membership
update
Successful Tables
What makes them tick?
it will be appealing to those potential members it is trying
to attract. They have to work hard to ensure that their
Neil Jones
Round Table has all the credentials to be a hugely
copy is sufficiently different, as many local newspapers
Optima Consulting
successful organisation with a stable, even growing
are fond of having the ceremonial “handing over of the big
Mobile:
membership. As we all know, our membership numbers
cheque” shot that propagates the image of the club being
07879 884140
have been declining for a number of years; however, there
e-mail:
principally a fundraising organisation that, as we know
neil@optimaconsult.co.uk
are a number of Tables that have found a way to buck the
from research, is often an impediment to joining.
trend, to challenge conventional wisdom and to give
The PR effort is often helped by the Table putting on
enormous hope to all Tables and Tablers who are striving
either big or perhaps unusual events that are used as the
to grow their membership.
basis of a PR story, but, most importantly, they exude fun!
When David Weaver of the Membership and
It is also clear that successful Tables have persistent,
Development Team posed the question: “Neil, What makes
creative and effective Press and Publicity Officers. The
successful Table tick? Do they share common traits or a
events themselves also become an important way of
common approach?”, I decided to ask a few of them.
recruiting new members, but more about the types of
We started by creating a narrow definition of a
events put on later.
successful Table. Our criteria (and it is, admittedly, only
Most Tables contacted sought out a target type of
one) was membership. We therefore identified those
person who they believed would fit into their group and
Tables with significantly higher than average membership
who would enjoy the things they do. They also tended not
and also those demonstrating significantly greater than
to worry too much if a prospective member came along to
average growth over the past two years. It was then
more than the average number of events as a guest: it was
a case of contacting these Tables and finding out the
recognised that each prospective was different and some
secret of their success. Was it perhaps a sophisticated
would need longer than others, however it was important
strategy, with large amounts of time and effort expended
to “keep them warm” through active involvement. Tablers
on recruitment and retention or did their members all
learned not to get too panicky, but if it was clear that the
have a wider circle of friends to draw on than usual?
prospective was never going to join, or would not fit in,
The answers ranged from the simple to the highly
then they tended to be decisive in dealing with him.
creative, all had slightly different ways of recruiting
The final common trend was that the successful Tables
and retaining members, yet they also shared
did not get disheartened. Like Robert the Bruce, they
common approaches.
subscribed to the maxim that “If at first you don’t
succeed, try, try and try again.”
Recruitment –
How do they do it?
Whilst there was no single approach to recruitment
there were some crucial common factors that united
most, if not all, of those successful Tables contacted.
Firstly they all appear to take recruitment seriously, yet
have fun recruiting. They work hard to recruit and have
sustained that effort over time, and, crucially, it is an
effort by all Tablers not just the officer responsible. It
is a group effort with all having responsibility to find
prospective members.
“
If at first you don’t
succeed, try, try
The efforts of each individual Table is backed up with
the ability to liberate the value contained within the
Round Table name in a form that, if only locally, bucks the
and try again
misconception of Round Table in the psyche of the wider
public. It is clear that successful Tables are PR savvy. They
tend to ensure that press coverage is quirky, shows the
fun involved in being a member of Round Table and that
”
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