COR/COB

[HeartAlphaGam]

Hi, I'm Stephanie and I am the VPCR for my chapter. We have always had problems getting to total and this past fall we FINALLY got to total... just to find out they were raising total! So after that we needed five more girls. No big deal. But then we had another 10 girls go alum or inactive so we need about 15 girls to reach total. There are 3 Panhellenic sororities on my campus and neither of the other two ever have problems with their numbers so there wont be a formal spring recruitment. My goal this spring is to get to total with our COR/COB events, however, i need ideas for events that would attract girls! If you have any suggestions they would be GREATLY appreciated!
LIEP,
Stephanie

[ColdInCanada11]

Hi Stephanie!
From what alum have said, and from what I've seen in my chapter, COR went best for us when we structured it like formal recruitment. When it's done in the same style, we have 3-4 parties- just like in formal, but they're a bit more relaxed. (The lack of pressure from other groups being there helps ). If there are any pnms who didn't come to enough COR events, then we usually go out for coffee dates with them. From my personal experience, don't only use coffeedates. I personally don't like them because it can make it appear like all your chapter does is go to Starbucks . And from a logistical point of view, dinners/coffeedates make it difficult to move around.

As for getting girls out to your events, there's a couple different ways. There's the obvious, bringing out girls that you know. However, sometimes that's easier said than done depending on the specifics of your chapter. My school is a commuter school, so something that's really worked for us is flyering people's cars (Literally 99% + of the student population does not know about the Greek system here), and handing out flyers. If it's at all possible, try to avoid handing out flyers at the beginning of the term when all student groups are handing their's out. People will ignore yours along with the thousand other flyers they got. Hope this helps, let me know if you need more!

[Alumiyum]

When we did COB we had events like ice cream social on the hall or a game/movie night. We also met PNMs at a local coffee shop. What works for you will depend on how many girls you're looking to invite, what your campus culture in regards to Greek life is like, and whether you have facilities or not. For instance, our parties were small because we would only invite about 10 girls.

Go with your chapter vibe. If most of your girls enjoy things like movies or manicures, go with activities like that for events. IMO these activities work best when you're recruiting a fairly small group of girls. If you're looking to invite 20+, maybe a recruitment like what ColdinCanada described would be better (especially if the majority of the PNMs are unfamiliar with Greek life in general...a more structured recruitment gives more opporunity to go into things like philanthropy, for instance).

Have recruitment workshops to work on things like conversation skills. Try to figure out why your numbers are down compared to the other sororities on campus. Is it retention or is it that you have a hard time recruiting in the first place? Up your visibility on campus by having your girls wear jerseys once a week and badge dress once a week. Schedule your events so that almost everyone in the chapter can attend. And plan well ahead so that both your actives and the PNMs can clear their schedules in time.

[ColdInCanada11]

Lol, I definitely forgot about PR! We have a pancake breakfast in the first week in January, to get our name out there, and we try to do philanthropy that's on campus at the beginning of the term to help out our own campus and promote ourselves.
I wish our informal could be 20+ . We use the structured informal for smaller groups of girls, even 4-8 girls. Like Alumiyum said, the girls at my school don't know a single thing about Greek life, so the structured environment can make it easier to explain what's what to pnms. Is Greek life well-known at your school?

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by ColdInCanada11

Lol, I definitely forgot about PR! We have a pancake breakfast in the first week in January, to get our name out there, and we try to do philanthropy that's on campus at the beginning of the term to help out our own campus and promote ourselves.
I wish our informal could be 20+ . We use the structured informal for smaller groups of girls, even 4-8 girls. Like Alumiyum said, the girls at my school don't know a single thing about Greek life, so the structured environment can make it easier to explain what's what to pnms. Is Greek life well-known at your school?

I suggested the less structured events for smaller groups of girls because they're easier to organize, seem to intimidate the PNMs less, and are sometimes more comfortable. In our case we were usually inviting girls that at least a handful of actives knew, so these sort of events worked well. Greek life isn't big or well known on our campus, but because we usually knew the PNMs we invited, they were at least semi-familiar with us and Greek life. I do think it would be harder to sell the organization as a whole with the types of parties we used since it seems odd to sit down and discuss philanthropy over coffee with a girl you know from class, which is why what your chapter uses certainly has its advantages.

Another thing to think about is a chapter website. Not sure mine has one now but they did for a couple of years because I made it. It included a lot of photos (with a variety...my rule was that every girl in the chapter had to be featured at least once, not counting photos of the whole chapter, and I picked photos from every event we had in the past two years) but also had pages with short descriptions of what is important to the chapter. A page on philanthropy, social events, scholarship, Alpha Gamma Delta as an organization, etc. A website is a great way to sell your chapter because you can add the address to flyers or cards, have your girls add it to their facebook pages, and have your chapter's facebook group link to it. That way PNMs can easily get an idea of who your actives are without feeling intimidated. If that's something you're interested in and don't already have I'd be glad to send you the resources I used.

[HeartAlphaGam]

Well there are only 3 Panhellenic Sororities on campus and 2 major fraternities. We have a smaller campus and I feel like everyone I see is Greek already--which is a sign that I need to meet new people! ha!
but for my COR events I have planned a "Warm-Up to AGD" event where we will have hot chocolate and brownies and cookies. We will also play some board games and have a slide show playing.
I have also planned a "Winter Escape" event where we will wear summer apparel and decorate the room with a summer theme. We will have blow up beach balls with questions written on each section and have the ball being tossed around the room and whatever question the person's right thumb lands on they will answer (any ideas for questions?)
And for my last COR event, its going to be a Jenga night. We will have previously painted Jenga Sets Red, Buff, and Green and have each color mean something (ie: red means pick a question about yourself, green is do a silly gesture, and i am not sure what to do for yellow yet)

And we do have a chapter website, and there is a link on our University's webpage.

Thanks for all of your help!!!

[ColdInCanada11]

Whoa, my chapter definitely played the jenga game at the sisterhood night during formal. It's actually hilarious, and I learned a lot about my sisters, and apparently stuff about myself lol . I like the Warm-up to AGD event!! You're really creative with your parties!

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by HeartAlphaGam

Well there are only 3 Panhellenic Sororities on campus and 2 major fraternities. We have a smaller campus and I feel like everyone I see is Greek already--which is a sign that I need to meet new people! ha!
but for my COR events I have planned a "Warm-Up to AGD" event where we will have hot chocolate and brownies and cookies. We will also play some board games and have a slide show playing.
I have also planned a "Winter Escape" event where we will wear summer apparel and decorate the room with a summer theme. We will have blow up beach balls with questions written on each section and have the ball being tossed around the room and whatever question the person's right thumb lands on they will answer (any ideas for questions?)
And for my last COR event, its going to be a Jenga night. We will have previously painted Jenga Sets Red, Buff, and Green and have each color mean something (ie: red means pick a question about yourself, green is do a silly gesture, and i am not sure what to do for yellow yet)

And we do have a chapter website, and there is a link on our University's webpage.

Thanks for all of your help!!!

Those ideas are all really cute!

[angels&angles]

Pardon the crash. Your themes sound really cute, but I would caution against EVERY party having a "question game" type activity. Personally as either PNM or Active find those types of games kind of stressful, and would generally prefer a gathering where everything is just more low key and chatty. (But my campus pretty much doesn't do COR, so I have little experience).

[HeartAlphaGam]

Thanks for the input now that you mention it i would find those sitautions stressful as well as intimidating, so thanks again

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by HeartAlphaGam

Thanks for the input now that you mention it i would find those sitautions stressful as well as intimidating, so thanks again

Generally speaking, staying with impersonal questions shouldn't create too much tension. Think about what you would feel comfortable asking a stranger. What's their favorite color/animal/book? Just avoid asking questions that might create a "situation". Nothing about religion, politics, boys, life goals, family...basically, nothing serious. Keep it light.

[bu1904]

My chapter was once in that exact same situation. We tried lots of different strategies some worked some didn't do as well as we hoped. When I was COR I started a wishlist. Have each member submit 3-5 names of their friends/any girl they think would be a good sister. That gives you a large list of girls to work with. If you want to do something in addition to a bunch of events try coke dates. They worked really really well for us. Schedule lunch/dinner/coffee with 2 or 3 pnms and maybe 5 members. Coke dates can be less intimidating and can fit to anyone's schedule. The coke dates should be very easy going like hanging out with friends. Don't ask any weird/hard "recruitment" questions. Whatever you choose really think about your campus' environment and evaluate your chapters image on campus. We found that publicly advertising our COR events didn't work because they caused a lot of negative speculation as to why we were the only group doing Spring recruitment. So we sent out formal invites and emails to our wishlist only.

[DoctorD]

just a reminder... we have an awesome recruitment volunteer service team, and they exist to help you. They've got tons of resources for recruitment, whether it is formal or informal - but sometimes don't know you want help unless you contact them.

If you're not sure who to contact, drop me or AGDee a PM. Either one of us would be happy to help you find the person you need to talk with.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by bu1904

We found that publicly advertising our COR events didn't work because they caused a lot of negative speculation as to why we were the only group doing Spring recruitment.

Not to mention that it kind of puts the chapter over the barrel as far as publicly acknowledging that you're under total, thus opening the door for Wendy Whackjob to say "I know you need people, so why aren't you bidding MEEEEEE??"

Chalking, flyering, open FB groups - these are not good ways to attract quality women to COB events. Make them feel chosen and special from the jump with a private invite.