ROTARY INTERNATIONAL ZONE 8 b NZ MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL ZONE 8 b “NZ MEMBERSHIP MATTERS”

N. Z. Membership Matters as defined by the RI Membership Zone Committee during their “Link~Up” Seminars with the Six Rotary Districts in August–September 2005 Special thanks to PDG Jim Rayner & PDG Ken Hayman for material handed on to us. **** RRIMC Trish O’Reilly RIMZC Lyn Holmes RIMZC Ross Murray RIMZC Andrew Meek

Membership Organizing New Clubs Retention Recruitment

v. Membership Development v. Retention v. A Marketing Approach

Aims & Objectives To Reach an Understanding of: 1. How to develop our Rotary Clubs into the best of Service Organizations 2. How Rotary provides opportunities and makes Rotarians better people! 3. Why every qualified person deserves the opportunity to share in the magic of Rotary 4. How to find these people and invite them to join and share Rotary with us! 5. How to market the story of Rotary! 6. How we keep them excited about Rotary so they won’t LEAVE

Membership Development

Rotary’s Membership Goal v Each Club to have net increase of at least ONE member v Each Club to take attrition into account

What should we expect from our Rotary Membership?

Value for Time & Money

We should expect from Rotary v v v Fun Friendship Social Interaction Entertainment Education Opportunities

Our Rotary Club should be: v. A place where we feel better about ourselves v. Warm, caring, supportive, considerate, interested and interesting members v. A place where we feel we belong v. A place where we say “Wow! I’m pleased I came!”

People really want to join good clubs! ~ People don’t leave good Rotary Clubs!

We need to practice and be proactive about what we do in Rotary and what we get from our Rotary membership

It must be a quality production – if we want to be cheap, look cheap! If we want to be professional, we must look professional!

PLAN TO SUCCEED ~ SET A TIMETABLE

AVOID THE “ANY PERSON WILL DO” SYNDROME

IDENTIFY INFORM INDUCT

v. Why is educating potential members important at this stage? v. What information does your club provide to potential members? v. How does your club communicate this information to potential members? v. What club and/or district events does your club use as educational opportunities for new members?

Retention What to do to keep members!

And, when we examine reasons why people leave, NOT ALL ARE BEYOND OUR CONTROL

Make them feel WANTED! v Each new member should have a mentor v Clubs should have a method of mixing members at meal tables v Involve them (Don’t waste their time) v Ask their opinion v Make them feel SPECIAL, NEEDED & APPRECIATED v Personally invite them to Rotary functions v Involve their family

“The Club Minders” v. Watch over new members v. Identify members at risk v. Watch over deceased members families v. Promote Fireside Meetings v. Encourage & inform President v. The friendliest friends in the club

How do we define a “Good Rotary club”? v Well run, Professional, exciting, enthusiastic! v Venue & Meal meet the members standards! v Interesting & balanced programme v A good mix of people v Everyone knows what’s going on v Opportunities to develop leadership skills

How to change the Culture of a Club! v Must be majority decision! v Club visit to a club which is known to be delivering the goods! v Do a club evaluation/assessment v A team of enthusiastic members to plan a strategy and sell the concept to the rest v How to approach the older member opposition to change syndrome. Have patience & tolerance

Key Points! 1. New Members are important for the health of the club 2. Members leave because Rotary does not live up to their expectations 3. Target prospective members to match your club culture 4. Make new members feel wanted 5. Be prepared to change the club culture 6. Proud Rotarians attract new members 7. Members join for WIIFM 8. Market (Don’t sell) Rotary

Attributes of Top Rotary Clubs 1 Attitude 2 Preparation 3 Contact 4 Care

A Marketing Approach

SELLING IS FLOGGING OFF WHAT YOU’VE GOT! ~ MARKETING IS HAVING WHAT THEY WANT!

SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

STRENGTHS v We have a great product v Rotary is a quality organisation v A range of programmes to be proud of v A 100 year history v Possibilities limited only by the breadth of our vision

WEAKNESSES v Rotary membership in NZ is static v. The average of Rotarians is increasing v 90% of Rotarians have not proposed a new member v 11% of women members in NZ v Complacency & apathy are an issue v Some members are slow to accept change

Some more buts……………. . v 90% of Rotarians have not proposed a new member v Membership Growth in clubs is generally the result of one or two members! v 11% of members in NZ are women v Older members are slow to accept change v Complacency & Apathy are issues

OPPORTUNITIES The way forward – a clue “The best clubs have new members”

New Members Bring v v v VISION VITALITY ENTHUSIASM CONTINUITY ENERGY

Why Join Rotary? We know that close to 90% of Rotarians join Rotary for: WIIFM “What’s In It For Me”

Does YOUR Club provide. Opportunities v Networking v Social Interaction v Personal Development v Excitement v Lend a Hand

Why NOT join ? Threats v Too busy v It costs too much v Boring v Poorly run meetings v Other Service clubs v Sports/social clubs

Where do we find new members? Opportunities

WORKSHOP v Club Assessment v Who is the ideal member of our club? v Why would the ideal person join our club? v How do they find out about our club?

OBSERVATIONS v. Explode the myth – that women have to be inducted as a group v. Its been proven that enthusiastic leadership can change a club eg Wanaka, Wellington –all driven by a small group of enthusiasts v. Social programme is the GLUE that binds a club together

v. Have variety and surprises – not the same old stodge v. Round dinner tables proved better than rectangle- some clubs remove top table v. Review Sergeants session – watch for sexist remarks - beware of “in house jokes” – new members may feel excluded - define time limit – maybe a “Happy Dollar” session is better

v. Ensure to have 2 Rotarian Hosts at the Door to “Meet & Greet” plus your Treasurer v. Each new member to have a “Mentor” for their first year v. Special Orientation/Family of Rotary nights eg Family within a family v. Change words – “Fireside” “Fellowship” if your club is bored with these words v. Some clubs do not like singing v. Have Vocational Service nights

RIP Carl-Wilhelm’s Goals v. Quality members – Rotary needs leaders and leadership v. Build pride in our Clubs v. Make our Clubs more dynamic v. More Female Rotarians-4% in the world v. Invite younger Professionals eg Rotaractors aged 30+

RIP Carl-Wilhelm’s Goals v 25% clubs have less than 20 members v. Remember we are all Volunteers v. Raise our horizons v. What is our product v. What do we enjoy v. Inspire new members not enforce v. Inspire, inform, induct, and do not ignore

WORKSHOP Club Assessment In our club, what are things we want to: v KEEP ----------------------v STOP ----------------------v START ----------------

For further information please email: RRIMC Trish O’Reilly - TRISHOR@xtra. co. nz RIMZC Lyn Holmes – landrholmes@xtra. co. nz RIMZC Andrew Meek – meeks@xtra. co. nz RIMZC Ross Murray – highgrove 2@xtra. co. nz

Think Big and your Deeds will Grow Think Small and you’ll fall behind Think that you Can and you Will It’s all a State of Mind