Article Membership 2 min read
Thursday Buzz: Weak Member Engagement? Look At Your Staff
You can't rely on your volunteers all the time to get your members motivated—your staffers have to do the job too, even if they're not membership pros. Also: Microsoft introduces a new—and very snazzy—member to the Office family.
Heads up: this content is over 5 years old, so some information may be out of date.
Associations value their volunteers, but there’s a limit to how much they can help on top of their own full-time gigs.
That is why, according to Metal Treating Institute CEO Tom Morrison, the onus is on an association’s staff to drive membership growth. And that’s not limited to the membership staff.
“The problem with staff is usually membership interaction on programs and services … falls to one person who is in charge of membership with smaller associations, and a small department in larger associations,” he writes on his blog (opens in a new tab).
As a result, associations struggle to maximize their potential for member engagement. “Membership engagement should be the responsibility of every employee, whether you have two staff members or 200 staff members,” Morrison says.
Read his post for more ideas (opens in a new tab) on boosting member engagement.
Office Gets Bigger
Microsoft’s Office family just got a bit bigger, and the new addition could be pretty amazing for sharing content online.
The new Office tool, Sway, announced Wednesday, comes across as a combination of PowerPoint and, well, Medium (opens in a new tab). The app allows users to create visual stories on the fly, with a bit of modern flair that’s sometimes lacking in the other apps in the Office suite.
“Sway’s built-in design engine takes the hassle out of formatting your various pieces of content by integrating them into a cohesive layout,” according to a post on the Sway website (opens in a new tab). “From there, you can easily adjust the design to create a look and feel that reflects your unique style.”
As it turns out, one of the big talkers about the demo video, above, is that Microsoft is showing off the new app on Apple products—a bit of a shocker. But nonetheless, enjoy the new functionality—and sign up for an invite if you’d like.
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(Wavebreak Media/Thinkstock)
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