Shy Brothers: 5 Ways to Get Them Involved in Recruitment
Just as every person can’t be the life of the party, every fraternity chapter has members who shy away from the spotlight. For some chapters, these brothers are few and far between, whereas for others, shy members make up a substantial portion of the brotherhood. No matter how many less-social members your fraternity has, there is never an excuse for these members not to pull their weight in the chapter, especially when it comes to recruitment. As the experienced fraternity brother knows, there is more to running a successful recruitment than face time with potential new members. For members who don’t do well in social situations, there are other ways to get them involved, utilize their skills, and ease the stress of your recruitment chair.
1) Brain Storming
Although they may not be comfortable speaking to crowds, shy brothers are a great resource for recruitment ideas. Invite these brothers to a recruitment planning meeting and have them brain storm for the upcoming events. Make sure to listen to each and every one of them, and give them plenty of time to voice their thoughts and opinions. It may take some time to get them to open up, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised by some of the ideas they come up with. Finally, give them advanced warning about the meeting so they can do some creative thinking on their own and be completely prepared to share.
2) Event Planning
Once you’ve chosen your recruitment events (i.e. bowling night or Monday night football), its time to start planning for each one. This is another excellent opportunity to get those less-social brothers involved. You can dole out responsibilities to each individual, such as purchasing food and reserving venues, as well as involve the brothers in the actual execution of each event (setting up, arranging transportation, etc.). When assigning responsibilities and tasks, try to play to each brother’s strength. For example, if you’re having a bowling night and brother A is the best bowler in the chapter, have him find and reserve the venue. This way, your brothers will not only have some knowledge of what they need to do, but also be somewhat interested as well.
3) Marketing Activities
Marketing is an easy way to get shy members involved. Marketing responsibilities can range from designing rush shirts and flyers and working with vendors, to promoting recruitment events on the chapter website and creating a recruitment Facebook group. Just as with event planning, when assigning marketing responsibilities, be sure to play to the strengths and interests of each brother. Graphic design or media arts majors can share their skills by designing flyers while computer science majors can hone their skills by managing the website. With marketing, be sure to keep every brother in the loop about the recruitment events, dates, and deadlines and check in with them frequently for updates. If recruitment starts on Monday, you don’t want your rush shirts coming in on Tuesday.
4) Member Scheduling (for events)
Another way to get members involved is by making them responsible for the other members of your chapter. For recruitment, as well as other campus events, it’s of the utmost importance that your brothers know where they need to be, what needs to be done, and that they arrive on time. To ease the pressure on the recruitment chairs, you can assign the responsibility of member scheduling to a less-social brother in the chapter. This is a great way to teach your brothers responsibility and leadership, while also giving them a major part in recruitment. The brother, or brothers, picked to oversee member scheduling will need to make the schedule for each event (i.e. how many brothers are needed? How long is the event? If all day, what are the time shifts?), work around brothers’ requests (brother A has work on Monday from 2:00 – 6:30pm, etc.), and hold each brother accountable for showing up and participating. Member scheduling is actually a large responsibility, and a good recruitment hinges on the ability of the brothers to be on time and know what they’re doing.
5) Chapter Preparation – The Odds and Ends
In the months leading up to recruitment, there are always a number of little things that need to be done. Chapter preparation, such as cleaning the chapter house and hanging the newest chapter composite, can be tedious, but it’s a great way to get shy members involved. From building new chapter letters and covering up the holes in the wall to buying a booth table and fraternity flag, these activities may not be thrilling but they are key to a successful recruitment.
This post was generously provided by ChapterBoard.
Category: Fraternity, Management
