formal meetings.....disruptive behavior

[1heart1way]

Anyone experience "problems" in formal meetings...like, note passing, excessive clapping @ good news, giggling, laughing, whispering.....ECT?

It's so disrespectful.....is it even worth bringing up to change? Or is there just a "girls will be girls" mentality? I'm just shocked sometimes that people act so badly at meetings.

Anyone else?

[PSUSigKap]

i think every chapter has that at some point or another. our president would usually jump in with a stern "ladies we're in a formal meeting." that would usually quiet the offenders.

[BetteDavisEyes]

Funny you should mention this. It has happened at formal meetings before. I was floored by girls giggling, passing notes, and telling jokes. It wasn't until one of the advisors stood up & commented on it that the ladies finally got the message. I can definitely remember a time when girls would not even dream of doing this during formal meeting. Now it's like some girls aren't being taught to be respectful during meetings.
When (and if) I ever become an advisor, I will definitely put my foot down over thie type of behavior.
Another thing I would clarify is the dress code. Just b/c you're wearing a skirt does NOT mean it's appropriate attire. Girls are more interested in looking cute and trendy than being appropriately attired for meeting. I let it slide tonight with a warning but can guarantee that it will not happen again or girls will be sent home until they get the message.

[1heart1way]

OOOOH I hear ya on the dress code issue!!!

All of the sudden, khakis that have all these pockets and zippers are appropriate to some people! Or the problem of people not fitting into the clothes they're wearing....

It's just sad that people can't respect ritual. It's the thing that makes us different from other groups....but ritual seems more like a chore to some of the ladies....

[GirlWithPearls]

when I was EVP I had to battle this a little bit. I threatened to have a cell phone basket at meetings...where everyone would have to put their phone in the basket at the beginning of meeting so that there would be no texting! We also had everyone line up their purses against the wall and notebooks were to be placed under the chair in front of you, until you were told you could take notes, vote, etc. That all worked pretty well. I think there's always going to be some kind of antsy-ness at meetings, i know especially when things get long and ahem, boring.

[honeychile]

Please excuse me for crashing, but we had this problem. We finally solved it with a combination of timing the meeting so that it lasted exactly one hour, and if anyone talked or otherwise misbehaved, everyone (in a position of authority) would stop, put their gavel/pen/whatever down and stare at the offenders.

It took about 2 weeks!

[33girl]

Since honey crashed so will I.

Do you have anything "fun" at the beginning of meetings, like a sunshine jar where people put in little notes to each other? If you get some of the "energy" out at the beginning of the meeting - ESPECIALLY if they're on Sunday and everyone is still buzzing about the weekend - it makes the actual "formal' part of the meeting go more smoothly.

Something else maybe fun to do is instead of saying "here" or "present" when the role is called, say your favorite makeup brand or pizza topping or something silly like that.

Obviously if this goes against your formal meeting rules somehow, don't do it.

[1heart1way]

I think it'll be hard to make this better...there's always those few "trouble-makers."

I love my sisters, but sometimes just wonder what they're thinking!

[BetteDavisEyes]

I don't think we're allowed to do this but I'll bring it up & see what happens.
I am getting annoyed by the cell phone crap. I would like to tell these ladies that vibrate is not silent. We can still hear it. It's annoying. As for the dress code, girls complain a lot about it b/c they are always getting harassed but if they bothered to listen, they wouldn't get in trouble over inappropriate dress.

[Aquastar]

wow ... and I'm annoyed by the behavior in my chapter, but if anyone took out a cell phone I think I'd kill them!!
Majority of our chapter members don't even bring their bags to meetings ... and although there are a few people who are giggling and talking, we don't have too much interuption. Maybe it is because my chapter is kind of on the small side.

We have "Flamers" at the very end of the meeting where sisters can write notes to each other ... they are put in a basket and everyone picks one and reads it ... although we've had to have discussion about what is appropriate and not appropriate to put in those notes (and I'm not actully sure why they are called flamers)
<3

[cuteboy'smom]

OK, I'm going to come across like an old fuddy-duddy, BUT...

When I was in college (mid-80s), cell phones were practically unheard of so they were not a problem during our meetings. I just can't imagine a sister having the poor taste to bring a cell phone into a formal meeting! I hope most chapters have rules against this.

We always took the house telephone off the hook so our meeting would not be interrupted by ringing. Girls wore dresses or skirts to formal meetings. My memory may be faulty, but I don't remember anyone wearing slacks (let alone khakis!) to business meetings.

Whispering or giggling was gaveled by the president.

[sueali]

In my chapter we do not have a house so purses, bags and cellphones have to be brought into the room because we have nowhere else to put them. However, our girls are pretty good about turning them off. The note passing at our meetings is pretty normal and I guess our chapter doesn't really see this as rude as we pass numerous things around the room sign up sheets, dues statements, so notes just go with them. Dress code is definately an issue. I am an advisor and during our advisors academy we discussed how the idea of formal dress has changed since we were in the chapter (I'm not that old but it has definately changed). But the one thing that girls need to learn is how to properly sit with a skirt or dress on because if you are at the front of the room let's just say you can see pretty much everything.

[SigKapQueen]

since we live in vegas and it gets really hot around here there are sometimes when girls wear whatever they want to wear. our evp and advisors are very good at pointing it out in a discreet manner. when i was on executive board a few years ago we realized it was a problem and did a program/fashion show at an informal meeting. we had "what not to wear" and what is appropriate" maybe your evp can incoporate with a etiquette program at an informal, cuz i know it work well with my chapter.

[astralis]

We're a pretty small chapter here, so if someone's being disrespectful it isn't hard to tell who it is. Since we're smaller than average (ceiling 60!) I think there's a lot of mutual respect. Girls know better than to bring phones in. In fact, no one brings anything in except maybe a binder or notebook and a pen. We have our silly meetings and our serious ones, but everyone's respectful.

[Dove Gal]

It's been awhile since I have been on here

Let me offer some suggestions for your chapter. I was EVP of my chapter a couple of years ago, and I know how disrespectful talking, and note passing can be. What we did to combat those types of problems is by stating certain things are not allowed in the formal meetings (cell phones, talking w/out permisson, and note passing etc.). We normally made a general announcement during meeting about "please be considerate of Sigma Kappa ritual and cut out all the unnessary chit chatting, note passing, or whatever is going on."

Normally we had it set in our Code of Conduct what is allowed and not allowed in formal meeting If it became a problem with the same person then Standards Council can call them to standards. Just remind the ladies that it's ritual and that will get their attention. If it's not set in your CofC then you should make an admendment to your CofC and set guidelines for your your chapter during formal meeting.