I want to established a company club at the company I work for (and,
hopefully, have the company pay for it). Any ideas to avoid the "I
joined, but never make it to any of the meetings?"
When you say "and have the company pay for it", what exactly do you mean? If you're talking about having the sponsoring company pay for the charter fees, then that's great. If you're talking about having the company pay the dues, then my experiences says that you're working against your other stated goal.
Individuals need to feel invested in their club, either by money, time, experience, friendships, or something else. The money is a big one in our culture. If you take away that investment, then you will wind up with folks who "join" but never attend. They have no stake in making something come of value from their personal investment.
The TI and club dues are pretty cheap (at least in North America). We really can ask people to pay a little to get a lot.
> I want to established a company club at the company I work for (and, > hopefully, have the company pay for it). Any ideas to avoid the "I > joined, but never make it to any of the meetings?"
- Get company buy in from HR - preferrably more than one individual so
that it can survive one person leaving.
- Hook into the training program, credits, hours, SOMETHING.
- Keep attendance.
- Set attendance minimums
- Reimburse AFTER the fact.
Example: You complete April through October and attend over 50%
meetings, then we reimburse for the April through October dues
period.
> When you say "and have the company pay for it", what exactly do you
> mean? If you're talking about having the sponsoring company pay for
> the charter fees, then that's great. If you're talking about having
> the company pay the dues, then my experiences says that you're working
> against your other stated goal.
> Individuals need to feel invested in their club, either by money,
> time, experience, friendships, or something else. The money is a big
> one in our culture. If you take away that investment, then you will
> wind up with folks who "join" but never attend. They have no stake in
> making something come of value from their personal investment.
> The TI and club dues are pretty cheap (at least in North America). We
> really can ask people to pay a little to get a lot.
> > I want to established a company club at the company I work for (and,
> > hopefully, have the company pay for it). Any ideas to avoid the "I
> > joined, but never make it to any of the meetings?"- Hide quoted text -
Here we have a company club at Xango - an MLM fruit drink company. In
the first year, they've gone from twice a month to every week, and
have nearly 40 members that come regularly. They even bumped me off
the schedule, saying they decided to stop letting outside speakers
come in (perish the thought).
They have full HR buy in - which doesn't hurt.
Rich
On Feb 19, 8:49 am, Mark <torchw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I want to established a company club at the company I work for (and,
> hopefully, have the company pay for it). Any ideas to avoid the "I
> joined, but never make it to any of the meetings?"
On Feb 19, 10:49 am, Synapse <dwind...@gmail.com> wrote:
> - Get company buy in from HR - preferrably more than one individual so
> that it can survive one person leaving.
Already spoke with HR, they WANT to do it.
> - Hook into the training program, credits, hours, SOMETHING.
Spoke with the departments trainer, he wants to know more
> - Keep attendance.
> - Set attendance minimums
> - Reimburse AFTER the fact.
That's a details. I want to know what some companies have done so that
there is a minimum of "ghost" members. If I can get the company to
offset some of the costs, that's a plus.
> Hope this helps, feel free to email me as I've been dealing heavily
> with corporate clubs for years.
Right now, I'm working on the "sell" part of the club and present both
the positives as well as the money portion. The plusses that I have
working for me:
+ HR, my supervisor, department trainer, and manager are looking at
this as a plus.
+ One of the Divisions top speakers works for the same company, but at
a different location, and wants to speak at the demo meeting.
+ I've got the assistance of top-notch people at the district
leadership.
+ My core message is that "It's a enjoyable way to improve one's
skills."
Hi Mark,
I am halfway through a Speechcraft series with a local division of a
national company but might not get to finish the program. I was just
informed that the company has decided to form their own club. I
didn't have to sell it at all. As luck would have it, the corporate
office recently spent a good deal of money for a trainer to come and
give a one-day session on public speaking. For half that cost they
can fund an entire year of Toastmasters. They figured out the value
for themselves.
Although I believe in your core message as it relates to members, if I
were selling to the training department I'd focus on the relative
inexpense.
Regarding how to keep an active membership, I would suggest creating
an environment where members are comfortable holding each other to a
very high standard. My club recently went through a significant lull
in energy and participation. This lull coincided with a relaxing of
meeting standards and polish. Then a new member arrived, a DTM from
nearly 20 years back. He has helped us recommit to the program. It
has become very clear that, by stepping up the expectations, our
membership's commitment has greatly improved. I hope this helps!
Good luck!
Robert
On Feb 19, 3:57 pm, Mark <torchw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 19, 10:49 am, Synapse <dwind...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > - Get company buy in from HR - preferrably more than one individual so
> > that it can survive one person leaving.
> Already spoke with HR, they WANT to do it.
> > - Hook into the training program, credits, hours, SOMETHING.
> Spoke with the departments trainer, he wants to know more
> > - Keep attendance.
> > - Set attendance minimums
> > - Reimburse AFTER the fact.
> That's a details. I want to know what some companies have done so that
> there is a minimum of "ghost" members. If I can get the company to
> offset some of the costs, that's a plus.
> > Hope this helps, feel free to email me as I've been dealing heavily
> > with corporate clubs for years.
> Right now, I'm working on the "sell" part of the club and present both
> the positives as well as the money portion. The plusses that I have
> working for me:
> + HR, my supervisor, department trainer, and manager are looking at
> this as a plus.
> + One of the Divisions top speakers works for the same company, but at
> a different location, and wants to speak at the demo meeting.
> + I've got the assistance of top-notch people at the district
> leadership.
> + My core message is that "It's a enjoyable way to improve one's
> skills."
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