PETS 2014 M EMBERSHIP R ETENTION : B EST P RACTICES B LACKSBURG, V IRGINIA A PRIL 5, 2014 TRAVIS W. VANCE PRESIDENT, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY ROTARY CLUB

#1 Way to Get Rotarians In the Door, and then Keep Them  1. Excellent Programs  2. Excellent Programs  3. Excellent Programs

Tips on Programs  1. Must be Excellent  2. Must Fill the Room- No One Wants to Attend a Club that doesn’t fill its seats!  3. This Creates Excitement in the Club (put an announcement about your good speaker in the newspaper!)

Speaker Committee  Form a Committee in your Club of 1-3 members who are charged with the responsibility of finding all speakers (nice job for President-Elect)  Allowing different members to bring in a new speaker each week can cause issues (e.g., decreased quality, lack of advanced notice, empty rooms)

How Do You Find Good Speakers?  Newspaper and Magazine Articles are the Best Source  Conferences (e.g., PETS, District Conference) are good too!

Engage Your Current Members  #1 Reason a Rotarian will leave a club- feels uniformed and disconnected  Mention Members’ names during meetings  Family of Rotary- birthdays, anniversaries (membership and wedding)  New Member luncheons  Rotary Town Hall Meetings  Meet with Club members to address these issues  Vocational Talks- Let them explain who they are and why they’ve chosen to be a Rotarian

Find Their Niche  Why are they there? Had to join Rotary for a Reason!  Ask them!  Listen! (e.g., MTC)  Help them stay active in the club (e.g., place them on a committee)

Encourage Members to Invite Prospective Rotarians to a Meeting  Free meal for guests; for Rotarian who brings a guest  Free month of dues if the prospect joins?

Have Fun at Your Club Meetings  Tell jokes, read funny s, make fun of someone, and/or  Play T-Wayne Trivia

T-Wayne Trivia  Preliminary Question:  In what Rotary Club is District Governor-Elect Vivian Crymble a member?

T-Wayne Trivia  Tri-Cities at Bristol Motor Speedway!

T-Wayne Trivia  Real Question:  Name the high school that, in the fall of 2002, held classes in the luxury skyboxes of Bristol Motor Speedway due to black mold problems at its school?

T-Wayne Trivia  Sullivan East High School (my alma mater)

Collaborate with local Chamber of Commerce or other Rotary Club(s)  Bring in an engaging speaker  Cite the 4-way test  Allows others to see what being a Rotarian may be like

Valley Business Keynote  July 24, 2014; 11:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.; James Madison University Festival Conference Room  Featuring Mark Fernandes, The Luck Companies, Richmond  Collaborative effort of five local Rotary Clubs, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce, and Association of Young Professionals   6-member committee; 3 Rotarians; 3- Non-Rotarians

You Never Know Who Wants to be a Rotarian  From the home page of The University of South Carolina

As Club President, Be a Model Rotarian  Attend meetings  Go to RLI  Go to District Conference  Create incentives to attend (e.g., massage therapy)  Recruit New Members

Questions?  Thank you!  Please contact me if you have any questions!  Good luck! Travis W. Vance