Preference Ceremony

[HeartAlphaGam]

Hello All!! I am the VPCR for my chapter and I am trying to plan out Fall 2011 Recruitment and I was curious as to what color dresses each chapter wears for their Pref Ceremony. We always wear red so i just wanted to see what everyone else does!

[ColdInCanada11]

Black!

[Alumiyum]

Mine also wears red, but requires them to be "Crayola red" and "badge dress". I recommend not doing it that way...it's very hard to find that exact shade of red on a dress that is flattering and cute but meets very specific requirements. Girls often end up in unflattering dresses. Red dresses with more leeway would look great. On our campus the other chapters either wear white or black for Preference, so it's nice to stand out.

[ColdInCanada11]

Alumiyum- Crayola Red?? I'm impressed that your chapter was able to find that specific of a shade!!! I'm guessing that when a store carries a dress in that shade, more than a few girls end up with it lol

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by ColdInCanada11

Alumiyum- Crayola Red?? I'm impressed that your chapter was able to find that specific of a shade!!! I'm guessing that when a store carries a dress in that shade, more than a few girls end up with it lol

Yeah...basically bright red. No maroon, burgundy, wine, etc. You do see repeat dresses, which didn't seem to be a problem, but I would facepalm every year at some of the dresses that would show up. It was hard to find dresses in the color that weren't strapless/above the knee/low cut/backless and for whatever reason we couldn't ever convince the powers that be to relax the rules for Pref. I had mine made.

[HeartAlphaGam]

One of our big problems last year was all the various shades of dresses and some of our girls bought a dress that didn't fit them correctly (ie: too small in chest or stomach area). The other chapters at my school wear black and it looks so classy and looks great with pearls! I am really wanting the girls to wear black but im not sure if its in our bi-laws that we have to wear red?? If not, do I have to get special permission to make the change?

[ColdInCanada11]

In my chapter, it's VP Recruitment who makes the clothing choices for the parties and preference. I feel as if something like that wouldn't be in the by-laws, but I could be wrong. While sometimes I wish that we could do red dresses, I like that black and pearls looks very elegant and clean. I don't think the Type A in me could handle 25 different shades of red . I don't know if this is possible due to the size of your chapter, but we discuss all of the clothing about a month beforehand so people have a chance to get anything they need (but total on my campus is 30, so its a reasonable number). You could send out an email survey to find out how the other girls feel about changing it to black?

[HeartAlphaGam]

That's a great idea! Thanks!

[Alumiyum]

Yeah what we do is announce before they're even initiated that they need to buy red (and we specify what red, "crayola red") dresses, and tell them what the specifications are. One option is to do what I do and have one made (then again, I have a relative that sews, so it wasn't expensive). On our campus we stand out because everyone else wears black or white with pearls, but it definitely does take some extra effort to have all the red dresses look good together. The idea of sending out a survey is a good idea. If you do stick with red have the girls start looking for dresses a semester in advance and have a dress check a month before recruitment.

[HeartAlphaGam]

Yeah, we tried a dress check this past fall and our VPCR didnt really emphasize how important it was so many of our girls didnt show up to have their clothing checked. that brings me to another point, which is off topic of pref night, my chapter has a big issue with showing up to mandatory events. im not sure if its lack of motivation or what but last summer at our RTS's (recruitment training) we only had about 7 of our 20ish girls at the most show up. 2 of us were still new members because we were held over from the spring. any ideas on how to motivate girls to come to these events?

[ColdInCanada11]

For my chapter, training like that is mandatory, so not going = a fine (except for emergencies). It sucks to have to enforce the fines (I believe it's VPO who notifies people and VPF who actually collects) but it has to be done. If I were in your position, I would try talking to the VPMD (for mediation), or the President (she should be able to help by talking to whomever). Or, if you have an open relationship with your advisors, you could try talking to them, see what they've done in situations like these. Try explaining it to the girls who are missing the training like this: If you aren't trained for recruitment, how can you help your chapter in recruitment?
And for other mandatory events, explain why they're mandatory. It's usually not just for the hell of it, but sometimes people forget that.
Sorry, I'm a little confused- how come you're planning recruitment if you're VPCR? Or did your chapter amalgamate VP Recruitment and VP Campus Relations?

[33girl]

Pardon my crash, pertinent thread...

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=19801

I personally like the suggestion one poster had about business suits. Being from a sorority that has red and white as our colors, I can totally relate to some people just looking like crap in red, depending on coloring and/or body type.

[HeartAlphaGam]

We do fine girls that don't show up to mandatory events, but then they can take it up with EC and do community service instead of paying their fines. 1 hour of service=$10 of the fine. Most girls would rather do that than show up to our events. and I am so sorry I am not VPCR, but VP of Recruitment. My mistake! We had to make some of our girls leave the room last year because they had not shown up to training or practices and were hurting us more than helping us and had a very bad attitude towards everyone and everything. i really want to avoid a similar situation this coming year.

[ColdInCanada11]

Haha, that's totally fine! In my chapter we mix up Member Development and Personal Development all the time, or at least until they were made the same office . They would be the most confusing conversations EVER lol... I think that the community service for fines thing should only count for missing certain events. Not being in the recruitment room can hurt the chapter, and not being trained for being in the recruitment room can hurt the chapter. It's a complicated situation, for sure! I know that in my chapter, every once and a while, sometimes it helps to have the chapter advisor (or recruitment advisor) in this case come in. It's probably not going to be a rainbows and unicorns kind of meeting, but sometimes we all need a change in attitudes. You don't have to answer this question, but I would ask these girls why the attitude- is it because they don't want to put the time into training or they don't like recruitment itself (I personally find it fascinating [don't know why but I do] but it's just not some people's cup of tea)? If it's the time thing, then ask them how they would do it differently, to find out where they're coming from. If it's the not liking recruitment thing- well, unless they want the chapter to fold, they've got to suck it up lol. Even in my chapter of ~25, we have all of these problems. It takes time to solve them, but usually something can be done

[HeartAlphaGam]

I love recruitment as well! Since we only have 3 panhellenic sororities on campus we get a little bit more time with the girls about 45 mins for 2 nights and then an hour for pref so i feel like we can form a little bit of a deeper bond than just name,hometown,major etc. This past fall we only had about 19 actives so each person played an extremely important part in the room. It was very evident that we were unprepared and my best friend/roommate went through formal recruitment said the said thing when i asked her. And that was a hard thing to hear. that is why i am starting planning NOW. i hope with the newly initiated girls as well as the remaining older girls we will be able to have a new attitude about the sorority in general and actually be proud of what we do.

as a motive to get girls to come to our recruitment trainings (other than the fines) i was thinking about personally providing donuts and drinks and maybe an Alpha Gam door prize? thoughts on that? good idea? or not worth it?