suggestions to promote membership retention.....

[Jim Chamberlin]

Dear Cap 1 Officers,

 

Cara has asked if I have any suggestions on member retention.  Excellent question.  Our turnover has been high, and a source of frustration.  Here are a few suggestions that come to mind.....    (Please take these with a grain of salt, if you think I'm stepping where I shouldn't be stepping.  None of this is intended to be negative in any way.  The current group of officers is doing a spectacular job.  We've had over 20 new members join this program year, for the third year in a row.  That's actually part of the situation leading to high turnover.)

 

1.  Make sure that every member of the club has a mentor assigned to them.  New members should be assigned a mentor within 30 days of joining.  Even established members should have mentors.  Once a year there should be a speech given by one of the officers about the Mentor Program, what it is designed to do and how it operates.  I bet that many of the folks who have left the club were never assigned mentors, or had minimal contact with them.  Mentors should be shown for all members in the membership roster.

 

2. Go ahead and actually build the 2nd website for the club.  I'm not saying scrap the one we have.  It's great and has vaulted us ahead of every other club in District 36 in terms of visibility to the outside world.  It should be kept, and maintained.  Specifically, what I'm saying is this:  Build a parallel up-to-date and functioning FreeToastHost 2.0 website.  Why?  For the dual  purpose of 1)  allowing all members to know exactly who is a member at all times, and how to reach them, and  2) allowing members to reach all members or just the officers with a single email (our current website allows this, but you can't see who the members are - that information is invisible).  Our membership is very dynamic.  I'd estimate that keeping track of the comings and goings would entail several changes a month, and probably more than that around our bi-annual dues payments to Toastmasters International.  The FTH2 website allows all members to see the name, photo, phone, email, educational achievement (CC, etc) and short bio for every other member instantly and it would be constantly up-to-date.  Currently we've been getting such a list out to members about twice a year, if we're lucky, and it's out-of-date the day after it's sent, and it contains about half the information a full listing on FTH would contain.  (I'm currently running the FreeToastHost websites for 3 other clubs.)

 

3.  I'd like to see the club use a big chart that could be brought to every meeting, showing the progress of every member of the club through the CC manual.  Such charts are available from T.I.  Just seeing that chart is a powerful visual reminder of where we stand, and where we're going -- individually and as a club.  Along with the visual reminder of the chart itself, we might rethink our method of scheduling.  We've been utilizing a completely passive method of scheduling.  We used to publish a schedule of all roles for a quarter at a time, and we adhered to it.  Now, if folks want to speak, they have to show a lot of initiative to sign themselves up.  I don't think anyone is encouraging new members to jump in and push forward through their CC manual.  Unfortunately the large number of members means that it is very difficult to do otherwise, but perhaps we could have a standing slot on our agenda for Icebreakers, and strive to allow every member of the club at least one prepared speech role every quarter, even if it means adding additional meetings, or having dedicated speechathons.  The other side of the coin, relying on voluntary sign-ups is that some new members sign up to give multiple speeches in their first few months, so some give a lot and some give very few, and sometimes the ones who give very few just drop out.

 

4.  Have a social event for the club at least once a year.  The more we get to know and respect and appreciate each other, the more cohesive we'll be as a club, the less turnover we'll have.  Doesn't have to be a big party.  Could be at one of the member's houses or could be at a member's office or even at a restaurant or bar downtown after hours, or a trip to see the Nationals.  Or could even be at a regular meeting, but instead of a regular meeting we could have a "talent" meeting, in which members could feature skills that don't fit into a speech -- like playing the harmonica or hypnotizing the audience, or singing a duet.

 

5.  At a recent meeting of one of my clubs, I heard a guest presentation by the President of the TM club at Smithsonian.  His club is about half the size of our club, and he has revolutionized it by developing the capity to process credit cards actually at the meetings.  That innovation alone has streamlined the process and made it far less burdonsome on the Treasurer.  The guy's name is Jim Call, and I could probably get details about what technology and arrangements he is using, if Cap 1 is interested.  It was a mind-blowing speech, and he was very enthusiastic, based on his experience in his club.

 

If our meetings are fun and supportive, members will want to stay, if their jobs and outside lives allow it.  Hope these suggestions are helpful.

 

Jim

[RCJA...@aol.com]

Jim - If you would be willing to create and maintain the website that you have suggested, that would be terrific.  I don't have any expertise with regard to websites.

 

I think that your suggestion on the mentoring program is helpful.

 

At one time, the VP for education simply assigned people to roles - that, of course, creates a problem if people are unavailable. 

 

As I pointed out in my host opener, I think part of the problem is that contact is not being made by telephone - if a personal request is made, we will probably do better in terms of participation.

 

As you recall, I hosted a party a few years ago - many of the people who came to the party have since dropped out.  I don't think we can do anything during the day - most of our members are young people who have trouble taking time off from work.  I would be willing to host a party again if we do it as a pot luck event.

 

I have another suggestion - I think we should collect dues twice a year, rather than every quarter.  I have been spending a lot of time trying to track people down and get them to pay dues.  It is particularly hard when we have to pay Toastmasters International.  If we charge $80 in March, and $80 in September, then we will be able to pay Toastmasters International on time - people who are on the line will probably drop out.  We might raise this dues plan to the membership and see what people think.

 

Another thought, related to the mentoring program - the mentors should have the responsibility for calling their mentees and encouraging them to come to meetings and to participate.

 

We do have to limit the number of guests.