for the Gin System (but the text feature would be nice), except that EO is making all chapters start using it...

[kmk09]

My chapter uses MCR. I think as long as you make clear that it MUST be checked and utilized on a regular basis, it's worth it. The forum is nice because we can do things like make a thread to collect everyone's t-shirt sizes before placing an order. We also use MCR to submit excuses for missing chapter/other events. Additionally, the minutes from each chapter meeting are posted here. I like it! It's a great way to communicate information without sending out a bazillion emails, especially for women like myself who don't live in the house. I think we've been using it for several years now, and perhaps it was a little strange to get used to at first, but today it's just normal for me to check it and use it.

[als463]

I like the GIN System-and not just because a Phi Mu from University of Florida is one of the founders of the company but, also because it is useful. Another thing I like about the GIN System is it is run by pretty much all Greeks who understand the importance of having something accessible and easy to use for GLOs.