The Perfect Project Plan - Large or Small

The previous two posts discussed the role of the Project Manager and how to prepare a Project Plan. This final blog on the subject of project management presents an actual project plan and budget for a small project goal where you need to raise $10,000 net and a larger project goal where you need to raise $30,000 net. Please remember that the success of any project depends on the skills of the project manager and the organization and inclusiveness of the project plan. Without either, the event is doomed to failure.

Example 1 Project - Summer Computer Camp

Your organization has partnered with a summer camp organization and agreed to sponsor 100 campers at a computer camp. The project plan goal here is to acquire the funds to enable the children to attend the summer computer camp

Setting Goals for Your Event within Your Overall Fundraising Plan

Many people want to be associated with a successful, positive, professional program. With enough time and careful planning your event will attract enough supports (past, current, and future) to provide the synergy needed for a continuous successful event. People will donate for many reasons – among them, to support you, to be seen, and to network. This is an event that allows you to stay true to your organization’s mission and core values. Therefore it is important that your project manager have experience and contacts in the field of publicity and communications. This project must cultivate attention and draw sufficient interest so that seeking sponsorships, and in-kind donations will meet with success. First, you must identify how you will raise the funds, i.e., your revenue source.

Budget



The Project Plan

This project plan must include success for obtaining sponsorships and ensuring that your tickets to the venue have been sold. The plan must include working with the venue, caterer, menu, event flow, and every imaginable detail including parking needs. The project plan must include extensive detail regarding who and when to solicit sponsorships, sell tickets, solicit auction items, and handle additional income stream of the signature drinks. The project plan has to also include outreach and publicity by engaging other organizations and high profile individuals in order to encourage success with the silent auction and meeting your sponsorship goals. Failing to invest the proper amount of energy in all revenue categories could have a negative impact on the project goal.

Example 2 Project - Community Awards Banquet

A modification of the small project will allow you to create a larger project plan which can generate in excess of $50,000 net revenue. In this example, the organization has announced a target of awarding five $10,000 scholarships to graduating seniors this year. The “Summer Camp Luncheon” project plan can be used as a template and modified for a “Community Awards Banquet”. The two important differences in this event is including a souvenir journal and offering awards to local community leaders to attract additional sponsors.

It is important to try to account for all possible hard-cost expenses in the budget. The budget must include every conceivable expense. However the project plan can be creative in reducing expenses. Contact the local community college Fine Arts Department and arrange student photographers to use your event as a pro bono class project. The same could be suggested for all graphics and logo artwork. It will help students develop a portfolio of work from a real-world event.

Budget



Success is Guaranteed !!!

Now that you have set your goals, put your plan together for a great event, and identified potential participants, you need to get the people there. Although a well-put-together event is bound to attract attendees, don’t overlook opportunities to ensure that the people you want to be there will be. Reach out to your sponsors to get the name of their guests and consider sharing your event’s invitation with their contact lists. You must follow-up to key stakeholders by phone to ensure that you obtain the number of attendees. It will require making a lot of calls and sending several reminders. You will also use social networks if appropriate. A press release with detail information offering special and unique insight into the event will encourage coverage of your event. Again you will need to have direct contact with an editor or news director to obtain the coverage you desire.

Award banquets are a time-honored tradition that can bring a lot of value to your organization and meet the goals of your development plan. Although they require careful planning and the involvement of many people, they provide the kind of opportunity for engagement, participation and important face-time with the many stakeholders of your organization and community that is not possible with other fundraising strategies. With good food, drinks, venue, entertainment, and speakers, you can create an experience for your guests that encourages their steadfast (and increased) commitment to your organization.

Six-Month Project Plan for Luncheon or Banquet

What is the perfect Project Plan?

In a previous post I wrote about “The Committee Chairman is the Project Manager”. This post concentrates on building a successful Project Plan using standard project management tools.

In the world of project management, it often falls to the project manager to articulate clearly what may be unformed thoughts floating around in the minds of the participants, customers or stakeholders. This is one of the greatest challenges in a project: coordinating the ideas, thoughts and agendas of this diverse group of Brothers and have them focus on the goal and the eventual success of the project. Brothers have different and sometimes conflicting measures of success. Brothers may also measure success in different ways. Therefore it is of great importance to articulate in a measured manner how the project will be deemed a success.

Building the Project Plan

When you have identified a clear project objective and how the success of the project will be measured, you need to build a project plan that will use resources and create tasks towards the objective. Using a chart, spreadsheet or flow diagram, you outline how resources and tasks will be used by each member of the project within a specific time period.. Each objective is considered a milestone or a dependant task that can be measured and identified for modification or adjustment. There are various methods of identifying how best to outline and measure each objective. Most project plans incorporate many of the following elements:

Top-down and Bottom-up

The Top-down estimate of a project includes all tasks, events, and resources and applies an overall timescale and costs. It is created at the beginning of the project to determine how long the project will take and how much it will cost. It is usual to add some contingency resources or funding to allow for risky assumptions or cost overruns due to lack of proper resources or personnel. The Bottom-up phase of the project refines the timescale and costs as each milestone or stage of project is completed. It allows the project manager to adjust all upcoming tasks, events and resources in light of actual measured tasks. Top-down and Bottom-up estimating allow planning to take place at both project and stage levels and help anticipate challenges or issues before they evolve into problems or emergencies.

Work Distribution

Many projects may utilize complex tasks or specialization to achieve success. As a project manager, you cannot be expected to be an expert in every task. Nor can the project manager perform every task or handle every event. Therefore, each task and event must be assigned a resource or person to oversee it to completion. Each task or event must have a deliverable (a due date) and measureable achievement (cost, completion, success, failure). The project manager updates each task in the project plan with new data provided by the resource (person, expert, specialist) and achievement (cost above/below budget; within or out of the timeline; within or out of expectation). Continuous updating of the project plan gives the project manager an indication as to whether adjustments are required to meet the project’s final goal.

Estimating Time and Costs

The project manager’s ability to estimate the duration and cost for each task or event can determine how the project goal is achieved. For example, if a committee member suggests it will take seven days to complete a task when the project plan indicates that it should take three days, you will only have one opportunity to challenge – and improve or revise – the estimate. The project manager’s failure to review and revise the project plan and hold people accountable to their deliverables will doom the project to inevitable disaster and failure. An ineffectual, inefficient, uncooperative, undisciplined, non-communicative manager is a poor manager and recipe for failure.

Identify and Manage Risk

So what is a risk? Former US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, famously said:
“Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because, as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know.”

This is an excellent understanding of risk and project management:
• 'There are known knowns.' Rumsfeld was referring to things that have ceased to be preventable because they have happened and thus it is not possible to stop or circumvent them. Project managers call these 'issues'. Put another way, 'the stuff has hit the fan'.
• 'There are known unknowns.' These are the problems that have been identified and which it may be possible to mitigate (perhaps preventing a problem arising or reducing its effect if it does). To continue the analogy, you know where and how much stuff is out there, the fan is running, but one has not yet been introduced to the other.
• 'There are unknown unknowns.' These are the problems that have not been identified or anticipated. They are the threats to a project's successful outcome which are not yet even known about. The analogy concludes: no one yet knows how much stuff is out there, where it is (or if it even exists), or how fast the fan is running.

So, a risk is something that may place the success of the project in jeopardy. Or an assumption or a guess that, by virtue of being unknown, is also a risk and places the project goal into jeopardy. When a risk is identified the focus should be on doing something positive to moderate the risk. There are several potential options: Accept, Lessen; Avoid; Share. This forms the convenient (and possibly appropriate) acronym, ALAS.

excerpts taken from Effective Project Management by Paul Roberts, KoganPage Press, 2011.

The Committee Chairman is the Project Manager

The Committee Chairman is not the most important person involved in the committee project or program, nor is he the only person so involved. Successful projects are dependant upon well constructed project plans and a team committed to the delivery of a project successfully. Not surprisingly, successful Committee Chairmen are outstanding Project Managers.

Therefore, selecting a proven project manger in a role of leadership, although a very positive step, it is not sufficient to guarantee a successful outcome. Having a detailed and effective project plan and an individual responsible for keeping the project under control and within budget is the difference between success or failure.

Why must there be a Project Plan?

Your project is a vehicle for delivering change. The outcome of your project must have a defined deliverable purpose. The deliverable must be simple and easy to identify; “raise x amount of dollars for x number of scholarship awards,” “increase membership by x number of members within x number of months,” “offer x number of hours of after-school tutoring to x number of students.” The specified deliverable will help shape the budget, provide a range of available or needed resources, and the project’s life cycle.

Every project has a defined budget. There are a great many things in which we may be investing money in order to build the project’s deliverable, including, but not limited to, people’s time, contractors, computer hardware, software licenses, building materials, and marketing matter. These and similar investments contribute to what will eventually be known as the project’s budget.

A project will need to benefit from the capabilities, knowledge, skills and experience of people from a wide range of backgrounds from within and possibly outside the organization. A project has a beginning, middle and end, all are important for different reasons, and all can benefit from some order and governance. This “life cycle” and the combination of the project’s risk are at the heart of successful project management. The ability to obtain and articulate a clear and basic understanding of these variables is what determines the success of each project.

Define success

As a project manager, these are the common measures of success:
- Delivering within the expected timescale.
- Delivering within the expect budget.
- Producing the quality of deliverable as expected.
- Managing changes in expectations along the way.
- Minimizing the detrimental effect of risks and issues.
- Keeping the team motivated and focused.

Support Tools

There are a great number of project support tools and project management software to assist with the project plan. Web-based project management tools such as www.gantter.com or www.mavenlink.com can be used by the project manager to organize and outline the project’s budget, resources, timeline and deliverable.

Remember to Treat A Project Like A Business

The project manager must maintain his focus on the project’s overall success and shepard it towards its deliverable. Additionally, the Chapter must contain a layer of authority that allow Brothers at different levels to use their particular skills, knowledge and experience to make the right decisions at the right time. The project manager is designated as someone who is to be held accountable for its success and therefore must have the authority and confidence of the Chapter’s leadership to keep the project on track and pointed towards a successful outcome.

excerpts taken from Effective Project Management by Paul Roberts, KoganPage Press, 2011.

Improving the Reactivation & Retention Process

You can attract and retain members by improving your Reactivation Processing, I would suggest observing and embracing the Best Practices used by many mega-churches. These Best Practices provides that when a new visitor is identified, he fills out a contact card, and “hidden” processes and procedures are automatically put into motion which includes:
 His contact info is entered into a tracking database;
 He is given literature and information about membership;
 He is assigned a “buddy” to help answer questions and encourage continued membership;
 He is contacted by the buddy for coffee or lunch to establish a relationship;
 He is contacted by the Pastor to thank him for his interest and participation;
 He is encouraged by his buddy to attend upcoming meetings and focus groups;
 He is encouraged to join a focus group or committee or task force that suits his interest or passion; and
 He is later encouraged to become a membership “buddy” with a new member.

This process works like a water wheel in that as new members join each is partnered with a buddy, who help bring him comfortably into the membership and at the end of the process, the new member becomes a buddy who helps pull in new members. This process reinforces relationships and helps build strong bonds among members as the organization grows. I am suggesting that you create a “process” that works like a water wheel for reactivation.

When someone reconnects with a brother, the process would begin with an email “Welcome” message that introduces him to the current E-Board membership, including their names, email addresses and phone numbers. The email must include some personal reference to the addressee so that it does not appear to be a form letter.

Most importantly, within seven days, the brother is assigned a “buddy”.

The buddy then calls the brother to encourage a meeting over coffee or lunch to create a relationship. This is critical. If this contact is not made, the opportunity to reactivate this brother will be lost. It is our brotherhood, our common and shared experience that should allow a relationship between the buddy and lost brother to develop. If the connection by the buddy is not made, there is no magnet to help reactivate this brother.

The buddy encourages the brother to attend an upcoming Chapter meeting or event. During this event the brother must be pulled into the Chapter organization – if the brother attends a meeting or event and is not asked to accept responsibility for a task or project – he will have no reason to return. You must give him a reason to return.

The buddy can help the brother be successful with their new task or project. The buddy can suggest other brothers or resources this brother can use to be successful. The E-Board should immediately highlight this new brother’s task or project in order to incorporate him into the Chapter. When his task or project is met with success, he should be asked to consider being a “buddy” for a brother new to the Chapter.

This process takes commitment and courage to embrace this as a Best Practice. Additionally, the chapter membership has to “buy-in” that this is the process that they will use when a brother reactivates which includes “pushing” him onto a committee and asking him to take responsibility for a project or task immediately and without delay. The desire to demand that the brother pay his reactivation fees has to take on minor importance with respect to the desire and demand that the brother connect into the Chapter and “step-up” and immediately accept responsibility for a project or program.

It does require leadership and hard work for it to be a success.

You're the Top

At words poetic, I'm so pathetic
That I always have found it best,
Instead of getting 'em off my chest,
To let 'em rest unexpressed,
I hate parading my serenading
As I'll probably miss a bar,
But if this ditty is not so pretty
At least it'll tell you
How great you are.

You're the top!
You're the Coliseum.
You're the top!
You're the Louver Museum.
You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss
You're a Bendel bonnet,
A Shakespeare's sonnet,
You're Mickey Mouse.
You're the Nile,
You're the Tower of Pisa,
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,
But if, baby, I'm the bottom you're the top!

Your words poetic are not pathetic.
On the other hand, babe, you shine,
And I can feel after every line
A thrill divine
Down my spine.
Now gifted humans like Vincent Youmans
Might think that your song is bad,
But I got a notion
I'll second the motion
And this is what I'm going to add;

You're the top!
You're Mahatma Gandhi.
You're the top!
You're Napoleon Brandy.
You're the purple light
Of a summer night in Spain,
You're the National Gallery
You're Garbo's salary,
You're cellophane.
You're sublime,
You're turkey dinner,
You're the time, the time of a Derby winner
I'm a toy balloon that’s fated soon to pop
But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

You're the top!
You're an arrow collar
You're the top!
You're a Coolidge dollar,
You're the nimble tread
Of the feet of Fred Astaire,
You're an O'Neill drama,

You're Whistler's mama!

You're camembert.

You're a rose,
You're Inferno's Dante,

You're the nose
On the great Durante.
I'm just in a way,
As the French would say, "de trop".
But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

You're the top!
You're a dance in Bali.
You're the top!
You're a hot tamale.
You're an angel, you,
Simply too, too, too diveen,
You're a Boticcelli,
You're Keats,
You're Shelly!

You're Ovaltine!
You're a boom,
You're the dam at Boulder,
You're the moon,
Over Mae West's shoulder,
I'm the nominee of the G.O.P.

Or GOP!

But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

You're the top!
You're a Waldorf salad.
You're the top!
You're a Berlin ballad.
You're the boats that glide
On the sleepy Zuider Zee,
You're an old Dutch master,

You're Lady Astor,
You're broccoli!
You're romance,
You're the steppes of Russia,
You're the pants, on a Roxy usher,
I'm a broken doll, a fol-de-rol, a blop,

But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

lyrics by Cole Porter

Anticipation

We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway, yay
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasin' after some finer day

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

And I tell you how easy it feels to be with you
And how right your arms feel around me
But I, I rehearsed those lines just late last night
When I was thinkin' about how right tonight might be

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

And tomorrow we might not be together
I'm no prophet and I don't know nature's ways
So I'll try and see into your eyes right now
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days

These are the good old days
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days
These are the good old days
These are the good old days
These are the good old days
These are..... the good old days

lyrics by Carly Simon

If You Haven’t Measured It, You Can’t Manage It

Newly elected Chapter officers have an agenda and opinion of what works and doesn’t work for their Chapter. However those assessments are usually based upon opinion rather than fact. If you haven’t measured membership satisfaction, or identified the reasons why your chapter programs and projects failed to meet their objectives, it will be difficult to plot a new path towards success. If you haven’t measured it, you can’t manage it.

Using a free service such as freeonlinsurvyes.com you can poll your membership to determine if the path that you have chosen is matched with your Chapter’s expectations and ability. Here is sample membership survey that can quickly measure what direction your Chapter is heading.

1. Are you attending the monthly Chapter meetings?
 Yes.
 No, I don’t know where/when Chapter meets.
 No, the day/time is inconvenient.
 No, I am not active.

2. What is your opinion of Chapter meetings?
 Meetings are too long.
 Meetings are disorganized and confusing.
 Meeting time/location is inconvenient.
 Meeting agenda is too long.
 Meeting agenda is not substantive.

3. Please rank the value of the following benefits with 1 being Least Important and 5 being the Most Important
 Professional networking
 Socializing + fellowship with brothers
 Community activism
 Continuation of the colligate experience
 Opportunity to influence National/Regional policy

4. What are your interest in serving on a committee?
 I would like to, but don’t have extra time.
 I would like to, but it costs too much money.
 I would like to, but I don’t agree with the Chairman.
 I would like to, but I’m not aware of how to serve.
 I am serving on a committee.

5. Please tell us the amount of time you are able to offer to committee service?
 One hour meeting per month.
 Two hour meeting per month.
 One meeting per month.
 Two meetings per month.

6. Please tell us what committee(s) you would be interested in serving on (check all that apply).
 Membership
 Fundraising
 Scholarship
 Social Action
 Sigma-Zeta
 Pan Hellenic
 Sigma Beta

7. Please share with us any additional information or comments about committee service.

8. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the level of Chapter communication?
 Yes - I am aware of all Chapter events, and can plan accordingly.
 Somewhat – I don’t know where/when Chapter events are held.
 Somewhat dissatisfied – I do not receive information in a timely or consistent fashion.
 Dissatisfied – I don’t receive information or enough info to plan accordingly.

9. Overall, how satisfied have you been with the Chapter’s projects or programs?
 Very Dissatisfied
 Somewhat Dissatisfied
 Neutral
 Somewhat Satisfied
 Totally Satisfied

10. What suggestions do you have to help improve the Chapter?

Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right*

by Robert D. Kaplan

At Harvard, many students and faculty members alike are on the make, networking for that first, or next, position in government or the think-tank world. The environment is vaguely unfriendly to theories or bold ideas, Huntington being the grand exception that proves the rule. After all, social-science theories are gross simplifications of reality; even the most brilliant theories can be right, say, only 75 percent of the time. Critics unfailingly seize on any theory's shortcomings, damaging reputations. So the truly ambitious tend to avoid constructing one.

The best grand theories tend to be written no earlier than middle age, when the writer has life experience and mistakes behind him to draw upon. Morgenthau's 1948 classic, Politics Among Nations, was published when he was 44, Fukuyama's The End of History was published as a book when he was 40, and Huntington's Clash of Civilizations as a book when he was 69. Mearsheimer began writing The Tragedy of Great Power Politics when he was in his mid-40s, after working on it for a decade. Published just before 9/11, the book intimates the need for America to avoid strategic distractions and concentrate on confronting China. A decade later, with the growth of China's military might vastly more apparent than it was in 2001, and following the debacles of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, its clairvoyance is breathtaking.

excerpts from "Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right *about some things" The Atlantic, January 2012, p.80

Death Comes to Pemberley

Death Comes to Pemberley
by P.O. James

At 91, the great P.O. James has just established herself as "heir apparent to Jane Austen's creative legacy:' said Carol Memmott in USA Today. Many have tried before to emulate the 19th century legend's tone and plotting finesse, but the "doyenne of British crime fiction" has outdone them with this "perfect" crime thriller. Six years after the marriages that end Pride and Prejudice, "Mr. Darcy" and his bride, Elizabeth, are living in wedded bliss at Pemberley when Elizabeth's sister, Lydia, arrives at the estate one night to inform them of the murder of a friend.

"Austen fans need no reminder of the trouble Lydia brought to her family" in the original novel. Nothing, apparently, has changed, James' "faultless replication" of Austen's writing style lifts her above "the ever-growing pack" of Austen imitators, said Fran Wood in the New Jersey Star-Ledger. But Death Comes to Pemberley is not just a tribute; it's a first-rate murder mystery.

The eventual trial will offer twists you won't see coming.

Book review originally appeared in This Week, 23 December 2011, p.24

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports
by Mark Ribowsky

How could it be that "a human spectacle as unique as Howard Cosell" has already been widely forgotten? said Richard Sandomir in The New York Times. With his "adenoidal Brooklyn voice, polysyllabic vocabulary, and vulpine presence," the late sportscaster was the dominant personality in his field for 20 years, at a time when holding a network throne meant something. He was "loud, audacious, obnoxious, perspicacious, brilliant, narcissistic, provocative, and haughty"-qualities that both lifted him to prominence and contributed to his downfall. For those who remember hearing him, Cosell's slowly enunciated signature sign-off-"This is HOW-id Cyo-SELL"-will be ringing in their ears as they flip through the pages of Mark Ribowsky's "vivid," if sometimes overexcited, biography.

Was there anyone who didn't do an impression of that voice in the 1970s? asked Gene Warner in The Buffalo News. Ribowsky's "nuanced and complex" portrait accurately captures a man so divisive that he once won both most-loved and most-loathed television personality in the same poll. He certainly wasn't afraid to irritate audiences. A Manhattan lawyer before making the unlikely career jump into sports broadcasting, he rose to national prominence in the 1960s thanks largely to his on-air rapport with Muhammad Ali, who, when he adopted his Muslim name, had few defenders in broadcasting besides Cosell. Later, as part of the first team to host Monday Night Football, Cosell won the enmity of NFL fans by using 50-cent words to deride players-playing black hat/white hat with his affable co-host, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith.

"Even if you loathed him, Cosell's performance was what made Monday nights memorable," said David Remnick in The New Yorker. But as Ribowsky points out, Cosell was also a real journalist, a "blunt questioner" who used his sports beat to address the more pressing issues of the day. In the early '80s, the suits at ABC gave Cosell the boot after finally tiring of his self-aggrandizing and habit of drinking on the job. Ribowsky's biography, which follows the story to its sad end, is too loaded with florid prose to be called a great book. But it does remind us that Cosell was a singular figure. These days, "it's nearly impossible to imagine someone on the air who is, at once, an impresario, a circus barker, an analyst, and a serious journalist." Cosell is the only one who has managed the feat, and he's "never been replaced."

Book review originally appeared in This Week, 23 December 2011, p.24

Does Your Regional Conference Stimulate You?

I recently received an invitation to attend the 2012 AFLV Conference. The Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values (AFLV) exists to stimulate the growth and development of fraternity/sorority councils and chapters by promoting leadership, educational, and values based experiences and resources for student leaders, their advisors, and the larger fraternal market. The conference is attended by professional GLO student advisors; student life administrators, and coordinators for student development. Here is a list of over 100 breakout sessions offered during the 2011 AFLV conference.

Thursday

Ø Education Program Block #1
Ø Diversity According to South Park and Family Guy
Ø Where is your line?
Ø 40 Ways to Detect Hazing and 20 things we can do to change a hazing culture
Ø Who Is Taking Care of You?
Ø Quality over Quantity: The Worlds Greatest Excuse
Ø Build a Community, Not a System
Ø Visionary Leadership for Chapter and Council Leaders
Ø Money, Money, Money... MONEY!
Ø From Battlemind To Campus Grind!
Ø Our Military are Coming Home...Are You Ready?
Ø Positive PR and How to Get It
Ø Can I See You In my Office: Working Collaboratively with your Fraternity/Sorority Advisor
Ø The Courage to Challenge: Learning the Art of Positive Confrontation
Ø Beyond Alcohol: The 'Other Drug Category'
Ø Are We Really Still Talking About Risk Management?

Friday morning

Ø True Colors – Discover Your Unique Gifts and Talents
Ø Peer Conduct Boards – Developing an Accountability System That Works
Ø Happy Greek Leaders Produce
Ø Been There! Dumped That! Are You “All That?”
Ø Dynamic Recruitment for Sororities
Ø School Haze: Does Pledging Really Produce Premium Product?
Ø The Evolution of New Member Processes in BGLO
Ø Big Ideas for Small Chapters
Ø Student Leadership Training with an Attitude
Ø Hazing – When Will It End?
Ø The Best Job Ever
Ø Budgeting, Collecting and Everything Finance
Ø Why Do You Hate Me?
Ø Seriously?
Ø Social Justice: When Diversity Isn’t Enough
Ø NPC Release Figure Method
Ø A Night to Forget

Friday afternoon

Ø NPC Judicial Process
Ø Embracing Real Beauty
Ø Connecting “Majorities” to the Multicultural Community
Ø Recruitment Boot Camp: Skills Training
Ø Intake Equation - Part 1
Ø Ladder of Risk: Cultural Greek Edition
Ø Under the Influence… of Stress
Ø Shared Values: Drive-By Conversations
Ø No Money, Mo Problems: The ABC’s of Resource-Raising
Ø From Group to Team – Robert’s Rules Made Simple
Ø It’s Worse than You Think, the Hidden Dangers of Eating Disorders
Ø Navigating Diversity on Your Campus
Ø IFC: What you Should and Could be Doing
Ø Planning the Perfect Party
Ø Naysayers, Crickers and Whiners: Overcoming Barriers to Change

Friday evening

Ø Advancing Authentic Sisterhood
Ø More Than “Mandatory”
Ø Recruitment Boot Camp: The Council’s Plan for Success
Ø Risk Management Inside Out: Questions from the Field
Ø The Choice
Ø Intake Equation - Part 2
Ø NPHC and MGC – Finding your purpose on the Yard
Ø Are You a GREEK Leader Prepared to Impact the World?
Ø The Anatomy of Power
Ø Inspiring Creativity for Greek Leaders
Ø How to improve your order of omega chapter
Ø Stop Networking…. Start Connecting: Get Better Grades, Get Hired and Achieve Your Dream!
Ø NPC Extension
Ø Taking Action for ALLIES: Fraternity & Sorority LGBT Climate Test
Ø Identifying and Engaging your ALUMNI
Ø Teambuilders That Don’t Suck

Saturday morning

Ø How to Support a Sexual Assault Survivor
Ø RISK! And Crisis Management: Not Just a Nerdy Game of Global Domination
Ø Lessons in Development Volunteer Advisors
Ø Finding Passion and Purpose in Life – The Six Secret Steps
Ø Dynamic Recruitment for Fraternities
Ø Standards Boards: 21 Ways to Improve Accountability
Ø Multicultural Greek Movement Open Forum
Ø Chapter Event Programming Best Practice: Avoid Over Programming
Ø How to get the most out of your NPC membership
Ø Is the AFLV Awards & Assessment Process really worth the time and attention?
Ø Social Media: The Good and The Bad
Ø The Powerful Persuasive Greek Leader
Ø Can You Manager To LEAD?
Ø Suicide Prevention: Be a Shining Light of Hope
Ø Exclusive or Selective Membership Criteria: Are we crossing the line of Social Justice?
Ø Image is Everything!

Saturday afternoon

Ø Red Carpet Worthy AFLV Awards & Assessment Submissions
Ø Council Collaboration: Empowering Girls & Women
Ø Invite, Teach, Inspire, Don’t preach – They’ll Lick the Cactus Anyway
Ø Promoting Academic Excellence
Ø Kristin’s Story: A mother’s account of rape, depression, suicide and hope
Ø Strategies for Over-programmed Chapters: Tightening Up Your Calendar
Ø Getting Rid of “Mandatory” and Improving Morale
Ø Open Up the Lines of Communication: Working with Your Campus Greek Advisor
Ø Overcoming Chapter Over Programming
Ø DUI: A Powerful Lesson
Ø The Broken Pillar – reclaiming our core value of Service to Others
Ø Expectation Hangovers: Treatment and Prevention
Ø Facing Trans: Inclusion, Advocacy, and Empowerment
Ø Drinking, Drugs and DNA
Ø Effective Leadership Strategies for Leaders of a Diverse Team
Ø When is Enough Enough? Image is Everything
Ø Take Action: Tools for Combating Hazing

Saturday evening

Ø Community Service Roundtable
Ø Public Relations Roundtable
Ø Forming “One Heartbeat” Within Your Chapter
Ø Engaging the Members in the Middle: The Key to Real Change in Your Chapter
Ø Brotherhood and Sisterhood: Building Bonds Without Hazing
Ø Developing a Chapter Academic Program: Moving Beyond Mandatory Study Hours
Ø Who’s Choosing You?
Ø Up on the High Wire: Promoting Resiliency and Preventing Distress among Student Leaders
Ø Getting Hired: 4 Simple Steps to Landing a Great Job by Graduation
Ø Treasurer & Secretary Roundtable
Ø The Snowball Effect – Addressing “Light” Hazing


Snap shots from the 2011 AFLV leadership conference - "LeaderShape 2011"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjdB7AC8NPQ&list=UUGmErXcH_CUnw2zNn2wrZOQ&index=8&feature=plcp

2012 AFLV Conference speaker's bio
http://www.aflv.org/EventsPrograms/WestFLC/Speakers.aspx