Internal Operations – Setting The Calendar

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Internal Operations – Setting The Calendar

Map the way.

Planning the event schedule for internal operations is a very simple process since it depends primarily on the duties and responsibilities of each chairman. The following descriptions are excerpts of planning for each of your committee chairman from their respective handbooks. Work to become familiar with the scheduling responsibilities of each of your chairmen so you can work with them to plan the event schedule accordingly.

 

ALUMNI RELATIONS

 

Now that you have planned your goals and budget, you can plan the calendar for alumni relations. The three main sets of dates that should be planned involve the alumni phone-a-thon, the main alumni event and the alumni newsletters.

 

It should be easy to set a date for when to hold the alumni phone-a-thon by working with the university calling center and men in your chapter to help call. It is usually best to hold this event early in the semester/quarter to inform alumni about upcoming events and to make sure their information is updated.

 

The main alumni event that is put on by the chapter each semester/quarter is typically in conjunction with an alumni association event. These events are generally scheduled around large campus events such as homecoming or other events that vary depend on the school. It is important to identify these dates since the university has more than likely already set these dates for you. Additionally, Pi Kappa Alpha Founders Day alumni events are simple to set dates for since they typically fall around March 1. If you are hosting alumni events each semester/quarter that do not rely on either university set dates or Founders’ Day, then you should choose a date that works well with the rest of the chapter calendar of events. Once the dates are set for the alumni events that will take place each semester/quarter, you can then begin setting dates on your own personal calendar that will align with these dates and allow you to properly plan for the events.

 

When planning for the alumni newsletters, it is important to determine the frequency that you would like to interact with alums with both the electronic newsletters as well as physical newsletters. The electronic newsletters should be no more than a monthly newsletter to alumni with a minimum of two electronic newsletter sent out per semester. However, you should ensure that the electronic newsletters are not sent out at the same time the physical newsletters will be arriving since you do not want the electronic newsletters to overshadow the physical newsletter. Because it is simple to choose a date for the physical newsletter to be sent out by, it should be easy to identify the other dates that the electronic newsletters will be sent out by. Again, it is important to plan these dates carefully so that you do not communicate more than necessary with alumni since their time is important. A good rule of thumb is to work with the local alumni association to write and send the letters.

 

A sample timeline for your duties as alumni relations chairman during a fall semester/quarter is listed below:

 

April 15 – Appointed as alumni relations chair

 

April 22 – Hold transition meeting with the past alumni relations chair

 

April 29 – Set goals, set budget, and make the alumni relations calendar out for the fall

semester/quarter

 

May 13 – Request chapter and area alumni list from Memorial Headquarters

 

July 13 – Send out alumni invitations for homecoming weekend

 

September 1 – Send out electronic alumni newsletter

 

September 13 – Hold alumni phone-a-thon

 

October 26 – Alumni homecoming weekend

 

November 1 – Send out electronic alumni newsletter

 

December 4 – Send out physical alumni newsletter

BROTHERHOOD

 

There is a minimum of one brotherhood event per month that you should plan to fit into the chapter calendar. This means that one brotherhood event per month should be included on the chapter calendar, but all of the other chapter events on the calendar take precedence over holding any more brotherhood events than one per month. The reason for this is that you want the men in the chapter to enjoy the other aspects of the fraternity to have a complete fraternal experience.

 

Since you only have to plan for one brotherhood event per month, you should first work to identify the length of time that each event will last. Each brotherhood event can vary from a few hours for something such as watching a sport together to a day or more for something such as camping. It is important to research each event and develop a tentative timeframe for each event.

 

Once you have finalized how long each brotherhood event will last, you can then choose when each event will take place. This is a fairly simple process and it should be completed during the chapter goal-setting retreat and/or executive council retreat, well in advance of the actual event. If it has not already been planned, pick the appropriate dates and times when there are not many other events or commitments by chapter members. As long as the event has been identified far enough in advance, there should be plenty of time to properly plan and execute the event.

 

Again, it is not necessary to hold more brotherhood events after you have held one for the month. If you do choose to hold more brotherhood events though, you can go through a similar process when planning the other events.

FUNDRAISING

 

There is a minimum of one fundraising event that you should plan to fit into the chapter calendar. This means that one fundraising event should be included on the chapter calendar, but all of the other chapter events on the calendar take precedence over holding any more fundraising events. The reason for this is that the men in the chapter joined the fraternity because they were able and willing to have a complete fraternal experience, not because they wanted to have a fraternal experience but did not have the money. The reality is that if a member of the fraternity cannot pay for dues, then it is not our responsibility to make up for his lack of funds. He must be both willing and able, including financially able, to experience the fraternity.

 

Since you only have to plan for one fundraising event, you should first work to identify the length of time that the event will last. It is best to keep the fundraising event to a minimum amount of time as it is not a top priority for the fraternity, so it will be best to keep the event to span just a weekend time frame.

 

Once you have finalized how long the fundraising event will last, you can then choose which weekend the event will take place. This should be completed during the chapter goal-setting retreat and/or executive council retreat, well in advance of the actual event. If it has not already been planned, pick a weekend when there are not many other events or commitments by chapter members. As long as the event has been identified far enough in advance, there should be plenty of time to properly plan and execute the event.

Again, it is not necessary to hold more fundraising events after you have held one. If you do choose to hold more fundraising events though, you can go through a similar process when planning the other events.

 

HISTORIAN

 

Contrary to many other positions in the chapter, the historian position does not involve organizing or putting on events throughout the year. However, it is the duty of the historian to document the chapter history by attending and photographing all chapter events that take place. Therefore, it is critically important that you be aware of all events within and outside of the chapter, which means you should be very familiar with the chapter calendar. The chapter calendar is maintained and updated by the secretary. It should contain every chapter event and any other dates that are relevant to the chapter, campus and community.

 

The secretary should solicit the chapter for events over email, Facebook and even during chapter meetings, but it will be helpful if you also do this as a reminder to members. Whenever you receive information about events, make sure that this information is documented in the chapter calendar the secretary, and consequently you, are keeping. The secretary should share this calendar with all members of the chapter either through email, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook or any other means that will successfully inform members of the chapter of upcoming events, so make sure you have access to this. The secretary should share the chapter calendar he is keeping electronically while also sending out weekly email reminders and reading the calendar in chapter since it is also a part of a general chapter meeting agenda. Nonetheless, if the chapter secretary is not doing these tasks, make sure that you are aware of all the upcoming events on the chapter calendar and communicate these details to chapter members. This will help constantly remind members of the different events that they have available to them.

 

It may not be your primary job to set up and organize all of the events that the chapter will be putting on, however, it is extremely important that you be aware of all chapter events as this part of your duties as historian. If you are able to remain organized and aware of all chapter happenings, the chapter will have a much better documented chapter history to build upon for years to come.

 

HOUSE MANAGER

 

A sample timeline for your duties as house manager during a fall semester/quarter is listed below:

 

April 15 – Appointed as house manager

 

April 22 – Hold transition meeting with the past house manager

 

April 29 – Set goals, set budget, and make the house manager calendar out for the fall

semester/quarter

 

May 5 – Facilitate the assignment of rooms to student members and new members according

to the chapter’s housing policy for the fall semester/quarter

 

August 20 – Collect damage deposits from individual tenants prior to the date of their contract

 

August 20 – Obtain executed room contracts

 

August 20 – Collect and distribute room keys to each tenant

 

September 1 – Educate student members and new members of the chapter’s housing policies and procedures

 

At least 1 time each semester/quarter – Conduct room inspections when tenants move in and move out of rooms

 

At least 1 time each semester/quarter – Establish a routine cleaning and maintenance program for the chapter facility

 

At least 1 time each semester/quarter – Secure and prepare any chapter property for any extended closures

 

At least 1 time annually – Conduct a workday event involving both student members and alumni members

 

At least 1 time annually – Create a summer maintenance program

 

Ongoing – Work with alumni members to establish and maintain a Housing Corporation

 

Ongoing – Attend Housing Corporation meetings and represent the chapter as the chief liaison with the Housing Corporation

 

Ongoing – Create and maintain a uniform house manager handbook including guidelines, ideas, and suggestions for future house managers

SCHOLARSHIP

 

There are two parts to planning the event schedule for the community service program. One part involves setting dates for any events that you hold for the scholarship program such as a banquet for members with good GPAs or an all-chapter scholarship event where scholarships are presented. No matter what event you plan, it should be put into the chapter calendar. The second part depends primarily on the performance of the members in the chapter.

 

For the first part of planning the event schedule for scholarship, because you may have to plan events, you should first work to identify the length of time that these events will last. These events can last anywhere from a few hours to a day in length. It is up to you to determine what time frame will be most effective for the results you are trying to achieve with your events.

Once you have finalized how long the events will last, you can then choose when these events will take place. This should be completed during the chapter goal-setting retreat and/or executive council retreat, well in advance of the actual events. If it has not already been planned, pick weekends or weeks when there are not many other events or commitments by chapter members. As long as the events have been identified far enough in advance, there should be plenty of time to properly plan and execute the events.

For the second part of planning the event schedule for scholarship, because your chapter GPA depends on the efforts of chapter members, it is important to continually provide resources such as tutoring programs and study hours throughout the week for chapter members. By understanding the availability of your captains and others who will be participating in these programs, you should be able to develop a rough outline of when certain events and opportunities will take place during the week and throughout the year. It is important to have this rough outline established so that you and the rest of the chapter have enough foresight in order to be able to attend and participate in each event and opportunity.

 

It will be important to provide continual reminders to chapter members as the scholarship schedule will be constantly changing. You should update and communicate the schedule on a weekly basis to ensure that there is no confusion amongst the chapter members so they always have opportunities to participate in scholarship programs and efforts. As long as you maintain clear communication and continually update your schedule based on the needs of the chapter, the chapter should be more capable of achieving a better overall GPA.

 

By being able to work with each of your committee chairman and organize an in-depth, descriptive calendar, you will be more able to successfully accomplish the duties of internal vice president.

By |2020-12-07T19:51:09-06:00December 7, 2020|Internal VP|0 Comments

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