Singhrow Guide Lines

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Singhrow Productions Sikh Soc Guidelines

With the Kirpa of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the help of the Sadhsangat, Singhrow managed to do 70 talks across the UK in Sikh societies. On our journey all our talkers gave us feedback on what made a successful society. We have talked to the more successful societies and the students to provide these guidelines.

Before we start we will start with the reason some of the students did not attend their Sikh societies:

• They found them really boring - Long boring talks
• They found them too militant , i.e. they felt people looked down on them
• The society just don't do enough socials events i.e. sports, trips etc

How to counteract above three: we don't need to go on anti Gurmat to do this either; with a bit of initiative it can be done!

The main thing is to hit the ground running from the start of the year - and have a committee where everyone has a specific responsibility. I felt it was better to have committee members with all the same power and decisions going to a vote - as opposed to having a president - because the president then ends up doing all the work and might make wrong decision!

The committee should be a cross - section, so not all Singhs or Amritdharis, get females and non – amritdharis involved. This builds bridges and the thing to keep in mind that this is a society not a gurdwara so there is no reason to have all amritdharis lol, the whole point is interaction and get people familiar with their roots!

Start the new year fresh, with fresh logo, and presentation, so if it wasn't a success the year before, people wont be inclined to say - oh, they messed it up last time so I am not going etc. i.e. just repackage everything (this is for societies that are not doing too well)

The stall at the freshers fair has to look the part. It is not expensive to get professional looking membership cards made or goody bags etc, have a screen, banner, sweets, make it look different and more exciting and sicker than the hindu soc and other socs etc, and don't have a lot of Milli guys on the stall as people may be intimidated. Make sure to include both genders. The signing up process is very vital and the right attitude must be shown to get results and intrest.

The first event is vital, and you will always get big numbers; but if it is a flop it could be hard to recover from a bad start. So a lot of thought has too go into it, make it fun and deep at same time. Some universities done turban tying etc, this is university people will find that childish etc. So try to be mature about it.

Funding – to make it a success you will need funding as well

Approach the university for funding - most unis will provide this.If it is the Gurdwaras interest they will provide funding, explain to them how you will be doing kirtan events, sukhmani sahibs etc there, a £200 donation is not out the question and can go a very long way.

£1 membership fee will not stretch anyone, explain how its for samosas, and speaker hire etc

When promoting the intro fair and joining sikh soc- don't do it too much on facebook - by all means have a facebook account and add anyone who is sikh/ or has singh/kaur in their name - and goes to your uni, but don't solely rely on this

The intro meeting should be booked and arranged at the start of the year before even term begins - and before hindu soc and the others etc, and there should be mini leaflets - with date and room, plus free samosas advertised etc – Make a good leaflet which is funky and well designed (marketing is a big thing)

The intro meeting - a leaflet in every department notice board and hall notice board, plus email and text to all members joined

The meeting should just be completely informal - have the next event - a talk with a different topic advertised - like "desi v sikhi" or " society and sikhism" etc

I would show a couple of joke videos, introduce the uni - the city - the society - have cha samosas, split people up - in year groups, or hall groups, course groups, whether they're living at home etc

Have a sikhi quiz, etc

Have a football event advertised for boys - get them coming together

Have a sport event for girls too,

A social event for a month later , ice skating, veg restaurant, theme park, a motivational film

Momentum is the key and these events should bring it to keep the interest alive throughout the year! If you do get talkers do research on them, because a boring talker will put people off from coming again.

the most important thing is that the committee perform an ardass at the start of year and asks guru ji bless then and guide them.

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Singhrow Productions Sikh Soc Guidelines.doc