Summer is approaching. No school and no meetings. But you can prepare your fraternity for next period with these 9 things to do over the summer.
1) Start making contact with guys who could potentially be rushing a fraternity in the fall. Chances are you are at home and hanging out with your old friends. Find out who will be attending your school in the fall and start laying the groundwork now. A little work now will go a long way in the fall.
2) Be sure your fall rush is planned. All events should be scheduled early in the summer to avoid last-minute scrambling. Be sure that every detail is handled so it will be a seamless process once the brothers get back to school.
3) Cut your rush budget. Whatever funds your chapter has allotted to fraternity recruitment – cut it in half. You don’t need to spend money to win recruits over. In most cases, all you are doing is wasting money unnecessarily. You have 3 months to plan rush. Be creative with cutting costs and spend that money on the brotherhood.
4) Think about your own story. Why are you in the fraternity? What makes your fraternity special? At some point, you know you are going to have to sell the recruit on your chapter. If you want success, you need to plan ahead.
5) Eliminate barriers to joining. We all know the reasons potentials have for not joining. They are worried about finances, hazing, time commitments, what their parents will think, wanting to wait until their 2nd semester, ect.. And the honest truth is a lot of them are valid reasons. If you can eliminate a lot of these reasons why guys shouldn’t join, you will not only get more guys to sign their bid, but you will be improving your fraternity in the process.
6) Hold an open house during orientation. You know when freshmen will be on campus this summer. You know what dorms they will be staying in. On the night of orientation bring them to the house to show them what fraternity life is like. Show them how to join a fraternity. Of course, don’t forget to get contact info and stay in touch with them over the summer. And don’t do anything stupid that will hurt the fraternity in the long run (like getting a 17 year old kid drunk).
7) Update your fraternity website. 99% of fraternity websites are outdated. The only thing that guys who will rush are interested in is pictures. So take a few minutes and put some fresh ones up. This goes for the fraternity’s facebook page too.
8) Learn how to rush. Read my book (The Fraternity Leader) which has the most comprehensive recruitment strategy out there. Check out the books from Phired Up. Attend your fraternity’s convention and attend the recruitment programming that they will surely have. Talk to brothers you know who are good at recruitment and get them to mentor you. There are a ton of great resources out there for you. You have 3 months to study up.
9) Enjoy some time away. The academic year is a grind. Being in a fraternity can feel a little bit like one too at times. Take the summer to get away and recharge your batteries. Come back to school in the fall fresh and ready to make a difference.
To learn more, check out our most in-depth article on fraternity recruitment: The Complete Guide to Fraternity Recruitment.