continous open recruitment

[FSUZeta]

if anyone has any continous open recruitment activities that they feel have been especially successful, would you please share? i am general advisor to a brand new chapter that is participating in cor for the first time. everything for this chapter is the first time!!

so far, they have held a dessert night, a movie night, a sex and the city night, a craft night and a cook out. they are planning to hold a minature golf event, a tropical themed cook out and a philanthopy night where they will make boo boo bunnies to donate to a childrens hospital. lisa

[SoCalGirl]

The most important thing about COR activities is the adverstising. No less than three days of advertising the events. If girls don't know about an event they can't show up.

Advertising Ideas:

Banners/Posters in the spot where your target PNMs are. If your after freshman and they hang out in the student center then put the banners there. If they tend to centralize near their dorms and cafeterias then advertise there.

Table Tents are the mini flyers on tables in restaurants and cafeterias. PNMs have to eat at some point. Put your name in front of them while they do!

Ads in the Campus Paper. Keep it simple, but have a logo on it to catch the PNMs eye. Actually, that's true for ALL the advertising.

Hand Outs of the mini flyers. Again go to where your audience is. Have the members handing out flyers. Have a table with a sign up sheet. Have the members be ACTIVELY getting PNMs to come to the table. They should not be sitting there as they hope someone approaches them.

Giveaways attached to the handouts can also be good. Candy, like lollipops, usually works well.

Sidewalk Chalk, if campus rules allow. Write the COR info in chalk on the ground. Make it eyecatching!

Classrooms, again if allowed. Put the mini flyers on the seats between classes, write announcements on the chalkboards, and have members standup in front of a class to announce the events. The members don't even need to be in the class. They can say what they need to and then leave.

Word of Mouth Members should be talking up the events and the organization every chance they get.

Wear Your Letters Everyday, Everywhere! Even better is to have members be SEEN in the letters behaving in ways flattering to the chapter. EX) Studying together, working together, playing together, volunteering together, being sisterly together. Key Word = TOGETHER!!! PNMs can overlook one member in letters, but can they miss five members in letters?

[FSUZeta]

thanks so much for your recommendations!! i am going to print them out and give them to the vp 3 at chapter tonite!!

[pinkyphimu]

you may also want to have the members physically pick up some of the girls they have invited and bring them to the event. if sisters know a girl who lives on their hall, they can walk her to the ice cream social. it is usually easier for potential members to come with someone rather than come alone.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by pinkyphimu
you may also want to have the members physically pick up some of the girls they have invited and bring them to the event. if sisters know a girl who lives on their hall, they can walk her to the ice cream social. it is usually easier for potential members to come with someone rather than come alone.

This is HUGE! Even more so if you have a large, spread out campus, or a lot of commuters.

And always, always, always escort every PNM home if you have an evening event!!!

[Kevin]

Originally posted by pinkyphimu
you may also want to have the members physically pick up some of the girls they have invited and bring them to the event. if sisters know a girl who lives on their hall, they can walk her to the ice cream social. it is usually easier for potential members to come with someone rather than come alone.

I know a thing or two about open recruitment. It was my colony's bread and butter for awhile. We actually set up a table in the University Center and talked to guys as they walked by. I think in like a 1 month period, we signed around 10-15 guys. Not a bad haul.

But what REALLY works is just getting your individual members to recruit individuals themselves. Here's a process that has worked pretty well for us:

1) Make friends with the person, do not mention your fraternity/sorority. Just hang out and honestly get to know 'em.

2) Hang out with them and a small group of brothers/sisters. Still, do not mention your GLO. Do wear t-shirts or something so that it's obvious you are all in that group.

3) If you've managed to spark their interest, they will have asked about your organization. If not, once they have become your friend and have met a few people from your chapter, bring it up (never pressure them to join).

4) When you talk about your group, focus on the BSSF: Brotherhood, Support, Success, & Friendship. Nearly any question asked about your organization can be tied back to those.

5) If you have to "ask for the order" do not go for the hard , direct sell unless you absolutely know it'll work. There are many that are turned off by this.

***
If there's one thing that makes the difference between success and failure in open recruitment, it's making friends with the people you're trying to recruit before you recruit them. That is absolutely key.

And of course, anyone that shows up because of posters, etc. is icing on the cake. I just wouldn't expect a lot from that.

[Measi]

Originally posted by ktsnake
1) Make friends with the person, do not mention your fraternity/sorority. Just hang out and honestly get to know 'em.

[snipped for space]
If there's one thing that makes the difference between success and failure in open recruitment, it's making friends with the people you're trying to recruit before you recruit them. That is absolutely key.

Seconding this. Meeting people at non-Greek events and just getting to know them can be one of the most effective ways to recruit. Sometimes the formal rush can be a bit overwhelming for students who might have an interest but are indimidated by the whole thing at first and need the one-on-one contact first.

Some of our best members came to us not through the major rush events, but through simply having coffee and hanging out with them. Every once in a while, get a couple other members of your group to go out, too... and eventually, if they're interested, they will ask you about it.

Some orgs will tell you that this one-on-one time, rather than the big rush events are a waste of time because members who are a bit more introverted "don't make good members."

Nothing could be further from the truth-- you'll find incredibly devoted, intelligent, and hard-working potentials among those of us who are a bit more introverted. (and at worst, you'll simply find a new study or coffee buddy outside of your chapter, which is never a bad thing, either!)

~ Mel.

[Kevin]

More introverted?

Nothing could be further from the thruth. Of course, continuous open rush is just a way of life on our campus. What comes to us through formal is icing on the cake. We put about 80% of our financial resources and probably about 90% of the overal time spent with Rush into informal meetings. It yielded us 28 guys this semester which is a hell of a lot better than worrying about what someone who walks through the door's first impression is going to be of you.

]

[nauadpi]

Well if there are dorms or res halls on campus set up events in their lobbies... Give out cookies, maybe watch a movie there... A lot of people who are just passing by can stop by...

As for other event ideas: a board game or uno tournament, a night of watching a flash back to your childhood type video (my chapter had way too many women who had liked New Kids on The Block as kids, so old music videos of their's would come out), making a nice dinner for pnm can be really great too...

The main thing that really does work the best though, is just having the pnm hang out with sisters... The more they get to know the sisters the more comfortable they usually feel...

[Kevin]

The best recruitment occurs when the recruits don't realize they're being recruited.

[chideltjen]

Originally posted by Measi
Nothing could be further from the truth-- you'll find incredibly devoted, intelligent, and hard-working potentials among those of us who are a bit more introverted. (and at worst, you'll simply find a new study or coffee buddy outside of your chapter, which is never a bad thing, either!)

I'm pretty introverted myself so I can agree with this. The people that work behind the scenes, so to speak, tend to work the hardest. I did a lot of work for the house that seemed to go unnoticed but it really brough the house together in the long run. You don't have to recruit a ton of cheerleaders to have a sucessful house.

[roqueemae]

Originally posted by ktsnake


2) Hang out with them and a small group of brothers/sisters. Still, do not mention your GLO. Do wear t-shirts or something so that it's obvious you are all in that group.

3) If you've managed to spark their interest, they will have asked about your organization. If not, once they have become your friend and have met a few people from your chapter, bring it up (never pressure them to join).

I would worry about holding off on "recruiting" for so long. If you know that a group of people are in an org. and they have been talking to you but never mention joining, I would have to wonder if they really want me. The PNM would not know about quota or rules about COR so they would not understand about that. Also, I know in a group of sisters, our affiliation or something about our membership (socials, meetings, some fraternity boy) would probably come up in conversation. I thing initially it is a good thing to keep from "rushing," but I would have trouble hiding my pride.

[33girl]

Originally posted by roqueemae

Ok - say every time you see your friend they talk about Amway, and all of their friends that they introduce you to talk about Amway - wouldn't you feel like they were trying to pressure you into something?

He's not saying hide it, he's just saying the person should know you as a PERSON before they know you as a Greek.

[Tom Earp]

33girl True That!

Meet and Greet, let The Individual learn about you and them.

Then the conversation will swing to why did you become a member of So and So. What does it mean to you, what do you get out of it.

Once the door is open, then you can explain what ABC is about!


I guess sometimes Over Selling is not good at all.