by Matt Mattson
This is a completely random recruitment thought. What if, however, your chapter used Skype, Google Video Chat, or some other web-based video chat software to connect with the larger inter/national organization while recruiting new members this fall.
I “see” my brother-in-law weekly, and he lives in Poland. My 18-month-old “sees” her grandparents regularly despite their 1000 mile distance from each other. If we can figure out the magic of “video-phones” out for my family’s use, there has to be some application for sophisticated college students and Greek organizations in particular.
Often potential members don’t really understand the significance of having brothers/sisters around the country, or a historical headquarters (which many organizations have) that is, if nothing else, pretty neat. What if we used technology to show them? Imagine video chatting with your inter/national president in the library/museum of your organization’s historical headquarters (or something else cool like that). Just seems like an obvious opportunity to connect potential members to the larger idea of fraternity/sorority.
Headquarters could consider using Ustream to broadcast live promotional tours of the headquarters or founding site during heavy recruitment periods so that they could offer the opportunity to a lot of chapters at once. Combine with streaming #hashtag chat on Twitter, and you’ve got a pretty technologically-savvy recruitment opportunity. Truthfully, most first-year students won’t be ready for all that this fall, but start simple and consider how you can use these video/web-based services.
Can important successful alumni video chat with high priority potential members to help them understand the life-changing value of your organization? Can you offer parents of potential members a live virtual tour of your house via Ustream? Can you Skype with a class at your old high school live from the fraternity/sorority house to give thema sneak peak at the college experience? Once new members have joined, can you use Skype or other services for new member education? Could you invite chapter presidents from other schools around the country to “join” your meetings to add new perspective? Can you broadcast your chapter meetings online so alumni around the country can join?
by Matt Mattson
I had a realization today that we’ve never shared this over the blog. Maybe we were trying to keep it a secret, but oh well… here it is (the pic in the blog is a general diagram, to see fraternity and sorority specific diagrams, see the links at bottom).
I also was thinking that many fraternity/sorority professionals may have only seen the first part of our message that we deliver from the main stage of our programs — this blog gives you a peek at the meat of our recruitment system which, when implemented, drives serious results.
Dynamic Recruitment for Fraternities and Sororities, as taught by Phired Up is about continual social excellence, networking, real relationship building, letting quantity drive quality, gathering horses and getting to work, bold purpose, lots of handshakes, providing value and living values, building a system that consistently drives a higher quantity of higher quality members into the organization, values-based membership selection, and deep respect for the people being recruited. The system looks like this (this is simplified for the sake of the blog)…
1. Build as many relationships with non-Greek students (your prospect pool) as possible using the 6 Cylinders (“5 Ways” for sororities), and put their information on a Names List.
2. Build meaningful relationships with those new friends that are now on your Names List by engaging them in Small Activities.
3. Once the chapter knows the potential members well enough, they choose which persons to give a bid to using an objective, measurable, values-based selection criteria.
4. A chapter never offers a bid before they “Pre-Close” the potential member to ensure all concerns are covered and the chapter gets 100% bid acceptance.
5. The potential members always say yes when asked in a way that respects their intelligence and respects the organization.
O.K., that’s about the quickest way I’ve ever described this revolutionary operating model for fraternities and sororities. A lot more goes into it, but that at least provides an overview for those curious about what our year-round, values-based, results-driving, Dynamic Recruitment System looks like. This is the system that is sweeping North America. This is the system that is revolutionizing fraternities, sororities, and other purpose-driving membership organizations. This is the system built by experienced recruiters. This is the system that gets results.
Attendees at our workshops’ advanced sessions receive a workbook with a template for building an action plan for long-term limitless recruitment possibility. To see what those look like, check these out.
by Matt Mattson
This is a simple blog post with a simple piece of advice. If you have a chance, GO!
And yes, this does have something to do with recruitment. If you attend really any of the above opportunities (or anything like them) you’ll get at least these three things from it a) you’ll understand your organization a million times better, b) you’ll learn from other people doing recruitment (among other things) better than you, and c) you’ll have cooler stories to tell potential members.
You’ll get other stuff as well. I can honestly trace the impetus for my career success back to two experiences. The first national fraternity conference that I attended was in Norfolk, Virginia. It was there that I met two alumni that helped me understand the true scope of what fraternity was all about (Thanks Stuart and Kevin, if you’re reading this). Then I attended Leadershape the next summer and learned what it really means to boldly lead with integrity.
Both of those were dramatic life changing experiences for me. Both of which I could have easily chosen to not attend — I had a summer job, I had a girlfriend, I had a softball team, I had some summer classes, I had very little money, I had stuff to do… I had excuses. But I chose to go. I’m glad I made that choice.
Seriously, Go.
I ask students nearly everywhere I go whether they’ll be attending their organization’s inter/national conference or convention during the upcoming summer. The typical answer is either, “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure I can afford it.” Fair enough. I’ll just say this… Making that decision has led me down a path of personal fulfillment and a deeper understanding of and connection to my organization. So, you should go.
by Matt Mattson
Visit this website today: www.nicindy.org/fraternityrights. Seriously.
We’ll let that website tell the good news, but here’s a sneak peek…
LEGITIMATE RESEARCH SHOWS…
“Students who choose to participate in the fraternity experience gain a significant advantage to non-participants in many formative measurements that apply greatly to civic engagement, relationship building, and professional leadership skills.”
“Students who choose to join a fraternity leave college better prepared for immediate impact in the workplace and involvement within the community than those who do not.”
And interestingly, this research shows that campuses with deferred recruitment policies are keeping men from important first-semester opportunities that could help them maximize their full potential.
Thanks to some leading organizations who took bold steps to ask some powerful questions of their members, there is now research to back up what we believe — fraternities are a powerful positive force in the lives of their members. The massive UniLOA study that this data comes from is an exciting advancement for Greek Life. This represents new information that all the leaders in our interfraternal movement need to understand and utilize in their work to advance Greek Life.
As you are shaping recruitment strategies for the coming year, consider how this information might be taught to your members, shared with key stakeholders on campus, used to help students (and their parents) make life-changing decisions to “Go Greek,” etc.
Phired Up challenges the fraternity/sorority world to look at this new data as a jumping off point for where we can go together. If we jointly choose SOCIAL EXCELLENCE (for example) as our shared focus and purpose, imagine the even more dramatic transformation students will see after joining fraternities/sororities compared with their non-Greek counterparts. Imagine if we start intentionally and strategically preparing our members to be great social hosts, bold social leaders, and confident, vulnerable, compassionate social communicators.
Of course this data should also challenge us to look critically at ourselves in other ways. If this study is true and we really do provide this level of value in the lives of our members — despite our many transgressions — imagine if we leaned into the behaviors that created these positive results and agressively addressed the behaviors that detract. Imagine what the depth of our impact might be then?
Further, the reasons for deferred recruitment policies on campuses across the country are likely a) the health and well-being of first-semester new members and b) the lower academic performance during the first semester of membership in a fraternity. These two factors are currently outweighing the positive attributes of fraternity membership in the minds of many administrators (so much so that they’re willing to risk backlash regarding freedom of association to protect their students). If we could cooperatively and boldly (really boldly) address these two very real risks AND get the results reported in this study, imagine the possibilities. This is a call for a new approach to the first-semester experience in Greek Life.
Let’s celebrate, but let’s be humble and honest as well. Greek life is doing some things wrong and we need to address them, but we also have the potential (as proven by this early data) to quite literally improve lives in ways no other opportunity on campus provides. This is huge.
Thanks to the NIC and all the organizations that have put their effort and energy into this research.
[UPDATE: Here is the official release from the NIC. It is a helpful read.]