At CEX 18, we heard from many association execs that they needed to do something different for their components (chapters, affiliates, regions, etc.). They were facing groups struggling to find volunteers, having difficulty filling seats at events and failing to get basic – yet important – administrative tasks completed. Others said they just wanted a reboot on their chapter support program.
Here are 9 new ideas from the community shared through the Billhighway/Mariner webinar series.
1 | Tech Tools to make the your or your volunteer’s job easier! Pick up a few ideas on tech tools from CRPs who are leveraging tech on the job and recommending them to their chapter leaders. Check out Chapter Tech Tools You Can’t Live Without.
2 | Power-up your chapter programming with a Speakers Bureau by following the lead of some successful associations. Get tips at Tips on Building a Speakers Bureau for Chapters
3 | Find a new way to collaborate with chapters to meet your staff goals around growth, awareness and brand. Learn from a couple of savvy association who created collaborative marketing movements on How to Create a Collaborative Chapter Marketing Movement.
4 | Harness the innovation at your chapters to create new programs by following a trickle-up approach. Simply put, it’s identifying a program that has been successful at a local level and then expand it nationally. These associations tell how in Taking a ‘Trickle-up’ Approach to Chapter Engagement Programs.
5 | Train (and inspire) your chapter leaders differently in 2019 but following the tips and ideas in How to Train, Inspire & Support Chapter Leaders.
6 | Address the volunteer issue with a different take on chapter succession planning: shift from talking about providing succession plan templates to coaching for success. Check out a few tips here and listen into the full webinar Powering Up Your Chapter Leaders Succession Planning.
7 | Get the resources and decisions from upper management that you need by tapping in the ROI of chapters. Hear how one association did this and pick up a chapter ROI template to help you monetize the value of geographic chapters and establish a more rational basis for the allocation of resources to support those chapters. Tune into the webinar Chapters: Are They Worth the Effort or read this post.
8 | Do something different with your chapter management. From a successful Hackathon at ASAE Annual, we highlighted four options here and included more on the webinar 10 Ways to Hack Your Chapters.
9 | Find the member sweet spot – for retention and growth that is. We all know from the member’s perspective, the line between “chapter” and National is blurred. Let’s look at how we can tap the opportunity this presents through a process designed to examine the member experience from their viewpoint. Tune into Sharing Members: Optimizing the National-Chapter Intersection.
If you try any of these or any other new idea – share it with us!