At the beginning of the year each of the members chose which events we should have and which we shouldn't with an activity called carousel. I hung 10 sheets of paper around the room with the name of one event on sheet. The members each had five stickers that they would put on their top five favorite ideas. The sheets with the most stickers were the most liked. They walk around and around reading what they are and choose which one they like (like a carousel). From there the leaders of the club knew which event to focus our energy on and that the members would more likely be involved.
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From there we had students pick an event that they wanted to be part of a committee for. The students did have the option of not joining as well. No reason to force someone to do something they don't want to do. From there the committees voted on who should be their leaders. That is when I (the president) and the adviser sat down the the committee leaders and discussed with them what we were expecting.
We discussed how much we were willing to spend, why we wanted this even to happen, and the goals for the club.
The other portion of the meeting was spent discussing jobs. Should there be posters? Then make a member from your group in charge of it. Do we need permits or permission? Better have someone in charge of that. Should there be food or music? There's a job for someone right there.
The goal is that each person is in charge of something and there are always enough jobs to go around. It is important for the leaders to stress that if they fail at their job, then the whole group will suffer. If the event is done well, then there are many great benefits that should be expressed to the group too.
1. The members with jobs feel they are useful to your group. They feel involved in a part of something for your club and maybe for your school. This person is more inclined to stay in your club and spread word of the club's work.
2. Members learn skills that they may not have learned otherwise. For example, one student created posters for the first time. Another person talked with the Vice President of the college for permission codes. One student was in charge of safety for the Zombie Walk since it was in the dark and on a road which meant thinking of creative solutions. All the members in the committee had to work on their communication skills with one another to make sure they were on top of their jobs.
3. Confidence in the club and even in the members themselves will go up when the job is completed well. Each member knows they did a good job and that it was because of them. Those with leadership positions should recognize these accomplishments to the entire club. It seems small but it is so so necessary.
4. The members who were doing jobs now feel more ready to take on bigger jobs. In a way, you are training these members to take the leadership positions of the club. I won't be able to be president next year so it is my job to find a replacement. The goal I have is to train each of the members so that they will be able to take my place effectively.
END ON A HAPPY NOTE:
These comics give me to fuzzies.
