Taming
Your Association Through Committees
By
Kathy Hughes, ADC
Many
state associations rely on activity professionals to
plan and organize their annual conferences. There are
many people in the association who have experienced
this type of challenge and many who are willing to accept
the responsibility for planning this event. The first
step to taming this part of your association is to come
up with a set of guidelines (or policies and procedures)
for committee chairpersons to have. Each committee should
have a time line according to what is expected monthly
as well as some information about previous committees.
While this information can be the responsibility of
chairperson to chairperson, you might want to make sure
that your vice-president keeps all current copies so
that there is someone else who has a record of who did
what and how it was done. This would help especially
when activity professionals move or have other things
that may keep them from handing down information.
The
Chairperson should not be responsible for planning the
entire conference. Involving a number of people doing
a number of tasks not only allows membership to take
ownership of the conference, but also encourages members
to participate in your association in the future. There
are a number of committees that can contribute to a
successful conference.
Membership
Committee
Your membership committee is the key to your success.
Make sure that they have a task to do and the means
to do it. Your Membership Chairperson should be able
to empower his/her committee to run a membership drive,
survey the members and encourage the existing members
to take an active role in your association.
The
key to any association is membership. Local, state and
national associations are always looking for people
to join their associations. All too often the members
are looking for the benefits to joining and the officers
cannot give them concrete answers as to their benefits,
which in turn lowers the amount of people in the association.
This segment will address membership building, retaining
members and what those allusive benefits are.
Membership
Building
The first challenge for membership building is to find
those people who are passionate about your association.
They should be recruited to help with a strategy on
building a good membership base. These are the members
that have been in the association the longest and have
a vested interest in making sure that the association
lasts. These are the people who will bring in new members.
They should be the Welcoming Committee at any association
function. Make sure they are recognized at every event
and honored in a way that makes them part of the membership
team. One of the ways to do this is to give them a professional
name tag with their name, work title (certification
title or work title) and the name of the association.
Encourage everyone to wear these "golden name tags"
at all of your events.
The
second challenge is your marketing tool. Is your association
brochure professional looking? Does it have all of the
benefits written out and/or all of your association
accomplishments? Do the members have enough of the brochures
to take with them to meetings, workshops or conferences?
Does it have the person's name, address and work number
so that potential members can call with questions? Is
the brochure sent to activity educators in your state
so that they can display them at their sessions? Making
sure that the brochure reaches as many potential members
as possible is essential to getting new members. Don't
forget the activity assistants. Offer them a lower rate
or special membership. They are the Activity Directors
of the future!
The
Membership Drive is one of the most feared ways to bring
in new members. Many state and national associations
shy away from sending their brochures out "cold".
Although on a state/province level this is one of the
best ways to assure that the word has reached all of
your potential members. The brochure should be easy
to read and fill out. It should have a reasonable deadline
set for being returned. A good offer could be a special
one time rate for new members or a discount to your
next conference for new members joining within a specified
time frame. You could try a two for one rate, incorporating
two memberships for a lower rate if they both come from
one facility. A letter written from the association
president that encourages people to join would also
be a good insert for the mailing. Long standing members
should also be encouraged to write a welcoming letter.
State your accomplishments and obvious benefits like
newsletters, discounts and the ability for members to
earn free NCCAP credit for newsletter articles.
Membership
Marketing
Why should I join your organization? WIIFM? (What's
in it for me?) Interestingly there is an untapped resource
available for activity professionals that they take
little advantage of. Perhaps we figure that activity
professionals don't have the tools to use it. Perhaps
we think that many people are unaware of its' potential.
That resource is the internet. Few State/Province Associations
can be found on the internet, yet those that are available
have seen an increase in their membership and their
conference participation. Most of the websites that
are available will gladly let you post upcoming conferences
and meetings for FREE! Why should you take advantage
of this? The internet offers the ability to market to
hundreds of Activity Professionals who don't know about
your association, but are searching for information.
Just check the various "Bulletin Boards" available
for Activity Professionals.
NCCAP's
Bulletin Board receives about 300 visitors a day with
100 of them looking for educational opportunities. Senior
Act also has listings of upcoming conferences that allow
individuals to look for an educational session near
them. The various websites offer their associations
the ability to track and record visitors to their sites
and they know who is looking for what type of information.
Then
revisit your association to discuss what you can do
to market it to those looking for information. Interesting
programs that meet the needs of your members will have
others talking about how great it is to access your
association. Marketing is not exclusive to mailings,
newsletters or your website. Having all three tools
does allow your association to cover the needs of your
potential members. Having your state code available
in all three types of marketing will educate those looking
for that information. Having a State Surveyor speak
at your next meeting or conference will encourage people
to attend and just might peek the interest of administrators.
Marketing
not only includes investing in the future of your association
but also says that your association is a professional
entity that supports the long term care industry. You
may want to take out an ad in an Administrators Convention
Booklet or sponsor an educational event at a dietary
conference. Both would bring the activities side to
other professions and encourage participation in your
association. NN
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