VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONSsigep.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2018-Facilitator-Guide-VP-Communications-FINAL.pdfthrough potential obstacles, but to do so in a safe space to

VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONSFACILITATOR GUIDE

Program Schedule

This is a general schedule for all programs. Session locations will be listed in the program specific schedule available at check-in on-site.

Friday Session Time Pre-Carlson training (optional for volunteers)

3:30 - 6:00 pm

Faculty meeting 6:30 - 7:30 pm Hot topic sessions for undergraduates and volunteers

7:30 - 9:00 pm

Carlson kick-off 9:00 - 9:30 pm Undergraduate breakout tracks 9:30 - 11:00 pm

Saturday Session Time Chapter excellence breakfast 8:00 - 9:00 am Undergraduate breakout tracks 9:00 - 11:50 am Between 10:00 - 10:45 am, please give your group a 10 min. break. Snacks will be available in the pre-function area. Awards luncheon and presentation Noon - 1:45 pm Member safety presentation for president and programming tracks

1:45 - 2:45 pm

Undergraduate breakout tracks 2:00 - 6:50 pm Between 4:00 - 4:45 am, please give your group a 10 min. break. Snacks will be available in the pre-function area. Closing awards banquet 7:00 - 9:30 pm Donor and volunteer reception 9:30 - 10:30 pm

2018 Carlson Leadership Academy

Vice President of Communications 2

Table of Contents

Session Time Allotted

When should this take place in the program?

Program preparation and overview Pre- program

Prior to arrival

Introductions, overview and paradigm setting

1.5 hours Friday, 9:30 - 11:00 pm

Introduction to Saturday and the problem pyramid

15 minutes Saturday, 9:00 - 9:15 am

Building & managing a committee 60 minutes Saturday, 9:15 - 10:15 am

Break (snacks available in pre-function area)


Creating & managing a communications plan


Storytelling for various audiences 120 minutes Saturday, 1:45 - 3:45 pm

Producing a high quality newsletter 65 minutes Saturday, 3:45 - 4:50 pm

Break (snacks available in pre-function area)

Available from 4p - 4:45p

Action planning 70 minutes Saturday, 4:50 - 6:00 pm

Wrap-up 50 minutes Saturday, 6:00 - 6:50 pm



Learning Outcomes

The Carlson Leadership Academy prepares officers and chapter leaders to elevate their chapters and perform the duties of their role to foster an ideal SigEp experience that promotes a safe and developmental chapter experience. As a result of participating in the Carlson Leadership Academy, participants will:

● Have a complete understanding of officer job descriptions and responsibilities. o Measurable action: Feel energized to improve their chapter’s operations o Measurable action: Have an increased likelihood to follow through on goals for their

executive position and chapter. ● Have an increased understanding, commitment, and are empowered to uphold SigEp’s risk

management policies and procedures. o Measurable action: Feel energized to improve their chapter’s operations.

● Understand how to assess the chapter experience and execute strategic goals as a chapter leader to improve that experience.

o Measurable action: Develop SMART goals and action plans related to their position. o Measurable action: Have an increased pride in SigEp because of the people they met

and the things they have learned. ● Understand how they can assess and build their skills as an organizational leader on the

topics of: o Strategic thinking and planning. o Critical assessment. o Development of an action plan. o Managing a team. o Building a coalition of people to help achieve goals.

▪ Measurable action: Foster strong team dynamics through organic interactions and time together.

▪ Measurable action: Feel energized to improve their chapter’s operations. ▪ Measurable action: Develop SMART goals and action plans related to their

position. ● Learn best practices in chapter operations in relation to their position.

o Measurable action: Feel motivated to improve from awareness of successful operations through awards and recognition.

o Measurable action: Have an increased likelihood to follow through on goals for their executive position and chapter.

● Become more aware of resources provided by volunteers and the Headquarters staff. o Measurable action: Utilize resources provided by volunteers and the Headquarters

staff to achieve goals while in office. o Measurable action: Have an increased pride in SigEp because of the people they met

and the things they have learned.



Curricular Underpinnings

Overall, the curriculum is rooted in the concept of challenge and support to help participants reason through potential obstacles, but to do so in a safe space to practice. This is intended to highlight for participants what they don’t know while helping them overcome this shortcoming.

Friday night is intended to set the paradigm for the program and discuss the importance of the role. Officers should come with baseline knowledge of their role and responsibilities associated with their position. Saturday will focus on addressing issues officers will face and developing the necessary knowledge and skills to do so.

Saturday’s sessions are rooted in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model to provide a more experiential learning opportunity for officers to gain knowledge and skills to address real issues they will face in their tenure. The curriculum guides participants through each issue as follows:

Issue Session Elements

Saturday’s sessions will use the same four elements of curriculum to break down each issue the officers will be addressing:

Issue overview & description

Application activity Issue reflection & action planning

Reference to resources

This portion guides participants to recognition of the issue, what causes the issue, who and what is affected by the issue, etc.

This is a hands-on and engaging approach to addressing the issue. This portion of the curriculum focuses on engaging participants to reason through and address the issue hands-on.

It is important to give them time to unpack the issue and start to apply the learning to their position in the chapter.

This directs participants back to resources that will help them overcome these obstacles and issues. This is primarily contents of the officer guide, but there may be additional outside resources that are applicable to addressing the given issue.



Content Sessions Structure Overview

The following are notes for the facilitator on the overall structure of the sessions and content.

The structure of the Vice President of Communications track is structured in a way that each component builds on one another and utilizes the work from the prior sessions. This is done to mirror the sequence in which officers are likely to come across these issues, to demonstrate priority and to enable as much interaction and participation as possible.

Session Format

Each session is best thought of as a phase. The content of each phase is related to an issue or set of issues that he will face during his term and an activity is paired with each to provide the opportunity for participants to gain practice working through issues. The phases/sessions will be a little bit fluid, but rest assured, there will be clear delineations that enable you to transition from one session to the next.

Materials and equipment

You will be provided a flip chart, markers and masking tape in your small group room. In addition, and new this year, you will also have a screen and data projector. This will allow you to show real-time examples of great communications through various mediums. Please note that for 2018, the staff has not created Powerpoint or videos that supplement the curriculum. That is a hope to include in future years. However, as you’re going through this facilitator guide, please think through ways you can leverage the screen/projector through the use of videos, etc. Also note, you will need to bring your own laptop to connect to the projector.



Session: Introductions, overview and paradigm setting

Time: 1.5 hours total Purpose: ▪ Introduce participants and facilitators

▪ Provide an overview of the program and schedule ▪ Provide an overview of the position roles and responsibilities

Session objectives: ▪ Participants will have a better understanding of their role and how their responsibilities will make an impact on their chapter.

▪ Participants will begin discussing issues they will face during their tenure

Materials & equipment:

▪ Flip charts ▪ Masking tape ▪ Participant guides.

Session outline: ▪ Introductions (20 minutes) ▪ Program overview (10 minutes) ▪ Session overview (5 minutes) ▪ Responsibilities of the VP Communications (10 minutes) ▪ Officer guide breakout groups (30 minutes) ▪ Effective goal setting (10 minutes) ▪ Wrap up (5 minutes)

Pre-session prep: ▪ Review the officer guide Introductions (20 minutes):

● Facilitator introductions (5 minutes) ○ Facilitators will introduce themselves and cover the following items:

■ Who are you? ■ What do you do professionally? How does that relate directly to this session

(if applicable)? ■ Undergraduate institution? ■ Where do you volunteer, or what is your involvement with SigEp? ■ Why are the Carlsons and this particular session important to you?

● Participant introductions (10 minutes) ○ Facilitator note (optional): If you have a favorite name game or ice breaker, please

feel free to facilitate that here. ○ Have participants get into groups of six.

■ Within these groups, have participants introduce themselves: ● Name ● Chapter ● Biggest thing they’re looking forward to during the Carlson program ● One challenge in the chapter they’re looking to learn how to

overcome and improve the chapter experience



Program overview (10 minutes):

● Ask the participants the following question: Why did you all choose to spend your weekend here at Carlson?

○ To better understand your position ○ To become a better officer ○ To network and get ideas from other chapters ○ To be set up for success for the upcoming year ○ Maybe your Regional Director or chapter volunteer wouldn’t leave you alone about

coming... ● Now that we know what brought you all here, let’s talk about how we’re going to ensure that

you all get everything that you want out of this experience. ○ While we will cover some of the basics pertaining to your position, most of our time

will be spent tackling tough issues that you’re going to face this year. We surveyed outgoing chapter officers and asked them: “What do you wish you’d known, or been taught, prior to your time in office?”, and developed the curriculum for this weekend based on what your peers and predecessors told us.

○ Highlight the materials (participant/officer guide) that they have received and explain how they will use them throughout the weekend. Don’t lose this participant guide!

○ Create and set up the “parking lot” flip-chart and hang it in the back of the room. Explain that if questions come up that aren’t directly relevant to the topic being addressed at that time,then you’ll put them in the parking lot and revisit them later. Let them know that they should feel free to add to this list as ideas come to mind.

○ Create and set up a “lightbulb” flip chart. Explain that this should be utilized whenever the group comes to a collective realization about a new idea or exciting concept. This serves as a place to capture moments when the lightbulb goes off for the group and will be easy to garner more takeaways at the end of the weekend.

● We need to set some ground rules for the weekend to ensure that we can make the most of our time together. What expectations do you all have of us and of each other?

○ Be prepared. ■ Bring paper/your participant guide, and a pen ■ Have your goals ready to discuss ■ Have questions, and ask them

○ Be engaged. ■ While you’re here, spend your time with brothers from other chapters,

particularly the guys in this room holding the same position as you. Don’t spend all your time with chapter brothers - you can see them at home.

■ Network with your peers and share ideas ■ Keep your cell phones away ■ Contribute to the group

○ Be respectful of each other. ○ Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions. We’re here to ensure that you walk away

ready to tackle the next year head on and we need to leave no stone unturned.



● What types of topics do you definitely want to cover this weekend?

○ Potential answers could include: ■ how to tell my chapter’s story ■ how to maximize and best use social media ■ how to communicate with different audiences (local news media, university

officials, alumni, etc) ■ how to create and use a communications plan ■ how to manage a committee ■ how to improve the perception of our chapter within the university

community, local area, etc Session overview (5 minutes):

● Provide an overview of what will be covered in this track (tonight and throughout the day tomorrow).

● If there are any topics they identified above that aren’t covered in the curriculum, add them to your “parking lot” to revisit later.

The Responsibilities of the VP Communications (10 minutes):

● Prepare a flip chart labeled “Responsibilities of the VP Communications”. During the following discussion, capture their thoughts on the flipchart.

● Direct them to the list of responsibilities in their officer guide ● Ask the group: “You all ran for this job under some pretense of what you expected the

position to be like and the corresponding roles and responsibilities. What do you think are the 5 main responsibilities of the VP Communications?.”

● Ideally, you arrive at some version of the following points below: ○ Appoint the communications committee ○ Create a communications plan ○ Keep your chapter informed of all upcoming events and chapter news ○ Improve university relations with your chapter by sharing positive news about your

chapter and its brothers ○ Improve public perception of your chapter by sharing positive news with local new

outlets ○ Support recruitment efforts by promoting a positive and accurate view of your

chapter ○ Encourage alumni involvement by making sure your alumni know what your chapter

is doing and how they can help ○ Keep parents informed of chapter news and milestones ○ Meet with each member of the communications committee and ensure he

understands the expectations of his position ○ Develop and maintain a consistent presence on all social media channels (Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and/or YouTube)



○ Create, maintain and manage a functional chapter website with regular updates that

can serve as a resource for brothers, potential new members, parents and other audiences

○ Produce powerful visual images and protect SigEp’s visual brand through compliance with SigEp branding standards

○ Communicate with your chapter about important news, updates or upcoming deadlines

○ Take photos of events and other chapter activities ○ Produce recruitment video or any other videos that serve as positive marketing

materials ○ Coordinate with the AVC to provide news updates, photography and other materials

that can be used in the chapter’s newsletter which should be produced by the AVC ○ Have charge of the seal, books, papers and records of the chapter, except those in

the charge of other officers ● Let them know this list of responsibilities can be found in their officer guide.

Officer guide breakout groups (30 minutes):

● Break participants into small groups of 4-6 people. Give each group a flip chart page and markers. Have each group read through a section of the officer guide and present to the rest of the group a summary of their section, what their takeaways were and how it pertains to each of the main responsibilities of the position.

● Give the groups about 10 minutes to read through their portion of the officer guide and prepare their presentation for the rest of the group. Allow about 20 minutes for each group to present and open the floor to questions/comments/concerns after each presentation.

● Areas of the officer guide to assign: ○ Social media ○ Photography ○ Web design ○ Press release

■ Facilitator note: these are sections of the officer guide that are touched upon on Saturday but not directly. Building a good foundation tonight on these areas will improve conversations tomorrow.

● While groups are working, walk around and help any groups that may be struggling. Also, follow along in your version of the officer guide and help point out concepts that they may have missed.

● Encourage participants to capture any light-bulb thoughts or parking lot questions that may have come up during the discussion on the flipcharts in the back of the room to reference throughout the program. Remind everyone that you’ll have time at the end of the program to revisit these concepts and questions.

Effective goal setting (10 minutes):

● Ask the group who knows what SMART goals are. Walk the group through the acronym, outlining each component on a flip chart.



○ Specific: Goals must be something that can be described and understood easily by

others - finite conditions, not general feelings. ○ Measurable: How can you measure your success? Whenever possible, use numbers

or percentages to mark progress and/or achievement of the goal. You can’t rely on personal opinion.

○ Attainable: Is the goal realistic? Goals should be a stretch to obtain but not impossible to achieve. Members will work toward what they believe they can achieve and are not inspired by boring, easy goals.

○ Realistic: Why does this goal matter? Explain how this goal connects to the larger picture or goal.

○ Timely: When is your deadline? Goals must have an end date when they are due. Creating a sense of urgency will push you and those you’re leading to work harder.

● Check in with the participants to see who has goals with them. Ask them to raise their hand if they brought their SMART goals with them.

○ Ask the participants who brought their goals with them to give examples of some of their goals. If they are comfortable doing so, invite 3-4 participants to share their written goals with the group

■ As a group, work with that participant to determine if the goal is SMART, and how the goal might be improved to be more specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, or timely.

● Explain that tomorrow’s session relies on them having completed their SMART goals so it is imperative to have their goals complete. These need to be completed TONIGHT.

○ “You all said earlier tonight that you’re all here with the intent to make the most of this weekend to walk out better officers. To do that, you need to have your goals formulated and ready for tomorrow. Take some time tonight to talk with your chapter or with other guys in this room to help you create your goals.”

Wrap-up (5 minutes):

● Ask the participants to share their biggest takeaways from the tonight’s session. Also capture any lightbulb moments

● As a facilitator, share your favorite memory from Carlson and why you personally believe it was beneficial to your undergraduate experience to get the group excited for tomorrow.

● Remind them one more time to complete their homework regarding SMART goals. Remind them that breakfast will start promptly at 8:00 am, to be sure to have their participant

materials ready for the day, and to bring their nametags with them to breakfast. Their nametags will be scanned into breakfast - they need to ensure that they get scanned in so they are not assessed a

$25 no-show fee for missing breakfast. If they are late, they will not get scanned and will be charged.



Session: Introduction to Saturday and the problem pyramid

Time: 15 minutes Purpose: ▪ Provide an overview of what will be covered throughout to day

▪ Introduce the concept of the problem pyramid and its basis for the curriculum moving forward

Session objectives: ▪ Participants will understand the structure and what will be covered in this session.

▪ Participants will review and understand the problem pyramid and will use this as a paradigm throughout the day.



Session outline: ▪ Overview of Saturday (5 minutes) ▪ Problem pyramid (10 minutes)

Pre-session prep: Overview of Saturday (5 minutes):

● Provide an overview of what will be covered the rest of the day, specifically: ○ Building and managing a committee ○ Creating and managing a communications plan ○ Storytelling for various audiences ○ Producing a high quality newsletter ○ Goals and action plans .

● Remind participants that these issues were selected through a survey, in which the outgoing officers were asked to rank the top five issues they faced while in office. They will be tackling these tough issues through experiential learning.

● For each issue, participants will go through the following steps to better understand the issue:

Issue overview & description

Application activity Issue reflection & action planning

Reference to resources

This portion guides participants to recognition of the issue, what causes the issue, who and what is affected by the issue, etc.

This is a hands-on and engaging approach to addressing the issue. This portion of the curriculum focuses on engaging participants to reason through and address the issue hands-on.

It is important to give them time to unpack the issue and start to apply the learning to their position in the chapter.

This directs participants back to resources that will help them overcome these obstacles. This is primarily contents of the officer guide, but there may be additional outside resources that are applicable to addressing the given issue.



● Also remind participants that if there are things they want to cover that aren’t on the list, or

come up during discussions, add them to the parking list. There will be time at the end of the session to revisit these topics.

● Finally, make sure participants brought SMART goals to the session as they will be used later in the afternoon.

The Problem Pyramid (10 minutes)

▪ Explain that the success of today’s session depends on their ability to accurately solve problems. Each participant should understand a guiding philosophy we will use today: “An accurate description of the problem is 90 percent of the solution.” (write this quote on a flipchart and hang somewhere in the room for the remainder of the day)

▪ Ask the group these processing questions: o What does this quote mean? o Why is it important for us to remember as we go through this process?

▪ Have participants review the Problem Pyramid Handout in their participant guide and help them understand this concept.

o Make sure they understand how the surface level issues lead to the root issue of “misalignment with the Ritual and Values.”

▪ Ask the group these processing questions: o Do you “buy” the problem pyramid? Is it realistic? o What are the surface level issues in your chapter? o What are the surface level issues for your area of operations? What root issues are they

connected to? o Why is it easy to see the surface level issues in your chapter, but difficult to understand

the critical issue? o How often do you examine the root issue in your chapter? Why? o How might a strong commitment and alignment to our Ritual and values impact your

chapter? o How can we use this concept as we go through the rest of our process?

▪ Explain to the participants that they should keep this graphic and concept in mind as we go on throughout the day.





Session: Building & managing a committee

Time: 1 hour Purpose: ▪ Introduce the concept that vice presidents of communications are essential

to the chapter’s brand and public relations, but he cannot work alone. ▪ To discover a way to find help within the chapter. ▪ To empower brothers with talents to get involved.

Program objectives: ▪ Learn how to build and manage a committee. ▪ Learn how to evaluate talent within the chapter which helps you recruit

committee members. ▪ Once you have a team, learn how to maximize efforts by utilizing

committee members’ time and talents. Materials & equipment:

▪ Vice president of communications officer guide ▪ Participant ▪ Flip chart ▪ Index cards

Session outline: ▪ Issue overview & description (10 minutes). ▪ Committee positions and skills needed (15 minutes) ▪ Application activity - building our own committee (25 minutes). ▪ Issue reflection & action planning (10 minutes).

Pre-session prep:

Issue overview & description (10 minutes)

▪ The Issue: Building and managing a committee. ▪ Use the questions below to facilitate a group discussion. Record the answers on a flip chart.

Sample answers are provided below. o Why is this topic important for us to discuss? (connect back to the problem pyramid)

▪ The vice president of communications is one person. He cannot oversee all of the chapter's communications alone.

▪ Without a talented, dedicated group behind him, he will only be able to cover the basic duties of his position.

▪ Engaging more brothers ensures greater buy-in and support of the goals the VPC wants to accomplish.

o What does the ideal look like if the VPC has a committee of engaged brothers supporting him?

▪ He will be able to accomplish more - more people will hear SigEp’s story whether that’s through social media, the chapter’s website, communications to various stakeholders, etc.

o What are the implications to the chapter if the VPC doesn’t have the support of committee members?

▪ The VPC won’t be able to effectively communicate to the chapter’s various audiences and their story won’t be told.



▪ These target audiences will lose interest in the chapter’s operations, events

and successes. ● EX: lack of communication to alumni = lack of financial support;

fewer volunteers. Lack of communication to potential new members = smaller recruitment numbers or lesser quality new members

● Explain that for the rest of the session they will be learning how to effectively address the issue (i.e. the “how” of the issue).

Committee positions and skills needed (15 minutes)

▪ Lead a quick review of the committee structure and recommended positions section of the vice president of communications officer guide.

o Social media chairman* o Photography chairman* o Website chairman* o Video chairman o Public relations chairman o Internal communications chairman o Alumni relations chairman o Design chairman

*considered to be the most important to appoint ▪ For each of the committee chairmen, ask participants what they think the primary

responsibilities are for that role. (Note: these positions and their descriptions are listed in the officer guide)

▪ Instruct the undergraduates: o Turn to the Building and managing a committee handout in their participant guide. At

the top of the page, have them jot down the biggest strengths they bring to the position. Examples could include being a great photographer or an excellent writer, etc.

o Conversely, then have them list areas of opportunity where they could use help from others. An example could be: I don’t know how to design or build a web page.

o After they finish, have them turn to the next page. Either as a large group or within smaller groups/partners, use the recommended committee positions from the vice president of communications officer guide to identify the skills you needed for each chairman position.

Application activity - building our own committee (25 minutes) ▪ Instruct the undergraduates that they are now going to participate in an activity to build out

well-balanced committees within this group. ▪ Hand out one index card to each participant. Ask them to write down their greatest strengths

pertaining to this position. Worded differently, what are the best skills they can bring to the communications committee? EX: maybe they are awesome at HTML; or they do a great job designing logos and images.

▪ Designate a couple of participants to be a VPC. They are now going to form their committee with members in the room. Instruct the “VPCs” to start networking with other participants and find brothers who fill a need on their committee. For example, if that VPC needs someone as social media chairman, find someone who excels in that area and invite him to be a part of the committee.



▪ Let them know that their goal is to understand how their talents match up to those needed to

build a complete committee. This is great practice for the process you could use to build a committee in your own chapter

Facilitator notes:

o The networking is to discover what talents are in the room. o Hint to them that they should have their checklist with them along the way and be

taking notes on who has what skills. o Make sure you place a limit on the number of people per team based on the number of

participants in the room.

▪ Once teams are formed, tell them that this will be their group for the rest of the weekend. ▪ As a large group, debrief this activity through these questions:

▪ Why did we do this activity? What were the main lessons you learned? ▪ Assess the job you did assembling a team. Did you have all the talents you needed?

What are you missing? ▪ For missing talent, what opportunity is there for committee members to develop and

learn those talents along the way? (i.e. learning more about social media strategy, learning how to build a website, etc.)

▪ If you could do this activity again, what would you do differently? ▪ How will you assess and recruit talent at your chapter? ▪ How can you use the lessons you learned from this to impact the committee you will

build at your own chapter? o Make sure you hit these key points:

▪ Talent wins. Your goal should be to get the most talented people on your team based on the needs of the committee.

▪ Building a team takes work. It requires you to “work the halls” and find out who has what talents. You can’t be afraid to ask.

Issue reflection and action planning (10 minutes)

▪ Have participants open to the Committee action planning worksheet in their participant guide. Allow them up to 10 minutes to work through the questions:

o What are the biggest needs on my committee? (Have them focus on their areas of weakness and where they will need the most help)

o How am I going to identify brothers who excel in these areas? o Start identifying brothers who have the potential to be a good fit for the role

● After participants have completed their handout, have a few men share their answers with the large group.



Session: Creating and Managing a Communications Plan

Time: 80 minutes. Purpose: ▪ Introduce the issue the vice president of communications faces when he

and his committee do not plan ahead. ▪ Utilize different committee members’ time and talents into a

communications plan. Program objectives: ▪ Create a communications plan and learn how to manage it. Materials & equipment:

▪ Vice president of communications officer guide ▪ Participant guide ▪ Flip chart.

Session outline: ▪ Issue overview & description (10 minutes). ▪ Application activity (50 minutes). ▪ Action planning (15 minutes). ▪ Reference to resources (5 minutes).

Pre-session prep:


▪ The Issue: Creating and managing a communications plan. o Facilitator note: The vice president of communications and the communications

committee must work together throughout the year to enhance the chapter’s brand and share the power of the SigEp experience. However, it can be difficult to accomplish the tasks that make a positive impact on the chapter and its brand. Together, the communications committee should begin their year by creating a communications plan that can be easily managed.

▪ Use the questions below to facilitate a group discussion. Record the answers on a flip chart. Sample answers are provided below.

o Why is this topic important to discuss? (connect back to problem pyramid) ▪ “Failing to plan is planning to fail” - Benjamin Franklin. Without a plan in

place, it is easy to lose sight of the work that needs to be done. ▪ Having a plan allows for easier delegation of work from the VPC to

committee members. ▪ Creating a plan allows the VPC and his committee to think strategically

about all of the messages they want to communicate, when, and through what means. You become more proactive than reactive.

▪ In the past, some vice presidents struggled to understand the importance and significance of their position. Therefore, they struggled to find things to do.

▪ Some chapters’ social media accounts had a good start and then went dark because no one knew how to manage and maintain a consistent presence.

o What does the ideal look like if the VPC has a well-built communications plan? ▪ You will be able to easily delegate tasks to his committee and hold them

accountable. ▪ Chapter communications will be more thoughtful and strategic.



▪ Planning ahead gives you more time to produce quality content. ▪ Writing it down allows you to share it with (and receive feedback from) the

rest of your e-board and chapter. o What are the implications to the chapter if the VPC doesn’t have a communications

plan? ▪ The chapter won’t be able to communicate effectively with all of its

audiences. ▪ The chapter will not earn recognition on a local, regional or national level. ▪ The target audiences lose interest in the chapter’s operations, events and

successes. ▪ Explain that for the rest of the session, they will be learning how to effectively address the issue

(ex: the “how” of the issue). Application activity (50 minutes)

Instructions

▪ Walk the undergraduates through the SigEp communications plan template found in both the participant guide and officer guide.

▪ Briefly describe each column and the examples provided. Use page 9 of the officer guide as a resource to walk them through. Explain what each column of the communications plan is and why it’s important:

o Date (the deadline for when something should be sent or posted. Allows the VPC to hold others accountable and helps guide his work throughout the semester.)

o Tactic (what medium will you use? Is it an email to alumni? A Facebook post? Etc.) o Message (a quick snapshot of what you want this communication to say) o Purpose (why are we doing this communication? If we can’t identify a purpose, then

is the communication really necessary?) o Status (where you track progress so it could be “not started”, “in progress”,

“delayed”, “completed”, etc. ▪ Then instruct each team to create its own communications plan using the template provided.

The following parameters should be given: o Create a communications plan for the month of November using the template in the

participant guide. o Consider all the events that are going on that month:

● Founders Day ▪ Alumni weekend/banquet ▪ Semi-formal ▪ Philanthropy/service day ▪ Study session ▪ Brother Thanksgiving dinner

● After groups have completed their plan, allow them to present to to everyone and provide feedback.

Action planning (15 minutes)

▪ Have participants begin thinking about the communications plan they need to create for their own chapter.

▪ In their participant guide, there are questions to help them lay the groundwork for their plan:



o What chapter events or programs will I need to communicate about in the upcoming

year? (have them list everything they can think of - social events, alumni events, Ritual exemplification, challenge meetings, philanthropy, recruitment dates/events, regional/national leadership events, intramurals, campus activities, campus/SigEp award deadlines, etc.

o What are the various mediums I could use? (examples to include e-mail, chapter website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, text, etc).

▪ Let participants know that this information should be used as the basis for creating their communications plan when they get back to their chapter.

▪ One tip you can suggest: create a mini-communications plan for each event they have listed. For example, if they are focusing on their large philanthropy event, they will need multiple tactics and messages. They can create a “mini” communications plan just for that event and add it to their bigger plan.

Reference to resources (5 minutes)

▪ Direct participants to the various resources at their disposal to help with creating a communications plan:

o Officer guide: ▪ Creating a communications plan (page 9) ▪ SigEp communications plan template (page 19)

o SigEp’s social media accounts ▪ Facebook ▪ Twitter ▪ Instagram ▪ YouTube ▪ LinkedIn ▪ Snapchat



Session: Storytelling for various audiences

Time: 120 minutes. Purpose: ▪ Understand the importance of tailoring communication to various

audiences. ▪ Practice using the power of social media, storytelling and public relations

to reach different audiences. ▪ Learn how other SigEp chapters have had success. ▪ Learn how to gain positive press.

Program objectives: ▪ Understand how to promote your chapter brand and news on social media. ▪ Develop skills in storytelling and positive public relations.


▪ Vice president of communications officer guide ▪ SigEp chapter public relations guide ▪ Participant guide ▪ Flip chart.

Session outline: ▪ Issue overview & description (20 minutes). ▪ Application activity #1 (45 minutes). ▪ Application activity #2 (45 minutes) ▪ Issue reflection and action planning (10 minutes).

Pre-session prep:


▪ Have participants pull out their phones. Google “fraternity” and look at the type of news stories they see. Ask them, “What do you see?” − Mostly negative stories of hazing, alcohol, racism, sexism and even deaths. (Note: you can also do this through your computer/screen/projector instead)

▪ Are these the only stories out there? ▪ Fraternities are in the middle of a crisis. People are questioning the relevance of

fraternities. And the actions of some fraternity men make this a relevant question. ▪ There are many people who have an interest in fraternities, whether they want to see them

succeed or fail. As the vice president of communication, it is up to you to be the chief storyteller and put our brand out there in a positive light. How stories are told and information is delivered will vary for each audience.

▪ Introduce the issue that the group will be focusing on in this session: Storytelling for various

audiences. ▪ Use the questions below to facilitate a group discussion. Record the answers on a flip chart.

Sample answers are provided below: o Why is this topic important to discuss? (connect back to problem pyramid)

▪ Fraternities are more scrutinized than ever before and are receiving more bad press than ever before. It is vitally important that we are communicating all the wonderful things our chapters are doing across the country so other stakeholders will see Fraternity being done right.



▪ VPCs are often so focused on chapter communications (ex: when a social

event is happening, updating the website, etc) that they aren’t able to focus on true ‘public relations’ and telling their story.

▪ We aren’t being proactive and making an effort to change the narrative from negative to positive.

▪ We often don’t take the time to create tailored communications for audiences.

▪ We are unaware of some audiences and their needs. o What does the ideal look like if the VPC is proactively communicating with multiple

audiences and telling the good work the chapter is doing? ▪ Audiences with a stake in the chapter will have information that is

interesting and relevant. ▪ By tailoring messages and delivery methods, audiences are kept in the loop. ▪ The vice president of communications, along with the entire chapter, will be

able to change the perception of fraternities. ▪ The chapter can engage audiences in impactful ways

o What are the implications to the chapter if the VPC isn’t telling a powerful story to multiple audiences?

▪ We miss an opportunity to engage stakeholders and change the negative perceptions of fraternities and SigEp.

▪ We deliver stories and information that is not relevant so audiences disengage or lose interest in the chapter.

● Explain that for the rest of the session they will be learning how to effectively address the issue (i.e. the “how” of the issue). Ask them and tell them:

▪ Why should we care about engaging various audiences? o In a time when fraternities are being questioned, we need to appeal to many people and

show them the positive aspects of fraternity membership. ▪ How can you accomplish this?

o By learning the interests and needs of your chapter’s audiences. o Developing content that meets the needs and interests of audiences. o By leveraging social media, communicating with your audiences.

Application activity #1 (45 minutes)

● Start this section by walking participants through a list of audiences to whom they should be communicating. This list can be found in their participant guide. Help them understand why they should communicate with each audience: o The university community. o The local community. o Parents and family members. o Alumni and volunteers. o Potential new members. o The Grand Chapter. o Local press and media.

▪ Have participants get into their small groups and assign each group a different audience. In these small groups, participants should discuss the interests (i.e. what would this audience be



interested in hearing about) and needs (what does this audience need to know) of each audience. Each group should record their discussion points on a flip chart.

▪ After groups have discussed the interests and needs of each audience, participants should then discuss how the audience would likely prefer to receive this information (through what medium). Each group should add these discussion points to their flip chart.

▪ Each group should then present their small group findings to the entire group. As each group is

presenting, participants should be filling in the corresponding spaces in the Tailoring Messages worksheet in their participant guide.

Application activity #2 (45 minutes)

▪ We’re now going to focus on how to tell our story. As we mentioned before, the news is full with negative press about fraternities. So how can we communicate all the good we’re doing?

▪ In the participant guide, you’ll find a synopsis of what our chapter at the University of Northern Iowa did during sexual assault awareness month. Have participants read through this synopsis (or have someone read it outloud) and then talk through the questions:

o Why is this impressive? o What did the chapter do that’s impressive and others should emulate? o Why was this story included in our activity?

▪ Split the group into their teams. Explain that they will try to earn recognition just like Northern Iowa did by creating a mock up of different materials that will promote their story. Provide the following instructions:

o In your teams, you’re going to take a story from one of your own chapters and practice good public relations. Use Northern Iowa’s success as an example.

o Your prompt is: Choose a positive story from one of your chapters that’s happened within this academic year and develop a plan for how you will communicate with each audience.

o Activity #1: Using the tailoring messages worksheet in the participant guide, each group should discuss how they are going to tell their story to each audience, taking into account their needs and interests. In addition, what is the best delivery method for this audience/ Let them know that they may find the messages and delivery method may overlap quite a bit between audiences (and that’s okay).

o Activity #2: Have participants turn to the press release worksheet in their participant

guide. As a group, they should complete this document as it pertains to the story they chose. Even if they don’t have time to write complete/thoughtful sentences, they should at least outline what they would include. They can use the SigEp chapter public relations guide in their officer guide as a resource.

o Activity #3: Have the groups look at the public relations in social media worksheet in

their participant guide. On this page, the groups should determine what their social media plan would be relating to this story. For example:

▪ Facebook: what would the post say? Would you include video(s) or picture(s)?

▪ Twitter: what would your tweet(s) say? Would you include any hashtags? Would you tag any other Twitter accounts?

▪ Etc.



▪ When they have completed all three parts of this activity, have groups pair with another team to

share what they’ve created and exchange feedback. ▪ After they share with another group, led a large group discussion and have them share what

they learned from this activity. Where did they struggle? How can they apply this to their home chapter?

Issue reflection and action planning (10 minutes)

▪ Have participants turn to the Telling our story: action planning worksheet in the participant guide. This provides an opportunity for participants to begin thinking about how they will take this home to their chapter.

▪ Allow the group to spend some time brainstorming ideas on their own to these questions: o What great and positive stories can we share with a larger audience? Or what

upcoming events could garner positive press for the chapter? o What audiences would be interested in these stories and/or events? What can I

communicate to them and how? ▪ Remind them that they may not finish this action planning prep today but this should be the

start of something they can complete at home. Also remind them that these tactics can and should be a part of their communications plan!



Session: Producing a high quality newsletter

Time: 65 minutes. Purpose: ▪ Leverage positive news and update.

▪ Learn how to share information with key stakeholders. ▪ Discover new method for storytelling.

Program objectives: ▪ Understand how to develop an effective newsletter. ▪ Review examples of what chapters do correctly. ▪ Create a sample of an effective newsletter.


▪ Vice president of communications officer guide ▪ Participant guide ▪ Flip chart.

Session outline: ▪ Issue overview & description (10 minutes). ▪ Application activity (45 minutes). ▪ Action planning (10 minutes)

Pre-session prep:


▪ Introduce the issue that the group will be focusing on in this session: Producing a high quality newsletter.

▪ Use the questions below to facilitate a group discussion. Record the answers on a flip chart. Sample answers are provided below.

o What is this topic important to discuss? (connect back to problem pyramid) ▪ Fraternities are in a negative spotlight, and SigEp needs good stories. ▪ Alumni, volunteers and parents are interested in learning about what the

chapter is doing. They want to get involved, but they aren’t seeing any reasons to get involved.

o What does the ideal look like if the VPC is creating and distributing a high-quality newsletter?

▪ Alumni and parents receive quality information that can transform them into donors and/or volunteers.

▪ The chapter increases alumni engagement and potential for volunteer support.

▪ SigEp headquarters staff knows about the stories and accomplishments your chapter has achieved and can potentially help promote them on a national level and to other chapters.

o What are the implications to the chapter if the VPC isn’t doing this? ▪ Alumni, volunteers, donors and parents are unaware of what is going on in

the chapter and may assume that the chapter isn’t doing enough to succeed or that they don’t need help.

▪ The key stakeholders may lose trust in supporting the chapter. ▪ The key stakeholders may feel undervalued by not hearing from the chapter.



▪ The key stakeholders are unaware of ways they can be involved.

● Explain that for the rest of the session they will be learning how to effectively address the issue (i.e. the “how” of the issue).

Application activity (45 minutes)

▪ As we’re already established, one of the most important responsibilities of the VPC is sharing stories and chapter updates with key stakeholders. One of the most effective ways to do this is through a newsletter.

▪ Also let them know that successful newsletters are done in conjunction with their AVC. ▪ Remind the participants all the various audiences that can benefit from receiving a chapter

newsletter (from the storytelling for various audiences worksheet in the participant guide). ▪ On a flipchart, have the group list examples of stories they could be included in a good

newsletter: o Your chapter completes a major service learning or community service project that

benefits the campus or community o A member of your chapter is selected to attend the Tragos Quest to Greece or Ruck

Leadership Institute o Your chapter wins a Buchanan Cup or other prestigious award o A member of your chapter breaks an academic or athletic record or receives

recognition for athletic or academic excellence o Etc.

▪ The most important thing to remember when producing a newsletter is your audience. Tell them the stories they want to hear.

▪ Now you will walk them through a basic newsletter structure. Let them know that every newsletter is different, but these are some basic components:

o Header (every newsletter needs a strong visual on the cover. Choose an image that is new and relevant to each edition of the newsletter. Be creative with titles.)

o Letters (most newsletters contain 2 letters from the “faces” of the chapter: the chapter and AVC presidents. Why? Your audience needs to put a face to the chapter and its leadership. The chapter president should report on what is happening on the undergraduate level and on campus; the AVC president should focus on the status of the chapter, AVC and provide highlights on why it’s worth it to get involved.

o Content (balance is key - typically 90% educational and 10% promotional. Content should be relevant and timely.

o Contact info (the newsletter is your way to get the chapter’s news to stakeholders so be sure to include ways they can contact you in case they want to learn more, volunteer, or donate….as well as links to your social media accounts)

o Call to action (each newsletter should have one central ask - it’s not enough to just share stories. Examples of calls to action could include: updating their contact info, donating to the chapter, RSVP for an alumni event, etc)

▪ At this point, ask participants to work in teams to create their own newsletter. Use producing a high quality newsletter worksheet in the participant guide for creation. They can also refer to the SigEp newsletter guide in their officer guide for assistance.

▪ All teams must provide real stories from their chapters. Due to time constraints, the team will only be responsible for providing the following information for every story:

o Title. o Subtitle. o Summary (3-4 sentences).



▪ Once complete, each team should present their ‘newsletter’ to the group for feedback.

Action planning (10 minutes)

▪ Have participants turn to the Producing a high quality newsletter: action planning worksheet in the participant guide. This provides an opportunity for participants to begin thinking about how they will take this home to their chapter.

▪ Allow participants to individually spend time on the worksheet building out the structure and bones of their newsletter. If they already have a newsletter, focus their attention instead on (a) what upcoming stories could be included, or (b) what they can do to improve the newsletter.



Session: Action planning

Time: 70 minutes Purpose: ▪ Create or refine goals and action plans for this calendar year

▪ Receive feedback on goals and action plans from their peers Session objectives: ▪ Participants have well developed goals and corresponding action plans

relevant to their position. ▪ Participants network with other officers to gather best practices.



Session outline: ● Creating an action plan (20 minutes) ● Action plan creation (20 minutes) ● Discussion and brainstorming (30 minutes)

Pre-session prep: Creating an action plan (20 minutes):

● By this point, all of the participants should have their goals written and reviewed, whether they brought those goals with them to Carlson or created them Friday night post-session. Reinforce that if they walk away without concrete and tangible goals, they haven’t maximized their Carlson experience.

● Also reinforce that they have started to create action plans throughout the day today. EX: identifying potential committee members, starting a communications plan, etc.

● Lead a discussion on what makes some goals successful and what causes other fail. ○ Have the participants reflect on goals that they’ve set in the past, either for

themselves or their chapter, that they didn’t accomplish. Why didn’t they accomplish their goals?

○ Remind the participants of what makes a goal SMART and the importance of having written goals.

○ A goal without a plan is nothing more than a wish. Hope is a poor strategy for success. To achieve any goal, you need to have a plan of how you’re going to get there.

○ Getting buy-in to your goals is not always easy, but it can be if you can articulate the clear path to achieving those goals and be open to feedback.

■ You might have excellent goals that can lead to positive change for your chapter, but if you try to tackle them alone, you will fail. Build a coalition, set expectations with them and ensure they have direction to help you tackle your goals.

■ Work the halls within the chapter, and get guys bought into your goals. ○ When leading a team, you need to regularly check-in with your team members to

ensure they are following up on their commitments. This follow-up will ensure the progress you expect is being made.



● With the rest of our time this afternoon, we’ll be creating action plans for the participants to

take back to their chapters to get feedback on, build consensus around, and ultimately implement.

● At its simplest, an action plan is just “how do I get stuff done to accomplish my goal?”. The plan outlines all the steps necessary to accomplish the goal and serves a project management tool to track progress.

● The following are elements of a basic action plan which we will be using shortly. Walk participants through each aspect:

○ Deadline: when does this task need to be accomplished to stay on track? ○ Task: what exactly needs to get done? EX: if the SMART goal is to create and

implement a comprehensive communications plan, perhaps a task would be “Meet with the VP programming to get a calendar of chapter events”.

○ Owner: who is responsible for getting this task done? Remind participants that they should not be the owner of every task. What can or should a committee member own?

○ Who is involved?: whose help is needed to complete this task? Also remind participants that this is super important to build a coalition of support. They need to be involving these individuals in the process and giving them plenty of advance notice of when they need their help and for what.

Action plan creation:

● You’re now going to have participants begin creating action plans for the goals they set. First, instruct participants to go back and review their SMART goals. Do they want to make any adjustments based on what they learned today? Do they want to create a new goal(s) based on what they learned?

● Have participants work alone on their action plans using the worksheets found in their participant guide. Announce to all of them that you will be roaming around the room to help and answer any questions that they have while they’re working.

● Once they finish, have everyone find a partner to share their action plans and get feedback. ● If time allows, let several participants present their SMART goal(s) and corresponding action

plan(s) to the group. ● Ask the group for their thoughts on the time they spent formulating their plans. Was this

easy or pretty difficult? Did they have any big revelations? Was there something else they came across that they thought was important to include in their plan?

● Have each participant commit to the following things: ○ Share their action plans and goals with their fellow executive board members ○ Present their goals to the chapter ○ Share their goals with chapter volunteers and the Regional Director for support and

accountability



Session: Wrap up

Time: 50 minutes Purpose: ▪ Participants have the opportunity to discuss any final questions or

concerns they have about their positions and term in office. ▪ Participants leave the officer tracks excited to accomplish their goals.

Session objectives: ▪ Wrap up the weekend by closing on a positive note and completing all conversations and talking points from the session.



Session outline: ● Facilitator’s choice activity(s) (40 minutes) ● Final thoughts (10 minutes)

Pre-session prep: ▪ Review the “facilitator’s choice” facilitation options and choose which of the wrap up activities you’d like to lead the group through.

Facilitator’s Choice:

● At the end of the weekend, we want to give you the freedom to end your session in anyway you see fit based on how your conversations have gone with your group. Below are a few options you can utilize to wrap-up your time. If you have an idea separate of what’s listed below, feel free to use that too.

○ Parking Lot Debrief ■ Throughout the course of the weekend, the participants will likely bring up

many topics that could’ve derailed conversation and you put them in the parking lot to revisit them. This is your opportunity to go back to those topics and ensure that the participants don’t leave with any lingering questions.

■ End the conversation by asking the group if there is anything else that wasn’t in the parking lot that they still want to discuss.

○ Further discussion on hot-button issues ■ Give the participants the opportunity to continue asking questions about any

major issues that they are facing in their chapter. ■ Address any and all questions for which you feel comfortable. If something

comes up that you don’t feel like you can answer (or don’t feel comfortable answering), please find a staff member and they can help the participant with the question.

■ Potential issues: ● Substance-free housing: The chapter doesn’t support and thinks that

implementing it will kill their chapter. ○ As a fraternity, we need to ensure that our focus isn’t solely

on alcohol and that we’re offering beneficial developmental opportunities. The chapter house should be conducive to learning and fostering meaningful relationships, rather than a bar. Removing alcohol from our facilities sets the expectation



that SigEp is focused on our values and providing valuable developmental programming through the BMP.

○ Over 90% of men living in fraternity facilities are under 21 years old. Our chapter facilities must be spaces where it is easy to do right and hard to do wrong, and we should be creating spaces where our younger members have the opportunity to make healthy lifestyle decisions and are in a positive atmosphere, not a negative environment where it’s easier to do wrong.

○ Social events with alcohol can certainly still be held, just not at the chapter facility. Our VPs of Programming have learned how to host fun third-party venue events this weekend. Your chapter will still have the opportunity to hold social events, just not at the house. Which is easier for you - you don’t have to clean up after the party and you don’t assume any of the liability for the social.

○ Substance free facilities will be cleaner and more conducive to a positive living environment - which will lead to more bothers being willing to live-in, and therefore create a better environment for brothers to relax without the fear of living in a dirty environment.

● BMP: The BMP just hasn’t been working at their chapter and it seems more like another class than a fraternity.

○ Open the discussion up to the group about exciting things that other chapters do in their programs to make it less academic.

● BMP App: It seems like the BMP app is just another way for Headquarters to spy on us and get us in trouble.

○ Headquarters isn’t in the business of getting chapters in trouble. They’re there to help and support chapters and the BMP app is one way of doing that.

○ Headquarters doesn’t have the time to look at every chapter’s BMP in the app. They trust that you will use the way that it’s intended.

○ Chapters asked for the app at the 2015 Conclave when the BMP was made mandatory. It is designed with chapter needs in mind-- not the needs of Headquarters.

○ The BMP app is designed to make your jobs easier. If it’s not - tell us what we need to improve!

○ The up-front, manual entry may be time consuming, but the long term value added to your members and time you save is worth the up-front investment.

○ Rotating flip charts for best practices



■ Setup flipcharts at all corners of the room with the major points that were

discussed in your track throughout the weekend ■ Break everyone into groups and have them write out what their chapters do

in each of the areas. After 2-3 minutes at the flipchart, have the groups rotate to the next flipchart. After each group has visited each flipchart and contributed, finish the activity by having the groups read out everything on the flipcharts to the group.

○ How to have crucial conversations ■ This gives you the opportunity to give your participants a crash course in

how to have crucial conversations with the other leaders in their chapter or chapter members. Cover the main points below and have participants get up and practice in front of the group.

● Start with heart: Go into each interaction with goodwill for the other person. Your fellow chapter leaders have to know you care before they care what you know.

● Stay on topic: It’s easy to get off track when emotions flare but it’s imperative to stay in the dialogue of the conversation and leave emotion out of it.

● Make it safe: State your purpose and intent clearly to the other person and be up front that you’re not trying to attack the other person. Validate their concerns and advance the conversation.

● Find common ground: Find an area that you can both agree on first to build to a solution that you can both ultimately be happy with.

● Separate facts from story: When it comes time to make your case, only articulate irrefutable facts so as to not let your own bias enter the conversation.

● Agree to a clear action plan: Thank the person for being so open to your conversation and your points and be sure to set next steps so you can follow up.

○ How to give and receive feedback ■ This gives you the opportunity to give your participants a crash course in

how to deliver and receive feedback with the other leaders in their chapter or chapter members. Cover the main points below and have participants get up and practice in front of the group.

■ Explain that the ability to both give and receive feedback is an important quality of a leader. Provide a brief framework and explanation of feedback:

● Feedback should always be solution oriented - if you don’t provide a solution, you’re just complaining or catching someone losing

● If and when the feedback will be difficult for the other person to hear - consider using a “compliment sandwich”.

○ First, begin by talking about the project or progress and about the great things they’ve done. Remind them of the value they bring to the chapter or the project



○ Next, make them aware of the issue you’re addressing. This

has to be in a supportive, helpful tone - don’t blame them. Bring up the issue or situation, point out what went wrong, and provide a suggestion or recommendation on how to improve and do better next time.

○ Close the conversation on a positive and encouraging note. Remind them of the value they bring to the chapter or project, get them excited about the progress made and the future of the project.

■ Remember to make yourself available at any time to discuss the project with them

○ After the conversation - if you notice a change in behavior - catch them winning! Make sure to congratulate them on the completion of the project, the progress they made, and thank them for their contribution.

● Additionally, it’s important as a leader to be able to receive feedback. Remember a few key points:

○ When people bring their feedback to you - they’re doing it because they want to help you and see you succeed. Be open to their thoughts and criticisms - and don’t react negatively to them.

○ Feedback conversations aren’t your opportunity to argue with their perspective. If you have a different opinion, feel free to respectfully share your side of things, but don’t become defensive or argumentative.

○ Make sure to say “thank you” to them for having the courage to bring their feedback to you, commit to considering their feedback and implementing/changing behavior as needed.

○ Don’t forget to follow-up with them, and ask for continued support and feedback.

■ Ask one participant to volunteer to walk the whole group through their action plan and provide feedback to them as an example of how they should do it in their small groups.

● Make sure they walk away from the group feedback session knowing that they should always be providing constructive feedback with potential solutions or recommendations for change.

○ “Wanted” boards ■ Introduce the concept of the “Help Wanted” board: A place to allow

participants to continue networking and maximizing their strengths ■ Create several flip charts around the room with areas where a VPC may need

help (ex: design, writing, social media, etc)



■ Officers who feel that they have a best practice to share to help other

chapters overcome the issue, should share the following information on a post-it note and have them post on that flip chart:

● Name. ● Chapter. ● Email address.

■ After everyone has added their post it to any appropriate flip charts, instruct participants to take pictures of any where they need help. EX: if the participant struggles with design, take a picture of the post its on that flip chart. They should use those brothers as a resource over the coming year.

○ Facilitator topic ■ If you have any final leadership lessons, or life lessons, you want to share

that you believe would be of value to the participants in your session - use this time to tell your story

Final Thoughts:

● Wrap up the weekend with any takeaways that the participants have. ● Walk through any final “lightbulb” moments that the participants had. ● Give your final thoughts on the weekend as a call to action to take back to their chapters.

Substance-FreeFacilities:

FAQ

1. Whywasasubstance-freefacilitiespolicynecessary?a. Fraternities,includingSigEp,havedevelopedareputationofbeingorganizationsthat

existtopromotealcoholconsumption.Ourmoneyandtimearespentonparties.Weareknowninthemediaandinourcampuscommunitiesashavensfordrinking.ThatmustchangeforSigEp.Removingalcoholfromourchapterfacilitiessendsaclearmessageaboutwhatwevalueandwhatwedonotvalue.

b. ManybrothersspendmostoftheirtimewithSigEpatachapterfacility.Thesubstance-freefacilitiespolicydoesnotpreventchaptersfromhavingsocialevents,butitdoeshelpensurethatourchapterfacilitiesdonotbecomehavensforunderagedrinking.Ourchapterfacilitiesmustbeenvironmentsinwhichitiseasytodorightandhardtodowrong.ThepolicyisintendedtomakechapterenvironmentssaferandattracttoprecruitstoSigEp.

c. Over90%ofthemenlivinginfraternityfacilitiesareunder21yearsofage.Seequestion#2belowformorestatisticsonhowsubstance-freefacilitypolicieshavestrengthenedSigEpchapters.

2. Howdochaptersthatcurrentlyhavesomesortofsubstance-freefacilitypolicycompareto

thosethatdonothavesuchapolicy?Substance-freeComparativeData1

HousedChapterswithNoSubstance-freeFacilitiesPolicy

HousedChapterswithaSubstance-freeFacilitiesPolicy2

Numberofchapters 85 70

GPA(Fall'16) 3.07 3.24

AboveAll-CampusAverage 43% 86%

AverageMembership 64 81

RecruitmentAverage(Fall'16) 16 22

InsuranceClaims(past5years) 18 10

TotalPayout(todate) $3,389,474 $150,682

Averageperchapter $39,876 $2,152

3. HowistheNationalFraternitygoingtohelpchaptersimplementthispolicy?

a. SomechapterswillneedassistancetomeetthedeadlinessetbytheGrandChapterofremovingalcoholfromcommonspacesbyAugust1,2018,andremovingallalcoholfromchapterfacilitiesbyAugust1,2020.Tothatend,theHeadquartersstaffwill

1 Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity Chapter Reported Data 2 All policies regulating alcohol in chapter facilities including 28 completely substance-free facilities

2

provideeducationandresourcestobothundergraduatesandvolunteers,andcreateregionalpeernetworkstoconnectofficerswiththeleadershipofchaptersthathavepreviouslyimplementedasubstance-freefacilitiespolicy.Seequestionsbelowformoreinformationonthespecificresourcesandeducationthatwillbeprovided.

b. TheNationalBoardofDirectorsandHeadquartersstaffwillalsoadvocatethatothernationalfraternitiespursuesubstance-freefacilitiespoliciesandwillactivelyseekfundingtooffsetthechaptercostofshiftingrecruitmentmodelsandfacilitationofthird-partyeducationonsubstanceabuseandinterpersonalviolenceprevention.

4. WhateducationwilltheHeadquartersstaffprovide?

a. InthefinalresolutionpassedbytheGrandChapter,delegateschargedtheHeadquartersstaffwithsupportingchaptersastheyimplementthispolicy.Thestaffwillprovidehands-ontrainingateachofourleadershipprograms(CarlsonLeadershipAcademies,RuckLeadershipInstitutes,CoxVolunteerInstitutesandGrandChapterConclaves),aswellasprepareregionaldirectorstodirectlyassistchapters,volunteersandalumniastheymakethetransitiontosubstance-freefacilities.

b. Inparticular,regionaldirectorswillfocusonhelpingchaptersrecruitonasubstance-freefacilitiesmessage,andprepareandtransitionnewlyelectedexecutiveofficers,amongotherefforts.Ofcourse,theHeadquartersstaffwillbereadilyavailableatanytimetoprovideadditionalpersonalizedassistanceasneeded.

5. WhatresourceswilltheHeadquartersstaffprovide?

a. ThestaffhascreatedaseriesofresourcesincludingthisFAQandaone-pageoverviewdocumentthatcanbefoundonlinehere,alongwithseveralotherspecificimplementationresources.Thepageandresourceswillbeupdatedcontinuouslythroughouttheyearleadinguptoofficerelections,theCarlsonLeadershipAcademyseason,andthedeadlinesoutlinedinthelegislation.

b. Thestaffwillcontinuetoproduceonlineresourcesbasedonfeedbackandtheneedsofundergraduatesandvolunteers.Ifyouhavefeedbackonexistingresourcesorsuggestionsfornewresources,[email protected].

6. WhatstepswilltheNationalBoardofDirectorsandHeadquartersstafftaketoadvocatethat

otherfraternitiesadoptsubstance-freefacilitiespolicies?a. TheNationalBoardandHeadquartersstaffhavealreadymetwithsomeofourfraternal

peerorganizationslastmonthinIndianapolisandbegunthisconversation.Multiplenationalorganizationswerealreadypursuingsimilarsubstance-freefacilitiespolicies,andseveralmoreexpressedinterestintakingsimilarstepswiththeirorganizationsinthenearfuture.BoththeBoardandHeadquartersstaffwillcontinuethisconversationinthefuture.

7. Whatfundingwillbeprovidedforchapterstomakechangestotheirfacilitytocomplywith

thesubstance-freefacilitiespolicy?

http://sigep.org/resources/substance-free-facilities/

[email protected]

3

a. TherealreadyexistsaChapterInvestmentFund(CIF)foreachchapter,thefundsofwhichareusedtofinanceimprovementstochapterfacilities.Thesefundsareaccessibleviaapplication.LearnmoreatCIFlinkorcontactZach.Stull@sigep.netformoreinformation.

b. Resolution2callsforthecreationofanationalgranttosupportfacilityalterations.Moreinformationwillbepublishedasitisavailable.

8. WillSigEpallowmemberstoresignandjoinotherorganizationsiftheywanttoleaveasa

resultofthislegislation?a. Yes.TheNationalFraternitywillreleasethemembershipofanymember(s)whofeels

thatasubstance-freechapterfacilitypolicyisinconsistentwithhisvaluesorwhathedesiresfromhisundergraduateexperience.

9. Whyisthereastaggeredtimelineforimplementation?

a. Resolution2giveschaptersoneyeartoexpresslyprohibitalcoholfromcommonspacesinfacilitiesandthreeyearstomakechapterfacilitiescompletelysubstance-free.Thisstaggeredtimelinewasspecificallyaddedinordertogivechapterstimetorevisetheirpracticesandthoroughlyandsuccessfullyimplementthepolicy.

10. WhatactionwilltheNationalFraternityandHeadquartersstafftakeinregardstoany

chapterswhorefusetoimplementsubstance-freefacilitiespoliciesbythedeadlines?a. TheNationalFraternitywillprovideextensivesupportandtrainingtoanychapter

leadersandalumnivolunteerswhowanthelpinimplementingthispolicy.ItisthedutyoftheFraternity’sBoardofDirectorstoholdaccountableandreviewthecharterstatusofchapterswhorefusetoimplementanypolicysetbytheGrandChapter.Asaresult,theBoardofDirectorsispreparedtomakecharterormembershipdecisionsforchapterswhorefusetoimplementthispolicy.

11. Willsubstance-freehousinghurtourrecruitmentandmembership?

a. Fraternitiesastheyexistnowarefacingacrisis.Only11%ofstudentscometocampusinterestedinjoiningafraternity.ThisdeclininginteresthascoincidedwiththefactthatmembersofFraternitiesarefarmorelikelytodrinkinexcessthantheaveragestudent.

b. ExperiencetellsusthatSigEpchapterswithsubstance-freefacilitiespoliciesrecruitbetterandhavestrongermanpowerthanhousedchapterswithoutsuchpolicies(seedatainquestion#2above).

c. Furthermore,datafromacrosshighereducationtellsusthatinfall2015,totalundergraduateenrollmentindegree-grantingpostsecondaryinstitutionsincreasedof30percentfrom2000.Itfurtherpointstoundergraduateenrollmentincreasingby14percentbetween2015and2026.

d. Inshort,inadditiontothedataprovidedbySigEpchapterswithsubstance-freefacilitiespolicies,thereisamassivegroupofpotentialnewmembersgrowingeachyearthatappearlikelytojoinchapterswithsubstance-freefacilitypolicies.Thesubstance-free

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https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cha.asp

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facilitiespolicyismeanttohelpcreateanewpoolofpotentialbrotherswhoareattractedtoourvaluesandattractedtothefraternityfortherightreasons.

12. Canchapteralumnihosteventswithalcoholunderthesubstance-freefacilitypolicy

mandated?a. Yes.TheResolutionstatesthatchapters’AlumniVolunteerCorporations(AVCs)canhost

uptosixeventsatachapterfacilityperyear,aslongasthoseeventsfollowcertainstipulations.ReadthefulltextofResolution2onlinehere.Inthecomingweeks,theFraternitywillproduceandpublicizearesourceexplaininghowalumnicanholdeventsliketheseperourpolicies.

13. Doesn'tthisincreaseriskbypushingalcoholtoannexpropertiesandincreasingriskslike

drinkinganddriving?a. Makingchapterfacilitiessubstance-freedoesn’teliminaterisk.Thegoalisnotrisk

elimination;itisriskreductionandlong-termculturechange.Substance-freechapterenvironmentsattractaqualityofmanwhoisnotasfocusedonalcohol.Webelievethathavingchaptersfullofmenwhojoinedasubstance-freechapterwillleadtobetterdecision-makingaroundriskmanagement.Inaddition,regardlessofthisnewpolicy,theexpectationwasandremainsthatindividualswouldbesafe,responsibleandrespectfulwiththeirchoicesaboutconsumptionofalcoholwhereverthatoccurs.

b. Ourdatavalidatesthisconcept:chapterswithasubstance-freepolicyare23%lesslikelytohaveamembersafetyincidentorsanctionandoverthepastfiveyearshavebeen33%lesslikelytohaveinsuranceclaimsrelatedtoincidents.

14. Howwillasubstance-freefacilitypolicyimpactSigEp’snationalinsurancecosts?

a. Datatellsussubstance-freefacilitypolicieswillleadtofewerandlesssevereincidents.b. Insurancecompaniescalculatebillsbasedonafive-yearaccidenthistory.Webelieve

thatthepolicywillmakeourmembersandchapterssaferandreduceincidents,whichwilllowerinsurancecostsovertime.

15. HowdoesthispolicychangeSigEp’sriskmanagementpolicies?

a. ThepolicydoesnotchangeSigEp’sriskmanagementpolicies,whicharealwaysineffect.Itonlychangeswherechapterscanhavesocialeventswithalcohol.BeginningAugust1,2018,chaptersmustadoptpoliciesremovingallalcoholfromcommonspacesofchapterfacilities;beginningAugust1,2020,chaptersmustadoptpoliciesmakingallchapterfacilitiescompletelysubstance-free.


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