association comments-o-matic » Thx4Playing

Golly, I was looking for a quick read and now I ha…

comments-o-matic — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:10:03 +0000

Golly, I was looking for a quick read and now I have to check out all these links.

Thanks for all the info (really!).
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See, I knew you'd know!

comments-o-matic — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:10:03 +0000

See, I knew you'd know! Reply at Thx 4 Playing - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Comments-o-matic is brought to you by Scott Oser Associates. [...]

Love the pics. Some of the oaks that keep their l…

comments-o-matic — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:10:03 +0000

Love the pics. Some of the oaks that keep their leaves are red oaks. It'll be spring before they're all gone. But some are dead from last year's very hot and dry July.
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At the National Association of Criminal Defense La…

comments-o-matic — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:50:03 +0000

At the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, we focus our Member Get-A-Member efforts on doing what's good for the organization, and for the other person. We learned in a recent survey that over 60% of our members first learned of NACDL through another member. So we ask them to pass it on. Our current campaign is at www.nacdl.org/getamember; our previous one is at www.nacdl.org/100daysx.

We also give the new recruit a 15-month membership for the price of 12, and we give current members $25 off their next renewal for each recruit, up to a total of $125. We promote the Member Get-A-Member program through eNews, a full page ad in our monthly magazine, and on the website, as well as an email from our president. Our MGAM resources page provides a membership application, talking points on the value of membership, and a page of member quotes about NACDL.

Last year we had about 120 new members through referrals, and so far this year we've had about 50 (we're in the 4th month of our fiscal year). Current membership is just under 10,000.
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FWIW, I keep wondering if there is other language,…

comments-o-matic — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:50:03 +0000

FWIW, I keep wondering if there is other language, a different appeal, that would better capture what was learned in the Decision to Join … that individuals aren't just in it for the personal benefits, but want to be a part of a larger community.

Member Get a Member seems so entrenched in our community that I don't know if someone else has found a more compelling way to frame it. My intuition tells me it is a conversation (and a pursuit) worth having. It's not just about getting another member, it's about what becomes more possible with more members; a more vibrant community, one with more influence and resources to bring to bear for the profession or industry, etc.

Stepping down from soapbox now.
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Thanks for the great comments, Terry and Jeffrey. …

comments-o-matic — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:20:03 +0000

Thanks for the great comments, Terry and Jeffrey. Lowell Aplebaum has also posted a fantastic response over at Association 141+.
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I completely agree with the idea of getting out an…

comments-o-matic — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:00:03 +0000

I completely agree with the idea of getting out and dealing with members 1-1 and face-to-face. But I wouldn't necessarily start with creating a set of ambassadors. Just get out there and do it yourself. Until you have that gut-level intuition about what drives your members, its hard to interpret/accept information that comes back from others. And just doing it yourself doesn't require setting up a process or program, or training, etc. It really is something that you can just go do tomorrow if you want.

Also, I think that getting good feedback from members is amenable to the virtuous circle effect. Once you have established some good relationships with members, its easier to get your staff to do it as well. Once you have members who know that they are being listened to, they'll help you connect with other members. Or they'll be happy to become the type of ambassadors you talk about.
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I was discussing this yesterday during a Design Su…

comments-o-matic — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:00:05 +0000

I was discussing this yesterday during a Design Summit I was facilitating. One of the ideas put forth was to create a corps of Needs Ambassadors (needs a better name), a group of volunteers who would in turn go out and have face-to-face and/or telephone conversations with individual members asking a series of open-ended questions and follow-ups.

I remember when an exec I worked with became president of our state association, he and a few other officers did a two-day drive around tour, stopping at various members headquarters and talking about their current efforts, needs, and perceptions of the state association. That same exec encouraged us as staff to always meet in members' HW when they wanted to talk with us so we could observe what they had going on and look for clues about how we might assist.

When I was an exec, I called a few members a week just to connect and tried to have our board do a member call-a-thon for a few hours as part of one of you board members.

Common theme? Outreach, listening, dialogue.
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Thanks, Elizabeth, I appreciate the tag and push s…

comments-o-matic — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:50:03 +0000

Thanks, Elizabeth, I appreciate the tag and push since my blogs have been quiet the last few months — although I'm back to posting on my food blog, that's an easy one. I'm thinking about this over the weekend and hope to have something worthy to say.
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Doh! I was hiding from this…will have to put my …

comments-o-matic — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:15:03 +0000

Doh! I was hiding from this…will have to put my thinking cap on now.
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