How to run a Virtual Chapter

Digital Chapter Meetings with OmegaOne

Tired of bad meetings?

Away from school on break (or quarantine!) and not sure how to keep everyone connected?

Frustrated by lack of focus on Zoom calls and sick of creating chapter meeting PPTs no one watches?

There is a new kind of chapter meeting you’ve got to try!

We’ve been talking a lot about good meetings and we’ve got a few rules for you that are good all year long, but definitely can’t skip when school is out or on break…

A good meeting has three key parts:

1. Opportunity to be prepared.
2. Opportunity to collaborate and discuss.
3. Action.

With that in mind, here’s some scenarios we’ve all seen where meetings break down.

• Preparation, discussion, no action. Haven’t you been in a meeting where everyone had great ideas about how to solve a problem and the discussion was great? Brothers or coworkers or classmates all building off of each other until the meeting reaches this great climax and we all have this feeling of accomplishment. Then, boom, its 10:50 and we’ve all got an 11:00 o’clock, so we break. But, maybe no one took notes or maybe no one volunteered to see it through or maybe worse, the collaboration was so good we all trusted the next person was going to take charge. Then no one does and a great idea dies because there was no plan.
• You can also have the opposite problem: You prepare but no one else does so the discussion is minimal or non-existent, and your meeting is mostly you and other leaders just explaining and reporting to your sisters or teammates. If attendees don’t have information in advance, the only ideas they have are the ones you’ve already had and thought through. Result: you do all the planning, all the thinking AND all the doing. Hello, burnout. When are elections again?!

So, most meetings are bad because no one does anything or the president does everything.

You’re thinking, “how do we have preparation and collaboration when we aren’t even together?” The answer is less sophisticated than you thought: cancel your meeting. That’s right: no Zoom, no FreeConferenceCall, no group texts. Cancel your meeting and go digital with OmegaOne. It’s so easy:

1. Post your agenda and background information. Use announcements to let members know.
   1. Why this is amazing: it forces leaders to be prepared, provide good background information, anticipate and address member questions in advance so your group is focused.
2. Set a participation window of 48 or 72 hours. Set polls for voting and wall posts for discussion.
   1. Why this is amazing: your members have odd schedules and don’t have their best ideas as the same time. With the information available at their fingertips, they can read, comment, ask questions, make suggestions and vote anytime. You can respond. Members play off each other over the 2 or 3 days when ideas are all in and voting ends.
   2. Zoom is for brotherhood and sisterhood hangouts, not for actually getting things done. You’ll be surprised how many of your members who never say anything out loud will type out comments and suggestions on your digital meeting.
3. Post your action items and tag key members.
   1. Why this is amazing: if your chapter or organization is about DOING THINGS and not just talking about it, then your minutes should be a to-do list not just a list of announcements and things we discussed. Save that for your calendar and use the minutes to GET THINGS DONE by assigning actions to your members.
4. Finally, as leaders do what you are best at: support and coach the doers! Keep an eye on those action items and to-do lists. Be a supervisor and coach, not just a player.

It’s so easy and so obvious once you do it the first time that your chapter or organization can use this tool to meet all spring and summer long. We suggest every other week when school is out.

So, check out our video to see how easy it is to run a digital meeting with OmegaOne and let us know in the comments what your best tips are for great meetings!