Chapter engagement is essential to the BBYO experience, and there are many ways to engage your members outside of weekly chapter programs. I’d like to highlight some strategies to encourage this engagement for all kinds of chapters.
You can do Shabbat dinner programs outside of global Shabbat! Celebrating Jewish traditions with your members is a great bonding experience that you can’t get anywhere else. It’s a chance for members to show traditions from their families and branches of Judaism. We can learn more about our Jewish heritage and the people we share it with through programs like these.
Sleepovers are one of the best ways to bond with friends. Staying up all night, eating yummy snacks, watching movies together, and doing karaoke are all fun activities to include at a sleepover! A sleepover can have as much or as little structure as you’d like, giving the chance for a lot of creativity when planning! Overall, chapter sleepovers are super fun and encourage bonding!
Story posts are a great way to keep members engaged while they wait for next week's program. This can include fun story games, member-of-the-month posts, calendars, and more! Some examples of story games may include:
There are so many ways to use your chapter's social media accounts, so take advantage of them!
Texting your individual chapter group chats or even private messaging your members every once in a while is a great way to bond with your members! Messages can even be super simple, like talking about various pop culture events, famous people, upcoming music, what people are doing for certain Jewish holidays, etc. There's really so much you can talk about with your members, and most people will appreciate a nice conversation once in a while!
The most important way to engage your members is to become their friends. Learn more about them and the things they like, and hang out with them outside of the program, whether it's in a group setting or one-on-one. Chapters are basically a big friend group, so you should take the time to bond with your members. BBYO programs become so much more enjoyable when you get close to the people in your chapter. BBYO is the chance to make lifelong friends. Take advantage of your experience!
Thank you for reading! I hope some of my ideas helped and you got what you wanted out of this read! Of course, these aren’t the only ways to engage members outside of weekly programs, but it’s a great way to start!
Miley Haik is a BBG from Ontario, who likes music, playing bass, and Garfield.
All views expressed on content written for The Shofar represent the opinions and thoughts of the individual authors. The author biography represents the author at the time in which they were in BBYO.
