Tau Beta Pi

Planning Out the Semester

Planning out the semester makes nearly every element of running the chapter easier. As the semester progresses, classes pick up, things get busy, and it's easy to lose track of the goals you want to accomplish with your chapter. It's much easier to have at least a rough plan for the semester in advance and to make changes as necessary later.

It can also help with delegation. A very common issue for chapter presidents is to assume the bulk of the responsibility for all aspects of the chapter. This can lead to burnout and falling through with plans. If you instead plan out the semester in advance, you can then easily distribute responsibilities for events and projects among your officers to spread the load.

Finally, planning out the semester is especially important for Tau Beta Pi chapters over other clubs on campus because we have to deal with the initiation process, which often takes place over the course of multiple months and has to be planned out in advance. It's better to have a plan for the semester so that you can manage both the initiation process and any additional events and projects for your officers and members.

How often should I hold events & meetings?

There is no set answer to this question - it will depend entirely on you, your officers, and your chapters' needs. We do recommend either biweekly or monthly general body meetings to keep members involved, but beyond that you should decide how often you want to hold events based on what your officers are willing to put in. There's no shame in only holding a few events because you don't have enough manpower. At the same time, if you have the ability to do more and you think it would help improve the chapter, whether by getting more members involved, boosting your chapter's image or funds, etc., then go for it! Just please don't burn yourself out!

Be sure to check out ways to make your meetings more engaging in Activities for Member Engagement in Meetings.

General Tips for Planning Out the Semester

• If you have any big or specific goals, plan them out immediately at the start. These could be goals like getting chapter t-shirts, increasing initiation numbers, or running a large collaborative event with other clubs on campus. Anything that requires a lot of thought and effort, you want to get a head start on before the semester begins.
• Hold a calendar-making event with your officers. Hold an officer meeting in which you, as a group, decide on the events you want to hold that semester and at least a rough draft schedule of events for the semester. Put it up on something like a shared Google or Outlook calendar, so that all of your officers can see them. This exercise will allow all officers to get involved early and have buy-in to the plan instead of it having it thrown onto them.
• If you are lacking officers at the start of the semester, first come up with a plan for the events that you want to run. You can then use that plan to recruit additional officers as needed. It's a lot easier to get officers when you can say, "here is what I want to do. I already have the plan. I just need help running it."
• Additionally, if you only have a few officers, plan simple events that your officers would like to do anyway so that it will be a fun experience for them.
• Bare minimum, make sure you plan out the initiation process, since without new members, your chapter will fade.
• TBP HQ has a sample 12-week membership process schedule (with alternatives) that can serve as a first-draft plan for your semester.