The Greater New Orleans Chapter is so excited to be the winner of the Silver Award for Excellence in Alumnae Programming. This has been a longstanding goal of our chapter, and it feels wonderful to have finally accomplished it!
Q: What is your favorite event?
A: My favorite event from the past biennium was High Tea in November 2015. This event was held at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown New Orleans. The atmosphere for this event was amazing—we had the event in an upscale lounge, complete with a harpist playing music in the background. We shared three courses of delicious foods (i.e., appetizers, scones/biscuit and desserts) with a variety of teas. At this event, three attending members brought their mothers and/or daughters to share in the experience. I enjoyed meeting their families and spending a rainy afternoon with my Zeta sisters.
Zetas of all ages enjoyed the High Tea event.
Q: What is the most attended event?
A: Our Kickoff Party is our chapter’s most attended event. Held in late August or early September, this is the first event to kick off the ZTA year after a break over the summer. It’s so great to catch up with members after the time apart. We use this event to announce the theme for the year. For the 2014–2015 year, our theme was “Zeta Tau Alpha…Starring You!” (a play on 2014’s Convention), and last year’s theme was “Fabulous and Forty” to celebrate our chapter’s 40th anniversary. Because we’re so excited about our Silver win, the theme for this year is “GNO Goes Glam: A Silver Celebration.” Our main focus of the Kickoff Party is to introduce our programming calendar for the year. We also use it as an opportunity to get people to sign up for Crown Connection groups and other special events, like handing out ribbons at the “Think Pink® with the Saints” game. To make this event extra special, we give our members small favors as they leave. Our annual Kickoff Party is consistently our most attended event, with almost half of the chapter attending each year.
GNO Alumnae kicked off 2015 with a “Fabulous and Forty” themed get-together to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
Q. What types of events do chapter members most enjoy?
Of our non-annual events, the most attended events are those involving hands-on projects. Last September, we hosted a craft night at Posh Paint Pub, a local pottery painting studio. I think these types of events are so well attended because they’re personal to each member! With these events, members can be creative in making their own project at a price point that’s comfortable for them. It’s funny to see so many members choose turquoise and gray to decorate their pottery.
Earlier in the year, a member hosted a Mardi Gras bead mosaic party at her house. A professional artist created patterns special for our group, either a ZTA-themed crown or a New Orleans-themed fleur de lis. He then taught us how to use Mardi Gras beads in every color imaginable to fill in the pattern.
Q: How do you decide what programs to put on each year?
It is always our goal to host at least one event each year that appeals to every member. A big part of reaching this goal is to send out a survey to our membership over the summer when EC is in the process of planning the programming calendar for the following year. This helps us see what events our members enjoyed from the past year and what types of new events our members might be interested in attending the next year. If we decide to plan an event similar to one from a previous year, we always put a fun new twist on it.
Chapter members take a break from the fun to pose for a picture at the holiday party.
In this blog series, members from Silver-Award-winning chapters share insights, tips and personal experiences to help inspire you to strive even further in the 2016–2018 biennium. This blog comes to us from the Greater New Orleans, LA Alumnae Chapter, which received the Alumnae Chapter Programming Award for achieving “excellence in programming during the biennium.”
Check out the other Silver Series blog posts:
Chapter Public Relations | Lambda Kappa Chapter
Anne Winnes Redmond Service Award (Medium Campus) | Delta Iota Chapter
Alumnae Collegiate Relations | Research Triangle, NC Alumnae Chapter
...I can’t help but wonder: How did I get so lucky? What in the world did I do to deserve such amazing friends and sisters?
Tonight, during the National Officer Dinner, I looked around the huge Biltmore Hotel ballroom, filled with hundreds of ZTA alumnae, and I felt so overwhelmed with happiness and wholeness. Somehow, ZTA manages to bring together the best of people; people who make you laugh; people who help you believe in yourself; people who encourage you and support you.
And the week can only get better as more Zetas arrive! I’m so excited to see my Alpha sisters tomorrow!
And now, since my alarm clock is set for the crack of dawn, I bid you all A Zeta Goodnight. ;-)
