Good and sound ideas for Increasing Membership. 

If you're a member of a struggling Unit with less than 20 members, you probably believe that increasing membership in your club is difficult, if not nearly impossible.

Conversely, a Unit that is member-strong with 50 or more will likely agree that acquiring new members is a pretty simple process. In fact, many Units  in this category spend very little time promoting their Unit and new members just seem to keep coming!

So, what is the difference?

The answer actually has very little to do with luck, but everything to do with the visitor.
Here are several proven tips to help you increase your membership:

• Before launching any new member campaign, improve the quality of your meetings. Getting visitors is easy! Impressing guests enough so that they come back...now that's the challenge!

• Separate duties between the VP of Membership and VP of Public Relations. Consider the idea the VP of PR "gets the visitors in the door" and the VP Membership converts them from being guests to members.

• Have a member create and maintain a small and simple web site for your Unit. It has been estimated that up to 80% of all Unit visitors find a Unit to visit through the Internet. There are many free web-hosting sites available!

• Be sure to notify the National and your local union of your new website address, so it can be added to their sites.

• Register a domain name for your Unit and point it to your web site. (Ask the National Webmaster if you have any questions about this process.)

• Put your web site address on everything promotional that you do.

• Provide a member's name (typically the VP Public Relations), e-mail and phone number on your web site and encourage visitors to contact him or her with any questions.

• Ask your Officer in charge of membership  to arrive 30 minutes before each meeting. Guests typically show up 15 to 20 minutes early. If no one is there, they might think the meeting was canceled.

• Ask your Officer in charge of membership (and other members!) to always be on the lookout for visitors and that they should always be prepared to drop everything to greet the guest.

• Ask your Membership Officer to "partner" the guest with a member who will introduce the visitor to the group at the beginning of the meeting and be able to answer questions throughout the meeting as they arise.

• Educate the Unit members on how important it is that everyone shakes hands with the guest before the meeting. This makes the visitor feel welcome and comfortable.

• Always offer participation in Table Topics as an "option" to guests. And, never ask a guest to participate in Table Topics until all eligible members have participated in case there is not enough time for the "paying" members to exercise their skills.

• Consider not allowing guests to join until after they've attended 3 consecutive meetings. That way, they'll know if NARVRE fits into their busy schedule or being retired or even active.

• Ask for the guest to provide a short comment toward the end of the meeting about what they thought about the meeting. This will give you a good indication whether they are a potential member. Sometimes they'll convince themselves to join right in the middle of their comments! Just make sure to tell the guest at the beginning of the meeting that these comments will be requested at the end so the guest is not caught off-guard.

• If your Unit has 15 or fewer members... ask your Area Director to keep you supplied with the latest information from the National so as to be informative information to be able to send the prospective member home with material to review and make a educated decision regarding becoming a member..  What many people do not realize is that even the large Units can run into trouble with membership. Usually, a dip in membership is the result of poor leadership in the club and a decline in meeting quality. Make sure you have a good product before trying to get others to buy into it and you'll be at membership capacity in no time!

These ideas for finding new members are not in any particular order. Take a moment to think about each one, and choose those that you think will work for your Unit, adapting them as you wish. We hope that they will help your Unit grow and become strong!

Tips for increasing your Unit Membership along with  making meetings informative and fun.

1.     Hold meetings at senior centers if possible

2.    Have new membership kits

3.    Hand out Flyers and brochures

4.    Try to have a host for each guest when possible

5.    Make perspective members feel important

6.    Have an enjoyable programs

7.    Make some meetings social events

8.    Use E-mail

9.    Put posters in stores

10.  Have a reward program for those who bring in new members

11.  Create more fun at meetings

12.  Use word of mouth

13.  Net work with coworkers, friends and family

14.  Send thank you notes to prospective members and follow up with news letters to the next meeting.

15.  Have educational and friendly meetings.

16. Provide guests with free meals.

17.  Have a program for new members

18.  Have a unit newsletter

19.  Have a planed agenda

20.  Have each member send out 5-10 newsletters to potential guests