1. Reinier Folkerts & Robert Landheer Saturday 22nd 2014
Activate and engage
your members!
Reinier Folkerts & Robert Landheer
Saturday 22nd 2014

2. To start…
This session is meant as a conversation, its not a lecture about how to do things!
Member activation can be controlled.
Why did you become a member?
Why did you became an active member?
What kind of problems do you have concerning activating members?
Or do you mostly have problems recruiting members?
Our experiences with member activation

3. Session outline Session goals What is member activation?
The Moldovan and Dutch context
Some knowledge of member activation
Best practices from the Netherlands

4. Session goals What would you like to learn?
To provide you with insights on member activation from the Netherlands…
And to combine these insights with your own knowledge, and to make that applicable to your own situation.
But most of all: awareness of activation!

5. What is member activation?
A (political) association needs members/volunteers to attain its goals
Goals? What kind of goals?
Representing youth
Educating youth to become better politicians
Political influence
After recruiting members, those members need to be activated: join in activities, take positions in committees and boards, publish papers and articles, and train new members.

6. The Moldovan and Dutch context
The Netherlands:
About 5500 members, an estimated 5-10% active (consuming and organizing members)
Active members are usually students, between the age of 18-25
Decentralized structure: most activities and active members are on a local or regional level. This is because the Netherlands is a low-density city.
There’s 10 local/regional branches, and a number of national teams and commitees.
Member activation is mostly achieved in these local branches.

7. The Moldovan and Dutch context
So what does a local branch typically do?
Usually a weekly or bimonthly activity: guest speakers, debate, training.
Governed by a local board: usually about 5-7 people.
Usually a number of committees: political or organizational.

8. The Moldovan and Dutch context
So how does this overlap the Moldovan context/culture?
Who are your members?
Where are your active members?
How do your members participate?
How can you describe the organization as a whole?
How is your organization governed?

9. Experiences of member activation
The experiences on which this presentation is based are mostly on a local level
But they do apply on other groups of people than just local branches.
Types of groups, teams or branches
Types of members
What kind of practical things are relevant to member activation?

10. Knowledge: types of teams
Inactive: something has been established, but there is no real activity
Somewhat active: there’s active members – enough to support one or two teams. Activation is still an issue.
Active: stable and moderately high attendance, multiple sub-groups
Hyperactive: too much members – the organization needs to divide its ‘cells’ (at X number of team members, split the group)

11. Knowledge: types of teams
How you do you recognize your groups in this?

12. Knowledge: types of members
Comatose
Sleeping
Consuming
Active
Hyperactive
‘Furniture’

13. Knowledge: types of members
Do you recognize these categories?
There’s different strategies to involve every type of member:
New-member days
Ask to chair a committee
Ask an older member to advise you

14. Best practices from the Netherlands
Reach your members
Involve your members
Befriend your members
Mentor your members

15. Reach your members Know who your members are: use a database
Welcome new members by
Telephone your members: ask them if they want to come sometimes
Promote your activities: keynote speakers, social get- togethers
Know where your members are located
Arrange your organization to facilitate this!

16. Involve your members
Facebook group: discuss news, invite for activities, track people who don’t show up and contact them.
Organize activities that your members like
Be continuous, be predictable: people will show up sooner if, for example, an activity is organized every Monday in the same cafe
Ask your members to take seat in a commission: organizational or political
Make their membership prestigious!

17. Befriend your members
Members are not just ‘business contacts’, they are part of your social circle
Remember your members: their name, their interests, who does and doesn’t show up, contact your members personally.
Do something fun! Have a drink after an activity, organize a social activity, see members outside of the frame of your organization

18. Mentor your members
Stimulate and monitor the (political) career of your members
Show them what’s what
Introduce them to others
Help them find their place
To help their career:
Recognize their talents
Recognize potential board members
Motivate them for a next step in their (political) career

19. Exercise
Imagine one of your local or regional branch with a clean slate, what are you going to do?
Members: who and where are they?
Organization structure: committees? How can your members progress?
Board: what will they do for activation?
Communication: how will you stay in touch?
Activities: brainstorm what you can do for a diverse crows
Social activities: what can you do besides just political activities?
Present the plan of your local branch to your peers!

20. What can you use? How can this be applied to the Moldovan context?
How to further organize member activation in Moldova?
The location of your members is something to think about when determining a central/decentralised structure.