Helping your new members to find their place.

This past week has been a wonderful adventure in the world of Delta Epsilon Chi for me. 8 flights and 5 days later I returned home from visiting and participating in the Minnesota's Professional Leadership Conference and Missouri’s Fall Leadership Conference. It was truly a great opportunity to network and learn from the students and leadership of these great associations. One thing I found that was very interesting, to me, was the large number of new participating members that we had at the conferences. It was wonderful to see the new growth and get a breath of fresh air. I also realized that this meant we had a lot of work to do as student leaders on the local, state, and national level to help these new members to understand the organizations and their role in the big picture of Delta Epsilon Chi. I reflected on this and came up with 3 steps to help new members feel welcome and important:

1. Information: If they don’t know, they won’t go. So many times we want the members of our chapters to work along side us and put forth an effort to strengthen their understanding of Delta Epsilon Chi and the business world. However the problem, so many times, is that they are not aware of the information they need to be effective and they don’t know where to find it. We, as students, need to study the information ourselves and be ready to assist our new members in understanding it as well. If we do this then we know what to do to be effective. www.deltaepsilonchi.org
2. Friend: Have you ever gone to a party and found that you didn’t feel accepted or that you felt like you didn’t know any one. This has happened to me even though I was invited to the party by a few different people. When I got there they were more interested in other things then helping me to feel welcome. I also have been to parties where I have felt so welcome and part of the group. What was the difference? The difference was that at one party they invited me but didn’t make me feel that way once I got their, and the other group helped me feel that I was part of the group from the first minute I arrived on the scene. Be that person to make others feel welcome, be a friend, be the ONE
3. Responsibility: This is a job for every member. This gives your members the chance to service and to give back. This helps them to feel needed and wanted. It gives them the opportunity to feel and know that they are a vital part of the chapter team and they should continue to participate.

By using these steps effectively, we can better support our new members and help them to feel needed in their Delta Epsilon Chi activities. I would encourage all Delta Epsilon Chi leaders to become very aware of the programs and projects that are available via http://www.deltaepsilonchi.org/ . Make sure that your new members understand how they can be part of, not just the project, but feel that they are an effective part of their local chapter or team. It is a year for growth. Let’s not just see growth in the membership numbers but also in our new members and ourselves.