It is convention time of year, and many of you will be going for the first time. Here is a list of people I would make sure you meet while you are there:
1) The Secretary – When you send your dues payments, new member applications and other correspondence to nationals, someone has to handle it. In most fraternities, that is the national secretary. It is a good idea to introduce yourself to this person at convention. Hopefully, they will remember you and help you make sure nothing slips through the cracks during the school year.
2) Your Leadership Consultant – This person is a recently graduated brother who is responsible for making visits to your chapter. They are also responsible for reporting the health of the chapter to your fraternity’s governing board. In most cases, the chapter president does not meet this brother until the chapter visit. This is a pretty foolish practice. Introduce yourself to the consultant now. This is a relationship that is very important to the chapter.
3) Another Chapter President – You want to meet a chapter president from another school that is close to yours. For example, if you go to UCLA you want to meet the USC president. There are huge benefits to your chapter if you can for this relationship. You can piggyback off ideas and attend each other’s social events. This one is a no-brainer.
4) The Executive Director – Take two minutes and introduce yourself to the executive director. You are not going to have a lot of time because he will obviously be very busy during convention. However, you want to make sure your first interaction with him is a positive one.
5) Crazy Alumni – There are going to be some crazy old guys who attend convention. These guys have benefited from their fraternity membership and want to give back to the younger generation. Let them! Seek them out and ask them questions. You will be amazed at the knowledge and time they are willing to share with you.
Convention is an awesome time which will open your eyes up to many fraternity experiences that you never knew existing. Be sure to take advantage of it by meeting as many brothers as possible. If you do, it will be one of your most cherished memories from college.