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In this issue:
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September 6, 2006 - Fall Board Meeting hotel group block deadline. September 7, 2006 - Fall Board Meeting registration deadline. |
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YEEEEHAAAAA, come on down to the Ranch! The YO Ranch, that is. Texas ALP will be hosting its 2007 Winter Board Meeting at Kerrville's YO Ranch on February 15-18, 2007. After we all get to know each other better at the Welcome Party on Thursday evening, you can join your new and renewed friends for some of Kerrville's restaurants, galleries, or museums, or just kick back and enjoy the resort set in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. We'll have officer workshops available to hone your leadership skills and six hours of CLE to polish your professional skills. And to send us on our way back home, we'll gather for a Networking Breakfast. Hope to see you all DOWN ON THE RANCH! |
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Ten Characteristics of Effective Leadership *************************************************** Listening to the voice within and the voices of others. Empathy for the life history and needs of others. Action we are the directors, not victims, of our lives. Delegation trust others; give others things to do; let go. Enthusiasm if you are not excited about you, why should I be? Reflection think, meditate, pray, ponder...pick one! Stewardship treat your life like a newborn infant. Humor laugh at yourself; see the humor in life; read The Far Side. Integrity say what you mean, do what you say, and when you don’t, admit it! Patience give yourself and your friends a break! — DR. WILL KEIM |
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Has your association marketed a meeting using only email? Email is undoubtedly a powerful tool. Even better, it can be extremely cost efficient. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to maximize attendance at your meeting using only email. There are three reasons: 1) As much as you hope you do, you probably don't have a 100% accurate set of email addresses for your target audience. Email addresses and/or contact persons change more frequently than any marketer would wish, and the hard reality is that they do change faster than you can probably stay on top of them. 2) Even if your email list is 100% accurate, you probably won't reach 100% of your target audience due to spam filters at the ISP, company, or individual level. 3) Even if you were able to reach 100% of your target audience, some people just don't respond as well to email solicitations as they do mailed brochures, phone calls, letters, etc. That's not to say that email isn't an excellent part of your marketing plan; but it is better suited to be part of a marketing plan, not the sole component. Bottom line -- emails are an important, cost-effective part of your overall marketing toolkit. But if you want to maximize your marketing efforts, it is best to supplement it with other media vehicles. |
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Planning and Preparing A Membership Drive The success or failure of your next membership drive hinges on more than signage, brochures and the free thing you give away to every new member who joins. So before you go out and order any of your brochures and give aways, put some time and energy into membership recruitment methods that will be effective in the long term for your next membership drive. Some of the following tips for successful membership drives involve a definite time commitment for planning and a significant investment to make sure that your membership committee has all the information. Membership is the base from which your chapter derives its ability to grow into the future. I. Why does your chapter need new members? Wanting more memberships for the sake of numbers is not enough. You must have a reason for your membership drive in order to generate excitement. The plan for member growth should be enthusiastically communicated. Put some FUN in it. II. Involve your current members in the planning. This is crucial to the success of your drive because people power will make it happen. You must solicit their input to make if something that everyone wants to have a part in. If you don't do anything else, point them to the correct way to handle membership inquiries and how to proactively recruit new members. Include why the chapter is doing the membership drive and the importance of each member’s role in its success. Ask what kind of incentives is appealing to new members. People like to be asked their opinions, and it helps build excitement and ownership in the drive. III. Set goals and communicate them. Your drive should be for a specific, advertised time period if you are going to be giving incentives to current members as rewards. You need to keep your goals high but reachable. Break the goals down into components. It may sound easier to get 5 new members a day than 150 new members a month. IV. Give perks to current members and new members. Whatever you do, make sure perks are fair and that the campaign is something the whole chapter can participate in. Sometimes you have to entice prospective members to get them to the commitment stage. Offer them something for joining; remember education and networking are great reasons to join but some item with any of our tri-level logos would also be appreciated. V. Don’t neglect support materials. Make sure you have adequate signage, banners and brochures for your drive. The prospective member will see the work that you have given to the membership drive and know that your chapter has put a commitment into obtaining new members VI. It has to be very easy to join. This is obvious, but true. You'll lose 'em if it's a hassle. Planning a membership drive is an excellent time to evaluate your chapter's procedures for signing up new members. Membership must be easy to explain as well, so provide your current members with a "script" if you must. Watch for procedural barriers to becoming a member. VII. Pursue Can you believe it? After all you've done, you still need to gently remind, inspire and cajole your current members into doing their best. Don't forget to dangle the goodies, and publicly thank and praise everyone's efforts. Once you've administered a successful membership drive, you'll discover that the investment in making sure all your current members participated was worth it. Your current members may or may not retain the "membership drive" glow once it is over, but they will have the tools for bringing in more new member on a continuing basis.
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Possibilities Abound!
Cheryl Moseley PLS, CLA, TSC The 2007-2008 Leadership Team NEEDS You!!! I am still looking for volunteers to chair committees and members to serve on committees. For this Texas Roundup edition, I highlight the duties of the Credentials and Education Committees. Surely, somebody is going to jump at the chance to serve on one of these committees! :) The CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE is responsible for reporting on the number of voting members present at each business meeting. Due to our new voting procedure, this committee will likely work closely with the Nomination and Elections Committee and the Texas ALP Treasurer to verify the eligibility of voting members. The committee serves at each Board Meeting and Annual Meeting, and usually works best with a chairman and a committee member. The Texas ALP PALS program also falls under the umbrella of the Credentials Committee. The primary responsibility with regard to that program is enlisting volunteers to serve as PALS for the first-timers at any meeting, and coordinating the introduction of the PALS and the first timers. Overall, this is a great committee on which to begin your service to Texas ALP if you are interested in becoming a chairman or committee member. The EDUCATION COMMITTEE is typically composed of the chairman and three to four committee members. It is their responsibility to plan and coordinate legal education seminars sponsored by Texas ALP, and assist local chapters with preparation of seminars. They should work with the Marketing Committee to publicize various approaching seminars and also interact with the Certification and/or Leadership committees to provide CLE certificates for general education seminars. This committee maintains a current list of seminars offered previously and topics to be considered for future seminars. They are also responsible for coordinating communication with speakers on behalf of Texas ALP. This committee is not as busy as some of the other committees, but it is definitely rewarding because of the brainstorming that goes into selecting speakers and interesting topics for seminars. Remember – you only get out of your membership what you are willing to put in for the association. Reap the benefits of membership by working on a committee, serving as a committee chair, or attending a Texas ALP meeting. You can find the 2007-2008 preference sheet (on which to note the committee you are interested in) on the Texas ALP website. I really want to get some new faces on the leadership team to complement the mentors already in place. Please fill out your preference sheet, email it to me at cmoseley@qsclpc.com or deliver it to me at the Fall Board Meeting and Educational Conference in September. Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions about any of the TALP committees. As always, I'm just waiting to hear from you. :) ~~ Cheryl |
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Recap of Region 6 Meeting - Richardson, Texas July 28-30, 2006
Cheryl Moseley PLS, CLA, TSC The Region 6 meeting began Friday morning with a welcome address from Region 6 Director Stephanie Floyd and introduction of the special guest, NALS President-elect Kathy Siroky. The seminars on Friday covered topics such as electronic discovery/corporate responses to subpoenas, women's domestic violence, and the 2005 reform of the Bankruptcy Act as it related to corporations. The day drew to a close with a welcome reception hosted by Henjum-Goucher Court Reporting, followed by an optional excursion to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo where the attendees enjoyed watching some real cowboys roping and riding. Saturday morning brought speakers on Cyber-terrorism and Military/JAG law (complete with a man in uniform) and the luncheon speakers were from Hope International and Cradle of Hope, both of which are adoption agencies in the area. Following lunch, the attendees got a double treat with the afternoon speakers. Bill Lowerre led the group in an entertaining game of Ethics Bingo, and was then followed by Mike Quilling who shared information on federal equity receiverships and enlightened the group with his “war stories” of service as a federal receiver. The business meeting for Region 6 began with a presentation from the Shreveport-Bossier City Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Hilton Hotel. NALS of Oklahoma will host the meeting next year, and has chosen to have it in Shreveport, Louisiana. More details will be forthcoming on the actual date of the meeting. The hotel rates will be $109 single/double/triple/quad. The results of the Region 6 merchandise online vote revealed that the Travel Desk Set would be the first logo item ordered. Second place went to the logo polo shirt and third place went to the Ying Yang tumbler. The most popular logo was the oval with the names of each Region 6 state surrounding the Region 6 text. A motion was made and seconded to take pre-orders for the Travel Desk Set with the new Region 6 logo, and to order enough desk sets to sell at the NALS Swap Meet in Reno, Nevada. The motion carried. More information will be forthcoming from the Region 6 Director regarding the pre-order sales of the logo item. A motion was also made and seconded to allow the Region 6 Director to pay the required fees for the Foundation Idol contest and the NALS Swap Meet from the profits of this meeting. After discussion, the motion was carried. The members were treated with impromptu vocal performances by Tina Hurley and Jacqueline Thompson so that a vote could be taken on the member to represent Region 6 at the Foundation Idol contest during the NALS Annual Forum in Reno, Nevada. Jacqueline Thompson won the right to represent Region 6 and Tina Hurley will be nominated as a judge. The list of nominees for NALS office as of July 25, 2006 were announced, and the final list of candidates should be published on the NALS website soon. Betty Wells announced that through the NALS Foundation auction at the meeting and the advance ticket sales on the ring, a total of $2,601 had been raised for the NALS Foundation by Region 6. Theresa Ann Alba pre-sold the most tickets ($376), and received a special item of jewelry for her sales reward. A motion was made and seconded to give the Region 6 director $500 to defray expenses for travel to the 2006 Professional Development Conference and NALS Annual Forum. After much discussion on the issue, it was moved to amend the motion to reduce the amount to $250. The amended motion carried, and rendered the original motion moot. The amendment passed. The motion, as amended, also passed, and Stephanie Floyd will be given $250 from the proceeds of the meeting to defray travel expenses. The remaining net proceeds from the meeting will be divided one-half to the NALS Foundation and one-half to the hosting chapters. There were 59 attendees at the Region 6 conference, of which 22 were from Texas. The Region 6 meeting adjourned for the evening and reconvened at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, with discussion regarding the prior year's decision on split of the meeting profits. Overall, many concerns were cited by members which centered around the structure of the Region 6 meeting and the lack of advance notice to region members of issues to be discussed. Some members felt that business items should be noticed prior to the meeting, agendas should be distributed, and minutes should be taken. There was a great deal of discussion regarding the split of profits for the meeting, and requests for the issue to be discussed again and perhaps changed, but only after the issue had been noticed in advance to all members that it would come up for discussion at the NALS Annual Forum. The Region 6 director concluded the discussion by indicating the issues would be noticed, that requests for business would be accepted, and that no new business would be accepted from the floor. The conference weekend concluded after breakfast with a presentation by Nikkie Freedman of Legally Large, who discussed networking concepts.
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