Download Membership Tips for Super Small Sections

Membership Tips for Super Small Sections: SWE Membership Committee FY14
Compiled by: Erin Wakefield ([email protected])
Membership Tips for Super Small
Sections
Approaching a Company that already has SWE Members
Company Info Sessions
If there is already a member of your section present at the company, you can create a SWE Overview set
of slides for the employee to share at their company to promote SWE. This is usually done best by
having the employee set up a brown bag lunch session with maybe a few treats and plenty of time for
Q&A after the SWE introduction slides. Advertising can be done through email, posters, etc.
Partnering with Women’s Affinity, Diversity or Employee Resource Groups
With larger companies they often have some sort of diversity or women focused employee resource
group (ERG), and your current SWE member within the company should be aware of the contacts for
this group. This is a GREAT opportunity to partner and promote SWE as often the ERG will advertise your
events internally for free. You can also partner on joint events, which is a good way to share the
workload and budget to put on an event, and sometimes you can even host it at the company itself.
Approaching a Company that does NOT have SWE Members
Company Info Sessions
If there is NOT already a member of your section present at the company, you can still set up a SWE
overview session to share at the company, you’ll just need to work a little harder to find a contact within
the company to help you set it up.
You can begin by visiting your local chamber of commerce, since they will often have contacts at local
companies. If that doesn’t work, a visit to the company’s website may yield some good contacts, or even
scouring local news archives for information on executives within the company. If the company has an
employee resource group around diversity or promoting women, use this as a way to get your foot in
the door. Often smaller companies will not have this, although an HR rep may be another person open
to discussing this type of opportunity.
Once you have a contact, you need to start selling the benefit of a SWE info session to their employees,
but hopefully you’ll be able to leverage some of the SWE society documentation on SWE benefits to
express the value. You may need to try more than one contact to get through.
Nominating Employees for SWE Awards
Another way to start engaging with a local company with no current SWE members is to approach the
company about nominating their employees for SWE Awards. These can be section awards or possibly
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Membership Tips for Super Small Sections: SWE Membership Committee FY14
Compiled by: Erin Wakefield ([email protected])
even Society Level Individual Awards. Most companies would be interested in the opportunity to gain
recognition for their employees, and this is a good way to introduce and promote SWE membership to
the company.
General Member Recruitment
Radio/TV/Newspaper Public Service Announcements
Especially in smaller cities/towns, there may be an opportunity to use the local public radio or television
stations to do a public service announcement about your section and what you offer to members. They
can often be free or very low cost. Contact your local stations to find out if this is available.
Fundraising Ideas
Raffle
Raising money for a scholarship or local section events can often be quite challenging, especially with a
small membership base. However, often many local businesses are willing to donate gift certificates or
other merchandise to non-profits and this can be a great way to raise funds. After contacting local
businesses to get items donated for the raffle, all SWE members can leverage their own personal and
professional networks to sell tickets. Another option is a 50/50 raffle, but in that case half the profit is
split with the winner, so a raffle with donated items will often yield better results.
Selling SWE Merchandise
Generate funds by selling SWE or engineering related merchandise, although this does require some
initial investment. Often sections will sell SWE items at the Annual Society conference, and others sell
items online. For this type of fundraiser it’s usually beneficial to create merchandise NOT specific to your
section, that way you have a larger market of potential buyers.
Charging for Events
Charging a small fee for events (you can even make it slightly more for non-members than members to
encourage membership) is a good way to make a little extra money towards your scholarship fund or
future events. If you choose an event that is free and charge a couple bucks for it, it should be mostly
profit. For example, if you do a movie showing and charge $5.00 at the door, this is still a good deal for
attendees but you’ll make some money on the event in addition.
Inexpensive/Easy Event Ideas
Meet & Greet Lunches/Dinners
One easy and free event to host is a casual monthly or bi-monthly meet and greet lunch or dinner. All
there is to do is pick a location and do the advertising. This is a great way for members to meet up and
get to know each other, and it’s very easy and inexpensive to plan.
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Membership Tips for Super Small Sections: SWE Membership Committee FY14
Compiled by: Erin Wakefield ([email protected])
SWE Webinar Showing
Another easy and free event is to get a bunch of people together to watch one of the recorded SWE
webinars together. The content is high quality and free, and doesn’t take a lot of work to plan or set up.
You can even easily expand on this by making it a potluck, or having some discussion on the content
after the event concludes.
Tips for Leaders
Leadership Training (LCC Coaching)
A lot of small sections are unaware that LCC Coaches exist through the society and are available for
sections of any size to take utilize. The LCC, or Leadership Coaching Committee, provides leadership
coaching to SWE sections on a variety of topics including aspects of SWE operations and other necessary
leadership and management skills needed to create and sustain a healthy section. Even better is that
this training is FREE! Some examples of training modules include knowledge of SWE, Section Finances,
Strategic Planning, Public Relations & Communications, Succession Planning, Team Building, Dealing
with Leadership Burnout, etc. To find more information, search for “Leadership Coaching” on the
swe.org website, or contact your region governor.
General Event Planning
Focus on a few key areas…
Smaller sections are often most successful if they focus on a few key events or activities throughout the
year instead of trying to have a lot of variety and spreading themselves too thin. For example, a section
in Oregon that had trouble getting a lot of participation decided to focus primarily on Outreach, and put
all their energy into two or three Outreach events every year. One way to find out which focus areas are
the best for your section is by doing a membership survey, or looking at historical data on what types of
events have been most well attended for your section.
Partner with other Societies/SWE Sections
Often a section struggling with small membership numbers is not the only organization in their area
suffering with this problem. Partnering with other societies, such as SHPE (Society of Hispanic
Professional Engineers), NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers), or a more technical focused
organization such as IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) is a great way to do some larger
joint events and pool resources such as funding and volunteers. It’s also a good way to cross-pollinate
between the groups and get more ideas for future events and activities. Often the HR department of the
company you work for, or even a simple Google search for organizations or societies in your area, can
yield a list of groups and contacts for you to get in touch with.
Additionally, other nearby SWE sections (either collegiate or professional) are a great opportunity for
joint events and partnership. If you’re not sure what sections are in your area, you can find this
information on the swe.org website, or by contacting your region governor.
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