Building your Delta Zeta Team

It is only June, but now is the best time to prepare for your sisterhood and teambuilding retreats coming up at the end of summer. But we just started our vacations you might think! Yes, but in six short weeks August will be here and for the majority of our Delta Zeta chapters formal recruitment is just around the corner!

Planning a great retreat takes a lot of forethought and planning. A retreat is the perfect way to build sisterhood and strengthen your team before the start of the school year. There are four main areas of teambuilding which you can concentrate on: Communication activities, problem solving and/or decision making activities, adaptability and/or planning activities, and activities that focus on building trust. The idea is to perform various activities that are both fun and challenging, and that also have the “side effect” of building teamwork skills that can help improve your chapter and members.

What is your favorite retreat activity? Do you have a special ice breaker which you can’t wait to try with your members? Does your chapter have a tradition of doing a particular team-builder during retreats? 

Delta Zeta has collected a variety of teambuilding activities on our Pinterest Board on Retreat Ideas. Do you have a pin you’d suggest adding? Let us know by sharing your thoughts and links in the comments below for the best ideas for building your Delta Zeta team!

Telling our Delta Zeta story with pictures

 With the increase in readily available camera phones and other digital devices, Delta Zeta members are sharing their stories in pictures more than they have ever done in our 112 year history. And those pictures tend to make their way on to chapter webpages and social networking sites. But, what makes a good picture to text to a friend from an event she is missing might not make the cut when you are trying to tell the story of Delta Zeta on your chapter’s Instagram account. Here are some tips from The LAMP of Delta Zeta to keep in mind when taking photos and submitting them to the Sorority: 

·         Please send your best photos.  Be selective, and submit photos of which you and your chapter will be proud.  Remember, our publications are read by everyone from the campus Director of Fraternity/Sorority Life to your parents, so you want to show your chapter at its best. Avoid pictures that may have questionable material (e.g., a member holding a drink in her hand [non-alcoholic or otherwise], wearing revealing clothing, or participating in events [even for philanthropy] that involve mud, Jello, whipped cream, etc.

·         Tell us who is in the photos. Please provide the chapter, school name, the name of each person in the photo (unless the picture is of the entire chapter), or the name of the individuals shown, and include a brief description of when and where the photo was taken. 

·         Send high resolution photos. We accept photos in electronic format for printing in The LAMP, such as .jpg files, but the resolution must be at least 300 dpi in order for the photo to reproduce well in the magazine.  Low resolution photos will not be accepted. To submit digital photos, please email them to LAMP@dzshq.com or use the photo upload tool in the Submit News link.

·         Low res photos are best used online. Digital photos for Chapter or Member News (which appears on the Delta Zeta website) can be 72 dpi in resolution or larger. We also accept photos to use on our social media channels by either emailing to webmaster@dzshq.com or sending via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

So – how will you tell Delta Zeta’s story in photos? Tell it today by leaving a comment/photo below or sending your pictures to us. You never know when you’ll see them in a “story” we post about you, our members!

Our Time to Shine – Delta Zeta’s National Convention

The 2014 National Convention will be held July 9-13 at the JW Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Arizona. This year’s event will be the 51st Delta Zeta Convention. More than 600 delegates and visitors will attend. Did you know that Delta Zeta Constitution, Article IV, Section 1 defines the National Convention is the supreme legislative body of our Sorority? The voting delegates will make decisions for Delta Zeta as outlined in our Constitution which affect the operations of the Sorority for the next two years.

But, where does this tradition start? We have to travel back to 1907, the year that no Delta Zeta Founders were enrolled at Miami University. At that time, Delta Zeta almost did not exist. After a failed attempt to join with another sorority on campus in hopes of becoming a national sorority, 19 alumnae met that summer to lay the plans for Delta Zeta as a national sorority. Our “first” Convention was led and directed by Elizabeth Coulter at the Algonquin Hotel in Dayton, Ohio. That meeting set the groundwork for how Delta Zeta continues to operate today. At that meeting, Alfa Lloyd was made Constitution Chairman, Mary Collins was charged with revitalizing the chapter at Miami and Elizabeth Coulter was named Extension Director. And when the business of Delta Zeta concluded, all involved left with a “feeling of confidence and unity” (Delta Zeta Sorority 1902-1982).

Delta Zeta continues to operate in such a similar way as we did with that very first Convention. Members of the sorority continue to take important roles to help move Delta Zeta forward. And all those in attendance will leave the 51st National Convention ready to shine!

For more information on Delta Zeta’s National Convention, please visit our website. Or, follow us on Twitter @DeltaZetaNatl or Facebook and look for the #DZ2014 hashtag.

Philanthropy Spotlight - The Painted Turtle camp

At Delta Zeta’s Convention in 2006, we adopted The Painted Turtle camp as one of our National Philanthropies. Their mission is to provide a year-round, life-changing environment for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Campers are surrounded by others who have the same disease/illness. The camp is staffed with a fully equipped hospital and medical staff. In recent years, Delta Zeta has embraced the Painted Turtle camp. Delta Zeta has been responsible for the sponsoring of a Family Camp Weekend each year! We have on average 30 Delta Zeta volunteer counselors each year. The Painted Turtle camp placed a commemorative rock in their volunteer garden honoring our partnership in gratitude of our support. Continue raising funds, volunteering and making crafts on their wish lists.

How to support the Painted Turtle Camp:

Time
Volunteer for summer camp.
Volunteer for Family Weekends.
Apply online: http://www.thepaintedturtle.com

Talent
The camp is always in need of donations. Please refer to the Delta Zeta website for the updated partner project list for camp supplies which are needed.

Treasure
Send your donations to the Delta Zeta Foundation earmarked for The Painted Turtle Camp.
Delta Zeta supports at least one Family Camp a year.

Contact The Painted Turtle camp:
Website: http://www.thepaintedturtle.org/event/turtle-beach-bbq/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paintedturtlecamp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintedTurtleCA