October 21-24, 2010

PCC October 2010 Meeting

Meeting Attendees: Christine Mathers, Stacy Armijo, Jennie McConagha, Karen Stone, Jessica Kennedy, Pat Frew, Tim Sheridan, Amy Favreau, Lori Janson, Megan Backes, Deb Billow

Group Membership (Brainstorm)

Team 1 Discussion: Unengaged Chapter Leaders

Barriers to overcome:

-Educate on the value of the discount

-Educate in general ...create greater understanding of the program ...educate on how they will benefit by putting effort in to this program

-Develop best practices from the Chapters that have currently been successful with the program

  • Suggest the Chapters create a Group Membership champion
  • Tell the story of success ....provide data on what has worked thus far...show them the successful business case

Possible improvements:

-One page sell sheet... keep it simple

-Create url links for common, confusing terms back to the website that explains it (i.e. corporate program)

-Make sure the Chapters know that this was launched to begin with in response to their request... you asked and we listened

-Be more pro-active with sending out info to the Chapters that are not participating...don’t wait for the Chapters to request something

-Create more visibility for the program...website banner ad, e-newsletter communication (Chapters and all others)

-Leverage more resources to sell the program other than Chapters (i.e. Director of Sales, other Council leads etc.)

  • IH to take a more pro-active role; target and approach some national companies

-Ensure there is organizational focus at key Chapter touch points: Regionals, Summit, Community

-Consider giving corporate members additional benefits; web presence/recognition, free webinars etc.

-Survey Chapters who have not had success with the Group program and find out why not (not tried? tried and not successful etc.)

-Use the Summit as a time to set up 15 minute one-on-ones with Chapter leaders where IH gives them possible corporate target lists and contacts

Team 2 Discussion – Engaged Chapters

-Keep discounts, posting of active groups, tiers, payment flexibility (individual and/or group checks)

-Improve:

  • Ease of participation/coordination/admin support
  • Tweak: add perks, bennies
  • Consider additional tiers with added benefits
  • Create a concierge service ...IH dedicated customer service support
  • National promotion...marketing support, strategy/development
  • Re-educate Chapters each year
  • Conduct research on barriers due to lack of participation or group rejection
  • Create a target company list
  • Create a list of best practices
  • Create testimonials of successes
  • Consider multi-year group membership
  • Provide materials at each PD event
  • Create a group membership calculator...highlight savings

Next Steps

Houston Chapter Feedback

1)Develop a one page process flow document explaining what will members get and when will they get it from IH. What is the checklist of what will happen, what will people receive, when (x weeks out, etc.) Chapters can then add to it (Kim R/Lisa T to Megan)

2)Ensure that individuals who are part of the group membership plan are not getting individual renewal reminders(Customer Service/IT)

PCC Feedback

3)Start to collect the logos of the companies that are part of the Group Membership program to make it

part of a visually interesting presentation for RR and LS(Lisa T to Megan)

5)Pass along list of PCC generated ideas to Marketing (Megan)

Regional RetreatsRR (Pat)

Discussion

-Reviewed hand out that included topics and the schedule for the day

-Still one open session... consider focus on strategic planning

-Reviewed hand out for host kit information checklist

-Choice of location.....what is the strategy? How important is travel time in terms of deciding/allowing retreats to be held in a certain location vs. the value of the enthusiasm/chapter showcasing?

-Content: each PCC Rep has a sharp intro delivering the concept of each topic and then a local Rep bring it to life with an example of something that has worked well

-November save the date mailing; December send invitation

Next Steps

Houston Chapter Feedback

1)Ensure IH portion of regional retreats has an emphasis on how the IH programs translate to membership value (Megan)

PCC Feedback

2)Topics for IH to present (Megan to create presentation for all IH employees who will attend):

  1. Big Picture overview of activities (?) 10 minutes
  2. Membership10 minutes
  3. Group .... refer to Group Membership discussion
  4. General data by Chapter ...ensure all Chapters represented
  5. Community ...refer to IH Update next steps for materials needed 20 minutes
  6. Xxxxxxx10 minutes
  7. Q&A 10 minutes

3)Rework the Leadership section (Pat to work with Kevin)

4)Create clarity of who (PCC Rep? Chapter host?) has ownership of sending out and tallying the pre/post surveys (Kevin/Megan)

5)RR giveaways ....IH gives something to thank the host Chapter only ...Chapters will handle the attendee giveaways (Megan to discuss with Deb)

6)Follow-up with Kevin as a download on information discussed (Christine, Pat, Megan and Kevin)

  1. When are the content/presentations due to the PCC/IH? Kevin to create

7)Create a template for the communication that goes out from the Chapters (i.e. save the date, invitation etc.) ...design it in the theme of the LS theme (Kevin/Megan)

8)November save the date mailing; December send invitation (Kevin, Megan)

CVent (Megan)

Discussion

-Brief review of terms of current contract; expires June 30, 2011; if exiting, need to let CVent know by March 30

Next Steps

1)Capture a list of what “registration systems” each Chapter uses (Megan)

2)Consider interviewing 3 to5 Chapters that use systems other than CVent to understand their needs, pricing structure, reasons for not using CVent etc. (Megan)

3)Create a timeline and series of next steps to have a recommendation on the continued use of CVent by March 1 (Megan)

IH Update (Deb, Megan)

Discussion

-Review of progress against next steps from the meeting notes from the July Meeting

-Brief PowerPoint presentation of IH’s top 7 initiatives: Community, Global expansion, PCM overhaul, CareerResourceCenter, Mktg Toolkits, Virtual event expansion, e-Learning launch

-PCM:

  • How will it be different this time around?
  • How will we build marketplace value?
  • Need to have non-Academics on task force to ensure testing/study materials reflect the “real world”
  • Should there be credits that are obtained by participating

Next Steps

1)Community:

  1. Ensure the name of one of the Leadership Groups has the word “Regional” and not “Mid-Year” in the name (Megan)
  2. Rename Chapter e-newsletter so it is not confusing with the Community platform launch (Megan)
  3. Develop a Chapter communication transition plan for the move from LinkedIn to AMAConnect ...ready by the RR ...January (Megan)
  4. Need a Chapter Education document to sell the features and benefits of AMAConnect to the Chapters ...ready by the RR...January.Provide a roadmap...perhaps tiers of sophistication ...given them stepping stones(Nancy P/Megan)
  5. How will CR and Community work together? What is the strategy/need for/use of each tool? Be prepared to begin to address at the RR ...January(Megan)
  6. Prepare materials for Regional Retreats (January) and Leadership Summit ...April(Megan)
  7. Karen Stone tried to accept someone as a friend and it sent her to a strange page.She sent a screen shot to Megan and Nancy P explaining the problem...not sure if it was received (Nancy P)
  8. Send the link to the community out with the meeting notes (Megan)
  9. Tim cannot get to the AMAConnect on your mobile phone...error message comesup that says that there are too many redirects (Nancy P)

2)Mktg Toolkit

  1. Keep PCC involved in the development of the resources so they can play a role in supporting the roll-out of the materials with the Chapters (Megan)

3)PCM

  1. Look at MRA model of attaching renewal to the accumulation of credits by participating in other activities. Should you get credits by attending AMA eventsand/or should we create partnerships with other companies to get credit for attending their events? (Deb to Christine M)
  2. Launch with all PCC members having the PCM certification for help in selling/supporting the initiative with theChapters (Deb to Christine M)

Leadership Summit (Karen, Jessica)

Discussion

-PowerPoint presentation review of the schedule for every day

-Center for Great Management (CGM):

-CALL FROM CGM LEADER: The “narrative solution” ..... exists to solve the plight of management. Interesting parallels to research they have recently done. Power of the story .... talk about engagement ...very few managers know what engagement means or what the drivers are...or what the levers are to pull .... perspective of a story to address what it takes to create engagement ....manager highlights likely obstacles and then uniquely equip individuals to overcome obstacles ...brings simplification to the role of a manager .....clear purpose and a placement for each individual to bring it to life ..... how do you bring these processes and these behaviors to life....series of exercises.....working on a granular level ... Chapter Leader....objective is reach...new members, keep current members ...what is relational discovery ...establishment...how do we communicate the what and why ...how do we accelerate ...moving understanding towards a result ....Friday afternoon very granular....Friday PM Keynote ... pieces of understanding are part of a bigger solution called the narrational solution

-EXAMPLE: Leadership session... deliver BiB truths/content... (20 minutes) ..... showcase the Chapters that have demonstrated these truths.... CGM facilitator would ask questions to draw out the conversation in the room ...(Facilitator would also work with the Chapter ahead of time) ...draw out from the storyteller what would be practical and help the rest of the audience ...move to a workshop environment that allows people to work through content/issues based on their own experiences..... help them to think about how what they are hearing can be helpful to their own Chapter ......

-Talk about the process and the behaviors that will help get the results...put it in the context of their reality...create platforms of understanding...understanding creates loyalty ...the 7 questions of connection...such as: What is your purpose? What is your message? What inspires you? What inspires those around you?

-Each session would have specific goals and then it would be all pulled together at the end. Not yet defined what the content delivery focus is for each session....pick those that are the most relevant, the “must do’s”.

-CGM will train the trainers ahead of time so the volunteer leaders will have exposure to it before the LS

-Change the experience in regards to how the Chapter Leaders learn

Next Steps

1)Create a social media strategy using AMA Connect as a resource before, during and after the LS (Jessica, Karen, Megan)

2)For the CEA Awards luncheon have a clever leave behind piece in the table that highlights the accomplishments from the wide range of winners (Jessica, Karen, Stacy, Megan)

3)Continue to vet role and content of CGM in LS (Christine, Stacy, Karen, Jessica)

Board in the Box (Stacy, Karen, Christine)

Discussion- Review of Original Process

-Sue Renniger call in...one of the originators of the BIB initiative

-BIB started by trying to understand the difference between strong and weak chapters and wanting to help the weak chapters become strong. Wanted something they could measure so they could prove it worked

-Step 1: What was the definition of a strong and sustainable chapter? Defined as membership growth and financial stability.

-Step 2: Defined the study chapters; looked at financial data ...AMA had no trending data ....used archives and old emails to collect data...culled through 5 years worth of CEA’s...looking for who fits the model: strong and sustainable...benchmark of had to have flat membership and financial(2 to 5% negative was defined as flat) growth over 5 years ..... 5 Chapters because that is who fit the model ...sustainability could come from size but size was not enough; 5 year timeframe was deemed to be very important ..looking for trends

-Step 3: Studied the Chapters.....conducted phone interviews at those 5 Chapters ....focus group type conversations with some of the chapters; used surveys ...basis was 25 people (5 per Chapter)...like herding cats ...hard to get them all on board ...lots of work in collecting the data ...tried to talk to people who were part of these Chapters over the 5 year time period. Preferred to talk to people in a group...they ideated with one another and it made for a stronger conversation

-Step 4: PCC team organizing the data all via conference calls (no face to face meetings)...ended up using an index card system...wrote all golden nuggets...hundreds of index cards per chapter....started looking for commonalities ...lots of fist pounding amongst PCC members to get to a consensus

-Step 5: Defined three areas: Membership. Leadership and Programming ...ended up eliminating areas such as finance as that was deemed to be a tactic. Defined truths and best practices within those three buckets. 1) Truths...unshakeable..... rooted in the research. 2) Best practices.... could be shaken.... meaning over time they may change

-Step 6: Knew BIB should be re-looked in 5 years. People on the team were simply the people who had the time to do it. Discipline..members came from a variety of different professional areas that really helped the team... people from entrepreneurial roots was really important... a writer... really important...someone who could make the truths easy to understand; a creative person who could make it visually engaging...not a bunch of researchers...start with the end in mind.... looking for a body of work that will inspire people

-Things to think about when you move forward: be prepared for arguments amongst the team members. Be open-minded about which chapters would be studied. Look for strength and sustainability over time. Good well rounded leaders, good financial managers. Lot of chapters will not fit the study set; Consider including additional Chapters that have specific tools that may be worthwhile to look it

-Learned that the leadership component was one of the most important components of success.

- Original study Chapters: Montreal, Rhode Island, Silicon Valley, Richmond, Columbus; project went

from 2002- 2004 (launched in 2004)

Discussion: New Project

-Study Chapters...how are we going to choose them? List of 21 chapters from a membership standpoint should be considered. Want study and survey chapters....more inclusive approach. Review of the categories.... Review bigger deliverable ...that includes BIB but is not only BIB

-Review CEA make a subjective list of Chapters: 1) Membership, 2) Finances, 3) Operations

-Austin, Houston, Richmond and TampaBay ...are the only chapters that still meet the original study criteria in membership (no more than 5% decline in past 5 years)

-If expand criteria no less than 10% decline in past 5 years(even with significant loss in 07-08), the chapters include:

  • Austin, Boston, Charleston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Fairfield County, Houston, Indianapolis, Lincoln, NY Capital, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Rochester, San Antonio (in edge), Tampa Bay, Toronto, Triangle
  • Missing? PCC feedback: Colorado, Minnesota, Chicago

-What are the best practices once you have had a bad year and you come back?

-Study Chapters: they are the model

-Survey Chapters: ask them all the same thing.....broader perspective....may not change the truths may change the best practices

-* AHA Moment: Collect data on the top 10 chapters in every category; need to also define a minimum criteria for each category. Should you go back to the CEA criteria and use that for determining the study chapters? Criteria:

  • Membership: change in an absolute manner and compared to the US average
  • Revenue Growth: percent over time
  • Reserves: a minimum percent of revenue (50% of revenue as a goal ....use to be lower)
  • Net Income: is zero to positive (yes or no)
  • Operational measure: to be looked at later?

-Categories:

  • Membership, Programming, Leadership .... the fundamentals....the Olympic circles
  • Umbrella concepts: communication, finance (a measure of success...not an activity unto itself)
  • Lots of discussion on whether communication belongs as a stand alone “Olympic circle” or as a supporting element that criss-crosses all of the elements – the research may help make this determination.
  • Agree that there needs to be more content around communication regardless of whether it is a stand alone bucket
  • Membership and programming is a way to generate revenue ....communication does not

-Research: (Karen)

  • Start with qualitative ..... include online focus groups with a transcript ....15 to 20 Chapter leaders from the study chapters
  • Look at major themes, construct a quantitative tool..... up to 100 people to participate
  • Look at small, medium and large chapters

-Bigger Picture: (Stacy)