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Fred Showker shares some tips gathered over twenty years of user group service... for improving your club
I've seen and experienced the results of these tips over my 20 years of involvement with user groups. You've probably heard them yourself. Yet if you take them seriously, and implement them all your group will be a better organization to be a member of. Your members will appreciate the extra service and benefit...
1. Create a Directory of Members
A colorful, user-friendly directory should also contain a list of past officers, interesting tidbits of information and user group trivia--the directory can be funded by solicitation of ads.
2. Create a Membership survey
Ask for input from members of the user group. Updated member information should be requested. Also ask for volunteers in specific areas, such as public relations, community service, etc. Personal follow up after the surveys are returned will generate dialogue that will reveal how existing members really feel about your group!
3. Personal Contact
To increase membership, have officers and board members personally contact a visible member of the community (center of influence) and ask them to join. You may want to hold a special membership luncheon or wine & cheese reception to get better acquainted with prospective members. If your user group is part of a national or state user group, include representatives from these arenas on your guest list.
4. Develop a NEW MEMBER packet
This packet should include a LIST OF BENEFITS for joining, as well as membership applications, the group's mission statement, state and national information, a list of projects that the group may be working on, and names and phone numbers of officers and chairpersons.
5. Hold a community fund raiser to create visibility
The media should be contacted--if your local paper is unavailable, take pictures and submit to local papers with press release.
6. Promote & Recognize Achievements
Contact the media whenever one of your members is presented an award or achieves recognition. Even if a member has distinguished himself in another arena, his affiliation with the user group should always be mentioned. Once his name or picture has appeared, he should be sent a copy -- another way the club makes itself valuable to its members.
7. Partner in the Community
Partner with a non-profit organization that's already established. Community service work earns favorable recognition. Jointly working on a project and thereby linking yourself to a successful, established group is powerful.
8. Nurture new members!
Make certain that once you have a new member, that you continue to nurture him and stay in contact with him. New members should be asked to participate and become active with committee work as soon as they join so that they will have a feeling of belonging.
9. Maintain meeting excellence
Often, user groups allow standards to drop when they are having membership problems. Achieve the highest degrees of excellence and don't allow individual, personal agendas to compromise what your user group is all about.
10. Have fun!
Develop camaraderie and a congenial atmosphere at meetings--members should be proud of their organization and feel honored to have been asked to join.
These rules are as old as the hills, but often forgotten by organization leaders. It is easy to fall into complacency or develop a false sense that everything is okay. It takes work to make a club, organization or user group really great. Take the effort and your club will be rewarded.
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