Virtual Brotherhood Building Activities

This resource is designed to assist Marshals, LEAD Chairman, and other group leaders in the chapter with building brotherhood in a virtual environment among new members of a team (e.g. candidate class, committee, workgroup).

Team Building

Check out the Fraternity’s Team Building resources for an introduction to facilitating group activities, activity instructions, and processing questions.

While a lot of team building activities rely on props or physical proximity, there are plenty of games and initiatives you can conduct in a virtual environment. Use your preferred virtual meeting platform and the activity guides below to get started.

The Sigma Nu Team Building Guide includes an index of activities by theme. Virtual-friendly activities are listed below (note: some still include props that most participants will have readily available in their residence; when instructed to break into small groups either use a breakout room feature in your meeting platform or convert to a large group rather than small group discussion).

Getting to Know You – 11, 13, 15, 27, 28, 29
Planning – 63
Trust– 11, 13, 15, 27, 28, 29, 81

Additional Activities

Here are some additional activity ideas for Marshals to help with candidate bonding.

Setting Expectations

At the outset of the activity, have candidates come up with three expectations they feel are important to have a successful and positive Candidate and Sigma Nu Experience. They can write these down and share them in a group chat or notes field tied to your virtual meeting platform.

After everyone has come up with their individual expectations, the Marshal should facilitate a consensus-building conversation to help the group identify their top five (5) expectations. Consensus means making a decision by listening to all of the ideas of the group members, not just voting.

If you have a large candidate class (>10), use a breakout room function to put candidates in groups of 5-6 to come up with their top 5. Then bring the groups together to take their group top 5 expectations and form consensus for the Candidate Class on five shared expectations. Start by having each group shares their top five expectations and putting them in the group chat/whiteboard. When successive groups share, if one of their expectations is already listed, put an x2 next to that expectation (if additional groups have the same idea increase the number to note how many groups had the same expectation).

After the groups have listed their expectations, ask them if they are willing to try to live up to the listed expectations.

The Marshal or Candidate Class President should then share the consensus expectations with the Candidate Class as a reminder of what they expect from each other.

Quick Bites

This activity pairs candidates and/or brothers for shared meals and discussion. Set up a rotating schedule of candidates/candidates, candidates/brothers, and brothers/brothers so that at least once a week, each member gets together in a virtual meeting (e.g. FaceTime, Zoom, Google Hangout) to have breakfast, lunch, or dinner with another member of the chapter. Set up the schedule so that Quick Bites occur on the same day each week and share the pairing schedule with all members so they can connect with their partner in advance to arrange a time that day to meet.

For each Quick Bites session, provide members with 3-4 discussion questions to start their mealtime conversation. Starter question ideas are included below:

Potential recurring questions for each week:

How were classes this week?
Is there something you are struggling with right now that I can assist with (personal, academic, other)?
Candidate to Brother: What is your favorite thing about the chapter? Why?
Brother to Candidate: How is your candidate education coming along? Anything I can help you with or teach you about how the Fraternity works?

General starter questions (pick 3-4 each week):

What is your favorite restaurant in our college town? Your hometown?
How do you like to spend your free time?
Which sports do you like to watch? Which ones do you like to play?
What is your favorite Sigma Nu memory so far?
What is a movie you can watch over and over?
What is your favorite meal?
If you could go to one live sporting event (historical or future), what would it be?
What are the 3 most used apps on your phone?
What bands/music do you listen to in your free time (exercise, chill, concentration)?
What is your favorite genre of movie? Least favorite?
What is the best fast food restaurant? The worst?
Who was the first band/artist you were really into? Do you still like them?
What are some bands/artists on your bucket list to see in concert?
What is your go-to all-time favorite TV show?
What popular TV show do you think is overrated?
What is the most addictive mobile game you have played (e.g. Angry Birds, Doodle Jump)?
If you could learn the answer to one question about your future, what would that question be?
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why?
What three words best describe you?
Who had the biggest impact on the person you have become? How so?
Who do you look up to? Why?

For additional ideas, check out these conversation starters.

The Hotseat

This is an activity that you can use continually during the term. Have a Candidate volunteer to sit on the hot seat (take his turn answering questions).

Explain that the other Candidates can ask him any questions they would like; however, the volunteer on the hot seat can refuse to answer if the question makes him uncomfortable. All questions and answers should be in good taste and show respect. The purpose of the hot seat is to get to know your fellow candidates, not ridicule them.

As Marshal, start off the hot seat by each week asking the first question. Start with something easy that you can repeat for each candidate like, "Why did you join Sigma Nu?" or "What are you looking forward to getting out of your Fraternity experience?"

Limit the number of questions per candidate for each time you conduct this activity; 4-7 questions are a good range per hot seat participant to answer.

Virtual Brotherhood Ideas

For additional ideas, check out the guide on Supporting a Virtual Brotherhood.