help with attendance!!!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by vickitoria

We're thinking about going back to our points system as well. The new girls coming in won't know the different, but I'm worried about the older members complaining.

Will adding a points system make events (even the fun ones) almost a chore that has to be done in order to attend the social events??

If the old girls have an issue, tell them you wouldn't have had to do it if they wouldn't be such slackers and blow off events. If they don't like it, the door is that way.

They need to realize nothing is 100% fun. Plus that their actions have consequences. If there's not a quorum at the meeting, you can't take a vote to have the fun mixer or formal. So then you don't have one.

[KatieKate1244]

My chapter did a combination of a points system and fines. Fines were for missing chapter meetings or ritual. Points for everything else. Members could also cash in points for event passes, granted said event wasn't a meeting, ritual, or recruitment.

I'll also echo other sentiments about overprogramming. It burnt my tiny chapter out REALLY quickly.

[vickitoria]

So what have been the results of adding a points system?

Has the points system backfired on anyone?

[vickitoria]

Also, my chapter doesn't fine... nor do we want to. There's another sorority on campus that fines and just added a points system.

I've heard that its helped a little... but members still complain.

Well, we won't fine... but I'd still like to know how effective the points system is.

[KatieKate1244]

Ours wasn't that effective. When we wrote our points system, we messed up on giving out points and not taking enough away, example: If I went to an event, I'd get 5 points. If I missed the event, I would still get 2 points. So people would end with massive numbers of points and not have enough taken away. Do take your member's lives into consideration when you write a points system. When we wrote ours, 80% of my chapter was working full time as well as going to school full time. When you only have two days off, do you really want to drag your ass into some speaker about date rape, especially when you have a lot of homework to do? No. So we had to take that into account. But points didn't help our attendance at all.

[fantASTic]

We don't do points. We just say, you show up and that's good. If you don't show up, and it's mandatory, then you are on social probation and can't go to any socials or anything for three weeks. This includes formals and date parties. If you get on social probation twice, you have other punishments. More than twice and membership can be brought up to the chapter. It works well.

We also have a rule that anything mandatory must be submitted to the programming director [who writes the calender] 3 weeks in advance, or it can NOT be mandatory. If it is 100% mandatory, then you must come or submit an excuse beforehand. If it is just 50 or 75% mandatory, then we take a signup sheet and if it is not filled then we start with excuses.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by vickitoria

So what have been the results of adding a points system?

My advice about points:

In order for a points system to work, the consequences for NOT making points need to be relevent to your chapter and the things they find most enjoyable about being a part of the sorority.

For example, if your chapter doesn't really do socials, giving girls social probation for not making points wouldn't be effective because you don't HAVE those anyway.

My chapter was really into Big/Little. Everybody wanted a Little Sis, so everybody made sure they made points because if you missed points, you couldn't take a Little Sis.

[guardedbystars]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I've found that positive reinforcement helps out tremendously with attendance.

My last active year, we had what we called "Pi Points" (I think that is what it was called?) and every woman in our chapter had a designated row with her name in it.

For every meeting (each one was dated), every Philanthropy event, social and other sisterhood event, each sister earned "points". We even had points for completing designated study hours.

There was a cut off day for all of the points to be calculated and you had to have a certain number of points to attend formal at the end of the year.

Granted, if you are in a NPC sorority, I believe meetings are mandatory, so if meetings were missed, in addition to missing out on the points, you were assigned the penalty that was designated in the chapter bylaws or wherever your sorority keeps those.

We also have a points system almost exactly like this.

Fines for missing other things too unless you had an excuse (i.e. illness, class, other organization meeting, sports event, etc). These excuses had to be legit and before the scheduled event. Example: you can't just say "Oh I didn't go because something came up" five days after the event.

[Laak 315]

point system sounds like a good idea...my fraternity doesn't do that, but we'll be looking into doing something like it in the fall I'm sure...

[Tom Earp]

point system is only as good as it it is enforced!

If meetings and other things are mandatory, it boils down to either be envolved or not!

If they cannot attend meetings or events then they cannot attend social functions.

No Dime, No Dance! Before inflation!

Enforce the Rules!

[Faith4Keep]

Originally Posted by KatieKate1244

Ours wasn't that effective. When we wrote our points system, we messed up on giving out points and not taking enough away

I am the points chair for my chapter, and while I finally got the system in working order (i.e., someone is actually keeping track of points, using a workable spreadsheet, and enforcing consequences), we also do not have enough negative points.

In my chapter you must maintain 20 points each month or you are on social probation for the next month. We have positive events (IM games, going to a PAN meeting, going to a philanthropy, etc) and negative events (initiation, other ritual services, our own philanthropy events, etc). Unfortunately the negative point events are few and far between, so they are not really effective. Plus, for a girl who plays an IM sport, they get 2 points per game, so if they miss a recruitment workshop (-4 points) it doesn't hurt them... at all in maintaining their 20.

Worst of all- my chapter has a weird policy of voting on some things and exec just making decisions on other things. Anytime we make a change to the point system it has to be voted on, so if I get up there and say "I think we need to make philanthropies a negative point event (mandatory)", really, how many people are going to vote for it? Negative point events basically force you to go to that event, so if the event wasn't negative previously, why would it be now? It bothers me that Exec can't just say "okay, here's what's required and here's what is not".

But yeah, our point system is not that effective due to the lack of negative events.

[Faith4Keep]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

My chapter was really into Big/Little. Everybody wanted a Little Sis, so everybody made sure they made points because if you missed points, you couldn't take a Little Sis.

Wow, that sounds like something that would really work in my chapter, although our chapter is SO into big/little that they would probably rip my head off if I told them that!! But that would definitely ensure attendance to events, lol.

[SDT@CofC]

I was just elected standard chair and my chapter doesn't have an established points/standards system. Our biggest problem has been that nothing is actually in writing so sisters get confused which makes them bitter.

Does anyone have a copy of their system that they could send me? I’d also like to know what works and what doesn’t for the systems.
Also, what do people do about bringing sister before standards?

Thanks for your help!

[AlethiaSi]

Originally Posted by SDT@CofC

I was just elected standard chair and my chapter doesn't have an established points/standards system. Our biggest problem has been that nothing is actually in writing so sisters get confused which makes them bitter.

Does anyone have a copy of their system that they could send me? I’d also like to know what works and what doesn’t for the systems.
Also, what do people do about bringing sister before standards?

Thanks for your help!

I would look around the threads instead of asking people to repeat themselves when the information is right there if you look hard enough.

I don't mean to be mean, but you know how to use the search button, so just take what others have said and modify it as needed.