Over the next few meetings we will be looking at where we want the Club to evolve to over the next 5 to 10 years (Plan 5/10). A key component of this is membership. The membership focus night we had came up with a number of strategies to help attract new members. Please review the following and see if there is an area you can work on and champion. We need members to step up and to create and lead an action plan in each of these areas of focus. Steps achieved to date are identified.
The following strategies were identified to help recruit new members to our Club.
1. We must embrace social media: website, facebook, twitter, etc. Develop a plan for these tools to help us recruit members. Our website should be a recruiting tool on its front pages, with membership information behind exclusively for our members. This will require a total rework of our website.
Action: new e-ARCH produced - Stephen Pick
Facebook page restarted Stephen Pick - requires someone to take on administration and posting duties
Club Runner Website updates Stephen Pick
Website rebuild Dave Wylie / John Beatty
2. Our Club should embrace and develop “Corporate Membership” ... recruit the company and its top executives. This topic needs to be researched, and a plan and guidelines developed, to help recruit new members via this method.
Action: George Kimura is heading this up
3. The Club needs to encourage networking sessions for members who are active in business. These sessions should be separate from our regular luncheons. Active business members would meet in the evenings to promote themselves and their businesses. Classification talks would continue to be held at the noon luncheons, but be a full program.
Action:
4. The Club should help train current members, who are interested, to make calls on companies in our trading area to target specific classifications and encourage membership.
Action:
5. The Club should find more ways to work with Spruce Meadows, to promote our association with Spruce Meadows, and encourage patrons to join our Rotary Club. Signage at the entrance promoting us as volunteers. A recruiting table at the Christmas market or a tent in the summer. Flyers printed for the windshields of cars, or to be given out, promoting our Club and our volunteering, with the idea of recruiting.
Action:
6. Approach previous members that have left the Club, and encourage a return or invite them to be “Friends of Rotary” so they can drop in to our meetings and be encouraged to help us with parking. Hold a meeting with these people once a year to invite them for an evening meeting to increase our ties with them and make them potential members.
Action:
7. Advertise in local community newsletters and papers to encourage membership. Use this as a direct solicitation to new potential people who could join our Club.
Action:
8. Further strengthen and develop our mentor and retention program.
Action: Peter Bickham agreed to head up the Mentorship program
