Welcome to November, chapter leaders! Whether you’re the chapter membership chair or responsible for recruiting and retaining members and/or delivering membership value, this may be for you!
Membership and re:Members Office Hours: Most Thursdays, 3:30-4, ET. This is optional and available should you have any questions.
Membership Prospects: As a reminder, your non-member data should be sent to memberprospects@smps.org. Initially we’re focusing on the following data points. For example, does your chapter have a career center? Please share the non-members who use it, and SMPS HQ will take it from there.
1. Career Center
2. Education
3. Networking
4. Award submission
5. Bookstore
6. Website analytics
7. Sponsors
8. Foundation/donors
9. Student events
SMPS HQ Comp Membership: Each year, chapters are afforded one free membership ($449 value) to bestow to a new or renewing member. For the new member, with no previous history (or record), they would need to begin at smps.org, click “Login” in the upper right-hand corner, and “create an account.” Once that’s done, the chapter should inform HQ via membership@smps.org and we will apply the chapter comp membership accordingly.
SMPS Student Membership: Our students are our future! For $25 per year, students can gain access to a wealth of SMPS resources and network. The Society’s commitment to students is further evident in our partnership with the ACE Mentor Program. Active students/prospects may join online at smps.org. They will be required to confirm academic status, degree major, degree type, graduation year and upload a dated transcript or schedule.
Membership Referrals: Being connected within the AEC community has great benefits. In case you haven’t heard, we have Share SMPS: Refer a Friend program. Please let your chapter members know that if they refer a colleague who joins the Society as a new member, they’ll earn three additional months of membership. This appreciation will be recognized within 30 days of the new member joining. Please encourage the new member/referred to provide the referrer’s details within their smps.org Account > Personal Info section.
Group Membership Discount: Does a local firm want to get on board with SMPS? Wonderful! If the firm has five new SMPS members, all joining at the same time, the firm will receive a 10% overall discount. If they have more than five joining, that 10% still applies, assuming criteria are met. Once a firm (or chapter) identifies the prospects, please email the list of names/contacts to membership@smps.org. HQ will instruct them on next steps.
Member Directory: On October 17, a member eblast (Data!) encouraged all to log in to smps.org to verify one’s contact information and firm details. In November, this data will be leveraged when we expose additional Member Directory fields (services, discipline, facilities, etc.). Those who update their contact by the end of this month will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of two prizes!
Why doesn’t one renew their membership? The top reason, at 24% is, “I do not have the time to take advantage of membership.”
See you next time for the Membership Corner! Any questions? Reach out to Bryan Lipps at HQ at bryan@smps.org.
