[19357] in APO-L
Re: Meeting format
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (jennifer ann o'leary)
Tue Oct 13 10:45:22 1998
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 09:45:07 -0500
Reply-To: jennifer ann o'leary <j-oleary@STUDENTS.UIUC.EDU>
From: jennifer ann o'leary <j-oleary@STUDENTS.UIUC.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
In-Reply-To: <199810130527.WAA20718@chopin.seattleu.edu>
Hi all
Here at Alpha Alpha (U of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign) we have experienced
problems with low attendance and the such so we developed some ideas that
we now use regularly. first the ones that are similar to gamma alpha's
> Here's a few suggestinos that may help out, based on how we ran things
> back when I was at Gamma Alpha (University of Washington):
>
> 1. Bi-weekly General Business Meetings (GBMs) with weekly exec board
> meetings -- Helps break up the monotony of meetings, and makes sure
we have pledge meetings every week with active meetings every other week
right after. since any active can attend the pledge meetings the
attendance increases there.
> 2. Onions and Orchids -- A little tradition we picked up from (excuse
we have somthig similar that we call good n' welfare - there is an
appointed officer that runs this and he or she will go to the front of the
room and let people say something like thanks for your help yada yada in
an organized fashion at the end of the meeting. this gets rather
emotional at the end of each semester (elections) when people are
graduating and saying good-bye
> 4. Open Forum -- Every one of our meetings had a time set aside
every member of the chapter - active, pledge doesn't matter - can go to
the exec meeting or irc meeting and let thier opinion be known but we
also due this when there is a big issue to discuss
> 5. Sense of Humor -- Nothing makes a meeting more boring than having
our chapter is very relaxed and easy-going so our meetings reflect that
attitude
>
> 6. Sunshine Chair/Committee -- We adopted a practice of appointing a
besides good n' welfare we also have something called the ding-a-ling who
is basically the court jester of the chapter. his job is to make sure we
don't get too serious and to run kindnappings.
another thing that has been developed within our chapter to improve
retention and reduce apathy is what we call the Signor Fink competition.
this takes place betweent the different pledge classes. let me elaborate
- each pledge class votes to give them self another name besides the
national one - this name is basically chosen the same way the national one
is ad voted o by the pledges, some examples of the most current ones are
Arthur Ashe, Rosie O'Donnel and this Semester's pledge class Oprah
Winfrey. this name becomes the "call sign" of the class and is a source
of pride. the competition itself is named after our founding member and
the pledge classes compete agaist each other to see who has the best
retention, attends the most ldc's, service projects etc - this message is
getting really long, so if you're curious about this e-mail me personally,
it has been great in motivating people ad the announcement of the
standings is one of the highlights of the meeting!
> Overall, my best suggestion would be to try to make the meetings
a > reflection of the character of your Chapter in general. Some Chapters
> don't deal well with a seeming lack of structure, and some *really*
> don't deal well with an overwhelming presence of structure. Our
> Chapter had some really fun-loving people who liked to goof off, but
> knew when business had to be done. And I like to think that the
> meetings that I ran (wayyyyy back when *grin*) reflected that.
>
> - Cliff Gilley
> 2L Student, Seattle University School of Law
> Past President, Gamma Alpha Chapter (University of Washington)
> Past Section 8 Vice-Chair
i would stress the same thing - remember the personality of the chapter is
probably one of the best things it has going - EXPLOIT it.
jen o'leary
aa at uiuc
fall '96 - john lennon
too many appointed offices to list
nationals delegate - minneapolis '98
