UPenn Business Frat Finds New Way to Run Virtual Rush Events

Virtual interaction is one of the most difficult and frustrating problems we have come across in the midst of the world’s current state. One of the groups largely affected by the stress of virtual interaction is student organizations especially the ones that recruit new members every semester. At the University of Pennsylvania, Phi Chi Theta, a professional business fraternity, decided to switch to Glimpse for their classic speed dating event. Glimpse is a platform that allows people in a virtual room to engage in one-on-one, time-boxed video calls.

Aidan Young and Macy Huang, the rush chairs for Phi Chi Theta, hosted a Glimpse event that resulted in 55 meaningful one on one interactions between rushees and brothers at their event. Aidan noted, “We thought it was fun not knowing who you were going to talk to next”. Blindly matching with others allows individuals to not build expectations or “prepare” themselves for their conversations. Instead, it allows people to genuinely relax and just have a casual and chill conversation with whoever they may match with next.

Using Glimpse for this event was a complete 180 from Phi Chi Theta’s original plan for speed dating with the brothers through Zoom. Aidan and Macy tested Glimpse the day before the event took place, but everything ran smoothly. “We got at least 15 texts on how awesome it was,” Aidan said.

If you are looking to organize virtual recruiting events, here are our best tips and tricks for using Glimpse :

• Decide on a match time length, extension length, and amount of extensions that makes sense for your event
• Personalize your event by adding your organization’s logo to the home page
• Customize the match types so members can choose who they want to meet (i.e.: “rushees vs. brothers”)