Sidney-Pacific 2003-2004 House Government Leadership Retreat Morning session

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Sidney-Pacific2003-2004 House GovernmentLeadersh
ip RetreatMorning session

• May 31, 2003 - Endicott House

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Roles and responsibilities of the SP house
government (residents)

• - Creating a community where people can
  socialize
• - Offering to neighborhood
• - Being a source of information for residents
• - Orientation very important (helping out new
  students)
• - Fostering fraternity and friendship
• - Safety issues
• - Determining how money/resources should be
  spent
• - Setting procedures
• - Taking ideas from other dorms
• - Increasing awareness between residents
• - Coordination between committees, coherence
  inside government-gt giving the good example to
  residents
• - Talks and exposition of events
• - Asking the residents their opinion
• - Being transparent
• - Maintaining strong committees

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Recruiting and participation

• - Hold events and ask for help
• - Publicity / SPTV / spread news
• - Get help from old residents who were helpful
  in the past
• - Role of the hall councilors
• - Orientation (again!)
• - Contest-type activities
• - Recruit members from other dorms (Zip Bike)
• - Get people involved early
• - Recruit people and train them
• - Organize the website by committees

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Recruitment challenges

• 1) Identify people that are interested
• - Orientation and early year events
• - Word-to-mouth and publicity
• - Hall councilors
• 2) Find something to make people stay and be
  involved
• - Make it fun
• - Swap roles within committees
• - Awareness of the committee chair
• - Diversity in events
• - Give freedom to committee members
• 3) Keep track of whats happening in the
  committee
• - Procedure/ report
• - Pre-event organization
• - Management skills
• - Show appreciation
• 4) Continuity
• - Documentation of activities
• - Mentorship/ training
• - Website

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Summary

• Roles and responsibilities
• 1) Represent residents
• - get their opinions
• - Get them involved
• - Be a source of information to them
• - Organize events and activities
• 2) Support officers
• - Provide advice
• - Help coordinate between committees/ prevent
  overlapping events
• - Create a sense of family
• - Continuity
• 3) Building
• - Give the good example to residents (follow
  policies)
• - Safety
• - Make residents take advantage (and care!) of
  building
• - Ensure future/ maintenance

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Recruiting/ParticipationIdentity
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Participation--Where are we?

• Low non-officer attendance
• Agenda
• Residents lack ownership of agenda
• Execution/efficiency
• Low event expectations (uncool)
• Food events are well attended
• Opportunity cost of time low perceived value
• Limited time windows of introduction/interaction
• Neighbor-hall interaction
• Committee participation

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What do we want to see?

• Internalize the value of each event/meeting (for
  residents)
• High attendance
• Cool events diversity of events
• Get residents to know each other
• Efficient activities
• Valuable activities
• Attract students with something other than food

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How do we get there?

• Forum to discuss concrete issues
• Run meetings more efficiently
• Make use of the narrow time window in the fall
• Have orientation/welcome week activities ready
  and organized

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How--Events

• Block parties people in a hall open doors and
  bring out food
• Floor potluck parties
• Put emphasis on identity, such as international
  background of residents
• Provide an identity for residents to identify
  with get a theme for the dorm
• Have specific events, such as musical events like
  Ashdown make use of un-tapped resources

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How--Techniques

• Personalization
• Define the chain of communication how to
  disseminate information to residents knock on
  doors put posters on doors
• Make resources for postering etc. available to
  hall councilors
• Bulletin/picture boards for every hall
• House Council should talk to their neighbors and
  let them know about events
• Make interaction more personalized dont just
  use email, but talk to people or write on their
  white boards

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Howcontd

• Timing is critical
• Figure out how to appeal to the MIT phantom
  personality
• Make people understand the value of getting out
  of their room and meeting other people
• Put ideas for events in a business plan/roadmap
• Spell out what each committees budget is and
  where it comes from

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Howcontd

• Increase transparency of resources and funds
• Make committee websites
• Have a survey with different options for events
  and have residents vote for what they want
• Get residents involved in decision making and
  allocation of funds at an early stage of planning
  events
• Inter-committee communication

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Identity

• S-P should be the dorm of participation
• want to stay in their room and not participate in
  activities
• Diverse population
• Democratic participation
• Incredible facilities
• Have neighborhood tours for new residents with
  the architects who designed the neighborhood
• Get residents informed about history of the
  neighborhood

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SPs role in the Cambridge community

• Its a good thing to be involved!
• Build goodwill in the community
• Unique position to interface with community
• Want to be a link between MIT and the Cambridge
  community at large

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What do we do?

• Requests from the community
• Tax help for poor residents
• Sports coaching (soccer, baseball etc.)
• Ideas from our side
• Mentoring students in schools
• Hosting community groups
• Movie night
• Concerns
• Safety, security
• Being realistic out about what we can do

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SPs role within the MIT community

• SP is for the residents and MIT community too!
• Leadership position among dorms but promote
  co-operation and lead by example
• Build relationship with grad student community
• Specifically liaison with Edgerton and the
  Warehouse
• Ideas for the future
• More communication between dorms
• Build a standing committee between Edgerton,
  Warehouse and us
• Joint-orientation events
• Image of SP among the other dorms

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Roles and Responsibilities

• House Government
• Provide Support structure/Team work
• Time Commitment
• Recruitment
• Improve relationship and visibility with residents

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House Government

• Bring social events into the dorm
• Provide resources
• Provide a support structure for the leaders and
  the residents
• Handbook
• Web based information
• Raise awareness
• Better planning
• more advanced notices
• More effective communication

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House Government

• Social Events
• Hall Councilors Role
• Persistency
• Consistency
• Flexibility and variety of events
• Low maintenance events
• Creativity

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Roles and ResponsibilitiesHall Councilors

• First contact with residents
• Coordinate events
• Facilitator for residents
• Help with other offices
• Teamwork

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Roles and ResponsibilitiesOffice of Information

• Must know everything
• Send more emails regarding events around S-P and
  campus

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Roles and ResponsibilitiesOffice of Residential
Life

• Must be involved and know every step in
• Throwing events
• Contacts
• Logistics
• Resources

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Roles and ResponsibilitiesOffice of Resources

• Know the policies
• Know about the office of residential life
• Work closely with the Reslife

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Roles and ResponsibilitiesOffice of the President

• Institute Link
• Fight for money and get the MOST
• Integration of S-P with
• The outside community
• Rest of the MIT