Recruiting a chapter's volunteers and officers
A local chapter often depends on a few volunteers. Finding more of them, and officers to lead them, involves asking members for specific tasks that fit around their lives, approaching the right members in the right words, and making an office look like something a member could take on.
Why a chapter needs more volunteers
In 2007 many AMWA chapters relied on a small core group of volunteers who, while balancing the demands of their careers and family life, planned curriculum offerings, scheduled dinner speakers, arranged educational tours and maintained chapter websites. These volunteers knew that with more help much more could be offered to their fellow members. How to encourage members to take on more active roles in their chapters was a common concern of the chapters' officers. Recruiting new chapter officers is a perennially relevant topic. Finding new chapter officers can be a daunting task.
What chapter leaders find rewarding and hard
A survey of AMWA's chapter leaders, presented in 2016, was completed by 107 leaders representing all 19 AMWA chapters. For what they found most rewarding about being a chapter leader, the most popular first choices were giving back to the organisation (36%) and providing vision and strategy (20%), and the most popular second choices were implementing chapter events (29%) and developing or increasing their leadership skills (21%). For the greatest challenges they faced as chapter leaders, the most popular first choices by far were implementing chapter activities (28%) and chapter leader succession planning (26%). The second choices were spread more evenly, the most popular being chapter membership recruitment and retention (17%) and implementing chapter activities (16%).
Ideas for increasing members' participation
In 2007 AMWA's chapter officers exchanged these ideas for increasing their members' participation:
- Hold regular potlucks to maintain contact with members.
- Emphasise to potential volunteers the rich networking benefits that come with active involvement in the association.
- Recognise active members in an awards ceremony.
- Remind members that they can earn points toward the association's Professional Development Certificate through involvement in chapter activities.
- Divide large tasks into several small tasks so that more people can contribute without sacrificing too much of their free time.
- Remind members of specific volunteer opportunities through regular email or newsletter announcements.
- Create additional positions on the chapter board for liaisons to specific geographic areas, who can encourage member participation in regions outside the chapter's main geographic area.
- Review the responses to the association's willingness-to-serve form, on which members indicated their areas of volunteer interest. The form was available from the members-only page of the association's website.
Matching members to tasks
In 2009 one chapter found it useful to recruit volunteers by dividing chapter tasks into smaller units and recruiting members to perform each one, rather than asking people to take on a whole officer or chair position. Its volunteer coordinator kept a list of all the tasks a volunteer could do, such as proofreading the newsletter or registering attendees at a meeting, assigned those tasks, and matched each potential volunteer with tasks that fit the time they were able to commit. Chapter delegates in 2009 also raised the idea of chapters creating their own willingness-to-serve forms.
Approaching potential volunteers and officers
In 2009 chapter delegates named three groups as the best people to approach about becoming more involved in a chapter: new members; members who are not medical writers but are interested in breaking into the field, to whom the benefits of networking can be stressed; and members who attend chapter events regularly. One delegate suggested inviting the regular attenders to chapter board meetings, to help them feel more a part of the chapter and give them a better sense of how it operates. To encourage a potential volunteer, delegates suggested mentioning that the service will look good on their résumé, mentioning who recommended them, noting the specific qualities that make them a good fit for the position or task, and, where several positions or projects are available, giving them three to choose from. One chapter's delegates pointed to the importance of personal contact in recruiting officers, calling potential officers by phone rather than emailing them. Another chapter found it useful in recruiting volunteers to give its officers business cards carrying each officer's name and title and the web addresses of the chapter and national websites.
Making an office less daunting
Chapter delegates' suggestions in 2010 for finding new officers included telling newcomers that they can seek an officer position without starting at the bottom and working their way up; assuring candidates that past officers will support and mentor them; breaking jobs into smaller portions so that the responsibilities are less intimidating; and writing well-defined standard operating procedures and job descriptions.