Rotarians from across all the New Zealand-based districts travelled to the Christchurch venue of the 2nd annual National Membership Seminar. The venue was full creating an atmosphere of optimism conducive to full participation and very constructive discussion.
Showcased was the absolute latest of successful resources and technique followed by animated discussion of those practices that are making such a difference in raising the membership of so many clubs. Exciting times for Rotary! The discussion, presentations and other resource will shortly be available at http://www.rotaryoceania.zone/page/national-membership-seminar-(october-2017)-resources
If there were three key learnings as to the top considerations for every club wanting to grow their membership these would be:
- Engagement is Key. Making sure that clubs retain members because all aspects of the club activity is adding value to member’s involvement.
- Being involved is vital. Making sure members are involved in a way and to an extent that is meaningful to them ensure they will stay as members.
- Enabling relevant change. Clubs will need to change to attract new members and this change is most likely the change needed to retain members. Clubs need to seek relevant change and know how to manage this in a way that gets all ‘on-board’.
The seminar attracted Rotarians of all levels of experience in Rotary but notable among those attending was the number of NRG (New Generation, or young professional) Rotarians enthused by their experience so far in Rotary and keen to offer this to more of their generation and encourage established clubs to do the same.
It is strongly recommended that clubs look to expand the number of members they have available to help grow membership and to ensure they are up-to-date with the best practice and techniques by having them attend district training events. In some clubs these ‘extra’ membership people may not have this as a primary role but are available to support the Membership Coordinator as needed.