Getting the word out....

[equeen]

How did your organization successfully communicate to students, that there was a new greek organization on campus looking for members? Are there any unusual methods that have worked for you?

I would say this would be of particular interest especially where there was no external support available, such as from an area alumni association, or an umbrella organization such as Greek Affairs.

Some ideas that have worked for my chapter:

* notes in the Campus Calendar (in the student newspaper)

* setting up informational booths in heavily traveled areas.

* word-of-mouth.

Of course, these are fairly standard...one extrordinary method that worked is wearing the candidate pin throughout the candidate period. It's fairly unique, and actually looks more like the standard badge, so it elicited a lot of curious questions.

[SilverTurtle]

Some of these may sound really basic, but when I was PR chair of my GLO I had a 4 page list of PR tactics, and a lot of them I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

• Campus Newspaper. I've noticed that no matter how bad the campus paper is, students will read, or at least browse it every week. Have a member write an informative article about your chapter, or ask a staff member to write one.
  
• Major Signage. Whenever you are holding info meetings, interest meetings, rush stuff, etc. that is open to prospective members, put signs everywhere. Good places are on the insides of elevator doors, above drinking fountains, and on doors (at eye-level) students walk through a lot. Use colored paper, odd shapes, etc. My campus also allowed student orgs to hang banners in the mail room and the cafeteria (although we did have to get permission 1st) and they supplied banner paper and paint!
  
• Chalk. We didn't have any kiosks on campus, and weren't allowed to staple flyers to trees. So all of the GLOs announced events by going out with a bucket of sidewalk chalk! They would write all of the info across the sidewalks in the high traffic areas of campus.
  
• Invitations. We used to pass around a sheet and have members put the names (and any other info) of people they knew (friends, someone from class, etc.) that they thought might be interested in our GLO and would be good members. Then we would go through the Student Directory to get their mailbox # and, whenever a rush or informative event was coming up, would send them an actual invitation. This makes it seem more formal and also lets them know that you are interested in them. (I actually know some members who probably wouldn't have come to any meetings or anything if they hadn't been specifically invitated!)
  
• Wearing letters, pins, etc. The more students see your letters, the more aware of your org they become. A really good thing to do is some kind of visable campus service project (like a campus clean-up) and have everyone wear their letters. You'll have people asking you all day about your org!
  

Hope those help. They have worked well for my GLO, especially when we were trying to boost membership interest.

------------------
SilverTurtle@greekchat.com
Phi Beta Fraternity
Phi chapter

[ZChi4Life]

Yeah we did all that....what am I saying...we are DOING all that

We are definitely making ourselves walking billboards! I try to wear some form of letters as much as I can.

Another good way is to try to attend all the things that your school has for welcoming the freshmen. I don't know at other schools, but we have welcome week. There are TONS of things to do. So not only are we attending some things, but my org will actually be volunteering at some of the events. So I think this is a great way to get out there and let others know about your org.

Also, whenever you have a program, try to individually invite other greeks. Last year, at our first function, we personally invited greeks and other orgs by way of a personal email to that group. Or since we know many people personally, we invited them that way as well. Mass emails are cool but the individual is the way to go! Now since we did that, I've noticed a few of the others doing that too

[BFulton]

Oh, this brings back memories! (When we were establishing my chapter, there were only 6 other chapters of our sorority, AND we were at Michigan State University, easy to get lost.)

We did many of the things mentioned! Somehow, we got the campus paper to write an article (actually, I believe a sister knew a staff member). Another thing was that a sister worked with one of the local Greek spirit shops, and they ordered some items made up with our letters to keep in stock (we had good chapter numbers - like 30+). THAT definitely got some attention, when other Greeks and students saw our letters on merchandise.

[sctroy]

The growing pains are the worst. I'd say to get the word out that you exist on your campus do all of the things mentioned above. Some interesting things that worked for us are dressing up on an odd day - Wednesday for instance - everyone will ask why you are dressed up and you can tell them about your sorority. Also as you create traditions you will stick out more - you're that sorority that has a different way of doing bid night.

[ZChi4Life]

Set up a table in a high traffic area of your campus, with sorority stuff on it. Make a display board with pictures and info about your group, and put some sorority stuff like paddles, t-shirts, or scrapbooks on the table. Have a couple of sisters sit at the table during the day, and talk to the people who stop to see what its about. Get contact info from those women, and keep in touch with them.

Invite someone from your campus newspaper to cover your service projects and open events.

If your campus has an object, like a wall, rock, overpass, etc. that traditionally gets paited by students, paint your orgs name and colors all over it. We paint the 34th street wall here each semester, and it definitely gets attention.

These are all things that we are planning on doing this coming term. I hope this helps get our name out!

Something else we did was when we got our website up, I went and got a list of virtually all the student orgs on campus and sent a mass email out for everyone to check it out. I plan on doing it again this year once school starts. The only thing w/ this is that some times peeps get pissed cuz they might be on several email groups and would get the message like 7 times! But I've been at my school for 4 and 1/2 years now and I just ignore the hate mail I get afterwards. It's like "uh, just hit delete". Sorry, I digress.

Also, we are planning to literally plaster our campus w/ flyers so as SOON as the freshies step on campus, they see our letters! I made some flyer designs today as a matter of fact. It's gonna be fun fun fun!! Can't wait!

Some interesting things that worked for us are dressing up on an odd day - Wednesday for instance - everyone will ask why you are dressed up and you can tell them about your sorority. Also as you create traditions you will stick out more - you're that sorority that has a different way of doing bid night.

This is also a great idea! I'm gonna have to pass this on to my sisters. You know what would be cool? If you did it for a whole week. You could even do a "wear your letters" day if you all have the same shirts (we do). Even if you didn't, you could still do it. One day, you can wear your letters, another day you could dress up and wear a pin or something, the next it could be wear your colors--no letters, just colors, on and on. That would be awesome.

Hey does anyone do a week of activities to celebrate their founding date? My sorority does it. November 14 was the day my chapter was formed, so that whole week this year will be "Z-Chi Week" and we'll be celebrating by having an event each day. For the last day, we're having a multicultural fashion show! I'm planning it and it's gonna be SWEET! I can't wait. But that would be another great way to advertise your org.




[This message has been edited by ZChi4Life (edited August 16, 2000).]

[PhoenixGrad]

How does this work if you are just expanding to an area? Do you have to get permission from the school's Greek Affairs office first? What about trying to set up as city-wide chapter?

[ZChi4Life]

hmm, I have no idea how city-wide chapters work. I can assume that people who are trying to establish one would have to somehow advertise through the city/area. Like I know a lot of the NPHC groups have city wide chapters and they are not affiliated w/ any schools...well I don't think they are. To me, when I hear city-wide, I think strictly the city and that anyone who meets the criteria for the sorority that wants to start a chapter in that city/area can apply for membership.

Now on how to advertise? Wow that's a big task. I guess flyers? Maybe the newspapar would be a good way. Probably word of mouth too. If you could somehow advertise on websites that are used often like Ebay, or any search engines, etc, that could help. It seems like it would be hard. But you know, if it's city wide, you could probably advertise at the local colleges/uni's. I'm not sure if city wide chapters only take graduates or both, but you can still advertise at the schools in the area. Hope this helps! I really have no clue about this. I'm just guessing. You might want to ask members of sororities/fraternities that have city-wide chapters how they advertise.

[BFulton]

Originally posted by PhoenixGrad:
How does this work if you are just expanding to an area? Do you have to get permission from the school's Greek Affairs office first? What about trying to set up as city-wide chapter?

I'm not sure if you're asking about what a group needs to do to establish on a campus? I'll answer under that assumption!

It varies greatly by school. Generally, you should get Registered Student Organization status for your group/chapter. In many cases, this is enough. However, depending upon what the Greek Office requires, you may need to work with them first. (And, if you desire to be affiliated with the local GLO council, you probably should check that requirement out first.) Hope this helps - I know it's a bit vague, but we've had everything from lots of help from Greek Offices to roadblocks as new chapters came onto campuses.

Hope someone else can assist on the city-wide ?.

[MsDGP007]

Don't forget the URL to your chapter's website! Try to include it on everything...then make sure there's some sort of contact information on the website. It gives an opportunity for someone to look at the organization in a casual, no pressure manner and is convienient for everyone!

[BootyKBG]

We're just starting up a new chapter this semester, and what really got interest was a mass e-mail to all the students letting everyone know, hey! there is a new sorority on campus! This especially worked on our campus because EVERYONE is connected to the internet since we have a laptop program at my university where all students are issued laptop computers, so basically we have a university of e-mail junkies.

Annie

[DGPhoney]

Hey BootyKBG , thats a great Idea, I bet that worked really well for you all. Did you all have to get permission to do that since thats kinda like spam mail?
DGPhoney~

[BootyKBG]

All student organizations have the ability to do this, but they have to go through the student activities office. The e-mail gets checked first to make sure everything is appropriate and then it gets sent out to all the students through a university mailing list. (we don't actually personally have access to everyone's e-mail) Check with your student activities/ leadership office and see if you have the option to do this. It works great for getting the word out about activities!

[Eirene_DGP]

This was my first semester as a new sorority on campus and we did a lot of the stuff that other people mentioned. The only problem is the overall memberships in all student orgs on-campus (Greek or otherwise) went down this year. Another good idea is to have an interest meeting before you have rush. I wear my letters all the time just to get the word out. We have a org. charter so I am planning to have a BBQ or something of that nature. Hope all goes well for ya.

[CrucialCrimson]

I'm sure city-wide chapters vary from org to org, but in DST a city-wide chapter will generally name the specific schools that are covered by that charter - if your school isn't in that charter and you still go to a 4-year school in that area, you can't join that chapter. For example in the Boston/Cambridge area, there are two seperate city-wide chapters. Core chapters are a little different - they are like a campus based chapter that admits students from nearby schools. Even in a city-wide, you generally want to know the school's rules on greek orgs and advertising stuff before you start showing up on campus trying to recruit - you don't want to create too much drama!