INDUSTRY NEWS • ISSUE VII, NOVEMBER 2016

At the summer chapter meeting, new members were greeted with a red-carpet welcome. It was all part of a new initiative to “enhance value to not only our new members, but also to our existing members,” according to David Knight, membership committee chair. Knight makes it a point to ask new chapter members if they have been involved in similar organizations. Most have. So he then asks why they left those groups. He found that “they left because they didn’t value it and usually had a list of reasons why.”

So each new member was assigned someone on the board to be his or her “ambassador.” New members wore bright yellow ribbons on their name badges. Knight explains that as an ambassador, “I’m going to introduce myself, and I’m going to make sure that you meet the other board members. I’m going to make sure that you meet the committee chairs, and that you get a really good idea of what is going on in the chapter and of all the opportunities for you to get involved in whatever area interests you most. I want that person to immediately start to find value in the Carolinas chapter.”

All indications are that the program is a terrific success. The program kicked off at the networking session held the evening before the chapter meeting began. “The new members all had big smiles on their faces,” says Knight. “The noise level in the room was high. The excitement level in the room was as good as I’ve ever seen it. I think our board members really enjoyed being ambassadors because it got them to not only meet the new members, but it also gave them the opportunity go around and introduce them to the other members. It went splendidly.”

The effort doesn’t end with the meeting. Ambassadors will stay in touch with their charges through e-mail, other meetings, or even as a vendor client, Knight says. “I believe, and the other board members agree, that this is going to make the chapter that much stronger and of that much more value because these new members are going to go and tell other new members. We hope it will perpetuate.”