Chapter Leadership Conference - Feb 28 & 29, 2014
LEADERSHIP
Quarterly, have lunch with the members who are most enthusiastic. Just talk about anything and get inspired, their enthusiasm will rub off on you just by going to lunch.
Most chapters have leadership as follows:
Job Title: Volunteer Booster. Job duties: Noticing when someone’s bandwidth is low and helping them. They can help the President recruit, notice when people are interested in helping, just in general pick up when various board members or volunteers are overloaded and offer a helping hand.
Treasurer: Monthly expense reports from treasurer at each board meeting showing what was spent on an event, and the amount the chapter earned from each event. Overall expenses.
What is our chapter turn-over rate? What should be anticipated for the need of job volunteers each year?
RECRUITMENT
Who does the recruiting for the board? Do you find and train your own replacement or is there another member whose specific job is to recruit?
It is advised that each member finds and trains their own replacement so the
responsibility doesn’t fall on the shoulders of the current President.
¾ of the strength of the chapter are the interns. They are ripe and may stay 2-3 years because they are trying to break into the community.
Chapter Presidents actively recruit at college campuses by speaking in classrooms and
by going to agencies who employ interns.
Don’t use the term “Volunteer” when recruiting for Board because people associate that word with hours and hours of commitment and a loss of free time. A popular term in CAMFT was “getting involved”
State CAMFT Board Members will gladly come to chapters to talk about current news or just provide support. The CAMFT Attorneys have 6 or 7 different topics they can speak on for the chapter to provide to chapter members.
Once a year, provide a lunch for anyone and everyone who has volunteered during the year. No matter how small their contribution, invite them and honor them. This will increase returning volunteers and will end up bringing in more people to volunteer for events in the long run.
LUNCHEONS
Always have a back-plan in case your speaker cancels at the last minute, do not cancel the luncheon.
Some chapters are getting sponsorships. The sponsor provides food and in return they have a few minutes to speak and are also added to the e-blast, newsletter, and/or website for a period of time. State CAMFT speakers reiterated this topic several times as being a wonderful way to increase membership as it helps keep costs low for members and members enjoy learning about new businesses and products that are related to their industry.
Do “speeddating” ice breakers at the beginning of each luncheon or meeting to encourage networking. Game played at conference: Group of four people. Each has 1 minute to say their name, their specialty, and “question they have to answer that’s related to the meeting’s topic”.
Create lanyards for members who show up regularly to ease check in at the monthly luncheons.
Note: Do we have financial goals for our chapter? When is our chapter anniversary?
In July there will be new CE provider approval/renewal group.
Sarah Cashe & Mary Tuscano are the people to contact to find out who the new CE
agents will be.
OTHER CHAPTER RECRUITMENT TECHNIQUES
Bring a friend who’s not a chapter member, and get lunch for free.
The President’s Coffee. President brings coffee to the students 30 minutes before school & encourages teachers to give extra credit for coming to the meetings.
Luncheons. Licensed therapists come, pay for their own lunch, and just visit and network with each other. (I think we already do something like this when we have our social events)
Alternating months, have a meeting with former board presidents to discuss what worked for them. This is for the board, not necessarily for the members to meet.
Face-to-Face. Specialized clinicians offer 1 hour face-to-face or 30 min phone consult to an intern or newly licensed to talk about what they do as clinicians. LMFTs commit to two hours a month. Create wiki page for the F-to-F for chapter members to access and set up the meetings.
Job Fair with agencies and private practice supervisors for incoming interns to job hunt.
Create bookmarks about the chapter and hand them out all over town. It may not directly recruit members, but it will recruit clients for our members - therefore, making it beneficial to be a part of our chapter.
Speed Networking event all on its own, separate from trainings and luncheon meetings.
Monthly events called 3000 Hour Club for pre-licensed members to meet for networking, camaraderie, learning, etc. Presenter each month. Recruit at CSU.
Bring our table, brochures, display to school job fairs and career fairs.
Scholarship. Multiple types or tiers of scholarships:
Sponsorship. Committee to call treatment centers to get sponsorship. Group of interns can get a tour of their facility, giving them a positive relationship toward their facility paying off when intern is licensed. Treatment Center sponsors by paying for interns’ lunch at the net meeting. Center provides voucher for intern.
Collaborate with local colleges to provide a meaningful training free for members. This chapter was able to engage RNs, Psych, MDs, etc. with their members. Not only did the attendees gain the information from the training but meaningful networking took place between the industries. The chapter gained several new members from this event.
Member-to-Member emails. Advertising office space, discussing new research, advertising upcoming chapter meetings. This is what Jessica hopes to accomplish with the newsletter and Constant Contact (or similar program).
Send personalized thank you emails to members after they have attended meetings - recognize when they take the time to show up.
Participant Contact List. Name, email, and phone number on the list. Give out at the meetings. Permission from members.
Survey Theme: Catching the Wave. Vision Quest: What else members need. Annual conference.
Event: “Celebrating Everything MFT” - Create trivia books where sponsors can advertise. Trivia about psychotherapy, the history, etc. Plus small ad spaces we sell. Hand trivia books to members at event for free. This might also make a good beginning study guide for interns.
3 Free Events each year:
Salon Series - For members, by members. Small workshops where members teach other members a specialty. Cafe style?
Adopt a local charity each year as a part of the Holiday Party. Bring gifts for the agency.
VOLUNTEERS
Book: “10 Lessons for Cultivating Member Commitment”
Somewhere around age 30 is when joining associations happens. People are investing in where they’re headed as a career. They’re actively seeking out like-minded peers.
It makes it urgent/urgency for those folks and they need the seasoned people to be there
for them.
Set the destination, not the path. Think more about policies than procedures, focus on outcome.
New type of volunteer: The Mission Driven Volunteer.
Four Characteristics:
Connect the volunteer duties to the MISSION of the chapter or association.
How do we find out if a volunteer is vested, and how can we get them to become vested?
Members are NOT apathetic, they just appear so.
Re-envision our volunteer map.
Develop a Leadership Development Committee who will make it a robust 60%!
Your volunteer pathway needs to have opportunities for members to commit. Duty here and there. Small commitment. A couple months. A year +. No responsibility, just push a button now and then. On a team to plan an event, when the event is over your commitment is over. On a team to lead an event.
Communications Team: Many volunteers do small parts, no one has to commit a ton of time: Editor, proofer, social media pool, several content finders, update mailing list person, write content.
Loot at any fundraising model to see how to do this. “No contribution is too small.”
Bring them in with a little bit, and pretty soon they’re in it all the way.
Find the people who want to do the “cool” things, be engaged.
Look up ASAE’s Volunteer Town Square for an example of online volunteering sign-ups.
Filters: Interest Area. - Time Commitment - Travel Required - Level of effort.
At registration, ask: “Would you be available to help with a couple quick things when we need you?” Get their email and contact info. Then 24048 hours in advance ask if they can show up a little early to an event (or whatever is needed of them).
AADE - “Get Involved” Campaign.
Choose to be an Active Member:
Volunteer - Contribute - Influence - Support
Ban the word “volunteer” and use the words “Involvement” or “Increased Opportunity for Visibility” “Advanced Networking”
Volunteers could get points for each thing they do, then at the end of the year they enter a drawing for something “cool” . The chapter who did this raffled off an iPad.
Volunteer for free membership. Maybe volunteering to put together the 3000 Hour Club would get them a free membership.
Go to the events for free when you volunteer.
BE CLEAR there are short term and virtual opportunities.
Give clear procedures for the job duties. Give people what they need to get the job done.
Members engage along a continuum:
Consuming → Promoting → Creating → Serving → Governing
Consuming: viewing the website, reading the articles, attending the meeting.
Promoting: Liking, sharing, recommending.
Creating: Contributing, commenting, survey responses.
Serving: Volunteering, non-governance
Governing: Board members, long term commitment
Members need our help to get through the continuum. Most people will at least get to Promoting & Creating.
3 Steps to help members:
Welcome: send welcoming email or phone call within a week of joining. Joiners give $, but
people who feel like they are welcomed and belong get vested and volunteer. Ask why they joined, what do they need, how can we support them?
Connect: Introduce new members to other people, invite them to coffee or lunch.
Engage: Invite new members to coffee or lunch, make a specific, directed effort to
engage with them before or after meeting. Do a follow up call, appt, or email 6 months later just to check-in (do this especially for members who have not been coming to events)
Hot buttons causing people to come to groups:
At no charge, the chapter can request lists of State CAMFT members in our area so we can reach out to them to become chapter members as well.
LEADERSHIP
Quarterly, have lunch with the members who are most enthusiastic. Just talk about anything and get inspired, their enthusiasm will rub off on you just by going to lunch.
- This is the job of all the veterans on the Board; it reinvigorates them.
- It’s good to thank enthusiastic members.
- It’s okay to get social support from your co-members on the board. It’s not just a duty, it’s FUN to be a part of CAMFT.
Most chapters have leadership as follows:
- Previous President - Advising.
- Current President - Doing.
- President Elect - Learning.
- Chairs and co-chairs for leadership roles.
- Idea: find co-chair for Tom to help obtain presenters and coordinate with Nash’s.
- Create consistency with luncheons while expanding for evening & weekend CEU events.
- Idea: Special Interest Groups to build membership & meet needs of members.
- These groups help raise funding for the chapter by putting on about 2-4 events through the year.
- 3,000 Hour Club. (Jessica has contact for info to start up)
- Supervisor’s Group
- Somatic Therapy/Expressive Arts group.
- LGBTQ+
Job Title: Volunteer Booster. Job duties: Noticing when someone’s bandwidth is low and helping them. They can help the President recruit, notice when people are interested in helping, just in general pick up when various board members or volunteers are overloaded and offer a helping hand.
Treasurer: Monthly expense reports from treasurer at each board meeting showing what was spent on an event, and the amount the chapter earned from each event. Overall expenses.
What is our chapter turn-over rate? What should be anticipated for the need of job volunteers each year?
RECRUITMENT
Who does the recruiting for the board? Do you find and train your own replacement or is there another member whose specific job is to recruit?
It is advised that each member finds and trains their own replacement so the
responsibility doesn’t fall on the shoulders of the current President.
¾ of the strength of the chapter are the interns. They are ripe and may stay 2-3 years because they are trying to break into the community.
Chapter Presidents actively recruit at college campuses by speaking in classrooms and
by going to agencies who employ interns.
Don’t use the term “Volunteer” when recruiting for Board because people associate that word with hours and hours of commitment and a loss of free time. A popular term in CAMFT was “getting involved”
State CAMFT Board Members will gladly come to chapters to talk about current news or just provide support. The CAMFT Attorneys have 6 or 7 different topics they can speak on for the chapter to provide to chapter members.
Once a year, provide a lunch for anyone and everyone who has volunteered during the year. No matter how small their contribution, invite them and honor them. This will increase returning volunteers and will end up bringing in more people to volunteer for events in the long run.
LUNCHEONS
Always have a back-plan in case your speaker cancels at the last minute, do not cancel the luncheon.
- A board member can put together a presentation. Have it figured out now so it’s always on the back burner.
- Have members bring in and discuss favorite interventions.
Some chapters are getting sponsorships. The sponsor provides food and in return they have a few minutes to speak and are also added to the e-blast, newsletter, and/or website for a period of time. State CAMFT speakers reiterated this topic several times as being a wonderful way to increase membership as it helps keep costs low for members and members enjoy learning about new businesses and products that are related to their industry.
Do “speeddating” ice breakers at the beginning of each luncheon or meeting to encourage networking. Game played at conference: Group of four people. Each has 1 minute to say their name, their specialty, and “question they have to answer that’s related to the meeting’s topic”.
Create lanyards for members who show up regularly to ease check in at the monthly luncheons.
Note: Do we have financial goals for our chapter? When is our chapter anniversary?
In July there will be new CE provider approval/renewal group.
Sarah Cashe & Mary Tuscano are the people to contact to find out who the new CE
agents will be.
OTHER CHAPTER RECRUITMENT TECHNIQUES
Bring a friend who’s not a chapter member, and get lunch for free.
The President’s Coffee. President brings coffee to the students 30 minutes before school & encourages teachers to give extra credit for coming to the meetings.
Luncheons. Licensed therapists come, pay for their own lunch, and just visit and network with each other. (I think we already do something like this when we have our social events)
Alternating months, have a meeting with former board presidents to discuss what worked for them. This is for the board, not necessarily for the members to meet.
Face-to-Face. Specialized clinicians offer 1 hour face-to-face or 30 min phone consult to an intern or newly licensed to talk about what they do as clinicians. LMFTs commit to two hours a month. Create wiki page for the F-to-F for chapter members to access and set up the meetings.
Job Fair with agencies and private practice supervisors for incoming interns to job hunt.
Create bookmarks about the chapter and hand them out all over town. It may not directly recruit members, but it will recruit clients for our members - therefore, making it beneficial to be a part of our chapter.
Speed Networking event all on its own, separate from trainings and luncheon meetings.
Monthly events called 3000 Hour Club for pre-licensed members to meet for networking, camaraderie, learning, etc. Presenter each month. Recruit at CSU.
Bring our table, brochures, display to school job fairs and career fairs.
Scholarship. Multiple types or tiers of scholarships:
- Pays for chapter & state membership.
- $500 for school books.
- Pay for one trainee & one intern membership in exchange for X# hours representing chapter in the community or on social media.
Sponsorship. Committee to call treatment centers to get sponsorship. Group of interns can get a tour of their facility, giving them a positive relationship toward their facility paying off when intern is licensed. Treatment Center sponsors by paying for interns’ lunch at the net meeting. Center provides voucher for intern.
Collaborate with local colleges to provide a meaningful training free for members. This chapter was able to engage RNs, Psych, MDs, etc. with their members. Not only did the attendees gain the information from the training but meaningful networking took place between the industries. The chapter gained several new members from this event.
Member-to-Member emails. Advertising office space, discussing new research, advertising upcoming chapter meetings. This is what Jessica hopes to accomplish with the newsletter and Constant Contact (or similar program).
Send personalized thank you emails to members after they have attended meetings - recognize when they take the time to show up.
Participant Contact List. Name, email, and phone number on the list. Give out at the meetings. Permission from members.
Survey Theme: Catching the Wave. Vision Quest: What else members need. Annual conference.
Event: “Celebrating Everything MFT” - Create trivia books where sponsors can advertise. Trivia about psychotherapy, the history, etc. Plus small ad spaces we sell. Hand trivia books to members at event for free. This might also make a good beginning study guide for interns.
3 Free Events each year:
- Potluck in the park - late Spring or Fall. Yoga, massage, drummers. Open to the community.
- Potluck Holiday Party (we already do this one!)
- Appreciation dinner for everyone who has volunteered throughout the year.
Salon Series - For members, by members. Small workshops where members teach other members a specialty. Cafe style?
Adopt a local charity each year as a part of the Holiday Party. Bring gifts for the agency.
- Depending on the type of agency this can be clothes, shoes, toothpaste, etc.
- Board members each bring four small gifts to raffle off at the Holiday Party to show appreciation for chapter members and for everyone being a part of the charity adoption.
VOLUNTEERS
Book: “10 Lessons for Cultivating Member Commitment”
Somewhere around age 30 is when joining associations happens. People are investing in where they’re headed as a career. They’re actively seeking out like-minded peers.
It makes it urgent/urgency for those folks and they need the seasoned people to be there
for them.
Set the destination, not the path. Think more about policies than procedures, focus on outcome.
New type of volunteer: The Mission Driven Volunteer.
Four Characteristics:
- Vested. Has a key interest/passion.
- Interested in doing something for the profession or cause. Pro-social. Today’s volunteer is more social, and the social aspect is what draws them in.
- Time-Constrained.
- Interested in career/professional development.
Connect the volunteer duties to the MISSION of the chapter or association.
How do we find out if a volunteer is vested, and how can we get them to become vested?
Members are NOT apathetic, they just appear so.
Re-envision our volunteer map.
- Community Builders - the folks who pull all the people together. The connector.
- Shapers - volunteers who do a lot of roles and give a lot of time.
- Coaches - anyone helping someone else.
- Content Contributors - blogger, survey completer, giving you stuff you can repurpose & use.
Develop a Leadership Development Committee who will make it a robust 60%!
- “We need to put cool stuff in the 60%”
- Inventory EVERY opportunity, share, gather input.
- Committee Review: WHAT tasks does each committee member do?
- Term, task, role within the association.
- Role in assoc is where you write down how it’s connected to the mission. If it doesn’t connect, chuck it.
- Individual Job Reviews
- Categorize: occasional, limited/short-term, annual/ongoing, national governance.
- Effort required:
- a little bit of effort, no sweat.
- a little bit of effort, a little bit of sweat.
- sweating.
- This helps people conceptualize when they are committing to.
Your volunteer pathway needs to have opportunities for members to commit. Duty here and there. Small commitment. A couple months. A year +. No responsibility, just push a button now and then. On a team to plan an event, when the event is over your commitment is over. On a team to lead an event.
Communications Team: Many volunteers do small parts, no one has to commit a ton of time: Editor, proofer, social media pool, several content finders, update mailing list person, write content.
Loot at any fundraising model to see how to do this. “No contribution is too small.”
Bring them in with a little bit, and pretty soon they’re in it all the way.
Find the people who want to do the “cool” things, be engaged.
Look up ASAE’s Volunteer Town Square for an example of online volunteering sign-ups.
Filters: Interest Area. - Time Commitment - Travel Required - Level of effort.
At registration, ask: “Would you be available to help with a couple quick things when we need you?” Get their email and contact info. Then 24048 hours in advance ask if they can show up a little early to an event (or whatever is needed of them).
AADE - “Get Involved” Campaign.
Choose to be an Active Member:
Volunteer - Contribute - Influence - Support
Ban the word “volunteer” and use the words “Involvement” or “Increased Opportunity for Visibility” “Advanced Networking”
Volunteers could get points for each thing they do, then at the end of the year they enter a drawing for something “cool” . The chapter who did this raffled off an iPad.
Volunteer for free membership. Maybe volunteering to put together the 3000 Hour Club would get them a free membership.
Go to the events for free when you volunteer.
BE CLEAR there are short term and virtual opportunities.
Give clear procedures for the job duties. Give people what they need to get the job done.
Members engage along a continuum:
Consuming → Promoting → Creating → Serving → Governing
Consuming: viewing the website, reading the articles, attending the meeting.
Promoting: Liking, sharing, recommending.
Creating: Contributing, commenting, survey responses.
Serving: Volunteering, non-governance
Governing: Board members, long term commitment
Members need our help to get through the continuum. Most people will at least get to Promoting & Creating.
3 Steps to help members:
Welcome: send welcoming email or phone call within a week of joining. Joiners give $, but
people who feel like they are welcomed and belong get vested and volunteer. Ask why they joined, what do they need, how can we support them?
Connect: Introduce new members to other people, invite them to coffee or lunch.
Engage: Invite new members to coffee or lunch, make a specific, directed effort to
engage with them before or after meeting. Do a follow up call, appt, or email 6 months later just to check-in (do this especially for members who have not been coming to events)
Hot buttons causing people to come to groups:
- An answer
- A person
- A resource
At no charge, the chapter can request lists of State CAMFT members in our area so we can reach out to them to become chapter members as well.