How to CONNECT with your association members while social distancing

Are you like me, working from home, with your school-aged kids pedaling around you asking you school questions you may or may not have answers to, all with your spouse talking non-stop on his phone trying to keep business as usual? Honestly, I have worked from home for almost 7 years now, in a normal circumstance it works, and while the first week was rough, we are making it work now and finding our balance and I hope you are too.

Unfortunately, I work in a market that as Traci, our CEO, pointed out is humming along to Queen’s infamous song “Another One Bites the Dust” – meetings and conferences. We had several annual meetings scheduled for these spring months leading into summer and we are doing what we do best, thinking on our feet, re-evaluating, coming up with solutions and giving advice. Unfortunately, that means, some of our meetings had to be cancelled, some of our meetings we are considering going virtual, some are being rescheduled for later in the year and some are looking for 2021 dates because jamming the first half of the world’s meetings into the last quarter of the year, just isn’t going to happen, right?!?! In this time of uncertainty and while many non-profits are losing their footing, what do we suggest our associations do to engage with members?

Education

This is a really good time to offer education virtually to your members. Many professionals need to fulfill their annual education credit requirements for licensure and a lot of the time they fulfill the majority of their credits attending your annual meetings. As technology has advanced, generic webinars have developed to quickly and easily allow professionals to fulfill credit requirements. My husband has “hammered” them out in a few days, but he never really learns anything or is excited about the material. You know your members and industry better than the standard run of the mill webinar; your members would rather fulfill their credits with a trusted source and folks and products relevant to them.

Virtual Happy Hour or  Lunch & Learn

Invite your sponsors or member firms to host a virtual Happy Hour or Lunch & Learn. They can present a product or project and answer questions live. Sponsors can provide online gift cards to regional chains for incentive, etc. My husband attended a virtual happy hour last Friday and prepared a cocktail to enjoy while video chatting with other local professionals to follow-up with leads. Videoconferencing has changed the workplace in recent weeks. Just being in your home is an icebreaker, everyone is in the same boat. You will undoubtedly have a wild child running in the background or a cat tromping across a screen. It is life and it is entertaining, and it brings us closer. Just roll with it and embrace it.

Social Media

You can also connect with your members through social media. Post links to industry articles. Highlight your members accomplishments and project updates. Post legislature articles affecting your group. Connect with members you aren’t connected with on your social media accounts (especially if your social media member base is low). Use your social media accounts as your current news section, so people can use you as their main trusted source for industry news (you can connect your social media feeds to your website with the right plugin, but I caution you of this if you do not plan on doing this long term).

Also, just be available for your members – ask questions and answer questions. Poll your members for what they would like to get out of your group.

Consider connecting senior professional members with early professionals to create mentorship opportunities.

One of our clients is connecting manufacturers to create resources for the essential workforce and holding weekly teleconferences to come up with solutions for manufacturers hurting in this time.

Blogs & Articles

Now is a good time to share your knowledge and encourage members to do the same. Do a call for articles and/or blog posts to share on your website or through a weekly e-newsletter.

Industry Information

Your members may be worried about their businesses and jobs. Bone up on available resources, tax credits, loans etc. Have knowledge on where people can get the information they need. Right now, it is a sea of what ifs, maybe connect with your members and see what they are finding out or going through so you can pass that real-life information on to other members.

So why here and now?

These aren’t groundbreaking ideas; we suggest them in regular times. But now more than ever, people need to feel a part of something, and they may have more time to connect and learn from their community. As mentioned above many are also losing valuable networking and educational opportunities when annual meetings are cancelled or postponed. So right here and now is great time to engage with and take care of your association’s community. Creating real community for your members will help everyone weather the storm and provide the support that old and young professionals may need. Part of the all daily calls my husband has had is connecting on a personal level to make sure everyone is doing okay. He has learned some people are worried about their future, some people are lonely, some people are seeing some great new territory while on hikes. This is the time to be HERE for your association community.

Be well.