Is great to say to potential members, but getting someone to sign their name is easy.
The hard part is turning a name on a sheet into a new member.
Many things are vying for freshman attention: academics, campus programming, finding a job, student organizations, intramurals, finding friends, athletics, residential life, and personal hobbies. Of that list, academics and finding friends are probably most important and not necessarily in that order.
Where many organizations fail is that they don’t take the time to invest in their new members; to build a relationship with them. They believe that someone signing the sheet and attending a meeting is a sign of commitment. This assumption is not true.
People don’t invest in a signature, they invest and relate to other people, they invest in relationships. Invest in the people you want to stay. Help them feel comfortable with you and in your organization.
Let’s face reality, though. At the end of the day, despite your investing, some students will not stay. Some will leave because of other things, and some will leave because they just don’t care.
How many stay and how many return often depends on you finding a place for them in your organization rather than telling them your organization is the place.
