STEP EIGHT -- PROPOSALS FOR MEMBERSHIP

Perhaps the most crucial and exciting phase of your entire rush process is the final stage when you hold your membership selection session and give bids to the men you want to pledge. All of the time and work of your rush committee and entire chapter can hinge on the few hours spent on determining who will get the bids and actually asking men to pledge. Make sure you carefully organize these last important steps toward selecting your pledge class.

Your Selection Process: You probably know all too well the tensions and emotions that go along with what may be called "Bid"/"Cut" sessions. This is the time names are introduced to the chapter and a vote taken whether an invitation to join your chapter should be offered. Your job as rush chairman is to run these sessions as quickly, smoothly and effectively as possible.

During formal rush, and at other times, there are many demands on a brother's time. Most sessions should be started promptly after the end of the rush function. Sometimes it is necessary to run these sessions late into the night, but the rush chairman must maintain order. Members are likely to be tired and irritable, all the more reason to be prepared and collected. You might want to use some of the following suggestions to help your session run smoothly.

• Set your meeting well in advance - announce the time and place.
• Make attendance mandatory - all decisions are final. If a member doesn't bother to attend, he can't question decisions made.
• Screen names to be proposed for membership in advance. Don't bring up a man no one knows or no one will support.
• Remind members to bring all their rush notes.
• Have invitations, guest registers, video tapes, slides, and rush prospect sheets ready for quick reference if necessary.
• Prohibit food or alcoholic beverages in the meeting - they distract and extend the meeting.
• Make short announcements about upcoming rush events and tips on technique.

Making Decisions: When you get down to actually discussing names of men proposed for membership, you may want to incorporate some of the following ideas to help your chapter run smoother:

• As rush chairman, you should be in firm and complete control of the meeting.
• Introduce each prospective pledge to the meeting with basic information such as visits to the shelter, written impressions on the rush data sheets, recommendations, scholastic performance, and financial ability.
• A division on each data sheet should be centered on tangible, concrete, meaningful, favorable comments. Hold a tight lid on negative comments as they cause hard feelings and do not add to the substance of the meeting. If a man is not liked. it will show in the vote.
• Discussion on each man should be limited and a vote taken. Decide in advance the number of minutes to be dedicated to each prospect and keep a timer on the discussion. Remember, you must keep the meeting moving.
• Call for a vote. It can be by either hand or voice, according to your chapter's Bylaws. One of the quicker ways to hold a vote is to ask for a show of hands of all those opposed only. This quickly shows whether or not a man has sufficient 'yes' votes by simple subtraction.
• You can save a lot of bad feeling in your chapter by considering a man not passing in a vote a "hold" or "tabled" matter. He then can be brought up again when more men have met him, or simply not brought up again at all.
• Keep records of all votes and, if you're holding a man, the names of others having a particular problem with him, so you can make sure they meet the particular prospect if you think he has the potential to be a good member.
• Bid teams can be composed at the end of each session to handle specific bids.

"By Unanimous Vote of the Chapter...

These words may ring in your ears when you witness the Ritual, but it rarely exists in practice.

It is virtually impossible, even a relatively small chapter, for every member to really get to know every prospect that comes through rush. If your chapter has a unanimous vote policy for membership, or anything higher than 85%, you must have a firm understanding within your membership of what that means. To keep from paralyzing the membership selection process from time to time, the concept of "trust your brother" must be firmly entrenched within the culture of your chapter.

If you have trouble with the unanimous vote concept, you should be made aware that the only requirement by the International Fraternity is a percentage higher than 50% of the chapter in attendance at a meeting at which prospects are proposed where a quorum of the chapter is present.

As rush chairman you should use good judgment as to the length and effectiveness of your bid sessions. If the meeting turns sour, it is best to postpone matters until a more effective time. If you keep the meeting moving briskly, you will hold the attention of your members.

Every man should be treated with care once a decision is reached regarding extending membership to an individual. This is especially true in the case of men recommended by alumni. The loyal Delt alumnus who takes the time to recommend a young man of his acquaintance, and the good Delt who has taken the time to tell his son or grandson about Delta Tau Delta, deserves the courtesy of an acknowledgment of his effort. The men they recommend should, in all cases, be contacted and invited to the shelter.

Delivering the Bid -- Closing the Sale:

As soon as possible after a favorable decision has been made during a bid session on a prospective member, he should be offered an invitation to join. During the bid session it should also be determined who will actually extend the bid with the idea of selecting the two individuals most likely to produce the desired result. As with anything else, a lot of thought must go into this final stage of the rush process and should follow the structure of "Who, What, When, Where, Why and How." The building blocks of a successful bid should consider the following:

• Setting.
• The bid team.
• The best time.
• Why do you think the prospect is ready?
• How will the bid be delivered?

The Sample Bid Session:

Following are some tips for delivering a bid. Every situation will be different and will require different techniques; however, there are some basics we need to adhere to:

• Two people are the best number to use when presenting a bid.
• The bid should be given in a place where there are no distractions, no interruptions.
• The bid team should be familiar with one another and it should be decided in advance who will actually give or extend the bid.
• The bid team should meet before extending the bid and think about what objections the person receiving the bid might have so they are prepared to counter them.
• Most bid teams should consist of an older member and a newer member, with the older member taking charge of the bid.

The bid is a closing on a sale. If we blow it here, we've blown two to five weeks work. Therefore, we want to make sure we re prepared to extend the bids in such a fashion they are accepted. The following is one of the more effective ways of extending a bid.

Example: Bring the prospective pledge into a quiet room where there will be no distractions or interruptions. Open the conversation with some small talk. It could be there is a rush function in progress and we mention something about that or an event the person participated in the previous week. Then follow with:

"Jim, the reason we've pulled you aside is you've been over to the house a number of times and we were wondering if there were any questions about the Fraternity we might answer for you." He may say he doesn't understand the financial responsibility, or something about pledgeship -- if so, we want to explain it to him. If he doesn't have any questions, that's fine. We want to make sure we clear up everything in his mind so when we ask him to join, he won't come back with five or six concerns. Continue with:

"Well, let us explain a little bit about our membership selection process. When a guy we really like comes over, we make sure all the brothers get a chance to meet and talk with him. After he has been over three times, we are able to bring his name up at a chapter meeting to see if we would like to have him as a brother. Your name was brought up, the brothers voted, and it is my pleasure to extend an invitation to join our brotherhood."

At this point, DON'T SAY A WORD! The silence may be awkward, but you also do not want to give him a chance to get off the hook. The guy may just jump off his seat or just sit there -- after a while you may have to follow with, "What do you think?" If the guy says he needs to think it over or talk with his parents, tell him that's OK, but when does he think he can give you an answer.

NEVER, NEVER, LEAVE THE PROSPECTIVE PLEDGE WITHOUT A COMMITMENT FOR THE FUTURE. If he says he needs a week, suggest you get together for lunch next Wednesday at 12:30. Don't leave without some future decision. It is unwise to give pledges open bids. You have exerted a lot of time and resources on this young man and you deserve an answer. If the guy accepts on the spot, hand him the written invitation and say:

"We were hoping you would so we brought along a pledge badge, as well as the invitation."

Then You've Got Him: A number of chapters also give a Delt t-shirt at the time of pledging, or some other gift to make the pledge feel special.

Who Do You Pledge First:

Some thought should be given to the order in which you extend bids. Serious thought should be given to the first three or four men who will make up your pledge class. This will start your pledge class rolling with its own inertia because as other rush prospects see the quality of individuals who are joining your chapter, they will want to be a part of the group.

After a man accepts his bid, if it has taken place during a party, you should cut the music and make an announcement. Depending on the location, a balcony overlooking the party or a staircase can be very effective. Not only does it seal the bid with your prospect, but it also highlights the individual in front of the rest of your prospective members.

Some chapters have a special song, yell or ceremony they use at this point; it should be short but effective in producing the desired emotions in both your newest pledge and the next prospect you want. The question will be going through other prospect's minds, "I want to be where that man is --I wonder how I get a bid?" Common Bid Mistakes:

The most common mistake made by chapters and rush committees is they do not extend enough bids.

The chapter's pride gets in the way most of the time and they end up offering fewer bids expecting 100% will be accepted. Underbidding is fueled, usually, by the fear of rejection. Other common mistakes are:

• Lack of follow-up on a potential member once the bid has been given.
• Not extending enough bids.
• Taking offense to a man who doesn't immediately accept his bid.
• Not bidding a man soon enough.
• Getting hung up on the unanimous vote concept. We encourage you to go to something greater than 50 and less than 85 percent if this is a problem.

A basic rule of thumb is that two out of every five bids you extend will be turned down. Don't be offended by this, just accept it as part of the rush process. Remember there are other fraternities on your campus and they are going to take some of your men some of the time. (Appendix F)

The Cold Hard Truth About Rush:

The following numbers regarding rush are rules of thumb. They should not be viewed as hard and fast guidelines, but the more men you meet, the higher percentage of your bids will be accepted.

A worksheet regarding the number of men you will need to meet during rush is provided as Appendix F. Here is an example of how to use the worksheet to attain a 20 member pledge class.

• To get 20 pledges, you must give out 40% more bids than you need.
• To be able to issue 28 bids, you must get to know three times as many people really need.
• To get to know 84 people you must start with twice as many prospects.
• To meet 168 potential members, you must have two times as many people on your initial list.
• To get 20 pledges, your initial list must have 336 names.

Besides not issuing enough bids, another common mistake made by chapters is to not have enough names in their rush pool. The following graphic shows that to be successful you need to increase the size of these rush pools. LEGACIES

Each year, the Central Office of the Fraternity receives a large number of letters and phone calls regarding legacies from alumni and parents.

What is a Legacy?:

A "legacy" is defined as "a relative of a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity in good standing." The chapter is often notified of a legacy attending their related college or university, but is sometimes not. If they are notified, it is then the chapter's responsibility of acting in accordance with policy.

A chapter should not assume a legacy prospect will automatically accept an invitation for membership, nor should an individual be entitled to membership. He should be given careful consideration and attention as a prospective member. If your rush guests are typically given two or three calls, the legacy should receive five or six. He should not expect too many special privileges, but you should go out of your way to make sure the chapter reviews every possibility of including him in the pledge class if at all possible.

As with any organization of higher ideals and democratic principles, your membership in Delta Tau Delta is coupled with certain responsibilities. You cannot have one without the other. Your right to recruit members carries with it the responsibility of offering an open mind to the merits of any individual.

Soliciting Legacies:

Chapters often feel that they are not notified of legacies attending their school or participating in rush. This problem or attitude may stem from past practice of the chapter. If, by chance, there were legacies brushed off in the past or a recommendation was never followed up, the implications can be damaging for some time to come.

Regardless of your alumni relations program, your alumni talk to each other. If you alienate one alumnus by failing to respond to his recommendation or notifying him of the result, it is quite possible he may mention to other alumni which may keep them from making future recommendations.

The spirit toward the issue of legacies is one of reasonability. It appeals to a chapter's sense of common courtesy, requiring that all involved parties be contacted and that "careful consideration" is given to legacies. It also specifically safeguards the rights of the chapter by noting that individuals are not automatically entitled to membership on the basis of a relationship. However, remember that as you profit by the wisdom of those who preceded you, be mindful you also have responsibilities to them!