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The Key-Let's All Get More People To Show Up to Our Events

By Corey Strausman posted 06-21-2016 02:37 PM

  

Post-Independence/Canada Day trivia question: According to the World Bank, this country in the EU has 9 of the 15 fastest Wi-Fi cities in the world. You guessed it (largely because it is in the graphic) but it is Romania. Not the country that exactly comes to mind when thinking of the world’s fastest internet. There is only one problem however, one-third of the population have never used the internet and half of the country's households do not own computers.

 I’m sure you’re saying to yourself that this is fun anecdote but what does this have to do with my chapter? Romania took a risk, and chances are that it will pay off in the long run (unsurprisingly Romania’s fastest growing job sector is IT) but was this really the right investment for its people? As chapter leaders you should have your finger on the pulse of your members and constituents. What do they want? How can you provide it? How can this provide value? The Key: Don’t invest in initiatives that aren’t right for your membership and use member feedback mechanisms to achieve better ways to understand what your membership wants and needs. Surveys, focus groups, phone calls, emails, town halls, participatory budgeting, etc. Don’t pick one of these options and be satisfied. Pick as many as you can and be determined. Romania took a risk but if you think about it, your chapter is at risk if one-third of its members have never attended a meeting and one-half of your membership does not understand the value of your chapter.

 

 


 

Some of you may recall the Chapter Recruitment Learning Group. The Key (you see what I did there?) to its existence was providing an opportunity to share strategies from different sources which could spur some new ideas and ways of thinking in regards to chapter recruitment. The Key will be key (I did it again!) to helping spur a conversation which challenges conventional wisdom and starts a new process of finding new members and getting those new members to participate in more meaningful ways.

Today's post deal with changes at hand. Newsflash, your chapter needs to get younger. That is not an opinion, it is a fact, vital to the perpetuity of any organization or profession. Change can be hard, getting younger will be hard so here is a link to help deal with that: Dealing with Changes at Hand.

 As fun as this first post was, I will have to take a little break on this. Starting July 5th, mark your calendars because The Key will feature a weekly blog post on a topic dealing with engagement, recruitment, or something related to those concepts. The key to the success of The Key (last pun I promise) will be your comments and feedback. Don't be shy, post a comment and let's start this productive journey together.

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