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MEMBERSHIP TASK FORCE
Maj. Gen. L. Dean Fox, SAME President, established a Membership Process
Task Force to accomplish three objectives:
Address the needs of our membership and identify and address membership challenges
Identify “best practices” of Posts in recruiting and retaining members; and
Strategically align Post and HQ membership processesto achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness.
The Task Force was composed of Post volunteers who are involved in membership for their post and responsible for
membership recruitment and retention. We had a great team that met in Houston, Texas for a one day meeting.
The Task Force quickly got to work and decided that it would address three major membership challenges:
communications, relevance of SAME to Young Members, and relevance of SAME to the public sector, particularly the civilian and military members of the
uniformed services.
The major challenges in communicating to SAME members are the accuracy of the membership database, tracking and locating a
very mobile membership, and a perception by those that do not know SAME that one needs to be an engineer or in the military to be a member.
The major challenges in recruiting and retaining Young Members are competition with other engineering societies that are
promoted by faculty based on the discipline or major course of study in college, and building Post programs that appeal to Young Members.
The major challenges for public sector members were identified as the cost of membership and participation, and giving
public sector employees compelling reasons to join SAME. The members of the Task Force provided the following “best practices” in recruiting and
retaining members:
Have Post volunteers make personal contact with members—e-mails are not sufficient to motivate members.
Have a Post point of contact (POC) for each type of membership so that each membership category
is considered important. (Many Posts have a POC for Sustaining Members but not a one for individual
members).
List new members in Post newsletter to welcome them.
Host a Sustaining Member breakfast with local federal, state and public agencies.
Use the Post Readiness & Homeland Security Committee to connect with local public agencies.
The Task Force also identified “best practices” for attracting and retaining Young Members and Public Agency members.
These included:
Offer substantial discounts to Young Members and Public Agency Members at SAME events—subsidizing these members is warranted to make SAME
attractive to them.
Encourage Young Members to take leadership positions in the Post.
Provide rewards and incentives at the Post level for recruiting new members.
Maintain a Student and Young Member mentorship program and provide assistance in preparation for professional license exams.
The Task Force also identified some recommended actions in each of the focus areas. The Task Force recognizes that a
major improvement is expected when SAME HQ goes to a Web-enabled database for individual memberships and an annual renewal in January 2005. Task Force
recommendations included:
Have SAME HQ provide better guidance on the roles and responsibilities of the Post membership POC.
Provide Post membership POC easier access to Post rosters on the Web site.
Have each Post designate a membership POC to SAME HQ for at least individual members and sustaining members.
Have SAME HQ conduct an e-mail check with all individual members every six months to update their mailing address and phone numbers.
Improve the Sustaining Member Directory search capability.
Emphasize the need for Posts to establish mentoring programs with Young Members mentoring college students and being mentored by Fellows.
Highlight Young Members in SAME’s News and promote Young Member awards.
Promote Post stipends to Young Members for continuing education.
Establish a new dues structure that would allow public sector employees to join SAME at a reduced rate if their organization joined as a public agency.
The members of the Task Force committed themselves to work with me and the SAME HQ Director of Membership to implement these
and other recommendations. I will be reporting back to the Board of Direction on our progress in the coming year.
Membership is essential to the success of SAME. Our goal should be to attract new members and keep them for life.
If you have any suggestions or would like to join our Membership Committee, please contact me at JAccardi@ttfwi.com.
John Accardi
Tetra Tech FW Inc.
Chair, Membership Committee
SAME Membership Committee:
- John Accardi, Tetra Tech FW Inc., Oxnard-Ventura Post
- Mikki Andersen, Au’ Authum Ki Inc., Pikes Peak Post
- Mike Bagstad, P.E., Carter and Burgess Inc., Houston Post
- Jack F. Davies, R.A., DOD Dependent Schools, Okinawa Post
- Cynthia Garrett, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City Post
- Chuck Jones, P.E., CALIBRE Inc., Denver Metro Post
- Joe Laird, P.E., USACE Omaha District, Omaha Post
- Mike Magee, USACE Portland District, Portland Post
- David Mathews, Northrop Grumman Mission System, Panama City Post
- Sean Norton, JSA Inc., Piscataqua Post
- Leveda Parton, Nashville Post
- Diane Priddy, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas Post
- Melissa Smith, EA Engineering, Science, and Technology Inc., Baltimore Post
- Ryan Wasmus, ETI Professionals, San Antonio Post
- Greg Wine, P.E., Huitt-Zollars Inc., Houston Post
- Melody Jordan-Carr, SAME Director of Membership
- Steve Shepard, SAME Director of Training & Post Operations
- Bob Wolff, P.E., SAME Executive Director
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