Leadership consultant is on her way; how to plan a good visit?

[eablack]

Hi all -

I'm the new administrative vice president of my sorority (ΓΦΒ). At the end of the month, internationals is setting us up with a visit from a Collegiate Leadership Consultant, who is a Gamma Phi just a few years out of college. I'm just curious to see if anyone has tips on how to make this a great visit for her and a less stressful visit for me! I'm in charge of her itinerary - everything from how she gets to campus, where she stays, who she eats with, when she meets with people...

I've been in contact with her to get her preferences and such, and the former AVP is trying to help me out with what she knows, but she never had to plan a visit like this. The CLC will be staying in our house for 4 nights, and she has to have hour long meetings with every elected officer, and half hour meetings with tons of others, in addition to attending our chapter meeting, exec meeting, inter-sorority council meeting, etc. But we're all busy college students at a tough school (and naturally this visit will be right during midterm season), so I'm just feeling the stress already of having this go off without a hitch!

Any tips? Suggestions? Calming words? Haha. Anything's appreciated!!

[LucyKKG]

See if someone from your chapter can give her a little tour of the school and/or city. I'm sure she'll want some time to herself to do whatever she does in her spare time (work out, run errands, etc.) so you don't need to worry about entertaining her every hour of the day. You could try to make a list of surrounding restaurants or attractions she might want to check out. I'm sure it's fun for her to travel and see all of these different cities.

As for calming words: Don't worry! I'm assuming she's done this before at other chapters this year, so she knows the program.

[Zillini]

It's common to get nervous before a consultant visit, but remember they aren't purposely coming to look for problems or to get ya'll in trouble. Their goal is to see how things are going and try to help improve the chapter.

Obviously I don't know how other GLO's conduct their consultant visits. Ours provides a general checklist to prepare. We've had some consultants who provided their own list of needs/wants. (FYI none have ever been overly demanding or picky.) Some ideas/suggestions:

- Find out her travel arrangements. Do you need to send someone to pick her up at the airport? Drive her back? Is there another chapter semi-close by that she's visiting before or after yours? (Often the case for us.) Can you share transportation duties with them?

- Make sure all the members, officers, advisors, and House Director know when she's coming and how long she will be staying.

- Before she arrives have a refresher on things like Chapter Business Meeting Ritual, proper attire for Meetings, Meeting procedures, terminology (i.e. Recruitment, not Rush; new member or your GLO specific term, not pledge).

- A small gift basket or some token of appreciation is a nice touch. It doesn't have to be expensive stuff. We typically put bottles of water, snacks, cereal bars, etc in her room. This way she has something to snack on without having to leave the chapter house if she doesn't want to.

- Give her a house tour when she arrives. Where she can take a shower, do laundry (remember she's living out of a suitcase), get internet access, find a cup of coffee/soda and such will be of particular interest. Give her a tour of what's close by as well. Volunteer to take her to a store at least once in case she needs to stock up on shampoo, toothpaste, etc.

- Make sure she knows the house meal schedule (assuming you have a kitchen). At least for dinners, have the officers take turns escorting and sitting with her. If meals are come & go/buffet style, encourage members to ask her to join their table. If your chapter doesn't provide meal service at all or not on certain days/nights, then you need to make arrangements for her meals. That means breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

- She doesn't want to sit in her assigned room by herself when she doesn't have a scheduled meeting. Encourage members to introduce themselves when they see her, ask if she wants to join them to watch TV, etc. If something's happening on campus like an intermural game, Panhellenic speaker, etc, invite her along.

- Remind everyone this is not the time to be coming home obnoxiously ... um ... loud.

- Before she arrives create an officer meeting schedule and have each officer sign up for a time. Hopefully she can pick a somewhat convenient time in her busy class/study schedule. Officers need to come prepared with up to date officer manual, goals, office budget, plans/forms, chapter calendar, etc.

- Set up a meeting(s) for her with your advisor(s).

- Ask ahead of time if she wants a meeting with your Greek Advisor and if yes, try to set that up. Make sure someone is available to walk/drive her or give her well written directions so she can find it easily. Remember she doesn't know the campus.

[33girl]

I just want to say that I'm sure consultant visits are a lot less of a strain now that everyone has cell phones and laptops. Consultant staying w/ me and tying up my line for hours + me having long distance boyfriend trying to call = not happy 33girl.

[lindz0722]

To add onto Zillini's (great) post, my chapter used to have two sign-up sheets with time slots-- one for officers to have their required meetings with her, and another for members that said things like "Go to the gym", "Take her to a movie on campus", "Go to Bagel Place for breakfast", etc.

While just encouraging members to spend time with her is of course a good idea, many of our members needed a more concrete push to do so. Having sign-ups for activities ensured not only that the consultant would have a full and fun schedule, but also that the responsibility for making sure she was out and about didn't fall solely on the officers. It also helped the out-of-house sisters get a chance to feel more involved with the visit.

[Gusteau]

I remember the first time we had an LC visit when I was officer. It was right before chartering and we were all scared that he was going to take a look around and decide not to give us our charter. It so happens that the majority of his visit was to talk about what happens after chartering and help us to avoid the "post-chartering slump." I wasted a lot of anxiety over nothing. LCs really are there to help you and not to get you in trouble, so don't stress out too much!

And do everything that Zillini said, really.

[Munchkin03]

Our consultant visits tended to fall right around Recruitment, so we were all busy with that (as was our consultant!) and there was less pressure to keep her entertained. I think, however, that most of the important things have been listed.

I really loved all of our consultants. I was pretty active in my chapter during a major transition so the entire chapter was very close to the consultants. I wish that our magazine had a "Where are they now?" column for consultants; I liked them a lot and would love to know what they're up to. Luckily, most of them stay active within the sorority so I see familiar names pop up from time to time.

[Katmandu]

Leadership consultants are carefully selected from the cream of the cream of many applicants. They receive extensive training, and are typically self-directed, articulate, highly skilled and devoted to your organization. If you do not receive a checklist of things to have on hand and procedures for the visit, then ask! The last visit I was involved with as an alumni advisor included a detailed list of what to have on hand for the consultant, her personal preferences in the way of food/snacks, down time activities and "don'ts" (like food allergies), how much free time to schedule for her, and how the scheduled appointments with officers and advisors would be handled. I was more than impressed with her pre-visit communication, organization and interaction with the chapter. Enjoy! It's a great opportunity.

Make sure to have someone meet her with a cute welcome sign (and return her) to the airport, and remember she may be coming in from a very different time zone. It may be 3pm in your place, but her internal clock says dinnertime!

[AOIIalum]

To add to the great ideas already listed in this thread:

1. Wear letters to the airport when picking her up. You may know what she looks like, but she probably won't recognize you without some help!

2. Make sure her accommodations are clean with fresh linens. If possible, an extra pillow or two can make a huge difference. I am speaking from experience on both of these!

3. If you can, give her a copy of your chapter composite to refer to during her visit. It can be a big help in putting names and faces together.

4. Every moment of her visit doesn't need to be scheduled (unless otherwise informed in advance). She'll appreciate a bit of down time during the day to catch up on notes and get back on schedule.

5. Don't think you have to take her out for fancy meals and activities (especially if you don't have a house or meal service). One of my most memorable visits included a dinner where chapter members cooked for me and just hung out. They were amazed that I didn't mind, but it's still one of the best meals I've ever eaten! Just don't forget to feed her (again, personal experience!)

Lastly, thank her! It really will mean a lot to her to be thanked!

[FSUZeta]

in addition to wearing letters to the airport, you might get some poster board and make a "welcome Katie" sign(or whatever her name is) with a balloon or two-she'll get a kick out of it.

some fresh flowers in a vase and some new magazines and a novel or two would be appreciated.

[ta kala]

As a former consultant, I have to say YES YES YES to all these ideas! I will say that depending on my schedule, there were some schools where I just wanted to relax by myself, so don't feel the need to schedule every minute of her visit.

When scheduling meetings with the officers, do try to schedule them somewhat together. Nothing bothered me more when I would have one meeting at 9, another at 11, another at 1230, etc. Blocking off chunks of time for those meetings is helpful!

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by Zillini

- A small gift basket or some token of appreciation is a nice touch. It doesn't have to be expensive stuff. We typically put bottles of water, snacks, cereal bars, etc in her room. This way she has something to snack on without having to leave the chapter house if she doesn't want to.

You could add something small that says your school's name on it. One of our VPs got a rubber duckie with my school's name on it and a t-shirt for the LC. Super random!

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by LucyKKG

You could add something small that says your school's name on it. One of our VPs got a rubber duckie with my school's name on it and a t-shirt for the LC. Super random!

Good idea, all of our LCs collect things from the schools they visit. Some do shirts, others shot glasses (ahem, toothpick holders), and the last one we had collected lapel pins.

[ree-Xi]

I would suggest having a brief chapter meeting right before she arrives, letting them know that she is there to help. Perhaps make a short list of things you want to discuss/share:

- one or two things that you might ask her opinion on - something that you might have faced or are facing - like the best way to handle a close vote or ways to improve your visibility on campus. This gives her a chance to share her training and knowledge

- as well as a few success stories of how you addressed a concern or made positive changes - like increasing your GPA from 2.8 to 3.0 or had 80% turnout at the soup kitchen you volunteered at. Basically identifying areas where you went from average to above average (not just things that you had to fix because they weren't up to standard). This shows her that you are proactive.

Although you want everyone on their "best behavior", you also want them to be themselves. Brown nosing and fakeness is often easy to spot, and even if you don't have "problems", it might make someone suspicious.

I would also suggest that if anyone has any talents, like singing or playing instruments, you can share that after a formal dinner, or you can go to a sports event where some of your members are playing. I like the sharing the composite idea, but not everyone would necessarily be on it if you have a current pledge class. Maybe put together a notebook/printout with a pic and a few interesting facts about each member - like a mini scrapbook, along with campus para - might be a nice keepsake for her. Or perhaps a screen printed tshirt with chapter name/letters on front and all your names on the back and the semester.

I often hear LC and advisers saying how much they love "their girls". I bet that they would love it if her girls loved her back!!

[eablack]

Thank you everyone!!!

I did get an information packet a few weeks ago, so most of what you all said is sounding familiar... I'm glad, I was really worried there'd be something major that I'm forgetting about/overlooking. I love the idea of getting her something from the school and I will definitely be hitting up the campus shop this weekend.

This has been really helpful, and I'll try and take a deep breath. My life is nothing without stress... and of course the week she's here is the week I have two exams and a paper due the same day Everything will be fiiiiiiine.