HONOR SOCIETIES' INITIATION BANQUET
sponsored by the NGCSU Council of Honor Societies
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1.) Date and time of this year's Honor Societies' Initiation Banquet
2.) Menu and price per
dinner
3.) Information about
master of ceremonies, guest speaker, and other guests,
if applicable
4.) Deadlines for
reserving dinners, reporting names of
initiates, and reporting names of officers-elect
5.) Protocol for making
presentations at the banquet
DATE AND TIME OF THIS YEAR'S HONOR SOCIETIES' INITIATION BANQUET
Fourteenth Annual Honor Societies' Initiation Banquet
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 (this date is no longer connected to the Honors Day research conference)
Time:
-- Distribution of tickets begins at 6:15 p.m.
-- Admission begins at 6:45 p.m.
-- Invocation at 7 p.m.
-- Program begins at approximately 7:30 p.m. The program
usually lasts for about 1 hour.
Location: Lumpkin County Community Center (often referred
to as the "Parks and Recreation Center"),
365 Riley Road, Dahlonega (Riley Road is located across from the Taco Bell) --
the banquet will take place in the "Heritage Room" (both sections "A" and "B").
Note: The
banquet will not be held in the NGCSU Dining Hall!!! Please
emphasis this in any
communications to your members/initiates!!!
MENU:
Caesar salad.
Beef Wellington with roasted red potatoes and broccoli.
Dinner rolls, butter.
Mixed-berry cobbler with crumb topping.
Pitchers of sweet tea and water on each table; coffee will be served.
PRICE PER DINNER: $18.25
Make checks payable to "NGCSU Council of Honor Societies."
INFORMATION ABOUT MASTER OF CEREMONIES, KEYNOTE SPEAKER, AND OTHER GUESTS, IF APPLICABLE
The master of ceremonies will be Dr. David L. Potter, president of the university. Dr. Linda R. Roberts-Betsch, vice president for academic affairs, will be the keynote speaker.
DEADLINES FOR RESERVING DINNERS, REPORTING NAMES OF INITIATES, AND REPORTING NAMES OF OFFICERS-ELECT
Deadline for reporting names of initiates, if you want them to appear in the printed program: Tuesday, March 31, 2008, at 2 p.m.* (Please report names of initiates in alphabetical order. Do not subdivide the list by student/faculty or any other categories; submit one alphabetized list. Do not submit names in last-name-first format; names should appear as "John Robert Smith." If possible, please submit your list in softcopy (such as in an E-mail message or an attachment to an E-mail message).
Deadline for reporting names of officers-elect and next year's faculty advisors, if you want them to appear in the printed program: Tuesday, March 31, 2008, at 2 p.m.* (Be sure to show, clearly, which office each officer-elect will hold--e.g., "Carol Jenkins, president.")
Deadline for reporting the name of your honor society's officer (usually the outgoing president) who will lead your honor society's presentation, so that we can print his/her name in the program: Tuesday, March 31, 2008, at 2 p.m.* (Please mention whether your presentation at the banquet will include your initiation ceremony, or whether you will have an initiation ceremony at some other time.)
Deadline for submitting dinner reservations, including NAMES§ AND PAYMENT: Thursday, April 9, 2008, at 2 p.m.** Please make checks payable to "NGCSU Council of Honor Societies."
* May be submitted by E-mail to bfriedman@NGCSU.edu or delivered to Dr. Barry D. Friedman's office at the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice (West Main Hall, Room ___ or Room ___); must arrive by 2 p.m.
** Must be delivered to Dr. Barry D. Friedman's office at the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice (West Main Hall, Room ___ or Room ___); must arrive by 2 p.m.
§ Please report names of attendees in alphabetical order. Where a member or initiate is being accompanied by guests, it is unnecessary to identify the name of every guest. "Shelly White and 2 guests" is adequate.
PROTOCOL FOR MAKING PRESENTATIONS AT THE BANQUET
If your honor society IS initiating members, then the chapter president and/or other officers should do the following:
(i) Provide a brief (say, about 30-second) description of the honor society.
(ii) Initiate the new members. This would ordinarily involve asking the initiates to stand, perhaps having them recite a brief (one- or two-sentence) pledge. (NOTE: Do not read your honor society's initiation ritual! This is not allowed at the Honor Societies' Initiation Banquet, because the program would be unbearably long! You must confine your process to the recitation of the pledge, if applicable, and some kind of declaration that the initiates are now members of the honor society. Do not embellish the process with commentary or creative essays. Believe me, such things simply annoy the audience.)
(iii) By all means, call your members forward and give them their membership certificates. In this case, ask your members to congregate in an area near the head table. (This will make the ceremony more efficient, so that each member does not start winding his or her way around tables and chairs only after he or she hears his or her name.) Then, call each member's name and present the certificate to him or her.
If you don't want to present certificates, then PLEASE call the name of each initiate in attendance and have all of them stand ("When I call your name, please stand and remain standing").
(iv) You may, if you wish, recognize your incoming officers. Say, "We are pleased to announce the names of our officers for next year. When I call your name, please stand, and remain standing: Sally Brown, president; Jerry Green, vice president; Susie Black, secretary; and Bobby Gray, treasurer. I declare the new officers to be installed. Congratulations." Please do not embellish your recognition of incoming officers beyond that. Your honor society may have a script or ritual for installing new officers; please do not use it.
(v) Finally, say, "Now, would ALL members of the Alpha Beta Delta
honor society stand and be recognized." We will applaud all of your members, and the officers can
go back to their seats.
If your honor society is NOT initiating members during the
program, then the chapter president
and/or other officers should do the following:
(i) Provide a brief (say, about 30-second) description of the honor society.
(ii) Dr. Buckhiester urgently requests that every honor society call the name of each initiate in attendance and have all of them stand ("When I call your name, please stand and remain standing"). At the 2000 banquet, he observed that initiates were in the audience, but were not being recognized by their honor societies' officers, and it appeared to him that the initiates felt left out. (Do not embellish the process with commentary or creative essays. Believe me, such things simply annoy the audience.)
(iii) You may, if you wish, recognize your incoming officers. Say, "We are pleased to announce the names of our officers for next year. When I call your name, please stand, and remain standing: Sally Brown, president; Jerry Green, vice president; Susie Black, secretary; and Bobby Gray, treasurer. I declare the new officers to be installed. Congratulations." Please do not embellish your recognition of incoming officers beyond that. Your honor society may have a script or ritual for installing new officers; please do not use it.
(iv) Finally, say, "Now, would ALL members of
the Alpha Beta Delta honor society stand and be recognized." We will applaud all of your members,
and the officers can go back to their seats.
Please, it is very important that every honor society observe these guidelines.
As far as I can tell, attendees have emerged from previous banquets with praise for the fact that the
18 honor societies
made their presentations in a total amount of time of about an hour. Opinions about our banquet
will change markedly if it turns into a marathon.
Barry D. Friedman, Executive Director
NGCSU Council of Honor Societies
Return
to the home page of the Council of Honor Societies . . .
8/7/2003; rev. 7/3/2008