On Monday, October 7, at the Chester Fritz Auditorium, the University of North Dakota’s Panhellenic and Inter Fraternal councils hosted Nicki Joiner, a renowned public speaker who visits college campuses across the United States offering insights to students so that they can reach their fullest potential while serving their community.   

Presenting in front of over 1000 members of the Greek community, Joiner brought the energy from the start of the event, engaging with members of the crowd and challenging the audience to treat today’s event as “45 minutes of your life that you will never get back.”  

She spoke on the core objectives she hopes to convey regarding building a strong community because she understands that finding a sense of community within the organizations that you join is not guaranteed. However, successful organizations that foster a sense of community enable members to feel vulnerable with each other, engage in the community, and trust each other.  

Vulnerability stems with the ability to connect with others and according to Nicki, “we have to allow ourselves to be seen.” Focusing on the importance of members of an organization feeling connected with each other, as well as building off a strong emotional connection to each other makes them feel validated and cared for.   

Without this ability to be vulnerable to each other, it makes it almost impossible to transition into the next core value that a successful organization holds. Engagement is built off the events that take place within these organizations in which members are not required to attend but still do. Joiner challenged the audience to think back to their favorite event within their respective organization and why it holds a special place in their heart. A common theme stemmed from the fact that almost all these events were not planned and that they were there because they truly wanted to be there and enjoyed the company of others who also wanted to be there and facilitate in creating lifelong memories.  

Now transitioning into the backend of her presentation, Joiner shifted her focus to the importance of trust within an organization. For people to feel encouraged to participate in an event, trust is of the essence because “nobody wants to be a part of something that they do not trust.” When it comes to growing your community, it is all about trust and perception, because without this it is impossible to outreach, connect, and build new connections with people outside of your organization. The first step towards building this trust begins with consistency and proving to those around us that our organizations practice what they claim to believe in. 

Closing the discussion, Joiner challenged the audience who were all part of Greek organizations how they can more actively engage with the community and how they can improve their own respective images through their actions and engagements with those outsides of their respective chapter.  

Daniel Silva is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].