Input on Recruitment

arnielxa · #1 11-25-2003, 01:25 AM

First off, I'd just like to say that I just became a fully intiated brother of Lambda Chi Alpha...Sigma Phi 527. A crystal clear blur is a great way to describe ritual. It was an amazing experience...

Anyway, I was also voted into the High Delta position. The Sigma Phi chapter is comming off a rather weak rush, at least compared to our numbers in the past. I'm just trying to look for some better ways to motivate men to rush, as well as motivate brothers to recruit. Embry-Riddle is an 84% male school, so there are a lot of guys on campus. But, there are over 10 fraternities on campus. Most of the rush events any one could think of have been done before, or worse other fraternities are using them for their rush as well.

It would be great to get some opinions ranging from brothers and alumni from different chapters and different years. Thanks

In ZAX,
Chris

LCA AZ 1243 · #2 11-25-2003, 01:56 AM

One of the main problems that we had last year was trying to differentiate ourselves from all the other Fraternities on campus. What we did was we looked at the things we liked to do and made them events. We also looked at events that would be fun, give the rushees a chance to talk to brothers, and also CHEAP. The two events that came out of this are poker and kickball.

Poker gives everyone a chance to talk and we normally give out a prize and have some pizza so its pretty cheap.

Kickball is free (except for the balls that we have to buy every semester because we always lose them) because we can reserve the gym for free. We also do the event with a sorority which makes it alittle easier to get guys out.

Sidenote about the BU Greek System. It makes up about 2-3% of the student body. There are five fraternities and 8 sororities where sisters outnumber brothers about 3 or 4 to 1. Fraternity rush is not very successful on a whole. 54 bids were given out this semester (we gave 10 and now have 8 new brothers).

Every school is different so these might not work for you guys, but I hope it helps

arnielxa · #3 11-25-2003, 03:14 AM

I was thinking about doing a poker night. I'd imagine that poker is a great way to spend time talking to prospects. How did you guys set this up?
We are most likely going to do a BBQ with football/volleyball, and probably at another at a brothers house. I just would like to avoid repetative rush events.
Thanks for the help

In ZAX,
Chris

LCA AZ 1243 · #4 11-25-2003, 12:16 PM

What we did was we reserved a room on campus so guys would not have to travel far (most of us live off campus). We broke up the room into four tables (we had 17 guys at the time so we made up tables of 6 or 7 to spread around the brothers and rushees evenly). We played for about an hour or two then when it got down to five rushees we put them together and they play until one wins.

Does anyone else have any events that really worked out well for them or any events that were just really different from what everyone else was doing on campus?

Tom Earp · #5 11-25-2003, 05:58 PM

Hm, hope this is not for $$$$$$$$$, but maybe prizes such as Gift certificates for say Pizza, fast food resturant, or Maybe School paraphaneailia!

How about Volley Ball Tourney, Flag Football, Soft Ball ? Mix the PNA and Actives, then have a speard of Pizza. No body hates Pizza!

Dont do Alchol, just fun stuff. Show them that you are better than the rest!

When seating and cooling down, explain LXA, the History, The Coat of Arms, What the NAFD is, there are so many things that you can do!

Remember, at Founding in 1909, We as a Fraternity have accomplished More than any other Fraternity in existance. 1st to drop Pledges, No Hazing, etc.

We have a legacy to be very Proud of!

arnielxa · #6 11-26-2003, 12:16 AM

It will def be for prizes =)

As far as sports go...i am going to do football, maybe volleyball...but every fraternity on campus does this. I was just wondering if someone has thought of something that no one on campus has used yet.....the recruitment forum isn't much help, and I would rather ask my brothers =P

Also, anyone have any cool rush slogans for shirts, banners, etc.?
I was thinking "Associate with the best, or pledge like the rest"
Thanks for the replies so far guys =)

In ZAX,
Chris

LCA AZ 1243 · #7 11-26-2003, 12:41 AM

We all have long sleeve green shirts that have the cross and crescent and "Associate with Excellence" on the back

We use it all year and its kinda like a trademark. People will see the shirt and after a while everyone will just see any green shirt and the first thing they will think is that person is in LCA.

Another one I saw was "Its not for everyone, but thats the beauty of it."

My personal favorite was from two years ago
"We are what you pretend to be"
But everyone else thinks its too cocky so we don't make the shirt anymore.

arnielxa · #8 11-26-2003, 03:24 AM

I was looking at a lot of long sleeve shirts, nobody on campus has done a long sleeve shirt recently and I thought it would be a cool idea...maybe get Lambda Chi written down one sleeve. Those are some cool ideas for slogans too...
Do you order your shirts from a local store or a larger company?
Sorry for all the questions, but I really want to get on top of things soon, we only have one meeting left this semester...
Thanks

In ZAX,
Chris

LCA AZ 1243 · #9 11-26-2003, 01:20 PM

We got ours from greek101
It was $16 or $18 each for 24 shirts. The more you buy the cheaper it is

LXAAlum · #10 11-26-2003, 02:27 PM

My favorite rush shirt came from Colorado State - on the back was a cartoon, drawn like some of the older "soap opera" cartoons they used to have, with an attractive blonde on the phone, sobbing...

The caption..."Oh Jeff, I love you, but....you're not a Lambda Chi!"

Sweet shirt!

Embry Riddle? I had a student in my public speaking class over the summer trying to pick up some cheap credits - PM me, and I'll give you his name...try to rush him - great guy.

Also, look up roll number 152 - a good friend of mine, and was High Pi just before I was at CSU - Matt Maranto - now living in Chicago.

sggrant · #11 11-26-2003, 07:09 PM

We had a nice rush shirt for 2003. On the front it had letters that said /\XA Rush 2003 and on the back it had to babies in diapers looking down at themselves and it said "Yes, there is a difference." As far as events go. Our house is on a sloping hill (kind of reminds me of a coffee bean field in Costa Rica) and we put a huge slip-n-slide down the hill. The bisqueen is really cheap at wal-mart, and that went over well until the police came and shut it down because several hundred people were standing outside the house. Also, we do poker, because that is fun.

arnielxa · #12 11-26-2003, 07:12 PM

Thnaks for all the input so far guys, It's been a big help...
But the more I think about things the more questions I come up with

I was wondering if any one had any ideas to motivate brothers and AMs to recruit...I was thinking about a discount on dues, although this will require that AM dues will go up, and beta points...any other ideas?

Thanks again

In ZAX,
Chris

john1082 · #13 11-26-2003, 10:02 PM

I believe the guys at Fullerton cut the Associates a break on dues. As I recall, it balances out their AM & Initiation fee.

LCA AZ 1243 · #14 11-28-2003, 04:12 PM

I am not really sure how big your chapter is but last year we were only 9 guys. We are now 27 and we rushed people mainly because of pride. We wanted to be the best on campus and we knew that in order to be the best we had to get the best guys. The was motivation enough, but I can see how chapters that are 2 or 3 times bigger than ours could have motivation problems.

If you can afford it (my chapter could never so we don't do this), give a discount to the guys who rush the most guys, but make sure they rush quality guys by discounting dues based on how many rushees associate or how many rushees eventually get initiated.

Stress bringing out future brothers and not just bringing out bodies to fill a rush event.

Tom Earp · #15 11-28-2003, 05:24 PM

Chris, what a Fantastice idea!!!!!!!!

I got email from one of my Actives Brothers who said as of last meeting they raised dues to 112.00 a month since we demolished our house. Dues were 60.00 a month as made money off of the House for living in it.

I will pass this along as we are almost in the same position as you were.

We always have Founders Day in Feb. and have Ritual for a Outstanding Associate. This gets the Alum blood running again P P G. Instead of having a KeyNote Speaker, we are going to do an Auction for money going to the Zeta.

Now the thing is to get some good Items to auction. I know I am giving a wide range of them!

Just a throw in thought for all Of the Brothers.
\
Anyone want to send me something for Our Auction???