Syllabus of Classes

 

            This document gives a description of all the small group seminars that are taking place on Saturday morning as well as the large group programs on both Saturday and Sunday.  We are excited to offer a huge variety of programming with outside speakers and presenters, and we hope you enjoy it as well!

 

Block A:  Saturday, 9:00-9:45am

 

A1: Bible Studies—What goes into making a productive Bible study?  This class will go through all the basics of selecting topics, preparing presentations, and more.  This will be especially useful for Chaplains and Spiritual Growth Chairmen who are looking to improve their chapter’s/colony’s spiritual “S.”

 

A2: Resume Building—Learn how to make yourself look as good as possible on a sheet of high-quality paper.  This class will instruct you in the ways of using a solid format for your resume as well as things that employers are seeking from potential employees.

 

A3: Photography—Gain some experience in the basics of photography and what you should look for to produce a quality photograph.  Having good pictures is an essential part of producing superior recruitment materials, publishing excellent magazines and newsletters, and creating a scrapbook that will stand the tests of time, so this experience would be especially valuable for a wide range of individuals.

 

A4: Personal Finance—This class will delve into items that can prove valuable for a young college graduate to know without having to waste credits in the College of Business at your school.  Learn timeless tricks of the trade, and be made aware of future trends that will affect your financial future.

 

A5: Intro to Marketing—As fraternity members, we must market our organizations to many different constituencies.  Learn about the basic processes of marketing from a representative from our very own marketing firm, in the hopes of improving your understanding of what needs to change at your own chapter/colony.

 

A6: Ice Breakers—Start the morning with a class of icebreakers!  This is not necessarily designed for members to meet other members, but, rather, it is designed to give members ideas of icebreakers they can take to their chapters to use with new or potential members or possibly to get to know brothers better.

 

A7: The Christian Leader—In this two-session special class, we discuss the implications of being a Christian leader in today’s society, both in the terms of serving the Church and the Fraternity.  We will look at Biblical and modern writing to come to a better understanding of what it means to be a leader and how we can do a better job of developing leaders in our chapters and colonies.

 

 

Block B:  Saturday, 9:50-10:35am

 

A7: The Christian Leader (resumed)

B2: Resume Building

B4: Personal Finance

B5: Intro to Marketing

 

B1: What Not to Wear—Guys need to know how to look good.  This class will give you all-important information on style, how to tie a tie, what items are essential to a man’s wardrobe, and more that will give you the ability to dress to impress.

 

B3: Web Design—You don’t have to be a Computer Science major to create a good website.  After this class, even the most inept computer users will be able to put a website together that will adequately meet your group’s needs and convey information that you want others to see.

 

B6: Effective Meeting Management—Leaders need to know how to make the most of their fellow members’ time and facilitate productive meetings.  This class will teach you tips and philosophies for leading different types of meetings and, as a result, making your members happier and more satisfied in conducting fraternity business.

 

 

Block C:  10:40-11:25am

 

C1: What Not to Wear

C3: Photography

 

C2: Interviewing—Chances are great that you will have to interview for a job at least once in your adult life.  Find out some things that will help you prepare for a solid interview, and gain inside knowledge of what interviewers are thinking and what kinds of questions they like to ask.

 

C4: Investments—Learn how to make your money work for you.  This class will teach you the basics of investing money that can benefit anyone, regardless of how much money you have or may make.  College is certainly a good time to start investing, and now is a great opportunity to learn how it all works.

 

C5: Buying a Home—Upon graduating from school, you may consider buying a home.  There are many factors to consider, both financially and regarding the property itself, and this class will give you a crash course in this decision-making process.

 

C6: How the Educational Foundation Works—If you’ve ever wanted to gain a better understanding of what the Educational Foundation does and how it operates, this session will be the perfect opportunity to engage in a dialogue with a member of the Educational Foundation’s Board of Directors.

 

C7: Effective Planning—As individuals, we sometimes get caught in the day-to-day mode of survival and forget to plan our lives and activities effectively.  As leaders, many parts of our organization require planning, from a chapter calendar to membership education to an exciting house party.  This class will show you a good model for planning that you can apply to many different facets of your fraternity and personal life.


Block D:  11:30am-12:15pm

 

D1: Bible Studies

D2: Interviewing

D3: Web Design

D4: Investments

D5: Buying a Home

 

D6: Parliamentary Procedure—In our experiences with the Fraternity, few things are more worse than a poorly-run meeting.  This class will show you the basics of parliamentary procedure applied within the context of Beta Sigma Psi.

 

D7: Group Dynamics—As a leader, you will encounter many different kinds of groups, from the hostile to the passionate to the unmotivated.  This class will teach you how to spot potential hazards, ways to deal with phenomena that can derail the productivity of a group, and what you can do to positively influence people with whom you work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Large Group Sessions

 

 

Saturday, 1:15-3:00pm: Greek Media Presentation

 

Fraternities are stereotyped, mostly negatively, in our modern media.  How are we, as a Lutheran fraternity, affected by this?  Do we have it easier as a Christian-based fraternity, or is it more difficult to reconcile these two seemingly incoherent attributes?  What is our responsibility toward eliminating negative stereotypes?  This program will look at some samples of documentaries, sitcoms, and movies that portray different pictures of Greek life, followed by dialogue and conversation to bring us to a greater understanding of our mission and purpose in the fraternity world.

 

Sunday, 10:30am-Noon: How to Get What You Want from Yourself and Others

 

All our organizations suffer from issues of apathy and lack of motivation.  Some groups are crippled by the overwhelming presence of apathy, while some have a few individuals that are just bringing the group down and preventing it from “moving forward.”  All our groups and members are at a point of “getting with the program” or moving on.  This session will explore different ways to motivate yourself and others and explain why it is so vital to the success of our Fraternity to have motivated leaders as well as individuals who can easily motivate others.