Recruitmentroundtable 2/25/2016
House tours
Vote to take house tours out of recruitment. Where/when will they go? Preliminary conversations about having them after PNM orientation. Thoughts?
SK:are we for sure doing them? Or is there an option not to?
Oz: up to you all. Took them out of round two. Under assumption they would happen thinking chapters wanted them.
SK: did not add a whole lot of value. Saw house when walking through to go to chapter room
SSS: pi chi’s doing tours?
Hershila: would be up to you guys. Along with other details of the tour
AST: adds an element of excitement for a freshmen. Would this only be common area? Or bedroom?
SSS: only common area needed. Bed rooms are all the same for each house and same as residence halls
ASA: no point if we do not show bedrooms because they see the common areas walking into recruitment.
Hershila: are you guys leaning towards not doing them at all? Or still interested in doing them during orientation? Feedback I am hearing is there is no point
AST: is this a Panhellenic vote or a vote at the roundtable?
Oz:Panhellenic council vote. Need delegate to bring a motion of when they would occur then we will go from there.
ASA: if they don’t do tours, they only see what they see when they come through the front door and go back to chapter room. Does this give members more chance to visit with PNMs instead of seeing a bedroom?
Oz: if during orientation, the intent would be to show the rooms and not recruit. Because the tour was during the rounds last year there was recruiting going on during the tour. This would be just a basic tour.
Rachel: because the tour is no longer during the second round of recruitment it would allow for more face to face time with PNMs during that round this year. Definitely a bonus.
DZ: agree it adds a level of excitement. The value of the house tour is to see the personality of each sorority. To put myself in PNMs shoes, I am more comfortable when I have gotten a feeling of my surroundings and would feel more comfortable going through recruitment if I had been to the houses already.
SSS: agree. Gives them the comfort of – hey, I have been here, it isn’t as nerve-wracking.
ASA:are we able to decorate common area if we do not show bedrooms?
Oz: probably no. Your house is as is during a normal day of the week.
AST: maybe add some flowers?
Oz: probably to flowers; will need to discuss more
SK:to find common ground - can we do a virtual house tour and of the village? Like when selling a house. Post to website and PNMs could view, as well as public.
Hershila: unsure, up to you guys. Housing does but this is a different situation.
SSS: seeing the house yourself is more personal, different feel.
DZ: house tours gives us the opportunity to show off things that were donated. To honor the people who donated things like our staircase, chandelier. Even if the PNMs don’t remember, it makes us feel better to be able to share. It tells the story of the sorority.
Hershila: at the post recruitment roundtable, there was a discussion about the patio being shown or not – thoughts?
ASA: patio was an issue during recruitment rounds. Might not be during orientation. We polled fall 15 class and majority did not feel it was beneficial. They just wanted to talk to us.
Hershila:if they were to be done during orientation who would you like to be present? Give the tour?
SSS: housing chair or recruitment give tours? Pi chi’s give tours? How do we monitor members to make sure they don’t recruit?
DZ: we think last year’s tour went smoothly with a group of 10. Having a chapter member in each room talking and passing them group by group. Kept it moving.
Hershila: so having chapter women stationed throughout the house and Pi Chi’s taking them/leading them…?
AST: as a pi chi last year, I would not want to show off a house that is not mine.
ASA: would pi chi’s only be leading girls to next room/member?
Hershila: yes. Just walking with them and monitoring to make sure chapter women did not say anything inappropriate.
DZ:decide on a number of people per chapter, maybe 5 and decide where they will stand in the house, and chapter choose who they are.
AST and DZ: good to have a couple pi chi groups in a house at once. Not overwhelming number.
SK: if you can’t recruit while touring, what’s the point? What other information do we share? It sill take such a short amount of time. How do we fill that space?
AST: you can still talk about alumni support, correct? Donations?
ASA:if you have rooms named after alumnae, etc – can you tell them how much it cost? Because it shows alumni support and commitment.
SSS: agree with sigma kappa. For tour to be valuable, it needs to be personal. If you are only going to be talking about the room, you will end up being very basic. For a house tour to be valuable and make that connection you have to tell more of a story, which you can’t really do during orientation period when you are not supposed to be recruitment. It will be hard to stay unbiased. PNMs won’t care how much who donated what, they care about how pretty the house is. This doesn’t promote a values based recruitment process.
Rachel: any other ideas of where this tour could go? Any other ideas besides orientation?
SK: possibly Welcome Week?
Oz: probably not. Orientation office responsible for programming that week and schedule is packed.
AST: when is orientation in relation to recruitment?
Oz: Sunday prior to recruitment starting on Thursday. August 21, recruitment starts Aug 25.
ASA: where is orientation? Will the girls have to walk from orientation to the houses?
Oz: ballroom and will look at getting buses to houses if that is when the tour is.
SSS: we shouldn’t do tours if they aren’t personal and don’t have the bedrooms. What about an open house time to explore and not so structured? Chapter members out and doors are open. Pi Chi’s be there? Well we would want them to go to all houses.
ASA: saying how much a room costs isn’t to show how flashy we are but to show how supportive our alumnae are. There should be guidelines for what is allowed to say and not to say.
DZ: is there a reason we can’t say “our alum donated this?” Not that we should say “our alum donated this and it cost this” because that is not values based, but saying our alum donated this and they took the time to give money and pick something out and come to the house. That should be allowed to be shared and we should be able to share the story of our house.
ASA:we need to look at how valuable is this tour to the entire PNM experience? Is it worth it? The feedback we got is that they didn’t seem to care about it. I see that it could be valuable but how valuable is it?
Decorations and budgets:
Gabie: Budget changed by 2015 council from $10 to $9 per PNM. 317 starting open house round Fall 15; 317 x $9= $2,853 budget for Fall 2016 recruitment. Donations/discounts are included in the budget. Videos are included in the budget. Do not need over-the-top decorations or decorations on ceiling. We want PNMs to focus on conversation. “No-frills” recruitment is now changed to “values-based” recruitment.
SSS: food considered in budgets?
Oz: yes. Look at “Resolved to Educate” handout created by NPC. Look over this to get info on values based recruitment.
Bid day themes:
Hershila: bid day themes turned in via OrgSync form. Form opens tomorrow (2/26 at 8am and is due 3/9 by 10am. Themes will be first come first serve. If you did email the theme already, you will need to complete the form. How do you guys want to address chapters with different theme but same colors?
DZ: AST, us, and ASA all had same colors but different themes we didn’t care but how did ya’ll feel?
AST: we did the same look (ASA) – confused the PNMs, we blended together.
ASA: it’s confusing for new girls to see same colors everywhere.
ASA: I don’t think the sorority women minded, but it was confusing to the PNMs.
General agreement in room that PNMs were confused.
Hershila: we will be explaining to the PNMs where sororities will be standing.
SSS: I was confused as a PNM last fall on who everyone was because they looked the same. We all have the same shirt but each member decorates how they want to. How do we handle?
Hershila: include on form if everyone will be wearing same/similar accessories
DZ: every sorority should have different tshirt color…?
Hershila: if that situation was to occur how do you want us to handle? First come, first serve.
AST: we did have same tanks as ASA. We agree if two sororities give same colors, we should contact second sorority.
General agreement in the room. (Cannot distinguish voices)
Event planning guide:
Hershila: Last year it was due mid-June. Feedback?
Oz: Last year there was a due date in the summer and then a chance to make changes once everyone had been in the house for a week in August. Because chapters were not in the house and did not have a “feel” for the space and flow. Can we make a firm date this year? Small changes can happen and should be submitted, but not do a secondary deadline? When is a good timeline for you all for it to be due in the summer? We review those and provide feedback to make sure decorations are on same field. But we want to make sure you have enough time to submit it, we provide feedback, and you can have time to buy and make vision happen. We want to find the happy medium. If it is too early and then you change things or if it’s too late and you don’t have time to change plan if we say it is too over the top.
SK:mid June is fine
DZ:July first
AST:mid June give enough time to get feedback.
ASA:mid June. If we turn inmid June, when will we get Panhellenic feedback?
Oz: Panhellenic would set a meeting to review immediately after they are due. Within a few days they would receive feedback.
Disaster plan!:
Gabie: Last year we had rain during recruitment. Where do you want PNMs if rain occurs? Last year there was mixed feedback about PNMs in the house. Post-recruitment it seemed there was agreement on PNMs being in the house.
DZ: will there still be tents walking to house to house?
Gabie: up to you all to discuss
ASA: we need a firm plan. It was confusing and last minute last year.
DZ: could UCAor Panhellenic provide tents so we don’t have to scramble last minute.
Rachel: UCA doesn’t have enough tents to provide for all houses and it isn’t in the Panhellenic budget to purchase tents.
DZ: if we have to purchase a tent, is that going into budget?
Oz: we would expect you would use the tent you already own. If it does start raining and they line up in the parlor they would just need an umbrella between the houses, not a tent. Prior to recruitment last year, chapters did not want the PNMs in the house so we decided on tents. Then tents didn’t work out so we switched it to the parlor – so we are trying to determine if the rain plan can be the parlor this year.
ASA: so if the rain plan is the parlor then we don’t need tents
AST:if it rains like it did this year then the tent won’t help anything
General agreement in the room.
ASA:they still get wet under the tent. You just need to put them inside.
SSS: cars splashed PNMs in front of our house last year.
Rachel: we need to make sure everyone is on the same page. Not if sprinkle then tents, if hard rain then inside. If there is precipitation falling the rain plan will be enacted.
SSS: would that be something that Panhellenic would decide and then they tell the Pi Chi’s and they tell the houses?
Rachel: yes
DZ: no good way to get to house from the front (DZ and ASA) if it’s rainy because of the ditch. Can they come from back entrance if it’s raining?
Rachel: buses drop them off in the parking lot
SSS: our back porch floods.
AST: bus sizes were also an issue because they couldn’t fit into parking lot between houses. They would stop in front of DZ and ASA and girls would have to jump the ditch/walk in the mud.
ASA: physical plant put something there so they don’t have to walk in the mud? If PNMs are inside house during rain, will we have more time? If they are in the house we will have less time to get ready.
Gabie: the door between the parlor and living room should be shut so PNMs cannot see in.
SSS: Pi Chi’s will be there with them too.
PNMs being sick
Gabie: we had an issue with PNMs getting sick and want your feedback on how you want that handled. Our thought was to have the member take her to the Pi Chi and hand her off to her.
ASA:Members should take the PNM in the Pi Chi and the Pi Chi should know what to do from there.
SSS: what if they don’t inform us they are feeling ill and they just pass out?
Hershila: that is what we are wanting to discuss
SK:our advisors would step in and handle. We would not let a collegian handle that situation.
AST: agree with SK
SSS: that person’s role is more to go and get the counselor and get her out of the situation in general. House is hot and she needs to get out of the situation.
ASA:if they do get sick they are missing a round. Can they make up round if this happens?
Oz: part of the question is her going to the counselor so that she is no longer having interactions with chapter members or advisors so the recruitment process stops. That is an incident we had last year. If the plan is for her to repeat the round we need to have a definitive point where those conversations have ended so we can say she did not complete the round. But if she stays with advisors or collegians to address her health issues it gets gray as to whether she has actually finished the round or not. No she did not finish the round like every other PNM but were there recruitment conversations that were happening? There are certain medical situations that you all might have expertise in, but some of those conversations needs to cease.
ASA: at that junction, her Pi Chi needs to be immediately part of a conversation. If there is an advisor there that is a nurse, she can help – but the Pi Chi needs to be there as well.
Oz: yes
Gabie: that way it is clear about whether she can go back and redo her round. We want to make it clear and beneficial for her and you all and no gray areas.
ASA:can there be a timing marker to determine if she will repeat round if sick?
Rachel: that is something we will have to look into something and address
AST:at some point you (advisor) have to react and you shouldn’t be recruiting during those situations. I cannot step away from a medicalsituation. There will be times that you can call a Pi Chi but there will be times a Pi Chi cannot handle that.
ASA: correct. A Pi Chi cannot handle it all but she still needs to be present.
DZ:as far as redoing the round that decision should be made solely by the PNM in a discussion with her Pi Chi. We could put a cutoff on it but that is a personal experience for her and she needs to make that call.
Move in day tanks
Rachel: Last year we did Go Greek tank and received lot of positive feedback. In order to benefit our community – save money, present ourselves as one unit, and point our similarities instead of our differences – we have discussed removing the letters from the back of the shirt.
SK: can we have buttons, stickers?
Rachel: absolutely. Other accessories are allowed.
SSS: why would we get same tank if we can jazz it up with our chapter accessories?
Rachel: when there are large groups of women and they are all wearing different colors, we are isolating ourselves. If we are all in the same color we will look like a unit, like we support each other. You aren’t going to notice the small buttons, or socks, etc. If they see a wall of the same tanks they will say, “wow! That’s a community I want to be a part of.”
DZ:as a freshman in the fall, I didn’t notice the letters on their back. If it’s a cost thing, I don’t think we need letters on back.
AST:agree with DZ. We can all wear same tank but we will all have different personality in accessorizing.
ASA: like same shirt
Rachel: chapters were able to submit designs last year so we will probably do it similarly this year.