Different Open Recruitment Events?

[Chrysanthemum17]

I'm in charge of Open Recruitment for my chapter. When I was assigned the position, most of the Spring activities had already been chosen, so all I had to do was implement them, which was awesome (and easy). I'm beginning to plan the fall events, and my problem is this - I've tried searching here and other websites, and most of the event suggestions are things like have a pizza/cupcake decorating/movie night/craft night, etc. These are the types of events we have tried in the past, and they do not seem to work on our campus for ANY of the chapters, as we seem to have a relatively strong divide between girls who want to be in sororities and girls who don't. This isn't to say there aren't a few girls on the edge, we picked up about 10 girls through informal this past Spring, which was awesome, but it's definitely a struggle.

I'm looking for suggestions for 'unique' or 'different' open recruitment ideas that we could hold - we already require everyone to be actively involved in an outside activity, and we strongly encourage girls to go to campus events, get our letters out there, etc. But since it seems that most of the girls who want to be in any sorority on our campus go through recruitment and either a) end up in a house they love, or b) decide its not for them, drop out, and have no interest in joining one ever, it's really difficult to get girls to attend the events. I feel a little overwhelmed (and discouraged, if we're being honest), so I guess I'm looking for guidance from the wise GreekChatters.

I'm sorry if this is all scrambled, I'm trying to organize my thoughts so they make sense but I'm not sure if I did a very good job. Any advice on event ideas or where to look, things to try, etc, would be fantastic. Thank you all so much!

ETA: We do have a house, and typically hold events in our house since we don't have to worry about reserving a room, etc, but it is a bit far away from all of the dorms. Could this be a factor why it's so hard to get girls to come? There's very little parking near the houses and it's a fair walk from several of the dorms.

[KDCat]

When our chapter was under total (which was pretty much always), we treated formal dinner as an open recruitment event. Every Thursday was formal dinner. We asked people to invite particular friends who might be good PNMs to dinner. It was a low key way to meet people and for them to decide if they were interested. Our food was way better than the dorms. It wasn't open to random PNMs, just people who were specifically invited.

If you think the walk to the house is making it hard to attract people to events, I would suggest trying to hold events at the dorms and make sure those events are things that might draw people in. Free food always worked on me when I was a student.

[DGTess]

This blog post describes one of my favorite recruiting techniques.

[AnchorAlumna]

One method we found to work was for a member to go pick up the PNM. It's hard for a PNM to decide at the last minute that they don't want to hike over there if she has a ride, and someone will be there to pick her up at a specified time.
You could send one or two members, or a member and a new member - good recruitment training for the new member.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Okay, here's the thing: holding open events and expecting random women to show up because they are interested in a sorority is not an effective recruitment technique. This is a myth, possibly perpetrated by lots of well meaning advisors and such, but it just doesn't work. You may pick up a few women who missed formal recruitment for whatever reason, but as you point out, most women who wanted to join a sorority already rushed.

You must go to them. You (and I mean, all of the women in your chapter) must meet women, and become their friends. Then you introduce them to the idea of a sorority, after they already know and like you.

[33girl]

The above post completely sums it up. Too many members/advisors/volunteers (and when it's the last two, they are usually from campi where 99.9% of their members were acquired through formal rush) look at the "five steps to recruitment" and think it should take five minutes, or five days. No. It can take a year, or two...because that's how long making friends with someone can take. It's not a Bagel Bite.

As I've said many times, you want someone to become your friend to the point where they will feel comfortable enough to ask you about pledging and when they can do it. If you have to beg them to go to open rush events, or just hang out with your sisters, you either aren't there yet, or else you've blundered and made them think that you are only befriending them because they're a warm body and your sorority needs numbers.

Unless the previous formal rush (as in the total number of girls rushing) was very small for some reason or another - weather issues on campus, change from fall to spring, a publicized scandal of some sort in the Greek community that scared women away - completely open COB events are usually a waste of money, a waste of time, a blow to chapter self-esteem, and a recipe for disaster when the biggest freakazoids on campus show up knowing that you're in need of members.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

The above post completely sums it up. Too many members/advisors/volunteers (and when it's the last two, they are usually from campi where 99.9% of their members were acquired through formal rush) look at the "five steps to recruitment" and think it should take five minutes, or five days. No. It can take a year, or two...because that's how long making friends with someone can take. It's not a Bagel Bite.

As I've said many times, you want someone to become your friend to the point where they will feel comfortable enough to ask you about pledging and when they can do it. If you have to beg them to go to open rush events, or just hang out with your sisters, you either aren't there yet, or else you've blundered and made them think that you are only befriending them because they're a warm body and your sorority needs numbers.

Unless the previous formal rush (as in the total number of girls rushing) was very small for some reason or another - weather issues on campus, change from fall to spring, a publicized scandal of some sort in the Greek community that scared women away - completely open COB events are usually a waste of money, a waste of time, a blow to chapter self-esteem, and a recipe for disaster when the biggest freakazoids on campus show up knowing that you're in need of members.

I will give one addendum: If you are on a campus with fall rush and lots of women who know nothing about it, there may be a decently-sized group of women who didn't rush, and then saw it happening, and now kinda wish they had. You still have to go out and find them, but you may be able to bring them into the fold more quickly. A good place to look for this type is fraternity parties and/or asking your friends in fraternities.