Drive Member Engagement through Revitalized Chapter Events
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This document provides suggestions for revitalizing chapter events to drive member engagement through co-creation, collaboration, connections, and content. It recommends getting members involved in event creation, having chapters collaborate on events, building networking into the event design, and making content engaging and an enjoyable learning experience. Specific tactics include asking members for input, setting up focus groups, adding polls, collaborating across chapters, offering interactive table exercises, meetups for specific interests, and exploring new session formats. It also includes examples of short event formats and ways to expand events such as curated playlists, expert clinics, and explorer groups.
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Drive Member Engagement through Revitalized Chapter Events
- 1. Drive Member Engagement through Revitalized Chapter Events
- 2. What tech tools will help lessen the administrative burden on my chapter leaders? How do I build more resilient components and volunteers? Who We Are
- 3. “ Event planner is the third most stressful job in the world—and your local chapter leaders do it for free in their spare time! It’s not only event logistics that wear them down. Event costs are 20% higher than 2019 and revenue is 15% percent lower. Dave Lutz of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting
- 4. What can you do to revitalize? • Emphasize and re-emphasize the team’s purpose. • Ask people what matters to them, what they really care about/believe in. • Ask people to describe how what they do (their role) affects the team and ultimately the members • Invite people to say what they get from each other — what they appreciate about working together.
- 5. Get Reacquainted With Your Target Audience
- 6. Ask your audience Ask different questions Whom do you want to meet at events? What topics, problems, challenges, and interests do you want to discuss? What great ideas or success stories do you have to share? How does a great event make you feel? Seek out input from: “never” attendees “barely involved” members Voices from different career stages, business sizes etc.
- 7. Map out a typical attendee journey This exercise will help chapter leaders: Understand what attendees feel and think during an event experience Think through the entire process – event registration through post-event interactions Have a better sense of what makes events a rewarding experience (time/effort)
- 8. Co-Creation, Collaboration, Connections & Content
- 9. 9 #1 Co-Creation Change the way chapters plan events! Ask members to suggest locations, topics, speakers, or activities Set up a focus group to build the event Add polls to pre-event communications Ask members to share a story, challenge or solution to an event topic
- 10. #2 Collaboration Share the work & the success Help chapter collaborate on events – with other chapters and sister organizations Collaborate with chapters - HQ hosts a virtual event with chapters hosting a companion in-person event Tap the CEX 2.0 model – start virtual, head to in-person, wrap up with virtual
- 11. 1 1 #3 Connections Networking works best when it’s small and specific: Always offer Interactive table exercises during education sessions Meetups for “birds of a feather” Solution room sessions Ideation sessions or hackathons Community service projects Build in formal networking
- 12. Build networking in Open with meaningful icebreakers Schedule time for informal discussions Do “walk & talks” Build intentional breaks Use stickers/badges to spark connections Create Connections Build networking pre & post Ask attendees to opt-in to sharing their name on the attendee list Offer a pre-event virtual meet-up Offer post-event catch-ups
- 13. 1 3 #4 Content We have to deliver content in new ways, so Teach chapters the principles of adult learning Create a “train the trainer” video Encourage chapters to experiment with new session formats Help chapters embrace diversity in speakers
- 14. Co-Creation Get members involved in creating the event. Leveraging the 4 C’s for event success Collaboration Drive working together on events. Connections Build networking into the event design. Content Give members effective content and make it an enjoyable learning experience.
- 15. • 30 Minute Mondays • 30 Minute Briefing • 45 Min Lunch & Learn GO SHORT • Book club • Meditation group • Writing workshop • Support group • Short-term learning cohort MEET-UP • Checking out & off the local sites • Walking Tour of city (hire a guide?) • Adapt either to virtual EXPLORER GROUP • Blog • Podcast • Question of the Week LEADING WITH CONTENT • One-to-one time slots with experts • Perfect for event add-on or stand-alone EXPERT CLINICS & BRAIN DATES • Guiding members in exploring a topic through a curated YouTube playlist • Variation: List of resources CURATED PLAYLIST BONUS CONTENT: IDEAS TO EXPAND EVENTS
- 16. Are you attending ASAE Annual?
- 17. Meet Mark & Max Come say hi to Mark & Max and talk components. Learn how Billhighway can help you! Schedule Time to Chat Stop by Booth #237 for some swag or schedule a meeting with Mark Prevost for an individual consultation. Join Us at the A2 Party Register for the Success Crew Post Game Party at the Wild Leap Atlanta on Sunday, August 6th. ASAE Annual 2023
- 18. September 20th Out with the Old. In with the New — Examining New Chapter Structures October 18th Improving Chapter Communications November 8th Embracing New Chapter Tech in '24 w/Beth Z Upcoming Webinars
- 19. Billhighway Mariner Management • Current financial reporting • Chapter member engagement data • Number of events they’re hosting • Types of events they’re hosting • Percentage of members and non- members attending • Discovering your chapter ROI • Innovating your chapter structure • Rethinking your volunteer strategy • Training & developing chapters leaders • In-depth & quick bites Tap us for… With Billhighway, you can see chapter performance data in real time—no more nagging chapters for: Want more? Contact us for a 15 minute chat. Your chapters need help? You need help with your chapters? Want more? Contact us for a 15 minute chat.
- 20. Thank You!
Editor's Notes
- Chapter events are a surefire way to get members engaged and excited about being a part of your organization. Plan them the right way to get them to show up post-pandemic!
- Let’s Meet the Team – This webinar is brought to you by the fab partnership of Billhighway & Mariner Management! In fact this topic comes out of our work. You may think you are buying a tech solution from BH or a chapter solution from MM but you are also bringing in change management. We’ve discovered something about that – we’ll call Chapter’s Change Readiness Quotient that drives today’s conversation @Billhighway – Chapter Management Solution. We increase ROI across your entire organization by providing technology tools to help chapters perform better; as well as delivering member engagement and component performance data to headquarters. @Peggy - Mariner – Let’s create the greatest possible value for your members and volunteers! Our Shared Purpose To build community the component relations community and connect CRPs.
- The impact of lower attendance has a compound effect. One of the most valuable benefits of membership is feeling like part of a supportive community. But how do members become part of the chapter community if they don’t attend events? Members who rarely attend events are less likely to volunteer or take on leadership roles. Chapters must design an attendee experience that draws members out of their homes and offices. They need events that people talk about and that cause the best kind of FOMO—events that attendees believe were well worth their time and money.
- Before we get started, I want to do a quick resource share. Consider that even skilled workers suffer from chronic low engagement and productivity levels, while stress and burnout continue to rise. Add to this the pressures of economic uncertainty and a potential recession, the threat of artificial intelligence automating jobs and skills and disrupting entire industries, and the sense of languishing and loneliness that increasingly permeates the work experiences of many, and the overall picture is rather bleak. In our view, there has never been a better time to rehumanize work. That is, in an age when a large proportion of our everyday interactions with others (e.g., clients, colleagues, and bosses, and even spouses and kids) are reduced to sterile technological exchanges, while our careers seem to have been optimized for efficiency, it’s no surprise that many workers feel deprived of their creativity, curiosity, and humanity altogether. The implication? If you want to compete for talent, and create truly appealing environments in your team and organization, where people thrive and excel, you must help them rediscover the human (and humane) qualities that make work more than just work. What can you do to revitalize? Emphasize and re-emphasize the team’s or organization’s purpose. Ask people what matters to them, what they really care about/believe in. Ask people to describe how what they do (their role) affects the team and ultimately the customers (or those served by the organization’s work) Invite people to say what they get from each other — what they appreciate about working together.
- In the post-pandemic world, chapters must understand the current desires, needs, and interests of members and non-members. They can start by building strategies based on surveying different segments of their audience and market, such as: Past attendees and never (or rare) attendees Highly involved and barely involved members Different membership tenures, career stages, business sizes, and demographics In these surveys, find out: Why do people attend or don’t attend events in general and chapter events specifically? What bothers them and what do they love about events? Whom do they want to meet at events? What topics, problems, challenges, and personal interests would they like to discuss at events? What great ideas or success stories do they have to share? How do they want events to make them feel? And don’t forget to scour that engagement data too! It can tell you who’s attending and not attending events.
- At chapter leader conferences, help them think deeply about events by mapping out the typical attendee journey for each market segment. This exercise helps chapter leaders understand what attendees feel and think during the event experience—from first hearing about the event to registering and attending to post-event interactions. They’ll have a better sense of what makes an event a rewarding experience.
- Since the pandemic, people’s perspectives on events have changed. This is an opportunity for chapters to think about the event experience—content, conversations, connections, and the emotions that go along with them. What can their events offer that members and nonmembers can’t get elsewhere?
- Chapter events are planned the same way now in 2023 as they were in 1993: a committee chooses topics and speakers, sometimes with board or staff input. When the event is announced, members often have no idea how the topics and speakers were chosen and may have differing opinions about their relevance. If the event design process is more transparent and inclusive, members might feel differently. Give members the opportunity—individually or in focus groups—to suggest locations, topics, speakers, and activities and to provide other event feedback. Add polls to newsletters about problems to solve, knowledge gaps, worrisome issues on the horizon, or desired skills. Find new resident experts by asking members for a story, challenge, or solution related to a specific topic. Who can share their success at an upcoming event?
- Chapters don’t have to take on the heavy event workload alone. Encourage them to collaborate on events with other chapters and local membership organizations. A chapter of the Risk Management Association collaborated with local Bar, CPA, and Marketing chapters to plan and host a young professionals gathering. Your association and chapters can each leverage your strengths in a hybrid event collaboration. After HQ hosts a virtual event, chapters can host in-person events on the same day or the next day. Provide a chapter activity and discussion guide to help them continue the conversation, dive deeper, and share related success stories. We’re taking a similar approach with CEX 2.0 this spring. First, we hosted in-person workshops in DC and Chicago. Then, during a follow-up virtual event on May 25th, we’ll share recordings and continue the chapter conversation.
- Events are the best opportunity for members to feel like they’re part of a community and build relationships. But you can’t expect this to happen naturally. Chapters must build structured networking experiences into the event design. Networking works best when it’s small and specific: Interactive table exercises during education sessions—require them! Meetups for affinity groups or birds of a feather Solution room sessions Ideation sessions or hackathons Community service projects—choose an activity attendees can do together in groups, talking while they work
- How to Create Connections at & around Events #1 Building networking into the event Ask attendees to opt in to sharing their name on the attendee list. People are more likely to attend an event if they see friends attending. Start the event with meaningful icebreakers and group exercises that give attendees an excuse to make a few new connections. Schedule time for informal discussions on hot industry or career topics—one topic per table. Reserve a few tables for personal interests. People are more likely to bond with someone over a love of Italian cooking, dogs, fishing, or homeschooling—things they do (not just like) in common. On table stanchions, post provocative or unconventional work-related questions to get a lively conversation going during the meal. Help attendees find solutions via stickers on their badge or in a central area: “I’m looking for an X” or “I need help with Y” or “Do you know anyone who’s done Z?” Sell sponsorships to conversation circles around the venue where people can hang out, enjoy a beverage and snack, and chat. #2 Keep connections going between events Keep connections going between events by hosting an online community, Slack channel, or virtual meetups. Host small virtual and in-person meetups throughout the year, for example, quarterly meetups for different membership segments, such as career stage or position. In these regular meetups, people start to see familiar faces and get to know each other. Ask a group of members to plan these because the workload can be too much for one volunteer. For virtual events, open the Zoom or event platform 15 minutes before the start and leave it open 15 minutes after, so attendees have a chance to chat without distraction.
- Content is everywhere online. Many members don’t need the chapter for information and education; they can easily find that elsewhere. But some members don’t dedicate time to professional development and rely on chapter events to earn CAE credits. Give them content, yes, but make it an effective and enjoyable learning experience. Teach chapters about the principles of adult learning so they know what to ask and expect of speakers. A “train the trainer” video can help speakers shape the best sessions possible—a skill that many members and speakers can also apply in their day job. Every session should give attendees the chance to recall, discuss, and apply what they’re learning. They should always take away something they can apply at work in the coming days. Encourage chapters to experiment with new session formats: talk show style, fish bowl, or ask-me-anything. Ask chapter leaders to share their event successes with you so you can share them with others. People make registration decisions based on whether they see themselves represented in the speaker selection. Chapters can show their commitment to diversity by the speakers they choose. Members are excited to get back to in-person events, but virtual is still important. Some people would rather stay home and earn credits online than drive across town or state for a chapter event. But what would get them onto Zoom if they already have several other virtual meetings that day? Gather resources on virtual event design so chapters don’t simply try to replicate an in-person event. Instead of a full day of education, think in terms of two-hour blocks on a series of days. Virtual events are not the same as in-person, but they can provide compelling learning experiences and opportunities to connect with others.
- This is an opportunity for chapters to think about the event experience—content, conversations, connections, and the emotions that go along with them. What can their events offer that members and nonmembers can’t get elsewhere?
- Go Short Create an event series that is under 30 min each ala MPI’s 30-Min Monday https://academy.mpi.org/mpi/live/4497/page/19927 a subject matter expert and moderator sit down for a hard-hitting, jam-packed 30-minute conversation about the topics you need to know to start your week. No slides, no long lectures, just facts, tips, and tricks to help you take your events and business to the next level. Can’t make it? 30-Minute Monday will be available on-demand within 72 hours. Johns Hopkins model of 30-min covid briefings is all video 30 min consultation – taking an idea from a vendor and making it work for you https://sequence-events.com/30-minute-consultation/ 45-min Lunch & Learn https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/lunch-and-learn.htm maybe add option for a grub hub Meet-ups: Book club, meditation group, writing workshop, https://www.meetup.com/blog/5-handy-online-event-recipes/ Tap into a Local Guide to find fun – and different activities Fun things to do in San Diego or SF. A little inspiration from Julie and Julia (sad to hear of Julie Powell’s death) – pick a list of neat things in your town and arrange a set visits to finish the list and then offer a celebration Icebreaker Expert Clinic Curating YouTube playlist – guiding your members in exploring a topic. Here’s why this is powerful (increased exposure and displaying value). A couple of resources Youtube help, How to Create and Use Collaborative YouTube Playlists video, and How to Share a YouTube Playlist article. A Referral List – creating a cool resource that helps members find each other and other resources. Highlight tools, apps, events, books, blogs etc. Start meetings 5 min late 8:05 – an idea inspired by grad school days. I remembered that all classes on campus would begin at 10 minutes past the hour and end on the hour, e.g., 9:10 to 10:00 AM. The idea behind this was to give students 10 minutes to walk, bike, rollerblade, or skateboard to their next class which might be located half way across the campus. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/want-timely-meeting-starts-start-late-j-jobin/ Cool resource: Membership Pro Tip https://associationsnow.com/?s=Membership+Pro+Tip
- Speaking of modeling a good example of creating intentional networking at an event + using opportunities to create meet-ups! Mariner will be on their annual vacation, but Billhighway will be at ASAE Annual. Lauch Poll (1 Question): Are you going to ASAE Annual?
- Come say hi to Mark and Max at Booth #237 Schedule a time to chat at the Booth (237) or email Mark Prevost to set a meeting. Success Crew Post-Game Party - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/success-crew-post-game-party-tickets-667055479897?aff=bh Wild Leap Atlanta 125 Ted Turner Drive Southwest Atlanta, GA 30313 Sunday, August 6 · 5:30 - 8pm EDT
- Join us for our September, October & November Webinars We'll share registration links soon.
- Billhighway Software like Billhighway allows for a healthy balance of association visibility and chapter autonomy. You can see chapter performance data in real time—no nagging required. For example, with Billhighway, you can see the: Full financial picture of chapters Insight into member data Number of events chapters are hosting Types of events they’re hosting Percentage of members attending Percentage of non-members attending Mariner We are all about optimizing your local presence, whether it’s the traditional chapter or something else. We help you empower volunteers, improve the member experience, answer tough questions about components.
- Any questions? Thank you!