Does your association have the kind of engaged members it needs?
Members who show up, volunteer, serve on committees and even move into leadership positions might seem like unicorns, but they aren’t. You can grow them from your current membership by taking seven very important steps.
Step 1: Uncover the needs and wants of your members.
Why do people join your association? To answer that question, you need to ask it, ideally by using a strategic survey. You can find sample questions for a good strategic survey in my blog How to Boost Your Association’s Member Engagement.
A note on the words need and want. I use both, because they’re not always the same. Members might need continuing education because it’s required to retain a certification. They might want to build relationships through networking to earn referrals and new business. If you’re only focused on what they need, they’ll pop in for some CE, then pop back out; if they’re getting what they need and what they want, they’re more likely to be invested in and passionate about your association as a whole. And those are the kind of people who volunteer and lead.
Let me do a quick aside about types of members. Your association most likely has more than one type of member. The National Association of Home Builders, for example, has builder members who build homes, associate members who sell supplies and offer services, and affiliate members. They have student chapter programs and young professionals. Getting all of these types of members engaged is vital, so be sure to take their needs and wants into consideration, too.
Once you’ve uncovered what your members need and want from your association, put together a plan to give it to them. This may be the moment that you say, “Jim! We have great events and educational opportunities, but we can’t get people to come!” Don’t worry; we’re going to address that in the next steps.
Step 2: Be welcoming and orient your new members.
Like they say, you never have a second chance to make a first impression. If you want new members to become engaged members, you have to help them feel welcome from Day 1. Here are a few suggestions to do that:
- When someone joins, send a welcome letter; be sure to include a link to the strategic survey. Also call to personally to welcome them to the association, learn about them and why they joined, ask if they have any questions, and invite them to the next event.
- Offer a formal orientation program that provides an overview of your association and introduces leadership and committees. Share how to get the most out of their membership, a list of upcoming events and low-involvement volunteer opportunities (more on that in Step 5).
- Have hosts greet people at events and connect new members with someone who can introduce them around and make sure they have people to hang out with.
- After each event, reach out again to thank new members for attending and invite them to the next event. Ask how things went and if there’s anything they need to feel more welcome.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate. Make sure all members know what events are coming up and what they can expect to get from each. Announce opportunities to volunteer, with an emphasis on value. Publicly thank volunteers and ask them to give testimonials about why they volunteer and what they get out of it.
Do you see a trend in that last bullet? Communication and value. If you’re planning and implementing great events that meet the needs and wants of your members, but no one’s coming, it’s because they don’t know the events are happening or they don’t see the value in it for them.
Step 3: Help members take the work out of networking
When I do strategic surveys of members, one of the top reasons people join associations is because they want networking opportunities. Networking leads to referrals which leads to more business. It connects people with mentors they can learn from and with younger professionals they can share their expertise with. It builds a community they can get support from during the tough times and celebrate successes with. It strengthens business connections but also helps develop the deep personal relationships that make a difference in business and in life.
Networking is also one of the things people find most intimidating—which means that helping your members learn how to be better, more comfortable networkers is one of the most valuable things you can do for them. One way of doing that is by offering networking opportunities at all of your events, but I also encourage you to hold workshops on networking that cover:
- What to do before, during and after a networking event to get the most out of it
- Tips for increasing your networking effectiveness, including using Caring Questions to help guide a conversation
- Making networking work for you, whether you’re an extrovert, an introvert or somewhere between
- How to pick the right networks and networking events
One of my most popular association talks, How to Take the WORK Out of Networking® covers all this and more. If you’d like me to bring it to your members, please
Step 4: Plan great events.
You’ve done your strategic survey, so you know what your members want and need. But great events don’t just happen. They need to be well planned, marketed, run and followed up on.
- How to plan a great event: Have a vision for what you want to accomplish and be sure it adds value. Draft an agenda that delivers on that vision and value. Recruit others to participate in the event, to keep things dynamic and interesting.
- How to market a great event: At every event, include an overview of other events coming up. Send out emails. Post on your website. Share on social media. Call new members to invite them; call and invite other members you think would benefit from the event or who you haven’t seen lately.
- How to run a great event: Have hosts greet attendees. Match new members up with veterans. Stay on track by following the agenda and using a timekeeper. Use strategic introductions and “plants” to keep energy flowing. Include interaction wherever possible. Get quiet members engaged. Keep things positive! Wrap up with action items, deadlines and details about the next meeting.
- How to follow up a great event: Send out a recap of the meeting, with action items, deadlines and details of the next meeting. Make caring calls to check in with people who didn’t attend. Make caring calls to new members. Share lessons learned that will make the next event even better.
Notice that I keep using the word event, not meeting. Meetings are important, and you should definitely have regular ones, but keep it interesting by mixing things up. Of course you want to offer required and enriching education, but there are so many other types of events: conferences, trade shows, holiday parties, workshops, happy hours, awards ceremonies, fundraisers and retreats. And don’t forget the networking! Make sure there are opportunities to network at all of your events.
Step 5: Make it easy and fun to volunteer.
Recruiting volunteers and leaders is a pain point for every association I’ve ever worked with. That’s because associations run on member volunteers and members are busy people. How do you get people to make time to volunteer, much less lead? You make it easy, and you make it fun.
Making Volunteering Easy
It’s a rare person who wants to jump right into a deeply involved, long-term volunteer project when they join an association, so consider categorizing volunteer opportunities by commitment level:
- Low commitment level: micro-activities that require no training or commitment outside of the event and are very time-limited, like serving as a greeter or making an announcement at an event. These are great for new members.
- Middle commitment level: slightly more involved activities that require very little training or preparation and are relatively time-limited, like helping with one piece of planning for an event or making a small number of caring calls in advance of or after an event.
- Middle-high commitment level: more involved activities that require some training, some time commitment and some leadership, like co-organizing a portion of planning for a medium to large event or serving on a committee.
- High commitment level: very involved activities that require a lot of training and experience, a large time commitment and major leadership. Honestly, these kinds of volunteer activities should be few and far between; whenever you can, break them down so they can be done by more people with less time commitment.
Making Volunteering Fun
Make sure all of your volunteer opportunities have value to the members doing them, and keep it fun. Leadership sets the tone by bringing an attitude of joy, discovery and camaraderie to the work.
- Employ fun icebreakers to help everyone get to know each other and to get the team jazzed up.
- Send out upbeat updates highlighting progress and celebrating wins.
- Recognize volunteers at meetings and with fun awards.
- Ask for feedback. Your volunteers often have the best ideas for making things better!
Step 6: Develop an ambassador program.
Ambassadors are members who go out into the community to share the vision and mission of your association. They might deliver a presentation, help with lobbying efforts, participate in a podcast, talk to affiliate groups, even write newsletter articles. Because ambassadors are the public face of your association, they need to be well trained in your brand and know how to talk appropriately about your association. That training—if it’s fun and interesting—builds an ambassador’s enthusiasm as they develop an even deeper appreciation for what your association is trying to accomplish and how they can help.
Step 7: Run effective, engaging and energetic committees.
Committees are the workhorses of an association, but unfortunately they often feel like it, too. No member wants to volunteer to serve in a role that’s going to be a drudge. You can make committees more effective, engaging and energetic by running them like a smaller version of your association: having a stated purpose and vision, providing value to the committee members and the membership at large, planning great committee meetings the same way you plan great events, and making it fun and easy to volunteer.
Bringing It All Together to Level Up Your Member Engagement
So often, associations put a lot of effort into gaining new members but not so much on engaging them. That is one of the biggest mistakes an association can make because it’s the members who are passionate about your association and what they’re getting from it who are going to do the work of your association. They’re also going to renew every year, and that’s a boon for your bottom line.
So, level up your member engagement by taking these seven steps:
- 1. Uncover the needs and wants of your members.
- 2. Be welcoming and orient your new members.
- 3. Help members take the work out of networking.
- 4. Plan great events.
- 5. Make it easy and fun to volunteer.
- 6. Develop an ambassador program.
- 7. Run effective, engaging and energetic committees.
One final note: Remember what I said about breaking down those high-commitment-level volunteer activities into smaller chunks? Implementing these seven steps isn’t the work of a moment, and you don’t have to go it alone. I’m here to help. Please
