Yes, lots of national associations are acting to help members in this pandemic. And that’s great. Let’s not overlook though the need to to find help in my hometown. Its reaching across the street or county to get the extra help or the virtual hug. And, with so much of the effort to fight the pandemic is in the hands of the state – our ability to have the local voice for political advocacy is tripled! With that in mind, associations can tap chapters to strengthen their lines of engagement with members. We held a virtual idea swap on the topic and Billhighway built on the conversation with these awesome tips.
Bottom line – you can be the superhero for your chapters. Here are some ways; read more on Billhighway.
Build Virtual Muscle
It’s scary to launch into the virtual world if you don’t have muscle strength in that area. As a national office you can be the super hero by giving your chapter leaders practice by hosting chapter leader networking sessions and idea swaps on the platforms you’re suggesting. Produce training videos for each suggested and/or subsidized platform and offer individual coaching sessions.
You may also want to pick and choose advice to share from these technology-focused resources:
- Thinking of Bringing Slack to Your Workplace? Consider These Tips First (Ernie Smith, Associations Now)
- How to Get People to Actually Participate in Virtual Meetings (Harvard Business Review)
- 26 Easy Ways to Make Your Online Meetings, Workshops, and Programs a Success (Inc.)
- 25 Teambuilding Activities for a Remote Workforce (Event Garde LLC)
Keep an eye on Ernie Smith’s columns for Associations Now. He’s written many articles about remote work recently and will likely continue to address this crisis from the technology angle.
Provide resources for virtual chapter governance during COVID-19
Create a tip sheet with basic guidelines on governance issues and links to more information on:
- Leadership changes
- Bylaws considerations
- Decision-making
- Voting
Some of your chapter leaders might be familiar with virtual board/committee meetings, but others might be floundering. The extent of the technology assistance you provide to chapters depends on many factors and could include offering advice or full-in support such as:
- Document storage and sharing
- Collaboration platform – Slack, Teams
- Video meetings – Zoom, GoToMeeting, Skype
Also, keep checking in – we’re building a resources to help you be a super-hero. Check out our posts on Ban the Boring Virtual Meeting and Podcasting.