Members Leaving

[33girl]

Originally Posted by TravelingBSP

I posted this in BSP, but maybe it's a more general problem.

We are a new online chapter. As in, we just started putting together this chapter over the last 6 months, and about 90% of our 20some members are pledges.

We're getting to the beginning of our "year" - we've just put out a member interest survey, and choose online meeting dates and times, and scheduled our first meeting for the first week in September.

Today, we had 2 members (that's 10% of our group!) decide to leave because of the commitment. Is this normal?

I don't want this to start a chain reaction of everyone getting spooked and leaving...

Any advice for the newbie president?? Much appreciated

Paula

This is your problem. Get a few other women who are already sisters involved. I know pledging in BSP is different, but the only way a chapter full of newbies works is if there's a national/advisory board watching over it.

[erica812]

Paula, I sent you a PM.

In my experience, at the beginning of a new chapter/club/business, there is always a period of membership fluctuation. People need to get a feel for what the group is like, how it will operate, etc. There are always going to be people who find that the venture (whatever it may be) just doesn't fit their expectations. You may never fully understand what those expectations were, but it is probably best to let those women go, and assure your sisters that the chapter is stable and ready to move forward.

In Sisterhood,
Erica

[erica812]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This is your problem. Get a few other women who are already sisters involved. I know pledging in BSP is different, but the only way a chapter full of newbies works is if there's a national/advisory board watching over it.

Also Paula, 33girl makes a good point. It is common but not required that a new Beta Sigma Phi chapter have a more experienced member as a "sponsor." You can look into getting one if you feel that might help. Since International played a large role in the birth of Online Xi, you may already have something like this in place. If not, I or a few of my OLK sisters would love to help in any way that we can.

[TravelingBSP]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This is your problem. Get a few other women who are already sisters involved. I know pledging in BSP is different, but the only way a chapter full of newbies works is if there's a national/advisory board watching over it.

This is actually something the exec board has discussed - how do we get those who aren't pledges more involved? We're hoping that they'll be active on the committees, but none of them stepped up for the exec board. Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by erica812

Also Paula, 33girl makes a good point. It is common but not required that a new Beta Sigma Phi chapter have a more experienced member as a "sponsor." You can look into getting one if you feel that might help. Since International played a large role in the birth of Online Xi, you may already have something like this in place. If not, I or a few of my OLK sisters would love to help in any way that we can.

We had 3 advisors, 1 really involved, 1 kinda involved, and 1 not really inolved, but they have all gone back to their own chapters as of the beginning of this month. Thanks for the offer Erica!