Attracting and Retaining Members |
Presenter: Jack McGeorge |
Attracting and Retaining Members
Why do people join groups?
- Education
- Social networking
- Activism
- Sense of belonging
- Fantasy exploration
- Desire for instant gratification
- Association with success
- Financial advantage
What is the focus of your group and whom are you trying to attract?
- BDSM, leather, fetish, etc.
- Education, parties, fraternal/social, activism, etc.
- Sexual orientation (pan, het, g/l, bi, tg, etc.)
- Special circumstance (age bracket, ethnicity, type of relationship, geography)
How can you attract the attention of people that might be interested in your group?
- Newspaper and magazine ads
- Alternative press (City Paper)
- Mainstream publications (Washingtonian)
- Website
- Easy to find
- Quick to load
- Up to date calendar of events
- Directions to your activities
- Contact information
- Newsgroup and email list discussions
- Advertise your group's upcoming activities
- Outreach to other groups
- Good speakers raise interest in your group
- Poor speakers will reflect negatively on your organization
- Flyers that describe your group and its activities
- Stores that serve a leather clientele
- Events sponsored by other organizations
- Word of mouth
- If you do good work other people will hear about it
- The reverse is also true
- Weekend events your group hosts
- Black Rose membership more than doubled after BR10
What can you do to make your group more attractive to new and existing members?
- Gateway type meeting focused on the needs of people who are very new
Minimize pontification
Maximize focus on the information needs of your target audience
Disallow vultures
- Welcoming committee
- Answer questions
- Introductions
- Have a group focus but approach it from diverse perspectives
- If you are an educational group, vary the topic, speakers and format
- Maximize the opportunity to participate by varying day of the week and time of day for activities
- Regular activities should be on a predictable schedule
- Make sure that some activities are on weeknights and others are on weekends
- Ensure quality activities
- Speakers must know their subject
- Speakers must be organized- require an outline in advance
- Arrange suitable audio and visual support
- Encourage audience participation where ever practical
- Speakers should provide handouts
- All activities should begin and end on time
- Advertise each of your activities for the coming week
- Website calendar
- Announcement email list
- Group newsletter
- Telephone hotline
- Describe the activity and why it will be interesting and or fun
- Make play happen
- Play parties are a lot of work but they are necessary
- Predictable schedule
- Clean, safe environment promotes attendance
- Maximize the opportunity for social interaction
- Bar nights
- Organized dinner or dessert after meetings
- Give folks a job that forces interaction with others
- Encourage Special Interest Groups
- Some folks will have a narrow range of interests
- Various SIG's seem to work including Women's, Bondage, D/S, Crafters, TNG, Social (non-BDSM activities), Pony Play, etc.
- Demand integrity and impartiality from officers and officials
- Officers and officials should not appear to financially profit
- Avoid the appearance of abuse of power
- Decentralize group management
Why do folks leave groups?
- Poor quality or repetitious presentations
- Their specific interest is not addressed
- They don't find a date
- Heavy handed management
- Insufficient opportunity to participate
- Personality conflicts
- Financial crisis
How can you identify that a problem exists?
- Ombudsman
- Open board meetings
- Annual survey of membership
- Meeting feedback forms
- Ensure that group leaders are readily accessible to the members
- Listen to your members
Should you try to solve everyone's problem?
- Only if it happens on group time
- Distinguish between personality problems and actual leadership issues
- You are doing a good job if you please most of your members most of the time
- You can't be everything to everyone
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