Degrees are about the Principals of the Order, not about any council or district.
They teach the Principals of the Order
They are the first major contact with the Knights
They make an indelible impression on a Brother Knight
They have inspired others to take up degree work
You should get as many candidates as possible to attend each degree available
in your council or district, and have plenty of observers as well.
How is this done???
Communications between councils and districts:
Let your neighboring councils and districts know of your
intentions
Give your councils and districts plenty of notice; prepare
a schedule and keep to it.
Send out more than one communication…gentle reminders
go a long way to ensure participation
Emails are not the only way to communicate. Don’t
be afraid to pick up the telephone
What we are saying is TALK TO EACH OTHER…FREQUENTLY.
Over communicate so that no one can say they didn’t know.
Communications is not a one-way
street. If your council has been invited to a degree, communicate with the
host council
by the required
due date.
Don’t force the host council to spend all their time and effort trying
to contact you. They deserve your respect by properly communicating with
them.
Communications within councils:
Stay in constant communications with your candidates. If
you let too much time lapse between communications, they will get the sense
that
the council
doesn’t really care about them and loose interest.
Let the candidates know what is expected of them when attending
a degree. Dress Code, Payment of dues, being on time, etc.
Communicate with the membership and get brothers to sign
up to attend the degrees as observers. The more the better. Think about the
negative
message
you are sending to your candidates if only one or two brothers come to a
degree as observers. You are basically saying you don’t care about
them as brothers, you are only interested in their money or how many men
you can sign up.
Set up a car pool so the members and candidates travel
together.