Ewald Consulting Playbook for Game-Changing Association Management

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PLaybook

PLAYBOOK

for Game-Changing Association Management

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Email paulh@ewald.com to subscribe to Ewald Advantage to receive new “plays” each month.

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An Affinity for Success or Failure 4

New Thoughts on the Old 80/20 Rule

Contents

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24 26 28 2

Starting a Strategic Planning Process 6

20 Ways to Enhance Your Meeting Experiences 8

Technology on Purpose: Data, Design and Content 10 Building Your Association Community: From a Blueprint to a Home 11

Proofread Like a Pro 12 A Successful Year Starts with a Solid Budget 14 Creating Results with Social Media 16 Creating Effective and Engaged Boards 18 Guaranteed Investment Winner – Your Association Dues

19 Using Stakeholder Analysis to Boost Your Membership 20 22 23

Let’s Move On! Working with Action-Oriented Volunteers

9 Marketing Ideas for Your Organization

Three Ways to Stronger Volunteer Engagement

A Holistic Approach to Membership Recruitment

The “Data”ing Game

What Can Ewald Consulting Do for You?

PLaybook An Affinity for Success or Failure

by David Ewald, CAE and Kathie Pugaczewski, CAE, CMP Non-dues revenue has steadily become more essential as associations aim to balance their budgets through diversified income streams. Membership dues are no longer the leading revenue source for many associations. The search for new sources of non-dues revenue often includes consideration of potential affinity programs. Done well, an affinity program can be a way to reinforce the association’s value proposition to individual and corporate members.

Done poorly, it can become a catch-all discount program that dilutes the message to members and distracts staff and volunteer energy away from work that is central to the association’s mission without adding substantial value. Perhaps your association is considering an affinity program of its own. If so, here are a few quick steps may to get you started.

It is important that any affinity program meet three tests: 1. Exclusivity of Access. The program must provide a real benefit to members that is not easily available to them through other means or off the street through “hard bargaining.”

2. Benefit to the Association. The program must include a significant benefit to the Association from the providing entity. This benefit must be more than “you will get more members because of this affinity program.” In other words, there should be a financial incentive or free in-kind service to the association in exchange for endorsing or adopting the program. It should also align to the association’s mission.

3. Provider Marketing. There must be willingness and intention by the providing entity to actively market the program.

In addition to these three tests, affinity programs are most likely to be successful if they address an industryspecific need of the members. The American Society of Association Executives and Center for Association Leadership has published a variety of articles that

discuss affinity programs and affirm this point. It is important to prioritize what you are going after for the member. Bear in mind that those you approach about an affinity program must see something in it for themselves as well.

How to begin 1. Prioritize a list of up to 10 different programs that could best meet the criteria discussed above.

2. Survey members regarding their preferences and collect data from them regarding the potential market size so that can be leveraged when approaching potential providers. Also, review your current data on your members to develop a profile of your membership. Don’t underestimate the value that your members bring to the table if there’s a good match between the affinity program and your membership. If there’s real interest, the program will succeed and add real value to the member value proposition. It must be win-win for both the member and the affinity program and a real partnership where both parties are vested in the success of the program.

3. Selectively approach vendors to implement a few programs at a time so the association can gauge interest and success. These results can be leveraged if the association decides to approach additional vendors in the future.

It is essential to keep in mind that implementing these activities can be very time-consuming — so they really must accomplish something that makes it worthwhile for both the Association and the member. If it adds real value, it will be worth the effort to put time and resources to the activity. In addition, it must be integrated in the marketing plan for the association as we need to remind our members of the value of their membership throughout the year as well as expand the membership base by providing a compelling value proposition.

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New Thoughts on an Old Rule

by David Ewald, CAE Most of us are familiar with the “80/20 Rule,” also known as the Pareto Law. The basic premise of the rule is that a minority of causes, inputs or effort usually leads to a majority of results, outputs or rewards. In our daily life, this may mean that 20% of our effort leads to 80% of the results, that 80% of our profits come from 20% of our customers or that 80% of crime is caused by 20% of all criminals. In his book “The 80/20 Principle,” author Richard Koch identifies these and other phenomena to explain the concept of the imbalance between effort and reward — and why it’s useful.

The main idea behind the principle is that there is a powerful relationship between where we place our attention and the outcomes derived. Steven Covey’s books, “First Things First” or “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” and many other books on personal effectiveness focus on prioritizing how we spend our precious time in order to make the most of our lives. This is just another way of saying that concentrating effort in the fewer but important areas (the 20%) can create the most important (80%) outcomes. The relationship of 80/20 is not meant to be exact. There are an infinite number of relationships that can range from 51/49 to 99/1 — all of which demonstrate the usefulness of placing more of our attention in limited areas in order to achieve better results. Where do your customers or members derive value from the products, programs or services within your organization? Most likely there are a few areas that provide a disproportionate share of the profit and benefit. Maybe it is 80/20 or 70/30. What does this imply for the 70% of your offering that contributes only 30%?

How about your staff? A senior executive at one of the country’s largest retailers told me that there is only one personnel decision that employers ever need to make: whether or not to hire a person. If they make that decision

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correctly, he said, the rest is easy. That is certainly an oversimplification, but the implications are clear: most likely the majority of the personnel-related issues confronting your organization come from a minority of the employees. Focus on changing that dynamic and reap disproportionate results.

The implications for personal productivity and satisfaction are immense. Covey students are familiar with the grid detailing the differences between important/not important and urgent/not urgent activities. According to Covey, we want to spend most of our time working on the “important but not urgent” activities and avoid busying ourselves with the non-important/non-urgent and non-important/urgent activities. How much more satisfying can we make our existence by focusing on those few areas where we can truly make the biggest impact?

While not infallible, I find rules like this useful in analyzing challenges facing an organization. It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that all areas are equally important and merit equal attention. This is most often not the case. Take a new look at a problem you are confronting and see if the 80/20 rule helps to provide a course of action. Most likely you will find that concentrating your energy on the areas that can provide disproportionate returns will provide a significant improvement in results.

PLaybook STARTING A STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

by Eric Ewald, CAE What do you want to accomplish?

Take some time as a group to consider, then articulate, your objective for the planning process. Some questions to think about: • Are you facing a particular organizational crisis that must be addressed?

• Do you need to consider changes to your organization’s mission and vision, or are these still largely relevant?

• Are you looking to develop some long range focus for the organization? How far out?

• Do you want the planning process to have significant orientation or team building components?

When is the best time for your organization’s planning?

Organizations often time their planning processes to coincide with calendar and fiscal year starts, board cycles and calendars or special events.

Sometimes these considerations yield the most logical and convenient time to go through the planning process. Other times it is simply a matter of gauging participants’ opinion about the best time of year to invest the time and attention. Find a time that makes the most sense for your organization and is convenient for your participants.

Who should be involved to achieve the best possible outcome?

Think carefully about who can best help you accomplish the objective of the planning process. In addition to the board of directors, consider involving people whose input would be beneficial including volunteers and staff with experience that could help shape good strategy. Involving others becomes even more important when developing specific actions to take to pursue your strategies, because many of these people will be responsible for implementation.

They will also have good experience-based insights

into effective strategies and actions and you will be better able to generate their buy-in to the action steps developed if they are a part of the process.

What kind of process should you follow?

There are many ways to “do strategic planning.” Many different approaches have been developed by various planners, consultants and educators. Some common elements in most approaches include: re-assessing who you are, what you do and how you do it; examining your history to date; considering your current and future environments; visioning; goal setting and action planning. Talk through the options with your group and session leader to establish the process that will be best for your participants given an articulated objective for the process.

Should an outside facilitator be engaged?

Good facilitators are experts in process and bring neutrality and important facilitation skills to the table. They also carry a cost. Be mindful of choosing a facilitator who is a good fit. In the balance, it is best to have a facilitator who can free all key board members and staff to fully participate in the process and to recommend and manage good process. Decide what will be most effective for your planning given the objectives you have for the planning process.

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20 WAYS TO ENHANCE YOUR MEETING EXPERIENCES

by Kathie Pugaczewski, CAE, CMP It’s never been a more exciting, daunting, challenging and chaotic time in association management. The economy, failing sectors, technology, generations, social and cultural diversity – all impact the business of associations.

With our limited resources, we usually go with the safe, “it worked before” solution in our member offerings, in particular with our meetings. We fall into the trap of complacency with getting our direction from the same members on the planning committee, the same speakers and topics and repeating the same meeting format from year to year. We do evaluations and file them away, never using the insights and feedback to guide the next offering, especially if it makes us change the “tried and true” format.

Our speakers get us content last-minute and many times they tell us that what they are going to deliver in their program is completely different, resulting in a disconnect between our promise to our participants and what we actually deliver. The result: unsatisfied participants who not only might not come back next year, they might not rejoin and they certainly won’t be our raving fans. It’s time to re-think and re-do our meetings to remain relevant.

20 Ways to Enhance Your Meeting Experiences 1. Have a mission for the meeting and communicate it to all of the stakeholders – association leadership, members/nonmembers, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, public, etc.

2. Research: Know the profile of your attendees/ audience – demographics, learning styles and preferences, social interaction preferences.

3. Take the time to define meeting objectives and measurable outcomes.

4. Define learner outcomes: performance, condition, proficiency, and business impact such as time savings, greater productivity, reduce costs, increased sales…

5. Understand the characteristics of adult learners: self-directed, multiple life experiences; problemsolving orientation.

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6. Apply Knowles Adult Learning Principles: need to Learn; need for ownership; importance of relevance.

7. Add new people to conference committee and get new insights through focus groups, surveys, phone interviews.

8. Focus on content, content, content.

9. Mix up the delivery with experiential learning, new formats, interactive tools, book signings, speed networking, ice breakers.

10. Create a marketing plan that includes web, email, direct mail, social media, testimonials, and cool design to get attention. Be consistent with brand, segment your attendees, use public relations tactics.

11. Communicate content and relevance consistently and creatively.

12. Be innovative: Try something new and don’t be afraid to fail. Stop repeating the same conference from year to year.

13. Create a memorable experience with everything from ease of registration to how people are greeted, to content and every seemingly “little” aspect of the event – excellent meetings are in the details.

14. Connect members during the year through the website and social media tools.

15. Start looking for strategic alliances.

16. Don’t do evaluations unless you’re going to use them – ask the right questions and listen!

17. Increase vendor and sponsor value by using online links year round, including on-floor demos in your program, hoisting banners, offering “how to sell without selling” tips for exhibitors, and creating a real value exchange.

18. Use your website to draw attention (white papers, content from conference, speaker forum discussions, quick polls, enhanced member-only sections, networking tips PowerPoint during a networking reception).

19. Continue the conversations past the conference through forums, blogs, listservs, LinkedIn, and/or Facebook.

20. Collect lessons learned before, during and after; evaluate and make changes for your next meeting.

PLaybook Rethinking Meetings Format to Deliver a More Engaging Experience • Pecha Kucha: Each speaker presents a maximum of 20 slides and comments on each slide no more than 20 seconds – each presentation is less than 7 minutes, allowing time for discussion. Speakers shouldn’t read slides to the audience. These sessions usually involve several speakers, and are used to inspire people to think at a higher level. www. pecha-kucha.org.

• Twebinars: Combining webinar with Twitter. Utilize the instant-messaging capabilities of Twitter to replace the standard Q & A period, so participants can comment before, during and after the webinar.

Keeps the webinar “alive”.

• Second Life: Virtual world/virtual meetings and tradeshows.

• Project-Based Events: Instead of a lecture about how to build a budget, you build a budget in the session.

It’s a collaborative, unconference, open space where topics aren’t defined until people arrive onsite.

• World Café: Roundtable-style format that taps into the collective wisdom of the group. Clusters of five people sit in rounds and discuss issues surrounding the theme of the meeting for 20-30 minutes. Conversations are repeated three times as participants switch tables to interact with others. At the end, a group discussion is facilitated to identify key insights and ideas. Ask the right questions – engage people in a meaningful dialogue. www. theworldcafe.com The five market segments of association annual meeting attendees include Knowledge Seekers, Value-Based attendees, Social Networkers, Convenience Drive attendees, and Creatures of Habit.

• Knowledge Seekers (22 percent of those polled) are frequent attendees who seek to expand their involvement with their industry, both in terms of education and interaction with colleagues, at conference.

• Value Based attendees (17 percent) are more sensitive to the costs involved in participating in such a meeting. They want to get useful information and ideas that they can put to work for their investment. Overall, these are the youngest registrants.

• Social Networkers (26 percent) enjoy the social aspects of the convention and like to combine business and leisure travel. However, they also attend to learn about their industry and to network.

• Convenience Driven attendees (17 percent) are infrequent attendees, most likely due to busy schedules. They also experience time constraints at the annual meeting, making it difficult for them to accomplish all their goals.

• Creatures of Habit (18 percent) attend the most annual meetings, but they have less interest in furthering their industry knowledge than other attendees.

Using Your Website Effectively for Your Meetings Pre-Event • Collect Speaker proposals using an online form • Promote the event with podcasts, email blasts, conference archives • Promote volunteer engagement in your registration form • Email confirmations to attendees • Include a speaker page on website • Set up an Exhibitor registration form • Provide an Exhibitor booth map with links to exhibitors; this adds value for exhibitors • Give people a reason to want to come to the destination – feature CVB website and resources During event • Set up a photo gallery • Email daily evaluations to participants • Provide conference updates, perhaps daily • Use quick polls • Create recordings (audio and/or video) • Encourage attendees to use Twitter or Facebook to post photos or share their insights After event • Send overall event evaluations • Post speaker presentations online • Post a “save the date” message for the next year • Provide ongoing sponsor and exhibitor recognition • Continue to connect virtually through the year – Webcasts, LinkedIn

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TECHNOLOGY ON PURPOSE

by Kathie Pugaczewski, CAE, CMP, Create Lasting Relevance by Integrating Data, Design and Content With the speed and sheer volume of information and tools available, associations need to strategically implement and integrate technology to create and enhance our relationship with our members. As our technology options continue to increase, our attention and capacity are decreasing. We have a natural tendency to respond to the increasing level of choices by doing more and more, instead of going deeper to create relevant offerings. More choices mean we need to be more discriminating in what we choose and to not let the tools dilute but rather enhance the message.

We need to focus on quality and quantity, relationship and transaction. Adding one more meeting, one more social media tool, one more benefit to make up for a declining membership is not a sustainable strategy if it’s not based on our members’ needs and expectations.

We need to simultaneously operate efficiently while engaging our members in conversation and collaboration.

While it’s important to benchmark to other associations’ technology practices for ideas, our members are not comparing us with other associations. They are comparing us with their experiences with Amazon, Apple, Google, LinkedIn and Facebook. While we don’t have Amazon budgets, we can assimilate the concepts used by these successful companies and apply them on our scale. Simply stated, successful companies (and associations) understand their customers through the effective use of data, design and content.

An association’s website platform is a hub, providing both transactional and relational functions. Invest in a merged content management system and database website platform that integrates key functionality including: open API (Application Programming Interface) which allows for third party software integration; secure payment processing; receipts and invoices; searchable directories; an integrated email program to merge data fields, allowing personalized communications; a member portal with purchase and participation history; continuing education certificates 8

and tracking; a members-only section with content by subject matter experts (our members); and responsive code so the website will resize to different devices – larger screens, mobile phones and tablets.

Data We get to know our members by collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. Find out their interests, expertise, demographics, specialties, talents, industry vertical, company size, birth year, number of years in profession, volunteer interests, challenges and expectations. With these data points, we can connect members to each other, engage them in the association and match our offerings to their needs.

We should only collect data that we intend to use. How many membership and event surveys have we sent, collecting data and feedback that was simply ignored?

Create and execute a touch point plan for first-year members, long-term members, varying levels of experience, members who have participated and members who have not participated. Don’t just invite them to meetings — recognize and thank them for their involvement. Give them ways to contribute based on their talents and specialties. Offer virtual volunteer opportunities by getting members to post to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to drive conversations, or send them your list of new members for the month and ask them to email a personal welcome.

We increase the value of data collection by giving the data back to members: • Send personalized emails with merged fields that show our members we understand them; • Provide searchable directories that connect members to members and the public to members; • Identify patterns in the data to deliver new offerings (i.e., a large contingent in health care that would benefit from a special interest group, a missing segment to target, or a hot topic that could be the subject for a webinar); • Use surveys and polls to identify trends and opportunities;

PLaybook • Conduct focus groups to understand our members’ perspective and narrative; • Offer a mentorship program that matches newer or younger members with those who have more experience.

Design Good design gains and keeps readers’ attention by merging art and science, engaging both the right and left sides of our brains. When done well, it visually leads, informs, guides and organizes.

• Use color to organize content; • Merge design and data into visuals and infographics; • Provide tabbed content areas that organize content like file folders; • Engage readers with descriptive headlines and concise copy that leads to more in-depth content; • Make information easy to scan with bullets and carefully organized chunks of information; • Use photos that humanize the organization and tell a story; • Take time to explain your site with instructions and demos for users; • Help users understand the value of using the tools you integrate.

variety of formats (white papers, case studies, tip sheets, templates or simply a testimonial on the association’s value to their career).

Associations are in the relationship business.

The technology tools we have available give us a tremendous opportunity to serve our members better through data, design and content that facilitate connections, conversations and community.

Favorite Resources • Cool Infographics: www.coolinfographics.com • Content Marketing Institute: www. contentmarketinginstitute.com/ • Smashing Magazine: www.smashingmagazine.com/ • Lynda: www.lynda.com • Marketing Sherpa: www.marketingsherpa.com/ • Mashable: www.mashable.com • Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies: http://c4lpt.co.uk/0

Content Associations have always been about connecting people with common interests. The technology tools we choose should be about connection, collaboration, knowledge exchange and professional growth at all career stages – energetic young professionals, mid-career members who are looking for leadership opportunities, and experienced thought leaders. Our members are subject matter experts and we need to tap that expertise in a

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BUILDING YOUR ASSOCIATION COMMUNITY: FROM A BLUEPRINT TO A HOME

by Kathie Pugaczewski, CMP, CAE Today, information is free. Just about anything an individual desires to know can be found with the right “Google” search. In a world of free information, there is a sense of anxiety among association professionals who have believed that a portion of their association’s value proposition was based on serving as the exclusive gateway to industry data. What they’ve missed is that associations are not in the business of providing raw data. Rather, a strong association transforms information into knowledge and insight by harnessing the collective expertise of thought leaders to create value and outcomes that shape professions, impact societies and drive the economy.

be sustainable. Following are key factors to consider in building the foundation of an online community:

Since their inception, associations have been a forum for connection, community and collaboration. Prior to the rapid expansion of technology over the past 20 years, the primary way associations facilitated this forum for connection was through in-person meetings.

Increasing accessibility of affordable technology platforms and social media tools creates opportunity for associations to establish and grow online communities for members to feel connected between in-person meetings. Done well, these communities can strengthen member retention, growth and engagement.

The convergence of websites, databases, social media and private communities gives associations a strategic advantage to build and deepen the relationship among members by customizing offerings to their interests and needs.

Be specific: File libraries and forum discussion groups must be focused on defined topics. General content won’t generate much interest. Get topic ideas from members that drive peer-to-peer connection and conversation.

There are a lot of tools to choose from; even if an association selects the right tool, there is still a critical resource requirement of knowledge and experience using the tool in order for the association to be successful. Just because you give someone a hammer doesn’t mean they can build a house. Sticking with the metaphor, staff professionals need to draft the blueprints, build the house and transform it into a home by engaging our members to foster and facilitate online community and collaboration.

When an association first launches a new online community and/or collaboration tool, it is building a new structure – a foundation for the house. Like social media, online communities must be member-driven to 10

Provide instructions and models: Members are busy – and unless they see the value of using the tools, they won’t. Build website “how to” pages and 2-3 minute webinars demonstrating how to use the tools.

Create a “member central” page on the website: Help members to easily find the online tools they want by providing a member portal page. This page also provides a “teaser” for nonmembers to see what they could access online if they join.

Facilitate the process: Take a test drive with new tools and work with volunteers to brainstorm topics, questions and ideas that generate ongoing value.

Like social media, private communities need to be facilitated by staff – but must be member-driven to be sustainable.

One example of an association that has had success establishing a new online community is the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). AHRD launched new file libraries and forum discussion groups with specific topics based on the interests of its members. The file library names include topics such as Conference Presenters and Attendees, Articles Worth Reading, Emerging Scholars, Practitioner Resources, and Webcast Library.

The forum discussion called “Conversations” has two layers, with broad categories and specific topics beneath. Categories include Water Cooler, Career Development and The Field of HRD. Under each broad topic, specific subtopics help to direct the conversation, like “Off the record,” with a focus on non-career/ academic topics – a great way for members to connect on interests outside of their profession. Three other topics for each primary member segment include “In

PLaybook Proofread like a pro

by Laurie Pumper, CAE the field” to focus on academics; “In the classroom” for students; and “Practitioners” for the scholar-practitioner community.

AHRD’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are now set up as online groups. The association will provide training to show the SIG chairs how to use the tools to add value to their community – including a group directory, messaging members, file libraries, shared calendar and forum discussion. These new features will start conversations and add value to SIG membership. The association is forming a SIG Leaders Group to share best practices.

The Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) is effectively utilizing forum discussion groups and file libraries for its board, committees and SIGs. The tools can complement each other. QRCA has a very active LinkedIn Group (which is open to nonmembers) and a members-only forum discussion group. By cross-promoting content of both social media and private online communities, the value increases in both platforms.

The Association of Image Consultants International (AICI) has a virtual chapter structure that empowers chapter leaders to have real-time access to chapter member information as they join and choose their chapter in the online database. The description of the chapter is public, but members of the chapter need to log in to access the online tools.

In a world of free information, associations need not panic that they are losing relevance.

Associations need to communicate the value of member-based community and access to thought leadership that converts information into insight and action. The tools and blueprint are essential to building the house, but it takes member input, experience, and know-how to turn a house into a home worth visiting again and again.

Want to feel like a kid again? Specifically, want to relive those awkward feelings of junior high, when almost everything was cause for embarrassment? Then send something to print without proofreading it. Errors in typography, layout and fact can all conspire to lower your credibility among your readers.

Here are some tips to help you avoid those embarrassing moments.

• Try to avoid proofreading on a computer screen. It’s hard on your eyes. Because of a computer’s flickering screen, you’re also more likely to miss errors. Whenever possible, print out a copy of the document and make your edits on the paper copy.

• Try to get at least one other person to review your work.

If you’ve already rehashed and revised a piece, your brain just won’t recognize some errors (dropped text at the end of an article, for instance). If you must proof your own work, let the piece rest for a few hours or (better) a few days. Give yourself a chance to “forget” what you wrote.

When you come back to the project, you’re more likely to see those big, embarrassing errors!

• Use a spell-check program — but don’t rely too heavily on it. Spellcheckers don’t catch it when you use a likesounding word in the wrong place (i.e. there instead of they’re or their). It would be even more embarrassing if you accidentally left out the “l” from public (it’s still a real word, so your spell-checker probably wouldn’t flag it).

• Check names and titles, even if it means calling someone to make sure you’ve got it right. Also look carefully at phone numbers, addresses, email addresses and web addresses for accuracy.

• If you need to compare edited text to the original material, it helps to set the two documents side by side. Use a ruler or a blank sheet of paper to help keep your place.

It can also help your accuracy if you start at the end of the document and move backward through the text. Your brain is less likely to “fill in the blanks,” and you’ll catch dropped or duplicate words.

• When proofreading a magazine or newsletter, double check the table of contents and story jumps to make sure the page numbers agree.

• For e-newsletters, make sure that you try all the links if you direct readers to web pages, email addresses or to other sections of the newsletter.

• Take frequent breaks. If you’re trying to proofread something when you’re tired, you will miss errors.

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A SUCCESSFUL YEAR STARTS WITH A SOLID BUDGET

by Bill Monn A solid budget is the confluence of science and art that serves as the compass for the financial oversight of successful organizations. A budget built on your organization’s track record provides timely and accurate guidance and a solid base to build your plan for the future.

The simple trending graph below suggests that revenues for the coming year will fall between $109 and $122.

If you budget higher or lower, it should be with accompanying rationale.

Conversely, the old saying that a failure to plan is a plan to fail continues to ring true. Those organizations that expend little effort in building a solid budget run a high risk of missing trends that could be harmful or not seeing opportunities to build on.

Getting started The three major metrics you should consider are revenues, expenses and margin. Start your budget planning by thoroughly understanding where you are. Where are your revenues, expenses and margin relative to what you planned for in the current year? Look at them together as well as individually. A spike in expenses is not necessarily a bad thing if there has been a corresponding spike equal or greater in revenues.

Review variances from your budget. If attendance is lower than projected for monthly events, understand why. Is it program content? Cost? Location? Time of day?

Once you have a good feeling of where you are, take the time to understand where you’ve been. Two points on a chart are a direction, three are a trend. Go back at least three years – four is better – and graph your revenues, expenses and margin. You can do this for every event or every element of your organization, but at the very least roll up the overall numbers.

Look at the variances on the chart and they will show maximum and minimum boundaries for budgeting purposes. In the absence of any major changes (adding or eliminating an event, for example) the science of budgeting tells you that next year’s budget should be within this range. The art of budgeting will guide you on projecting in a more aggressive or conservative vein.

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It’s a group activity Building a budget should not be left solely to one or two people. The members who elected you to the board are banking on you being fully engaged and involved in how the organization is spending its members’ money. Good healthy discussion is beneficial. Vibrant organizations often have more ideas than can actually fit in the budget.

We’ve observed a number of pitfalls to watch out for during the budgeting process. Be alert to these.

• Cutting and pasting last year’s budget into the new year. This approach often misses trends or fails to capitalize on opportunities. If attendance at monthly events was down 50 percent in the first half of the year and up 50 percent in the second half of the year, then just rolling over last year’s budget numbers into the new year could miss a big opportunity. Even worse is a trend where attendance is falling. Or, if your numbers are significantly underperforming in your current budget, why would you roll those numbers over into the new year?

PLaybook • Calculating where the organization will likely finish the current year and projecting those numbers into the new year. Although this is less risky than rolling over the previous year’s budget as described above, it also runs the risk of not appreciating trends and doesn’t draw on the trending analysis of the past three (we still like four) years.

• Saying that budgeting is not the job of the whole board. On the contrary – it is the job of everyone on the board to invest the time and effort to build a budget that brings value to the organization’s members. Leaving the budget process entirely up to the president or a treasurer is not good governance.

Organizations should involve their committees.

Some of the best structures ask committee chairs to come forward with a budget for the board to review. Who will know better why attendance at monthly meetings was down 50 percent in the first half of the year but up 50 percent in the second half of the year than the chair of the education programming committee?

What about reserves?

A topic deserving an entire a column on its own, we recommend that our clients maintain cash reserves equal to 1-2 years of operational expenses as the sweet

spot for most organizations. If your organization has well established programs that are producing consistent results (the trend band referenced above is narrow) then less reserves are required to accurately project a budget. If an organization has more variables in its budget (a major revenue source is grants, for example) then a hedge toward greater reserves is recommended.

Closing thought Your budget should not be a once-a-year exercise that you do in the fall and then tuck away for the year. Said another way: Do you know everything that’s going to happen in the next 12 months when you adopt a budget? A monthly review of your organization’s financials is terrific discipline to gauge how you are performing compared to your plan. High performing organizations do periodic reviews and reallocate as appropriate. So if your monthly meetings are drawing 50 percent more attendance in the first half of the year than projected, your organization has the opportunity to capture those excess funds in real time and fund a program or initiative in the second half of the year rather than just letting the extra money sit until the end of the year. You don’t have to spend it – but you can.

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CREATING RESULTS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

by Darrin Hubbard, CAE, and Laurie Pumper, CAE Social media use — and the types of media available — continue to explode. The Pew Research Center reports that 72% of adults who are online use social networking sites.1 How can an association stay on top of the rapidly shifting landscape? Taking a team approach helped bring results quickly for clients of Ewald Consulting. The makeup of our social media team has changed since it was originally created in 2008, but the inclusion of people from across job functions was useful as we brainstormed ways that various clients could use social media.

Engaging volunteers through Facebook Facebook is currently the largest social media platform in use, with more than 1 billion registered users as of December 2012.2 Upworthy, a company that shares content on Facebook and other social media platforms says about Facebook, “If you aren’t there, you lose.”

Although the demographics are changing, Facebook continues to be popular among younger generations.

As part of its strategy to engage students, the Minnesota Pharmacists Association (MPhA) posts photos from events and informs fans about what is happening with legislative and policy issues, among other information.

Less than two years after implementing the strategy and regularly posting updates, MPhA has more than doubled the number of people who “like” its page.

When information about events is posted on Facebook with a link MPhA normally gets at least a small boost in registration as a result.

Recognition Professionals International (RPI) began using its Facebook page in advance of its 2012 annual conference. Before and during the 2012 event, content on the Facebook page was driven by staff members.

In advance of the 2013 annual conference, the RPI executive director encouraged members of the board of directors and the planning committee to post content on the RPI page. The volunteers followed through, resulting in a broader range of photos and broader engagement (through comments and likes) by the membership at large.

With the recent addition of hashtags, searching

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Facebook posts for relevant content has become easier (as long as your members agree upon and use those hashtags). Upworthy notes that photo posts on Facebook have three to four times the engagement of text-only posts — and that links on photo posts to your content can mean an increase in clicks of 10 to 30%.3 Many organizations have concerns about privacy issues with the use of Facebook. It may not be the right tool for every association, and it is wise to develop a policy for use of the site and to ensure that staff and members know about and understand the policy. An attorney or association management company may be able to help your organization craft a policy. Staff and members should be able to allow the personality of the organization shine through in Facebook posts that represent the organization; you want to be yourself — but you want to be your best self online.

Boosting awareness among non-members with LinkedIn The Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) is an international association of qualitative researchers who conduct focus groups, online research, ethnographies, and other forms of qualitative research.

This organization is constantly seeking out new ways to network with other professionals, vendors, and clients.

Several years ago, QRCA saw an opportunity to expand awareness of the organization and developed a QRCA group on LinkedIn. LinkedIn was selected because users of that platform span hundreds of industries from more than 200 countries around the world. At first, the group was restricted to current members of the association; within the first few months of existence, more than 300 members joined.

One benefit of this group is that as people look at profiles and participate on discussion boards, a QRCA logo is visible in the profiles of members. The original members only group got enough attention from non-members that an additional public group was created. The QRCA Board of Directors approved the creation of a public discussion group where current members and the public could interact. In less than one month the group had 470 members; in August 2013,

PLaybook group membership stood at more than 6,100. New discussions are started on a variety of topics almost every day. A volunteer moderator checks these posts to ensure they are related to qualitative research and/or market research.

Because LinkedIn is more “professional” in nature than some other social media sites, many associations have used it to create discussion groups. A newer feature is the ability to create a company page for an association; QRCA is currently building such a page in an effort to leverage its brand recognition even more effectively.

LinkedIn has at least 200 million users across the globe.2 Building a strategy team These are just a few examples of the ways that Ewald Consulting clients are using social media. In 2008, recognizing the need to bring our staff members up to speed on what was happening with new media and to help our clients use a variety of media effectively, our company organized a strategy team to work on the issue. Our Vice President for Communication & Technology headed the team. While three of the original team members represented the Communication & Technology Department, we also involved two staff members from Member Services, one from our Public Affairs/Government Relations Department, and one of our account executives. The cross-department nature of the team allowed us to consider a broader range of ideas and concerns than may have been possible with a team comprised solely of a single department.

Our first few meetings were devoted to brainstorming ways that various clients, departments and the company as a whole might use social media to good advantage.

We looked at examples of what other non-profit organizations and for-profit companies were doing already, and thought about how they could translate to our situations. Team members were assigned tasks between meetings. We developed model policies, then picked several projects that could easily be accomplished. If a project met with success with one organization, it was often easy to replicate it for another association; LinkedIn is a good case in point. LinkedIn

groups are very easy to set up, and provide a good way for members and nonmembers to network.

Another relatively easy project was developing RSS feeds for many of our websites. A few staff members were assigned to research sources of information that would apply to various organizations. For instance, members of the Minnesota Telecom Alliance (MTA) are interested in extending broadband internet service to all corners of Minnesota — and in the use of smart phones, VoIP, and news about telecommunication companies. Using Yahoo Pipes (an open source tool), MTA has a section on the home page (www.mnta.org) where headlines from a variety of news sources can be accessed. This strategy has been implemented for many of our clients.

We continue to use (and experiment with) other social media platforms. Our Government Relations team has used Twitter as a tool to keep members informed of action at legislative hearings and other meetings; for those members who use Twitter, it is a quick way for us to communicate with them.

As the initial implementation of strategies was completed, our internal team evolved. We now have a smaller staff team, but more of our clients have committees that integrate social media into their work plans. If more than one committee within an association uses social media as part of its strategy, it’s important that someone (whether volunteer or staff) can coordinate among the committees to avoid silos of information or volunteers working at conflicting purposes. Our staff social media team continues to explore newer social media platforms, evaluating how each might be used to best advantage with a particular client.

Measuring results Most social media platforms provide ways to measure your impact. Beyond simple “likes,” Facebook can show how many people saw your post. LinkedIn provides useful demographics about members of a discussion group. When we post a message on one of these platforms about an event, it’s easy to check

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CREATING EFFECTIVE AND ENGAGED BOARDS

by Kathie Pugaczewski, CAE, CMP

our registration report to see what the impact has been. If a Facebook post goes up one day, a LinkedIn announcement goes out a few days later, and an email to members is sent a few days after that, how does each impact registration? If your website allows you to send different messages to samples of your audience, test how a particular audience responds to different headlines. Or perhaps use different promo codes to test how people respond to your messages on different platforms. Based on what you know about the demographics of users on various types of social media, experiment with different images or text to see what resonates best; you may need to use a slightly different message on Facebook than on Twitter (even though it is very easy to post the same message on both platforms at the same time).

Key take-away points • Use a cross-department, cross-function team to research and recommend social media use for your association; it helps to promote healthy discussion and to develop a plan that has buy-in from all parts of the staff.

• Have a member of top management involved. That team member can help to champion the work of the team with other staff and key volunteers.

• Set a date when the team will complete its work (and steps along the way). It’s often easier to recruit team members when they know the scope of the work is limited.

• Once you’ve established that a particular tool might be useful for your association, work with volunteers through the appropriate committees to implement the project. It’s essential that volunteers are on board with new projects/features, and they may expand on an idea or provide concerns that staff hadn’t considered.

• Assign someone to measure use of the new tool to determine how it is being used, and whether modifications are needed. Assign someone to maintain the project, if needed.

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At Ewald Consulting, we provide support for a wide variety of professions — including economic developers, property managers, cardiologists, researchers, publishers, child care providers, and training and development professionals.

One factor that all of these professions have in common is the desire for an effective association.

This starts with an effective board leading the association, and effective and productive board meetings.

Quick exercise: At your next board meeting, have your board members individually list the top three issues facing members. Are these issues the same as those the organization has identified in its vision and mission? Are they truly in sync with the membership? If you get different answers from board members, chances are members will also have different answers. Make sure that you all have the same “elevator pitch” for your organization to communicate better and stay focused.

With more than 40 clients, we’ve identified common attributes of effective boards: • Directors have passion for the organization’s mission; • Directors come to every meeting prepared – they’ve read materials in advance; • All understand role of staff and board; • Board members respect each other and keep each other accountable; • The board stays focused on strategy — and out of the day-to-day details; • Board members focus on relevant issues.

We all have to deal with the following realities in the business environment: • Time – people are busy with multiple priorities.

• Attention economy – the rapid growth of information causes scarcity of attention; • Technology – mobile devices, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging, LinkedIn…What’s next?

PLaybook Given these realities, association leaders need to…

• Plan effectively and efficiently; • Make the most of in-person meetings and connect between meetings; • Be accountable – don’t over-commit; • Develop future leaders through mentorship; • Identify generational differences in style.

We need to develop our future leaders and work with younger generations in a way that connects. The strength of our board and association will come from engaged members of all generations who contribute to the organization in their own ways, ultimately creating an energy and vibrancy in our association.

This community of involved members will drive the organization and draw potential members to belong.

Ways to engage generations on the board and in the association:

We’ve all experienced one if not several of these items at meetings. Make sure they don’t happen in your board meeting. Before your meeting starts, set the following ground rules to ensure an effective board meeting: • Attend meetings and be on time.

• ACTIVELY listen to and show respect for the opinions of others.

• Follow the agenda – stay on track.

• Ask questions; the only stupid question is the one that isn’t asked.

• Ensure that credit is given where it is due.

• Avoid disruptive side conversations.

• Turn off cell phones, tablets, and other devices.

• Creating effective and engaging boards that truly serve the membership is the first step to creating an engaged membership and a mission and purpose that will transcend time and generations.

• Start a mentoring program. Boomers can help with mentoring.

• Invite Gen X and Gen Y to be on the board even if they haven’t “put in their time.”

• Start a Young Professionals Group.

• Keep meetings short and focused.

• Share information.

• Learn from one another.

• Create buy-in.

In the context of all of us being “meetinged out,” we need to make sure our board meetings are meaningful and productive.

According to the article “The Seven Sins of Deadly Meetings” by Eric Matson, the key things to avoid in your meetings are: • • • • • • •

People who arrive late and leave early; Meetings that are too long; Discussion that goes off-topic; Poor follow-through; Diluted opinion sharing; Insufficient preparation; Stagnant/stale content.

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GUARANTEED INVESTMENT WINNER – YOUR ASSOCIATION DUES

by David Ewald, CAE A finance professor in 1986 taught me an important lesson that I have applied to my work with associations.

I, along with most of my classmates, squirmed in our seats counting the moments till the end of a three hour lecture on present and future value calculations—hard stuff, at least for me it was. We groaned when he went over his allotted time for the course. How could he do that? Then came “the lesson.” Stopping the FV/PV lecture, he said “I’ll bet the education field is the only one where the customer wants to pay full price to a vendor and receive less ‘product’ than the vendor is willing to give.” Good food for thought, professor. We left. The professor’s idea applies well to the association world. Many members of associations pay their dues and then neglect to collect the full—or more—value by failing to lead or participate in the many opportunities the association offers for little or no cost.

A favorite question I like to ask board member is this: “If you could be convinced to pay 10 times your current dues to this association, what would it do to your (your company’s) participation?” The response is always the same. That member would become much more invested in the association because he would need to make sure his company saw a good return on its investment. If that is the case at 10 times the dues, then why not get an even quicker return by “investing” now at a lower price? Here are some ways to get more out of your membership: Serve on a committee or board Participating in the work of a committee or board will help you or your staff members develop leadership skills that will serve well in your work. You will be networking and “in the know” regarding what is going on in the industry. You will become appreciated as a leader. That can set you up for future growth in the association—or other leadership opportunities.

Sponsor or host something Associations are usually looking for sponsors of meetings, events and publications to help keep costs low for members. Kicking in a few dollars to sponsor a breakfast will get recognition for your company and a lot of appreciation. Host a tour of your company and have a roundtable discussion about issues you and 18

others face. They’ll appreciate it and you and your staff will enjoy showing off what you do.

Attend training events Association-sponsored events are usually one of the best deals going in continuing education. Usually they are run to make (at most) a small profit. Programs provide great networking opportunities for you and your staff and are another way to become visible in the industry.

Get your staff involved Would you like to magnify the value of your membership? Get more staff members involved. The value of your membership is limited only to you if other staffers don’t hear about training events or participate in leadership opportunities. When you get staff involved they grow in their careers and they learn about their (your) industry. Importantly, attendance at association events can be an affordable “perk” to give your staff that will leave them recharged when they return to work.

Share an idea Afraid your competitor will learn what you are doing and use it to capture the market? After 18 years in the field, I’ve never heard of it. In my opinion, many industries are more likely to be put out of business by their work being out- sourced to another country or by a competitor that isn’t yet in the business than by a current competitor down the street. Share what you know, learn from them and get better together! Share the ideas by writing newsletter articles, teaching a course or participating in roundtables.

Many saw portfolios shrink beginning with the crash in 2000. Through that time, associations have continued to provide one of the best returns on investment.

Like the stock market, a member can’t just invest her money in an association and hope for great returns. The good news is that unlike the market, investing in your association pays dividends no matter what the state of the economy — as long as you decide to take an interest in it. Pay closer attention in 2005 to the strength of your association commitment and I’m sure you see the rewards.

PLaybook USING STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS TO BOOST YOUR MEMBERSHIP

by Paul Hanscom, CAE Does your organization have trouble identifying new sources of membership? What does your widget makers association do after you have contacted every widget maker in your area to become a member? One option is to perform a stakeholder analysis of your organization.

Stakeholder analysis is a tool used to: • Identify groups that have a potential interest in your organization’s activities; • Distinguish the particular incentives for different stakeholders in your industry; • Assess the strength of stakeholder support (or opposition) to your organization’s agenda; and • Target ways to match the needs of your stakeholders with the benefits you offer members.

The process begins by developing a list of all individuals and organizations that have a linkage to the services you offer. Using the example of a teachers association, this list would include not only the teachers themselves but also suppliers of educational products, youth program leaders, representatives from the department of education, and community education staff. Remember that stakeholders can

include any entity with an interest in what your organization does and who your organization serves.

The next step is developing a list of interests for each of the stakeholders in your list. Why would this individual or organization benefit from membership? Do these stakeholders have interests that you are not meeting but that are consistent with your organization’s mission?

How do the operations of your organization (events, publications, etc.) affect these stakeholders positively or negatively?

Now that you have identified the stakeholders in your industry and the reasons they have a vested interest in your organization, you are able to assess which of these stakeholders is critical to your success. Is there one stakeholder who is strongly opposed to a particular initiative your organization is taking? How significant is this stakeholder’s involvement in your industry and your organization specifically? Which stakeholders hold the greatest influence over others?

The last stage of the stakeholder analysis is to review how the services you provide to members match up to the stakeholder interests you have identified. Are there disincentives to membership that your organization can actively reduce? Are there services you offer to members that do not match stakeholder interests? What can your organization offer to this stakeholder that provides membership incentive?

What service do you perform for the industry that your stakeholders cannot go without?

A complete stakeholder analysis can provide you with both a targeted list of prospective members and a thorough understanding of the important role that your organization plays in the industry. You will be able to recruit and retain members more effectively when you know exactly whom to target and when you can clearly articulate the value that membership adds to their business or career. There are more potential members out there. Stakeholder analysis can help you find them.

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LET’S MOVE ON! WORKING WITH ACTION-ORIENTED VOLUNTEERS

by David Ewald, CAE Many have served on boards that were immersed in a deep debate about an important topic when a member of the board impatiently declared, “let’s move on!”, signifying that as far as he or she was concerned, enough had been said to make a decision.

Action oriented and decisive volunteers are drawn to associations, especially if they find value in the time they spend and view the organization as an appropriate outlet for their energy, enthusiasm and competitiveness.

They can be great and decisive leaders that help move organizations to make difficult decisions. They help bring speed and vitality to organizations. At the opposite end, their impatience and competitiveness may alienate or marginalize others, pushing less forceful participants to the side as the organization is rushed into a decision supported by few.

Where the “detail oriented” volunteer — discussed in another article — is interested in careful debate and using data to make a decision, action oriented volunteers may rely on instinct or at least will require less data to be satisfied that they are making the right decision. They pride themselves on having a business-like approach, decisive manner and being focused on results. Often strong-willed and purposeful, they frequently are given leadership positions in organizations not only because they wanted them, but because others see their decisiveness as an attribute needed by the organization. As with other personalities, the best traits of the action oriented individual are highly useful to an association. Here are some thoughts on how to work best with them: Identify Them The action oriented individual is usually easy to spot.

They will make statements like, “let’s move on,” or “let’s make a decision,” signifying that they have heard enough and think that the rest of the board should have as well. These are often people who will identify themselves as “type A.” Whether or not they have read them, these individuals are often the ones making the motion to approve the minutes immediately at the beginning of the meeting!

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Appreciate and Involve Them These decisive leaders can be very useful when difficult matters face an organization. Where others may become mired in endless debates, data gathering and indecisiveness, action oriented leaders will help cut to the chase and make a decision — even if it is a painful and difficult one that others are afraid to make.

As presidents, they often come into office with specific things in mind that they wish to accomplish. As long as these are in the best interest of the organization, one can be assured that those items are likely to be accomplished.

Adopt the Best of Their Skills If this is not your natural style, what can you learn from the action oriented, decisive leader? There is usually a happy medium between snap decisions made impulsively and slow, or no, decisions reached after endless discussion. Author Malcolm Gladwell, writing in Blink, discusses the idea of “thin slicing:” the act of making a decision after reviewing only limited information. He shows that often decisions made by thin slicing are at least as good as those made after more extensive data gathering. Action oriented volunteers are the masters of thin slicing!

Confrontations May Be Difficult This type of individual is often viewed as competitive and aggressive. When in a situation where disagreement exists, he or she may forcefully argue a position and focus more on the outcome to be achieved than the feelings of others involved in the discussion. These individuals do not like to be told why something cannot be done, because in general, they have made careers out of finding ways to accomplish the ends they desire, even if it is at the expense of the feelings of others.

Communicate in Their Style Once you identify this person, the best way to work with them is to communicate in their style. They are

PLaybook not interested in lengthy discussions of data, drawn-out stories or endless debate. When it appears their interest in making decisions is contrary to the best result, point out that others need more information. To satisfy their interests in decision-making, set limits on the amount of data to be gathered and develop time frames. Then stick to them.

Make Sure Others Get to Participate Forceful and decisive leaders may participate in discussions in a way that leads others to silence and non-participation. This is detrimental to the organization, especially when those not speaking have wise points to make that they keep to themselves.

When debate or discussion is moving along too quickly, ask for the comments or thoughts of others, especially those who haven’t spoken.

Successful associations embrace the best parts of the personalities of their leaders. Clear and decisive actions help move organizations toward the fulfillment of their missions. Organizations that identify and work with action oriented leaders, using the best of their traits, will help to make significant progress toward identified outcomes. It is important to work with them in the style that they prefer: quick, business-like and outcome oriented. The challenge lies in making sure that the outcomes that the action oriented leader helps achieve are consistent with the mission of the association.

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9

MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

by Kathie Pugaczewski, CAE, CMP

1. Develop an annual marketing plan that ties directly to your organization’s financial goals.

Many organizations are so busy with the daily operation of business that they put off marketing until they think they will have time. Schedule what you will do on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis with clear and realistic measurements of success. The plan doesn’t have to be complicated – it just needs to be complete, followed, and measured for effectiveness.

6. Brand your company through consistent communication and a clear message.

Be specific with your message and say it often. Forrester Research found that overly vague or generalized statements frustrated prospects. You are not only competing with others in your profession or industry, you are competing with the 2,000 to 5,000 commercial messages that hit us everyday. Focus on clarity, consistency, and repetition.

2. Provide consistent customer service.

Build strong relationships with your customers through consistent customer service and make sure that all your employees do the same. Think of the last time you experienced excellent customer service. These days, those experiences are few and far between. This is where you can excel over the rest of the pack.

7. You may be a small or medium-si zed company, but think BIG. Watch what other “big” companies are doing and see if some of their practices can fit your company. The only way you will grow is by providing fantastic ideas, services and/or products, making sure that your target market(s) know about it, and most important, making sure they buy it. Look for opportunities to cross-market your product or service to other markets.

3. Ask for customer referrals.

Don’t assume that you will automatically get referrals.

Ask your customers, colleagues, family and friends for referrals and make sure to thank and reward those who give you referrals. The little things, consistently followed, make the big things happen.

4. Stay in contact with current and potential customers.

Update your customers on new services that you offer or share ideas that have worked for other customers.

One way to communicate with your customers is through a newsletter. If you are considering a newsletter, commit to it for at least one year. Publish it no less than quarterly and keep it focused on information that your customers are interested in.

5. Thank your current customers and ask them for feedback.

This seems so obvious, but many organizations do not do this. Don’t forget the value of your current customers and the impact that they can have on future sales through referrals and word-of-mouth. Take the time to send a hand-written thank-you note to your customers.

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8. Watch for trends and apply them to your business and marketing plans.

In What Clients Love: A Field Guide to Growing Your Business, Harry Beckwith identifies four significant trends: Option and information overload; the decline of trust; the growing importance of invisibles and intangibles; and a fundamental wish to connect with other people.

9. Think in terms of getting your customer’s attention first.

In the book Attention Economy by Thomas H. Davenport and John C. Beck, the authors note, “In post-industrial societies, attention has become a more valuable currency than the kind you store in bank accounts. The vast majority of products have become cheaper and more abundant as the sum total of human wealth increases. The problems for business people lie on both sides of the attention equation: how to get and hold the attention of consumers, stockholders, potential employees, and the like, and how to parcel out their own attention in the face of overwhelming options.

People and companies that do this, succeed. The rest fail. Understanding and managing attention is now the single most important determinant of business success.

Welcome to the attention economy.”

PLaybook THREE WAYS TO STRONGER VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT

by Paul Hanscom, CAE Dedicated, passionate volunteers are the lifeblood of your organization. They perform countless roles to assure vital work is accomplished and your mission is put into action every day. To achieve the best results, volunteers need the tools and training to be effective from day one and regular affirmation that they are a valued part of the organization. Following are three ways to strengthen your volunteer management program: 1. Be an Organization Where People Want to Volunteer • Define the Volunteer Experience: Provide a volunteer job description in writing. Make sure it clearly identifies volunteer duties, responsibilities, and expectations. Establish reporting mechanisms and a single point of contact.

• Recruit Early and Often: Volunteer recruiting should be an ongoing process. Don’t just recruit when you need volunteers.

• Identify Volunteer Ambitions: Why does the individual want to volunteer? What does the volunteer hope to gain from the experience? What would make this an especially great volunteer opportunity?

• Demonstrate Value: Communicate the importance of the volunteer work to other activities of the organization and the overall mission.

2. Start New Volunteers on the Right Track • Prepare in Advance: Know what resources are required for volunteers to serve effectively. Prepare a work plan to make the most of your volunteers’ time.

• Make Volunteers Feel Welcome: when new volunteers start, be sure to introduce them to staff, give them a tour of the office, and be available for their questions.

• Orient & Train New Volunteers: New volunteers are excited to serve. Show them how to convert their enthusiasm for your mission into successful results in their position.

• Convey Ground Rules: Volunteers frequently serve as a point of contact between your organization and the public it serves. They must represent your organization accurately with clear understanding of applicable policies and procedures when interacting

with the public. Make sure you relate important rules before your volunteers get started. How should they respond to inquiries for sensitive information?

To whom should they refer inquiries they are not comfortable handling on their own?

• Establish Realistic Time Requirements: Determine the time commitment that is realistically necessary to fulfill the volunteer position and communicate it openly. Specify if the position is ongoing or a timebound project. Set a date when you can evaluate the volunteer experience and assess whether to recommit, change/increase responsibilities or conclude the experience.

3. Support the Volunteers Who Support You • Establish Clear Expectations & Get Feedback: Even if there is a negative volunteer experience you may extort value from an exit interview to learn what went wrong and what changes you can make to improve the volunteer process at your institution.

Was the objective of the volunteer assignment successful? Did the volunteer have a fulfilling experience? Would the volunteer serve your organization again? What was most rewarding?

What was most disappointing?

• Keep Volunteers Informed: If there are changes in your organization that affect volunteer positions, let them know immediately. Describe why the changes are occurring and what the impact is on volunteer roles and responsibilities.

• Recognize and Reward: The number one reason volunteers discontinue their service is because they feel their contribution/time is not appreciated.

Remember that the volunteer position at your organization is only one of many responsibilities that your volunteer must fulfill on a regular basis.

For individuals who have been with you for years and spent untold hours serving your organization, a special token of appreciation is in order. For some, a plaque is appropriate. Some volunteers appreciate public affirmation while others prefer a charitable contribution be made in their honor. Be aware of social and cultural differences among your volunteers. Find out how your volunteers prefer to be thanked and recognize them appropriately.

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A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT

by Darrin Hubbard, CAE If membership is the lifeblood of an organization, then significant resources need to be devoted to maintain the health of the organization. Say you have 500 members and have an excellent membership retention rate of 95%. Without supplementing your organization with new members, after three years your membership will be 429. Membership recruitment needs to be a priority in any membership campaign. Use this article as a resource to add new strategies to your membership toolkit.

Approach Your approach to recruiting new members will only be as effective as the priority that it is given. Can your staff articulate the keys benefits of joining? Can your volunteers? Can you? Carve out some time at staff and board meetings to brainstorm opportunities and strategies for recruiting members. Keep the topic top of mind and it will pay dividends. Lead by example. Take some initiative and volunteer to personally be involved in recruitment activities and people will be more inclined to join you.

If a personal touch is more impactful than a faceless email, common sense would tell us to focus on those efforts. Each activity during the fiscal year is an opportunity to recruit new members – are you taking advantage of it?

Events Many organizations use key events during the year to recruit new members. This is a common strategy, as the difference in registration fees between member and non-member rates at large events can sometimes cover the membership alone. Are you pricing your events so that non-members might consider joining and attending as a member?

At the events, clearly identify members and nonmembers. Give members a ribbon or print the name badges for non-members on a different color paper so it is easy to differentiate. During the announcements, ask that the members help welcome non-members to the event.

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Provide opportunities to join at the event. Consider special pricing, giveaways or putting the difference in non-member registration fees toward membership if someone decides to join.

Data-Driven Strategies Take advantage of specialized programming, legislative news, newsletter content and other activities by tailoring your recruitment activities to prospective members. Consider sending an abstract of a relevant newsletter article to new professionals in the field as an example of the kind of high-quality content members receive. Share a legislative alert with non-members in a specific district, let them know what the organization is doing to protect the interests of the membership and invite them to join the coalition. Demonstrate the value of what belonging to your organization means and then ask them to be a part of the community.

Messaging People expect personalized communication. Today’s technology allows us to send emailed membership information addressed to a specific person, not a group or entity. Focus your communication on a particular aspect of membership that will provide value to a potential member — avoid sending a laundry list of benefits. You can include a link to a full list of membership benefits — but attention spans are short, so use your limited space to explain why a member should join by focusing on a specific benefit.

Utilize Multimedia A large budget for professionally developed and edited material is not necessary to integrate multimedia into your approach. Average-quality video tells a more compelling story than words on a page. Record videos about how current members have benefitted from belonging to your organization. Start with your board members, but also approach event attendees and committee members. Is networking a key benefit of membership? Have members created a unique culture?

Show footage of a reception, committee meeting or roundtable discussion and bring those intangible benefits to life. Don’t tell your story; show your story.

PLaybook Prospecting Potential members can come from many sources.

Consider them all, but prioritize your efforts on warm (rather than cold) leads: • Current Members: Consider a member recruitment campaign where members who refer new members to the organization are entered into a drawing.

Make it easy by developing an email that can be forwarded to non-member contacts. Ask board members to identify industry leaders who should be members of your organization.

• Non-member event attendees: These people have already experienced your organization firsthand.

Set aside 10 minutes each day to make a phone call and send a follow-up email personally inviting them to join. The personal touch will often make the difference.

• Former members: Send a brief exit survey and find out the reasons why they are no longer members.

Identify themes and work to address the gap between your offerings and their expectation.

Follow up with them and tell them what has been done to accommodate their needs.

• Non-members connected with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.: If you are being followed by nonmembers, obviously there is interest in your offerings. Use social media to ask them to consider joining. Demonstrate your ability to communicate with them through several channels.

• Purchased lists: Many health and human services organizations have lists that can be purchased or acquired at no charge from government or other regulatory agencies. Use these lists to welcome new licensees to the field, or invite them to a meetand-greet reception with current volunteers.

a scarce resource, make their job as easy as possible.

Rely on your systems and processes for welcome emails and renewal reminders. Use volunteers as greeters at events, to make welcome phone calls to new members or chasing down late renewals. To the extent possible, allow volunteers to take charge of the aspects of the processes that allow for meaningful peerto-peer conversations.

Utilizing Limited Resources The membership committee sometimes seems to be the most difficult entity to find volunteers for, yet the work they do is among of the most important to your organization. If you have an engaged membership committee, consider yourself lucky. Because time is

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Associations are in the relationship business. Members join to learn, connect, contribute and grow. Effectively using data will strengthen and deepen our relationships with our members.

Retention

Growth

Engagement

Content Development

RULES OF THE GAME Relevance

Loyalty

Community

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 Take inventory  Collect only what will be used  Go deeper, not wider  Use both qualitative and quantitative data  Connect the dots  Let members tell the story  Put insights into action  Measure

Attendance

Sponsorship Development

Usability

Conversation

Connection

PLaybook PRIMARY DATA SOURCES

Key Data Fields:              

Gender Birth Year Education Level Area of Study (open) Experience (open) Position (open) Job Function Year Started in Profession Business/Industry Specialties Areas of Expertise Skills Honors/Awards Other Organizations Belong to

Give Data back to members:  Send personalized emails with merged fields  Create searchable directories that connect the member community and members to the public  Identify patterns, trends, opportunities, gaps in the data to deliver new value  Use surveys and polls  Conduct focus groups to understand the members’ perspectives and perceptions  Create a matchmaker program to connect current members with new members  Design volunteer opportunities based on member interests and attributes  Ensure that special interest groups, webinars and conference content are driven by data 27

Your team at Ewald Consulting works every day to make being a part of your organization an experience that’s...

We offer fresh ideas that get results: • Volunteer/member engagement • Generational membership marketing • Social media • Podcasts and webinars • Sponsorship development • Member value initiatives and member growth • Providing “event experiences” and cutting-edge content delivery Creativity also means staying current with new technologies and trends in organizational management to maximize your organization’s impact for members. There are several ways that Ewald Consulting can help your organization address member needs, including: • Tactical-level volunteering • Online communities with integrated/live data points • Data-driven organization • Establish and expand “specialty” communities • Experiential learning

A partnership with Ewald Consulting ensures that your organization benefits from professionals who are experienced and qualified. This includes: • Association management and public affairs firm experience back to 1982 • 60+ employees, Certified Association Executives (CAE), Certified Meeting Planners (CMP) • One of only 14 association management companies that is charter accredited by ASAE and the AMC Institute • Among the top 5% of association management companies world-wide Team Approach Ewald Consulting attributes the effectiveness of its operations to three things: the departmental model upon which it’s built, the team approach it takes to mobilize departmental resources, and the robust project management systems that enable efficient, accurate strategic plan implementation.

Organizations that transition to Ewald Consulting regularly comment on the immediate improvements they experience in the essential performance of organizational management functions and the sense of finding, “the AMC that is truly the right match for our membership community.”

We value the relationships we have held for decades with many volunteer leaders and we are enthusiastic about starting relationships with your volunteer leaders and members that will last for decades to come.

Let us take care of your organization’s technical operations so you can focus on strategy, growth and the things that make your member community a fun place to be.

Contact Us Ewald Consulting is available for a free consultation with your association.

Contact our office if you want to discuss the services we provide.

Phone: (651) 290-6260 Email: info@ewald.com 28