Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Things to Remember

In planning and implementing a social function, there are several methods each social chairman can do to help him or herself have an event run smoothly. Since a social chairman has several responsibilities to do, Down To Frat offers a few tips that will enable the social chairman to keep his or her cool. Here are some of DTF’s tips:

Prepare Early

Once a social chairman assumes his or her position, he or she needs to prepare the fraternity or sorority’s social calendar. Every social chairman needs to be mindful of the “big events” such as barndance, semi-formal, and formal because these social functions take a lot more time to plan and implement. For example, once a social chairman assumes his or her post for the fall semester, he or she needs to start contacting each sorority’s social chairman. He or she can easily set up and confirm all of the exchanges in one night. The social chairman can use a calendar to mark off the dates what sorority the fraternity will be having an exchange with.

In regards to “big events,” the social chairman needs to plan those ahead of time, most preferably over the summer if he or she is responsible for the fall semester or during winter break if it is for the spring semester. In the case of barndance, he or she needs to contact the bus companies and the barn locations two or three months before the planned date. It takes weeks to look for the right bus companies to transport everyone to the barn. It even takes longer to sign a contract with a barn because paper work is done over mail.

Create a Checklist

To make life easier for the social chairman, it is necessary to have a checklist. There are way too many things to remember such as dates and other important details. With a checklist, the social chairman will be able to accomplish all of the necessary tasks to have a successful social function.

Without a checklist, there is a strong possibility that important details would be left out. For example, when I was the social chairman in my fraternity and while I was planning barndance, I forgot to bring cups for everyone to use. This should have been something obvious and it was unreasonable to believe that I forgot to purchase cups. However, since I was dealing with the stress of having an unreliable bus company, I managed to forget to bring the cups.

Consistent Communication among Participating Parties

In creating a social calendar, the person in charge needs to have constant communication with other sororities’ social chairman. This is very important because sometimes a schedule conflict will occur because of other more important responsibilities need to be done during the set date. With consistent communication, a social chairman can receive such message and can reschedule.

Without consistent communication, a social chairman is taking the risk of having an unsuccessful party. This will only lead to more frustration and further grief from the rest of the fraternity’s brothers or sororities’ sisters. In addition, an unsuccessful social function will only tarnish the social chairman’s reputation as a reliable officer in the fraternity or sorority.

If you have other suggestions not currently listed here, please don’t hesitate to email Down To Frat at downtofrat@gmail.com.

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