Dreaded Apathy

Today’s article is a little different.  I usually write about communication issues, given that I am the Communication Chair.  Although I suppose almost anything can be tied to communication, I am stretching those boundaries by being candid with you about my thoughts on apathy and brotherhood.

Apathy is an issue that can plague any organization, and it can have an awful snowball effect when it starts.  The symptoms:

• Lack of passion
• Sluggishness
• Distraction
• Poor attendance
• Lack of motivation
• Loss of interest

Sound familiar?  You’ve likely been witness to such symptoms within your chapter, perhaps recently.  Take any chapter at any given time, and it is very likely you will find at least one apathetic brother.  Once you’ve found one, you’re likely to find more—apathy breeds apathy.  It can be difficult to achieve success when brothers are skipping meetings, not paying attention when they do attend, and hoping others will sign up for events so they don’t have to (and still not stepping up with no one else signs up).

You are hopefully wondering what can be done to address these issues.  Unfortunately there is no easy solution.

Many people blame the leadership, and indeed that can be the case.  If your officers don’t show an interest in the things they are leading, it is quite difficult for them to inspire passion in their fellow brothers.  Similarly, if officers are not attending fellowships and service projects, why should anyone else?

If you are an officer, try to step back and take an objective look at yourself.  Are you passionate about your area of specialization?  Are you passionate about service?  About being in this brotherhood?  Do you regularly attend chapter events?  How about events that go beyond your chapter and extend into the section, region, or even nation?

Nobody is saying you have to attend everything.  We are all busy—yes, even us alumni.  But do realize that a big part of being a brother of Alpha Phi Omega is a commitment to serve.  There are bound to be service projects that appeal to you.  If there aren’t, suggest them to your Service Vice President, and maybe even offer to lead the projects yourself!  Many people use the excuse of not having enough time.  But some things you make time for.

These thoughts apply to non-officers, too.  We all need to make sure we try to be the leaders we have committed to be through our membership in this fraternity.  Some of us lead by taking on obvious leadership roles, like officers or committee chairs.  But there are other ways to lead.  The easiest way is to demonstrate your passion by attending service projects, fellowships, leadership courses, and always putting your best foot forward.  Simply attending isn’t enough.  Be engaged.  Be engaging.  Service is not a passive activity.  Nor is fellowship obtained by sitting in a corner with your laptop while others are socializing and bonding.

It sounds simple, but chances are good that the people reading this are not the ones suffering from apathy.  So you guys holding onto your enthusiasm should work to identify your apathetic brothers and engage them.  Show them (don’t just tell them) how excited you are to be a part of this brotherhood.  Let them see you getting passionate about service.  Set a good example, and make them wonder what they’re missing.

Apathy is not easily cured, but you have a greater chance of success if you catch it early.  Best of luck to all of you.  And please let me know if there is anything I can help with!

Passionately yours,

Jessica Szweda

Section 67 Communication Chair

Avoiding APOverused Lingo

Those of us who have been around for awhile have likely picked up a lot of APOverused lingo.  “LEADS”, “CoE”, “PPoE”, “CAPS”, and “AAMD” are all abbreviations which may be recognizable to longstanding Alpha Phi Omega brothers.  Sure, it’s easier to tell everyone that “CAPS is next Sunday at 5pm” than to tell them that “the Chapter Assessment and Planning Conference is next Sunday at 5pm”—a whole 11 syllables saved (10 if you pronounce “Conference” as “Confrence”)!  And if you’ve already announced the occasion a few times using its full name and giving a brief explanation of what it entails, it’s okay to get a little lazy.

But be especially careful when addressing non-brothers, pledges, and new brothers.  It may be obvious that they wouldn’t understand what’s meant when you talk about your chapter applying for the CoE (that’s “Chapter of Excellence”), but did you ever consider that even terms like “Section 67” or “National Service Week” could be confusing?

Think about it.  You know nothing about Alpha Phi Omega, except that it’s some group who does service.  You show up for some recruitment week events and hear brothers talking about how awesome Section 67 is.  Maybe you’re too shy or too polite to ask about it, so you just smile and nod and later wonder what the heck was going on.  Yes, you understand the English language and know that a section is part of a whole, but what does it mean in terms of the Fraternity?  You didn’t really connect with anyone because the crazy unfamiliar lingo kept throwing you off.  And then you decide you just don’t fit in and aren’t going to pledge.

Okay, so maybe that’s an extreme example, but the general point remains the same.  It is important to be mindful of your audience and take the time to explain any potentially foreign or confusing terms.  The goal is always to depict Alpha Phi Omega in the most positive light and to educate others about the Fraternity.  Effective communication is key, and avoiding unfamiliar jargon and acronyms is an important part of effective communication.

YiLFS,

Jessica Szweda

Section 67 Communication Chair

"OMG GUYZ LOOOKAT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!11111 (Writing E-mails That People Actually Read)

Courtesy of Kittikun Atsawintarangkul
freedigitalphotos.net

Ah, e-mail.  We all use it, but do we use it well?  Juanita Ecker, corporate image and business etiquette consultant, makes the point that "having great e-mail etiquette means little if people aren't even reading your e-mails".  She goes on to expand upon the following tips for writing engaging e-mails:

• Subject lines should inform
• Get to the point
• Write an action summary
• Provide background information
• Create well-structured content
• Avoid spam language
• Include an e-mail signature

Okay, well, by the time you get to the signature, the e-mail has already been read, and thus you have succeeded.  But including a signature is still an important way to make sure your recipient can identify you as the sender and contact you in the appropriate manner as needed.  It also adds an additional level of professionalism, which is especially important when communicating with external parties, such as college faculty and staff and potential new members.

Also make sure to proofread your message!  If your typing or spelling skills are below average, you should consider drafting your e-mails in a word processor with automatic spell check.  But remember that won't catch all your errors.  You could mistakenly type "cats" instead of "cast", for example, and your typo would not be flagged.  So read through your message carefully before hitting send.  Nobody wants to embarrass himself or herself (or worse yet, the fraternity) just because he or she didn't take the extra two minutes to look over a message.  We're all busy, but effective communication is worth the effort.

For the full "Writing E-mails That People Actually Read" article, visit http://www.professionalimagemgt.com/business-etiquette-articles/writing-e-mails-that-people-actually-read/.

For more e-mail tips, check out the following resources:

• E-mail Charter
  http://emailcharter.org/
• Etiquette Still Matters in E-mail
  http://www.professionalimagemgt.com/business-etiquette-articles/etiquette-still-matters-in-e-mail/
• E-mail Etiquette Tips
  http://farmnet.osu.edu/resources/emailetq.pdf

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Jessica Szweda

Section 67 Communication Chair

Need a Chapter Website?

I'm going to take off my Communication hat and put on my Webmaster hat for a few moments.

Brandyn and I have just finished creating this awesome website for the Section--well, we hope you agree it's awesome!  Google Sites made the process much easier than it otherwise could have been, and we worked hard to prove that a professional-looking website can be created for free and without any coding knowledge.  I did use a little bit of html to clean up some of the funny things Google Sites kept trying to do, but the website absolutely could have been made without that knowledge (and really, a lot of that knowledge came from quick Google searches).

Any chapters who have considered putting together a new website should really give some thought to utilizing Google Sites, and I would be delighted to help you with the endeavor.  Please let me know if you have any questions about how we did something on the Section 67 website or how to get started creating your own Google Site:  section.67.webmaster@gmail.com

YiLFS,
Jessica Szweda
Section 67 Webmaster