Fraternity & Sorority Life
It’s a new year. While 2020 was not the year any of us were expecting, a new year always provides us a great opportunity to reflect on the year’s past and plan ahead for what’s to come. As leaders, it is important for us to take this valuable time to reflect and use it to […]
Redefining Recruitment Part 3: Questions That Need Answers
By: Dan Fail There are no finite answers as it relates to the future of recruitment. I don’t have any answers, and I do this for a living. However if there’s anything we’ve realized over the last couple of months it is the resiliency of the human spirit and need for human connections. Enter fraternities […]
Redefining Recruitment Part 2: The Target Market
By: Dan Fail There are no finite answers as it relates to the future of recruitment. I don’t have any answers, and I do this for a living. However if there’s anything we’ve realized over the last couple of months it is the resiliency of the human spirit and need for human connections. Enter fraternities […]
Redefining Recruitment Part 1: The COVID Conundrum
By: Dan Fail There are no finite answers as it relates to the future of recruitment. I don’t have any answers, and I do this for a living. However if there’s anything we’ve realized over the last couple of months it is the resiliency of the human spirit and need for human connections. Enter fraternities […]
The Seven Deadly Sins of Greek Life: Part II
By: Dan Faill (Part Two) Welcome back sinners! Or I guess if this is your first foray into my Seven Deadly Sins of Greek Life you should check out Part One. In the last article I covered Pride, Gluttony, and Lust, so now turn our attention to the last four: Greed is the desire for […]
The Seven Deadly Sins of Greek Life
By: Dan Faill (Part One) For those that know me, know that I like to push buttons. One of my most requested keynotes for fraternity/sorority communities, When is Enough, Enough? discusses the ways in which we, as members of fraternal organizations, perceive ourselves versus how the general public perceive us. I joke that looking in […]
More Life. More Everything.
By: Kaylon Bradford “More Life. More Everything.” – Drake As an avid social media enthusiast and higher education professional, I follow several fraternity and sorority life pages. When I scroll, I’m always impressed by the tireless efforts that ensure the legacy of each Greek letter organization shines bright. Innovation and creativity instantly come to mind when I […]
Conference Hacks so you don’t FAILL
By: Dan Faill I remember attending conferences as a student leader. I represented my chapter at fraternity conventions as president, and I represented my community as an officer on IFC. Years later I would take students to conferences so they could have an eye-opening experience to bring back to campus. Now I serve as a […]
Leaders Leave a Legacy
The Problem With Reporting
By: Tracy Maxwell, CAMPUSPEAK Speaker Why we can’t wait for or rely upon hazing being reported This summer, Congressional Representatives Pat Meehan (R-PA) and Marcia Fudge (D-OH) introduced legislation called the Report and Educate About Campus Hazing (or REACH Act) that would require colleges and universities to both educate students about hazing and report hazing […]
Combating a Culture of Silence
By: Lorin Phillips, CAMPUSPEAK Speaker There is nothing scarier to me than an organization where their members feel silenced. The leaders stand in front of the room during a meeting, share decisions made by leaders, tell the group what is happening next, and there is a quiet, emotionless head nod. Then on to the next […]
Calling All Future Leaders
By: Tom Healy, CAMPUSPEAK Speaker 4 Key Reasons Why You Should be a Leader in Your Greek Community A few years ago (okay, more than a few) I had the awesome responsibility of being the IFC President at Ohio University. As we approach November, your community is getting ready to elect a new group of […]
Anyone That Truly Cares About Their Organization Has Thought of Quitting
By: David Stollman, CAMPUSPEAK President & Speaker Nobody talks about it, but anyone that truly cares about their organization has thought of quitting. It might be a fleeting thought, but it is there. Don’t feel guilty about it. It is a natural part of caring as much as you do. You’re reading this because you’re a […]
3 Things We Can Learn From Students’ Secret Fears
What if you could jump into your students’ minds and see what is preventing them from being the person they aspire to be? For the past few years, I’ve collected thousands (and still collect) thousands of students’ fears as a way to connect and speak specifically to their internal struggles with the hope that it […]
The Best Advice About College I Ever Received
By: Tom Healy, CAMPUSPEAK Speaker The best advice I was ever given about college came just a few days before my freshman year at Ohio University, when someone bluntly said to me “do not let your classes get in the way of your real education.” The message was clear: for you to thrive personally and professionally, […]
Few Talk, Many Affected: Changing the Culture About Men’s Mental Health
Dr. Kevin Snyder has presented over 1,150 programs in all 50 states and has been with CAMPUSPEAK for over a decade. He’s also a former Dean of Students, an author with a best-selling book, and a professional speaker with a wealth of unique expertise both in Student Affairs and in corporate America. We sat down […]
You Are Enough
As the school year begins, we place a lot of high expectations on ourselves. As great as it is to go into the year with goals, we have to be careful that those goals don’t turn into a competition with our peers. If we’re not careful, we’ll end up sizing ourselves up next to our […]
Let’s Talk About Sex
I still remember the day my mom decided to give me “the talk.” During the prime of my 6th grade years, my school had decided to tell us all about the bird and the bees already and unbeknownst to me when my mom asked me to walk the dog; she was aware of their education […]
How to Fail Forward
What’s something that scares you the most? For some it’s public speaking, for others, it’s being alone, and for some, it’s the fear of failure. It seems like we’re too afraid to fail and too scared to show our flaws or imperfections. But that’s not life, that’s not real. What if, and just go with me […]
Listen Up!
When was the last time you really listened to someone? I mean really, truly listened—with no phone in your hand, no earbud in one ear, no inner monologue? Chances are it’s been a while. Listening is an incredibly powerful skill—and an even more powerful tool. By truly listening to someone, you’re ensuring their voice is […]
See something, say something: how confrontation makes us better
Years ago, there was a student on our team—I’ll call her Julie—who did some strange things while cleaning our clients’ homes. She would try on clients’ shoes, spray on their cologne, play their very old, very expensive and very off-limits pianos (“Mary Had A Little Lamb,” no less), and she even made a […]
Spring Fever
Spring is officially here, spring break has likely come and gone, and the rapid pace of the end of the semester is about to begin. While this is often filled with exciting events, it can also be a time with numerous deadlines and long to-do lists. The stress of getting it all done may lead […]
The need for conversations on masculinity.
For me, masculinity has always been an interesting concept. I grew up in a military family surrounded by what some might consider ideologies of “traditional” masculinity. My father was stoic and expected achievement. Our lives were heavily ordered, and he served as the primary breadwinner, while my mother was a source of emotional support and […]
Words Make a Difference
Recognizing people is one the most important parts of being a leader, and it’s also one of my favorite parts. Praising and complimenting others has always come naturally to me, and I love making people feel good about themselves. But the first time I remember my positive words really making an impact on someone […]
The Power of Belonging
Over the last four years, I have engaged in an in-depth inquiry into the nature of fraternal brotherhood and sisterhood. I have learned a great deal about the fraternal experience in those four years, and have published and presented research that I think represents a fundamental shift in focus for those of us […]
Leadership Misconceptions: How Extraordinary Leaders Inspire and Lead Differently
Leadership is… action, not position. transformation, not a transaction. influence, not management. a verb, not a noun. Whether I am speaking to student audiences or corporate organizations, the challenges and frustrations I hear leaders talk about have common threads. The seasoned executive and department manager are very likely dealing with many of the same […]
Tom Healy releases his new book, Limitless Leadership.
Speaker Tom Healy is passionate about helping students reach their extraordinary leadership potential. For the past seven years, Tom has used his straightforward style to empower students by challenging them, making them laugh and most importantly, helping them thrive as a leader in everything they do! Tom recently released his new book, Limitless Leadership: […]
The DNA of Extraordinary Leadership: An interview with Dr. Kevin Snyder
Whether he’s speaking to college students or corporate executives, Kevin Snyder engages and entertains audiences by sharing powerful lessons of leadership inspiring them to think bigger, overcome adversity and work together to achieve common goals. Kevin has presented over 1,150 programs in all 50 states and has been with CAMPUSPEAK for nearly a decade. He’s […]
Brotherhood and Sisterhood, Simply Isn’t Enough.
The most impactful, longest lasting benefit of fraternal membership are the close bonds formed, but… What do you DO with brotherhood and sisterhood once created? Seriously, do we just sit around and enjoy it? Is that really why fraternities and sororities exist? Shouldn’t we ask how do these relationships advance your members’ lives? Does creating […]
Redefining Brother & Redefining Sisterhood:
Recruitment Edition
When I have a chance to speak with students about brotherhood and sisterhood, I always ask them whether or not, when they were going through the recruitment process, they chose the chapter that they eventually joined, at least in part, because of their perception of its brother/sisterhood. Inevitably, almost every hand in the room goes […]
Six steps to a chapter enema: How to clean the crappy members out of your chapter
Tired of working so hard for your chapter when it seems like nobody notices or cares? Frustration is a natural part of leadership. So much so that if you’ve never even once thought about quitting your chapter, you might not care enough. Those of you who have felt this frustration long enough will understand that […]
It’s time for a chapter check-in
Summer is still one of my favorite times of the year. There seems to be a different kind of balance between work and relaxation. It is a time when we are reunited with friends and family on vacations or perhaps making new friends at National Conventions or summer leadership programs. For me, it has also […]
Brotherhood and sisterhood matter
About four years ago I was sitting in a cabin on a lake in Alabama plugging away at my dissertation. At the time, I was thinking about some of the environmental and contextual factors that may influence hazing. We usually think about this within the context of a campus environment, but I began thinking about […]
Buy in (and don’t) get out!
I’m known for a program called, Buy In or GET OUT! Usually, I’m challenging student leaders of our fraternity and sorority communities to hold their members accountable to a higher standard of behavior – one that reflects the oaths all members take upon their initiation. And, if members aren’t willing to “Buy In,” we should […]
Three choices sorority women make to stand out in a crowd
College can be both an exciting and intimidating experience, and I am sure that you will agree with me that there is no better choice you made to maximize your college experience than joining your sorority! Being a part of your sorority provides you and thousands of college women with opportunities to launch and maintain […]
Three reasons Greek life is a great place to address mental health
This article first appeared on The Huffington Post Fraternities and sororities have a lot of stereotypes that they are constantly fighting. To the outside world these organizations can come across as superficial cliques that are unnecessarily selective and just want to party. There is a lot of attention paid to individual chapters that are involved […]
Using recruitment for feedback and growth
Recruitment is the time we convince new members to join our chapters. At the same time it is also a period for self-reflection. With the right work, we can use recruitment activities to learn about our chapter brand, how we are perceived on campus, and reevaluate whether or recruitment methods are effective. Too often we […]
Sealing the deal: The importance of how you offer a bid
Offering someone their bid can be one of the most significant parts of the recruitment process. Not only is this sealing the deal on recruitment but it is also the beginning of membership in the chapter. Between the meetings, conversations, and values explored in recruitment, by the time we are ready to offer an individual […]
Using academics in chapter recruitment
As college-based organizations, academics are the reason our members come to our campus and the core of why we exist. Regardless of why your members joined your chapter, one of our main priority should lie in helping your members excel academically. The beauty of this though is that academics can also be used as a […]
Defining your chapter brand
Every successful organization has a great brand. Think about any brand that you personally love. Chances are that brand is tied to you because of the emotional and mental associations you have for this organization. These brands are compelling; we know the check mark represents Nike and everyone is familiar with a Coke can. These […]