San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Ideas for Building Chapter Membership and Participation

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Main Subgroups Adding New Members Participation, Motivation, and Retention Special Issues: –Distant Member Services –Students

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Adding New Members Provide free introductory memberships Current member bonus of 10% of their fee for signing up a new member Create indexed fees tied to local salaries or shared memberships (2-10) Pools of new member possibilities: –Students –Industry –Academia –Government

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Adding New Members Use brochure or multimedia to publicize advantages of ComSoc membership to members: –Staying current –Journal resources & conference proceedings –Available online –Leadership skills –Participate in Standards setting –Networking & job security Publicity

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Adding New Members Publicize advantages of membership to industry –Get tech managers to encourage employees Create a promo kit for marketing to new members –Marketing materials –Posters –Multimedia presentation –Application forms –Samples of publications Use job fair booth to give free magazine & applications Market ComSoc to consultants/entrepreneurs Publicity

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Adding New Members Survey engineering managers to assess needs and get new ideas for incentives/offers Have ComSoc send marketing letters to companies to encourage membership Expand IEEE/USA member benefits worldwide (credit card, insurance, travel, etc.) Hold conferences in areas of potential growth (e.g., India, Poland, Malaysia)

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Participation, Motivation, & Retention Find, approach, and encourage retired engineers to participate Low/medium level products/subjects for practicing engineers: –Electronic tutorials –Broader-topic DLTs/presentations –Management topics Workshops on Chapter management issues Reduced fees for executive/volunteer members

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Participation, Motivation, & Retention Varied social events Meetings: –Convenient location –Food & drink (preferably free to attendees) –Meeting timing & food (5-8pm requires food) –Giveaways and door prizes –Top-name speakers –Interesting & popular topics

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Participation, Motivation, & Retention Volunteers –Draw from new graduates, new faculty, retirees –Better marketing about benefits of volunteering: Social advantage Reduced conference fees National/international networking Put on CV –Ask them! –Publicize success stories –Encouragement by recognition of effort

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Participation, Motivation, & Retention Contact lapsed members Provide incentive for rejoining Retention

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Participation, Motivation, & Retention Improve industry/academia involvement: –Coordinate lectures/curriculum with chapter meetings –Sponsor social events –Organize tours (academics to industry & vice-versa) –Organize topics that bridge disciplines (tele-medicine, e-commerce, distance learning, trends in communications, technology & industry) –Chair, vice-chair, or secretary should be from industry or academic (consider rotating between them) –Executive should have reps from industry/academics as well as geographic areas

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Participation, Motivation, & Retention Meetings with other societies exposes ComSoc to other IEEE members and non-IEEE members Develop and foster stronger ties with “sister” societies

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Special Issues Distant member services Students

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Distant Members Videotape local technical sessions (“pot luck”) and make available via web, CD, video “DDLT” – Distant DLTs –Professionally videotape lecture and make tape available to chapters, then… Schedule distinguished lecturer for a post-viewing Internet chat to answer questions about his/her video lecture

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Distant Members Distant locations, “sub-chapters” –Have local person arrange things and manage chapter affairs –Distribute funds (chapter & section) –Find way to identify/locate your members: Distribution of members Helpful to find rep. Zip code, phone #s, etc.

San Antonio – 2001 Chapter Chairs Workshop Students Encourage and develop student branch chapters Promote GOLD program with students and young professionals Encourage students to develop their leadership skills by taking part in IEEE Encourage professionals and student interaction Support students in job search and networking Continue sponsoring scholarships and student design competitions w/prizes