Chapter Rush Motivation
 

Our chapter is seeing some very rough times. Our numbers are low, and nationals is coming down hard on us. Part of the issue is motivating our chapter to be outgoing during rush, and getting everyone to pull their weight. I was hoping maybe you might have some suggestions on how to get everyone involved. Also were a small school, and greek life has been pushed aside on campus for the past few years. There are also a large number of fraternities competing for a small population. If anyone has some innovative ideas for rush events that would be useful to. Thanks.

You've come to the right place. Us chicks have the recruitment thing down to a science...almost.

Is your rush deferred or is it fall quarter?
Is their structure or is basically show up?
Approximately how many guys rushed last year?

In these instances, what my own chapter does is talk to our newly initiated sisters, and the newly initiated of other chapters. What about recruitment made you go TD? What was confusing? What were some errors made by our chapter, other chapters (without naming them!) and by panhel? What would make the process better? Your new members are an amazing resource...they saw the presentation and decided to invest, find out why, and refine your technique to show case that.

As far as the outgoing thing, I once had to do a drill in a leadership seminar for another organization. I had to go out and introduce myself to 10 random people, and hold a 2 minute conversation with them. It was horrifying at first, but eventually, it was fun...it's now a lot easier to offer a hand and say "Hi I'm Tracey, how are you today?" Depending on the rush rules for your campus...this might not be a bad thing to try. Have everyone go out and greet 2 new people a day, or introduce another brother to 2 people a day male or female, and just have a friendly conversation...not necesarily about rush, but if you're wearing letters it might help ;) It sucks for introverts, that's why the "introduction" route might be the best one. Not only is it good PR ("Remember that nice Delta Chi we met the other day at the union? I think their rush party is tonight, do you want to go?") but it's a good way to work up to introducing yourself at the party (Oh hey, it's John, right? I met you at the Union the other day, welcome to Delta Chi.)

I'm sure the ladies will have a lot of other ideas, too.

(oh! and remember, recruitment is 24/7, 365.)

I pm'd you.

If your brothers don't want to help out for rush, then why do you keep them around? Cut 'em loose. That kind of attitude is a cancer that will eventually kill your organization. Rush is the single most important thing your chapter will do in a given year. If they won't even get motivated for that, they're certainly not holding up their end of the deal.

Brotherhood is a two-way street.

Kt, yea its been tough lately. Greek life on the campus has a negative attitude about everything. Im not willing to let them get by with not doing rush, we just need to implement some strong leadership which has been lacking.

instead of having big blow out open house parties, divide your chapter into smaller groups of 3 to 5 members per group and have them each recruit one guy. take him bowling, to the movies, to a sporting event, invite him over to play cards(no gambling), pizza, for a cup of coffee.....you get the idea. the potential new member(pnm) gets to know 3 or 5 guys pretty well and is a lot less intimidated than if he was having to walk into an open house, and did not know anyone. if the fraternity members like the guy, they could ask him to do something else in a few days.
after all the groups have met with their pnm, you could have all the pnms over to meet the whole chapter. hopefully these guys would pledge and you could start the process all over with a new set of guys.

assign a good rusher to each group, someone who is outgoing and helps make people feel at ease. assign someone to be the coordinator for the group-this person reports back to you. he tells you who the group has contacted, what their activity is and what the group thought of the guy, what their next plans are and so on and so forth. when your guys feel they have hit it off with the pnm-or after he pledges-he should be asked if he knows anyone he thinks the chapter should meet.

Re: Chapter Rush Motivation
 

Members often become more involved when they feel they are contributing to the chapter. And often, a member may not think he has anything to contribute. Simply because he hasn't been asked. As such, have each member write down at least one idea (two is better, three ideas even better) on how *they* plan on bringing in at least one new member. Make sure they understand that this is serious and that there is no wrong way or answer. (Unless it is illegal, hazing, against GLO policies, what have you) And then as FSUZeta suggested, have members team up in groups. Those that like to bowl, could go bowling. Those that like to play cards do so. Others may prefer to recruit "on their own". When applicable, allow them to do so as well. At some point, the chapter will vote on membership so you will want to be sure that all members have a chance to meet the guys. So set a date when the chapter can have an event. Maybe a cookout. Have it as an "invite only" event. If they have not already, this will afford all the members to meet the potential new members.

You can also have awards given to members for "Best Recruiter". And maybe have some prize. Say for the member who brings in the most new members, he gets excused from house cleaning for say two weeks (month). Maybe second best is excused for one week.

Get alumni to come to chapter and talk to the active members about how they do not want their legacy to go down the drain. That there is a lot at stake (HQ coming down) if there isn't a successful rush. Shame can work wonders at times.

Both members and potential members are likely to show up for an event if women are present. If the sororities are allowed to help with rush, ask a chapter(s) to help. And then repay them by offering to clean their house, helping them at an event or raising a certain amount for their philanthropy. Not only will you be getting help, but you are forging a good relationship with the sorority. Which in turn may help with recruiting more members down the line.

Since numbers are a concern by your HQ, I want to reiterate what FSUZeta and PhoenixAzul said. Once you get your pledges, y'all should start the process all over with a new set of men. If you are able to do so, recruit at least once a semester/quarter. Maybe twice a term if possible and need be.

And if y'all are not already doing so, look at recruiting from all areas of campus life. The jocks, the preppies, the good ole boys, the music majors, the brains etc. Look at all classes too.

And finally, you want to be sure that you have a good retention rate. So while working on recruiting, y'all might need to address membership retention (if it's an issue) as well.

Best of luck.

Anything with sports gets the guys out there - maybe a basketball game, flag football or softball? The only thing is to make sure that the brothers know that it's a rush event, not an overly-competitive event. The last thing you want is for a rushee to get hurt.

Are there any restaurants in the area that could serve as a rush get-together? Food is a huge attraction for brothers and rushees alike, and a way to show concrete examples of where the rush budget is going.

Maybe a comedy club or something along those lines? It's entertaining and would be attractive to brothers as a rush event.

Yea were definately doing the sports thing, I guess flag football used to be huge when talking to the Alumni. I like the comedy club idea thats something new. I think were gonna have to go the prize route to motivate people. Even if it mean not having to watch the door at a party or something like that. Im suprised at the response on the forum, thank you all very much!

PhoenixAzul, FSUZeta and TSteven are right on the money. When breaking into groups, however, make sure it is structured and they are getting together with the group once a week or more. You don't have to add events, brothers should be hanging out with each other anyway. All you are doing is inviting a new friend to come along. Also ask all the guys in your chapter to name two or three guys that aren't greek, but would make a good brothers and make a big list. Put the list on posterboard or some sort of chart that lists name, hometown, major, contact info and when he was last contacted by a member of the chapter and asked to hang out. If a guy just doesn't seem to fit what you're looking for or getting along with anyone then cross him off. When you break into groups the group can look at the chart and call a couple guys.

One thing that wasn't mentioned is look at your standards for a guy. Sometimes my chapter hates to let a good guy go, but if he doesn't have the grades then he doesn't have the grades. We require a minimum 2.5GPA whereas the school only requires a 2.0GPA. Also require brothers to join at least one campus activity and get involved with it. It's a good way to meet non-greeks, make friends and recruit. If you do have standards then make sure they are reviewed every year. A good source to look for quality guys is in the sophmore, junior and even senior class. These are the guys that have been around for a year or more, you should know what to expect from them and they don't get in as much trouble as freshmen.

Also, don't mention huge parties when talking to potentials. If a potential does ask about how big the parties are or what they are like simply say "We don't like to talk about our social events with potential members, b/c we don't want to bring someone into our brotherhood that only wants us for our beer."

Most of what I've mentioned is only part of a lecture Dave Stollman of CampusSpeak.com can give. If the whole greek community is struggling you may want to convince the IFC or school administration to try to bring him in, or if he is too expensive see if the chapters will help with fundraising to get him to your campus. If you can't get him there he also offers a "Recruitment Bootcamp." One of our brothers just went and said it was long hours but we have a good plan going. Stollman really is a great speaker.

speaking of bowling...
 

Those are all great ideas. :)

One I'd like to add-
On my campus, one of the fraternities goes bowling every Thursday. Lots of them (not just 3 or 4) go every week and invite friends, both guys and girls. I'm sure that is a great rush / PR tool, and fun.