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Notes: 3/16/04 Conference Call
The March 16 conference call for chapter presidents was a follow-up to the previous call, and officers shared what worked and what didn’t work as they rejuvenated their marketing plans.
Relationship building is the most important aspect of building membership.
Have a point person for membership. Dan Kennedy of the Hartford Chapter shared that their chapter has a VP of membership who reached out to nominal members to get them to be active participants again and then recruited new members. Together with a high caliber of speakers, attendance at their meetings has risen.
Reaching out to noneconomic groups
The Richmond Chapter shared its efforts to partner with noneconomic groups by focusing on adding value to partners, acknowledging that if business owners are attending, they are joining your network to make money from it. With that in mind, the chapter offers an extra hour for networking. In addition, the chapter looked for the right location, free parking and great food, and attained a regular attendance of 75 to 80 people each meeting. Way to go!
Topics
The conference call did not specifically address speaker topics, but as we talk about reaching out to various groups and from conversations I’ve had with chapter presidents, I want to say a couple of things about topics. First, you want topics that are newsworthy and cutting edge AND that relate to your membership demographics. For example, perhaps an excellent healthcare panel might not have been well attended a few years ago unless your membership consisted of a number of healthcare economists, healthcare CEOs and policymakers, but this is a cutting edge topic this year as we’ve seen legislation enacted and it will continue to be a focus in the presidential campaign. I personally like a mix of macro topics and some micro/industry specific topics as well. But it is important to tie the topics into what is relevant today. Adding teaser text on the meeting announcement is a good idea, too, to encourage attendance.
Discussion about meeting sites
Several chapters have issues about where to hold meetings, especially as more businesses have moved to the suburbs. The bottomline of today’s discussion was that 1) if you’re going to reach out to a new area, it will be important to have partnerships with people in the new area to attract attendees; 2) consistency is everything—the first time you change sites attendance may be smaller, but in two months, more people will come; 3) while you reach new people in the new location, core members will likely continue to come because they want to participate. In addition, it is important to know your members so you can select a site that meets the most members’ needs.
Several members shared their experiences
The Hartford Chapter has rotated meetings between uptown and downtown and they were concerned that core members might not drive to the new site, but found that the speaker/topic mattered more than the site. The Cleveland Chapter’s board has discussed moving from downtown to the periphery, but faced resistance from core members despite free parking at the Cleveland State Univ campus. The Pittsburgh Chapter also found it difficult to diversify to a site outside of its dense downtown area that is a convenient to walk for many members and keeps travel/event within a reasonable amount of time for members. The Dallas Chapter shared an innovative solution: they rotate meetings on a regular basis between three places: downtown, the outer loop, and 15 miles from downtown. Their members seem to like this arrangement.
Outreach to academics/students
How to reach out to students, academics and alumni? The Chicago Chapter shared a success story, one that was enabled by a strong point person and a long-term investment in planning. In Chicago’s case, Diane Swonk—chief economist of Bank One and a strong NABE supporter—reached out to alumni associations at the University of Chicago and DePaul University (she has strong ties with both schools). The Chicago Chapter is hosting a joint event for both alumni groups, Diane will be the featured speaker, alumni attendees will pay their respective alumni associations directly, so the Chicago Chapter will only deal with the getting RSVP counts and a check from the two schools. A big attendance is expected based on RSVPs to date.
Hartford made a concerted effort to reach out to academics, and because a number of their officers are professors at universities, they have been fairly successful in getting regular attendees. Some of their ideas that worked: they held a panel of academic economists from local universities who gave their respective economic outlooks, they offer a scholarship for students in econ/bus depts., and professors can bring students for free, which has resulted in some new recruits.
The Southern Connecticut Chapter held a paper competition. The Richmond Chapter has a student officer, and it is very useful for that person to be the point person for a local college or university—they’re onsite, can post announcements and bring friends. Find schools that are interested in growing and want people to have access to their campus—they’ll be more willing to partner with you, let you have space for meetings while they gain prospective students, community awareness and support.
Some chapters allow students the option of not attending lunch, and only attending the speaker part. This doesn’t always work because chapters need to cover their costs for the facilities.
Corporate partnerships
Partnerships are important because they tie businesses to your group, while the Chapter charges a fee, they provide a value to the business. At the Los Angeles Chapter, partnering businesses are given membership discounts, placement on printed materials, the opportunity for their employees to be educated as well as to network and get business. To further strengthen your chapter’s relationship with your sponsors, pull corporate leaders from these groups to be speakers. (In addition, corporate sponsors usually encourage their employees to attend your events.) Don’t limit your partners. The supporters of the Los Angeles Chapter include AT&T Wireless, Capital Guardian, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts, the O’Neill Company/GenAm and Payden & Rygel.
Teleconference Participants
Jonathan Hil, l Pittsburgh;
Jackie Hudson, Richmond;
My Lan Tran, Richmond;
Parul Jain, New York;
David Jarcyzk, Chicago;
Ali Khan, Detroit;
Dan Kennedy, Hartford;
Mark LeClair, Southern Conn;
Lynda Lo-Hill, Los Angeles;
Jim Meil, Cleveland;
Lynette Podkranic, Portland;
Mine Yucel, Dallas; Laurie King Chair, NABE Chapter Committee;
Ssusan Forte O’Neil, l Membership Development Consultant;
Susan Doolitte, Executive Director of NABE;
Bruce Kratofil, NABE webmaster.
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