Great Activities for New Members

1. Have teambuilding activities. Participate in a ropes course facilitated by a professional, or use the rock-climbing and bouldering walls at the CoREC.
2. Participate in community service.
3. Invite your faculty advisor to meals and meetings with new members.
4. Invite successful alumni to speak about how the fraternity/sorority/cooperative gave them skills to succeed.
5. Have an arts and crafts day. Go to All Fired Up! to paint pottery.
6. Invite new members to meals with active members.
7. Have a movie night.
8. Go bowling.
9. Play miniature golf.
10. Watch a favorite TV show or sport together.
11. Have an ice cream social.
12. Invite new members to shadow a chapter/house officer to learn more about leadership positions.
13. Plan a fundraiser to pay for initiation/activation fees.
14. Include new members in chapter/house meetings.
15. Include new members in regularly scheduled chapter/house activities.
16. Encourage active membership in at least one organization outside the group.
17. Host an event for families.
18. Have a consultant or national visitor talk about the organization’s history and national programs.
19. Discuss what your organization does with dues money.
20. Attend a council meeting.
21. Participate in all-Greek or all-cooperative events.
22. Review parliamentary procedure and its purpose.
23. Have new members take the Meyers-Briggs Personality Type Inventory and discuss.
24. Plan a philanthropy project.
25. Participate in intramural sports.
26. Study together.
27. Invite active members to new member meetings.
28. Attend campus events (sports, plays, concerts, lectures) together.
29. Attend a program or event another organization is sponsoring.
30. Co-sponsor an event with another organization.
31. Have a discussion about membership standards and expectations.
32. Have a house/chapter goal-setting retreat. Encourage members to set personal goals and house/chapter goals.
33. Invite new members to accompany members to regional leadership conferences.
34. Attend a Student Organization Leadership Development Workshop hosted by SAO.
35. Invite faculty and staff to give presentations on topics of interest to members.
36. Write a letter to the founders to thank them for the organization.
37. Invite new members to attend an Executive Board meeting.
38. Have members and new members collaborate on a campus improvement project.
39. Discuss the founding of the group and how the organization has evolved over time while maintaining the vision. If it hasn't, how can the group return to its roots?
40. Visit the cultural centers on campus.
41. Ask Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI) graduates to speak about lessons learned and opportunities to attend.
42. Do a chapter fundraiser to send a new member to a national leadership program (such as FuturesQuest, UIFI, AFLV conference, or LeaderShape).
43. Have a weekly forum for new members to discuss and debrief their experiences in the organization.
44. Invite new members to join chapter/house committees.
45. Encourage new members to apply or run for leadership positions on campus.
46. Plan a spa night with manicures, pedicures, movies, and facials.
47. Have a trivia night, including university and organizational history.
48. Ask a professor to do a workshop on etiquette.
49. Have lunch together once a week in a dining hall.
50. Plan a potluck dinner with new and active members.
51. Have a trade dinner with another organization.
52. Create a mentoring program for new members to be mentored by current members.
53. Visit the inter/national headquarters.
54. Write a letter to new members’ parents about the organization's values.
55. Use the term “new member” instead of “pledge” or other terms that have a negative connotation.
56. Allow new members time for themselves to do and be what they want. Don't monopolize their time.
57. Question each activity and evaluate the program each semester with the help of your advisors.

A Best Practice: Show the connection between the activity and your responsibilities and obligations as an active member. What is the intent behind your activity?

Adapted from resources from Kenyon College, Ohio State University, University of Michigan, Cornell University