New Year, New Ideas: Start a New Conversation About Chapters

Editor's Notes

1. 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.
2. If you haven’t set them yet, then don’t worry! We’re here to provide you with 10 new ideas from the community shared through the Billhighway/Mariner webinar series.
3. 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. You’ll learn how other CRPs are leveraging these chapter tech tools on the job and why they’re recommending them to their chapter leaders. Originally presented during our CRP-led session at CEX 2018, these chapter tech tools and uses come straight from other CRPs, so we’re sure they can work for your association too. Chapter Tech Tools Include: Wufoo Canva PowToon Zapier GroupMap Kahoot Survey Monkey Eventbrite PollEverywhere SignUpGenius
4. Quick reminder from Corey Corey Strausman, associate director of chapter development at the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), kept us grounded at CEX with this advice about technology: “Any tech tool is a solution, not the solution.” Sometimes a tool can make a huge difference as our CEX presenters demonstrated. But sometimes people expect technology to solve problems it can’t really solve. Take a look at the people, practices, and processes around a problem. Make sure you fix those too or your new tool may not bring you the results you expected. A new tool won’t always automagically solve your chapter issues, but it certainly could help you save time by streamlining processes. It’s worth the investment of time at the front end so you can free up your schedule to work on more strategic tasks. We can’t talk about tech tools and apps without mentioning Your Nerdy Best Friend aka Beth Ziesenis. You might have heard her speak at an ASAE, SAE, or other association event. Her website and newsletter are full of tech tool recommendations from Beth and her association audience. Check out these posts too: Tech Tools for Chapters (Mariner Management) 199+ Amazing Free or Cheap Online Tools for Nonprofits (Wild Apricot)
5. We know it's hard to find the right tools and technology for your chapters—they all vary in size and technical expertise. So we did a bit of digging and gathered all the chapter tools we could find that might make your chapter leaders‘ lives easier. We even put together a set of guiding questions to help you get started in selecting the best tool for your chapters and association. Think of this as your chapter tool guide. Before you get too far into the tool selection process, take some time to review these questions with your team: What current pain or challenge are you trying to solve with this tool? What tools are you already using to address this challenge? Are they working? What existing systems must integrate/play nicely with this tool? How will you evaluate potential tool vendors? Do you have a list of key questions and requirements? How will you roll out this tool and encourage chapters to adopt and leverage it? Who ultimately owns this project/implementation? Do you have a champion for it? How will you receive member and chapter feedback? Will you consider having a small diverse sampling of chapters to pilot the tool? What does success with this tool look like?
6. 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
7. Offering effective speakers who can discuss timely, industry-relevant topics helps increase chapter engagement while driving wider awareness of your association. In this webinar, we’ll provide examples of how other associations have built their speakers bureaus, including how they’ve driven adoption. In addition, we’ll discuss the various resources available to chapters that want to build their own speakers bureau. Turning Ideas Into Action Confirm your chapters need help finding speakers Review (and consolidate) current speaker resources Pilot a platform (or Excel spreadsheet) with your organization Set and track metrics for local chapters and national to follow
8. Turning Ideas Into Action Confirm your chapters need help finding speakers Review (and consolidate) current speaker resources Pilot a platform (or Excel spreadsheet) with your organization Set and track metrics for local chapters and national to follow
9. 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. With the generational shift and rise of digital engagement, more chapter-based associations are starting to incorporate influencer models into their digital media marketing strategies. Unsurprisingly, many association leaders are looking to their chapters to help keep their marketing momentum going. In the webinar–How to Create a Collaborative Chapter Marketing Movement–we provide examples of what other associations have done to drive membership engagement, particularly with younger generations. View Slides >>
10. Why It’s Important to Activate Your Chapters in Your Marketing Efforts Removes Silos: Components reach a whole new segment of members and non-members Local Storytelling: Opportunities to focus on chapter members and highlight the local angle and impact of broad national topics Ability to create micro-moments Opportunities for omni-channel marketing Support Given to Chapters Consistent Messaging - Put together a tool kit for chapters that included graphics, sample social media posts and sample emails. Customizable by Chapter - Wanted states and chapters to feel like they’re part of it. The toolkit was customizable so they could customize messaging to reflect their goals. Online Community - Hosted an online community where states and chapters could find help, get information, and download resources (like the tool kit).
11. Examples: ANA’s #FitNurseFriday5K Campaign ASLA Let Chapters Take Over Instagram International Mountain Bicycling Association Dig IN Campaign Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Video Contest Additional Lessons Learned Devil is in the details Must have POC Keep schedule in front of everyone
12. 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. Every organization wants to provide its chapters with the tools and programs it needs to create meaningful membership experiences. But each chapter is different and what sounds like a great idea from a national perspective might not always be a good fit at the local level. Instead of taking a ‘trickle down’ approach to new programs, why not do the exact opposite and take a ‘trickle up’ approach: identify a program that has been successful at a local level and then expand it nationally. In this webinar, we’ll· Look at ways to identify the best programs for consideration· Discuss different approaches to driving programs at a national level· Highlight best practices when expanding a chapter-level program
13. Key Questions: Is there a wider need for this program? Will other chapters be open to participate? How involved do you want to be? Will you be a ‘driver’ or a ‘facilitator’? What’s your bandwidth? Once you’ve launched, how will you measure success? Stay up-to-date? Key Takeaways Be Inclusive - Involve the people who started the program – they’ll become your biggest champions and want to see the program succeed Recognize Your Leaders - Highlight the people in your organization – give them an opportunity to talk about their part in the program Keep Open Communication - Keep an open channel of communication with the chapters who have rolled-out the program Create an Advisory Group - Use the chapter roll-outs as an informal ‘focus group’ before you introduce new features/functionalities for insight Examples: NAIOP’s Mentoring Programing at Toronto Chapter PMI’s Military Program (Operation: Qualify for Hire) EdTA’s Disaster Relief Matchmaking Program
14. #1 Bring chapters to the table Encourage a collaborative culture. Provide opportunities for them to contribute. Provide and allow focused feedback. #2 Empower and challenge them to take the initiative Be results-focused: allow time for more project-based work, i.e., relieve their administrative duties. Adapt your management style: no one wants to be micromanaged. Listen: be objective and welcome new ideas. Do what you can to bridge the gap between national and chapters. #3 Provide professional development opportunities Provide mentoring and education, like a chapter leader conference. Encourage cross-functional partnerships, or cross-network and association-chapter partnerships. Turning Ideas Into Action What’s one thing you could do tomorrow? Here’s a few ideas: Brainstorm ideas with chapters – maybe you’ll find a project/concept to pilot (and they will love that you are using their ideas) Pilot an idea that’s been rolling around the association – go small Tap chapters as promotional & content channels – can you put together a chapter-sized promotion for a national product, provide tool-kit, pull their social media activity into your national stream? Repurpose and build on what you already created/worked on
15. 5 | Train (and inspire) your chapter leaders differently in 2019 but following the tips and ideas in How to Train, Inspire & Support Chapter Leaders.
16. Define National’s Involvement Build relationships with leaders - Identify and invite National staff who would benefit from developing closer relationships with chapter leaders and vice versa. Provide ‘expert’ advice - Ask National staff and industry partners to participate in ‘talk to an expert’ session. Chapter leaders can get help with their challenges. Move initiatives forward - If new programs and/or initiatives need chapter buy-in, invite National staff and industry partners who are leading those efforts to answer questions. Continue the Learning & Networking Experience Post recordings of educational sessions in resource center Ask attendees to share their takeaways & action plan in online community Keep listening & check-in with leaders both individually and in groups Ask leaders how they’re applying new knowledge and handling challenges Continue to help leaders connect with each other after the conference
17. Benefits to Investing in Chapter Leadership Training: Investment in the Future - When you dedicate time & money to training chapter leaders, you set them and their chapters up for success Build Relationships & Community - Volunteer leaders can stay in touch, share advice, and support each other after the conference Strengthen National & Chapters - Your National staff and volunteer leaders can develop and deepen the relationship with chapters ‘Scout’ Out Future Leaders - Treat your conference as a training camp – find leadership recruits who could move to National Listen & Identify Support - Listen to chapter leaders, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and identify ways to support them
18. 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. 
19. (4) LOW-HANGING FRUIT:  8 ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE RIGHT AWAY! Be an active partner in recruiting members to serve on our local boards Ask a national board or committee member completing their term, to consider serving at the local level Keep a list of local/state volunteer opportunities to refer to members Consider adding local volunteer service to your CE requirements Ask your national leaders to recruit colleagues in their organizations to sit on local boards Make it easy for members to invite others to volunteer Make a personal introduction for a current chapter leader to a future leader Take care in recruiting for national positions so you don’t drain the local talent
20. Issue 1 – Old model (no fresh faces!) Lack of Information about Opportunities to Volunteer Conflict with other volunteering activity Never asked to volunteer Lack of virtual volunteering Lack of short-term assignments
21. COACH – embrace the new model begin bottom up where possible use teams not committees Help them recruit – what messages are you sending? Make volunteering fun again Focus on lighter/micro-volunteering opportunities
22. 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.
23. Most of us know how much our chapters cost (staff support, rebates/grants, training programs, tech platforms, etc.), but few seem to have a good handle on the actual return on that investment Measure What Matters Just because it can be counted, doesn’t mean it counts. Sometimes the most hard to measure are also the most important to measure.
24. The valuation matrix is a brain-storming exercise to collect a list of activities that could be monetized (directly, as a service, based on volunteer hours or indirectly). We’ll use a broad sampling from the association community to develop formulas to put $$ to those activities, recognizing that we’re unlikely to achieve mathematical perfection…but 80% accuracy will be a great improvement on the “seat-of-the-pants/because we’ve always done it that way” formula we have today. 
25. 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.
26. #1: The Ultimate Component Management Tool for Association Staff  Think chapter management in a box! The ultimate component management tool needs to be able to capture the human element. #2: The Un-Chapter Solution (a Chapter Design without Traditional Structure) Think a better mousetrap! An “un-chapter” framework doesn’t require a heavy volunteer lift #3: The Ultimate Component Leader Portal Think Alexa for chapter questions! Provides everything chapter leaders and staff need in one spot. #4: Components as Incubators for Innovation Think the in-house innovation lab!
27. 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.
28. we often know so little about how our “members” interact and experience at the chapter level & as a consequence we miss opportunities to make the connection to national or we spend effort supporting chapters in ways that have a positive effect on the member experience. This is likely true for how we ask/support chapters in understanding and connecting to opportunities in the elements of the journey that happen at national discover from the member’s perspective where you – National – can impact the experience and where the Chapter can impact the national experience Bottom line: helps us recruit local only members to national; helps us sell the dual membership; helps us create alignment with chapters; helps us make resource/support decisions; helps our leaders and us better understand the member; may unlock the solution to engaging next gen
29. Here is her journey
30. Use a hands-on approach to identify the “Four I’s” Insights - Clear understanding of customer needs Issues/opportunities - What’s getting in the way, or could be improved, in order to meet customer needs Innovate - Design experiences that solve human needs Impact - Clear focus on the resulting business value
31. When you’re better, your chapters are better and have more resources! Take these CRP tips on how to get your voice heard.
32. Pick 1 thing to do this year and then do it well! What skill/initiative are you going to work on in 2019? Chat in about it now
33. Early bird pricing is $149 and ends on 5/31. Goes up to $199 on 6/1 http://leveragechapters.com/