PCC-Meeting-Notes-Apr-2014

PCC Meeting Notes

April 30 – May 1, 2014

AMA Update– Carol Arnold, Nancy Costopulos

AMA financials for the fiscal year-to-date are looking solid.
Total AMA membership is up 2.7% over the last 25 months.
Strategic Plan – 1) strengthen brand 2) grow the business 3) be the strong leadership position
Goal – best ‘go to’ organization for marketing

Content Strategy

We are working with an outside firm to search for important, trending keywords as well as tracking key influencers. Once we locate valuable articles, we bring these into the AMA’s content library and send them to our members through the appropriate channels. Next we want to work on packaging this content to begin to monetize it.
We have initiated plans tosourcemore content from members. We will provide themwith a “badge” to use in their social media profiles to indicate they are an AMA member contributor.

International Expansion

We have grown to 1475 international members in 120 countries.
Our focus is mostly on China for now. There is an AMA China website (amachina.org.cn), and we have had a successful pilot test of a certification program here.

Membership Growth Initiative

We have several new tools available for chapters now on ama.org/CR, including a Member Orientation PPT (is this the same as the Membership Benefits Orientation ?) and a First Touch Fast Guide. The tools are located in the Membership section of CR – the PPT is in Recruitment section, and First Touch Fast Guide is in Engagement & Retention section.
We have rearticulated our value proposition and plan to provide chapters with a messaging tool around this.
Once the pilot program is over, we plan to update the chapter member data reports with relevant new data fields to better help chapters with member engagement. This includes denoting whether a member is more nationally focused or chapter focused.

Chapter Engagement– Karen Stone

Karen and former PCC members talked to 13 chapters as part of the engagement research.
A full wrap-up will be coming later, but some big takeaways include:
Several respondents had a negative perception to the term “AMA Global.”
Chapters had a tough time articulating why AMA national exists, though some mentioned educational value.
They really love Board in a Box, but they are looking for more “plug and play” resources.
Chapter leader interaction with AMA national and the PCC is sporadic with upticks around particular programs like the membership acquisition campaigns and chapter elections.
Most chapters have an overall positive perception of AMA national, but many don’t feel they have a strong connection with national. Those that do have a strong connection are being intentional about it.
Some chapters expressed interest in someone from AMA national visit their chapter board meetings or events.
Some respondents were worried aboutbeing a botherif they reached out to PCC too much.
Chapters desire to connect more often between themselves.
Some recommendations include:
Emphasize the PCC – Educate chapters better that the PCC is a resource they should use.
Mentor deeper – Chapter Presidents aren’t always sharing information down through their boards, so it would be good for the PCC to interact with more chapter board roles.
Open PCC/Chapter communicationschannels – Visit when we are in town or speak for a few minutes at a board meeting via conference call.
Offer easy, in-depth training – Train membership chairs and offer plug-and-play resources.
Make ama.org/CR access easier – Open CR to all committee members or don’t gate CR.
Repurpose more content – Show chapters how to easily repurpose AMA national content for their local market.
Collaborate on programs – Offer financial incentives to chapters to promote national events.
Thank volunteers more often – Email chapter leaders at the beginning of the year to thank them for volunteering.
Develop more chapter connection opportunities – Hold PCC conference calls with a specific region.
Develop a chapter leader (customer) advisory board to work with AMA, PCC.

Next Steps (Karen S)

By June 30, Karen S will send a full wrap-up of the engagement research to the PCC.

Membership – Katherine Brockman, Angela Brutsche, Will Krieger, April Schmaltz, Brian Woods

Chapter Updates

Chapter celebrations:
Los Angeles – The problems that have plagued them seem to be improving. Can use BatchGeo.com to help them figure out where their membership resides so they can better place their events.
Madison – The President engaging more than usual.
Triangle – They completed their first 2 day seminar. It had several hundred attendees, and they broke even.
Chapter struggles:
Colorado – Their incoming President didn’t initially comprehend the importance of finding a Pres-Elect soon, but past chapter presidents are helping guide her and emphasize the importance of succession.
Jacksonville – Their President and President-Elect both just moved, but they’ve found new leaders thanks to strong involvement by their Past President.
New York Capital Region – They weren’t responding or reporting for months, but we finally connected with them. They have just begun to submit some overdue financials, but they have a ways to go and will need to be monitored closely.
Palm Beach – They haven’t been able to grow past 30 members in 9 months. We don’t see much indication that they will hit the 50 member minimum needed to charter or ever be a sustainably strong chapter.
Silicon Valley – Their President is in her third year, and neither she nor us want her to serve as President yet another year. She has likely identified someone as Pres-Elect for next year, but she is still looking for a President. Former PCC Member Cynthia Holiday is in that market and might be a helpful mentor for them.
Southeast New England – No one has responded to the notification of closure. AMA Headquarters will begin reaching out to individuals next.
South Florida – They are not moving as quickly as we would like. They have 5 board members, but most key positions are still not filled. A big step forward is that they are holding regular, well-received events. We would like to visit the chapter, and we should tie this visit in with a chapter event if possible.
Utah – Their President resigned, but their Immediate Past President stepped in and will serve as President next year. He has renewed enthusiasm and is focused in rebuilding the board toward sustainability again.
Vacant Pres-Elect role:
About 1/3 of chapters start the year without a Pres-Elect, and not many of those identify someone in the first half of the year, so they are in trouble by the time elections roll around.
How do we get our chapters to take a long, strategic view about identifying future presidents instead of being tactical and focusing just on survival?
Would it help succession if chapter boards were restructured so there is a full leadership team under the President instead of just one Pres-Elect?

Annual Chapter Leader Survey

A question could be added to ask chapter leaders what term for the AMA national organization resonates most with them – National, IH, Headquarters, Global.

Could also ask them what they would like the PCC to do more of.
The survey will be sent to every chapter board member.

Membership Team Orientation

All the on-boarding documents have been bundled together to make it easier for new PCC members joining the membership team. This is a 22 page how-to guide complete with table of contents.

National Volunteer Outreach

Angela has created a list of 55 past PCC members who we could reach out to for help – 40 of these are still active AMA members. They could be good for mentoring chapters. Some could possibly be made Emeritus PCC members to keep them more involved and informed throughout the year.
Angela’s list is segmented out from the National Volunteer list that April manages. How can we merge these lists back together?
The PCC wants to have AMA Board members visit chapters more often when possible.

Next Steps (Colleen, April, Katherine, Angela, Megan, All PCC)

By May 15, Megan will inform Palm Beach Formation Committee that they must meet Chapter Charter criteria by June 30.
By May 30, Colleen will call the Palm Beach President to offer guidance.
By June 30, Megan and April and to look into connecting incoming Silicon Valley leadership with Former PCC Member Cynthia Holiday.
By June 30, Katherine will finalize and send the year-end survey to all current FY13-14 chapter board members.
By June 30, the PCC will review the Former PCC list and provide comments on areas of expertise and passion points for Angela to integrate into the list.
By PCC summer meeting, Colleen will schedule a visit to South Florida to encourage and guide them.

Chapter Resources– Katherine Brockman

Recommended Resources

Jennifer Schultz and her team have finished drafts of all the Recommended Resources for Leadership, Programming and Membership.
We need to determine how we will tackle the PCC review of the drafts. It would be easiest if Megan edits and reformat them first.

SIGs and Awards Toolkits

SIGs toolkit is moving forward, butthe Awards toolkit progress has slowed. The PCC has identified some potential volunteers would could assist with these projects if needed.
We need to figure out how to brand and design these resources and where they should reside on ama.org/CR.

Leadership Skills Presentations

Will would like to record the LS14 presentations as Webcasts soon after Summit while they are still fresh in the presenters’ minds. There will be no audience or questions, so these sections can be deleted from the presentation. Presenters might also want to remove any video clips and simply link to these at the end of the presentation.

Next Steps (Megan, All PCC)

By May 30, Will will schedule dates for Leadership Skill Building presenters to record Webcasts.
By June 30, Megan will send all edited Recommended Resources documents to PCC with specific assignments and deadlines.
By June 30, Lori and Karen will work with national volunteers to complete a final draft of the SIG and Awards toolkits.

Regional Retreats– Brian Woods

RR14 Results

Attendance:
Saw an 11% increase in attendance – a new record.
28% of attendees were Pres or Pres-Elect.
56% of chapters attended – 4% less than last year.
Survey:
32% of attendees responded to the post-retreat survey.
97% of attendees rated that they were highly or moderately engaged with other chapters, 90% rated they were highly or moderately connected with AMA Headquarters, and 70% rated they were highly or moderately connected the PCC.
There was some split on the usefulness of the Volunteer Engagement session.

RR15 hosts

San Francisco, Houston, Philadelphia, Charlotte have committed as hosts.
We are trying to determine who should host from Madison, Detroit, Phoenix, Colorado, and Omaha.
Last year we decided to not have a Pacific Northwest Retreat in 2015 because there are only 3 chapters in this region and San Francisco is hosting a Retreat fairly nearby. We can relook at geography and attendance issues again determine if Pacific Northwestshould a have Retreat again.

Next Steps (Brian)

By May 15, Brian will send RR14 survey results to the PCC with some comparison points to last year.
By June 30, Brian will secure all host chapters for RR15.

PCC 2014-15 Focus–Karen Albritton

PCC will grow to 12 members next year. CEA judging will be virtual, saving money while allowing more volunteers to be more easily engaged. Board in a Box printing will be regularly funded out of its own line item, while a line itemstill remains to fund other special projects that arise.
The PCC needs to determine what they will do with these new members and funding. Possibilities include:
Grow the Membership Team for mentoring – This could allow more chapters to meet their current PCC rep at Summit. Those serving on the Membership team a second year could take on more “mentoring deep” opportunities or manage special projects. Should PCC Reps be more regional based, or would someone end up with more struggling chapters than others?
Better convey the value proposition – How can we help chapter leaders understand they are part of something bigger? We might want to create some data points around this.
Articulate how joining the AMA can help people in their careers, business development opportunities, and giving back to create a stronger marketing profession.
Connect chapter leaders to each other – The PCC Membership Team could hold regional chapter conference calls throughout the year. There is much opportunity to improve their connection through social media.
Enhance Collegiate and Professional collaboration – Student members are the future professional members and board leadership of the chapter. They can alsoserve as good chapter volunteers while still in school.
Potential new PCC members – We need to pay attention to their responsiveness and ability to problem solve as well as their chemistry within the PCC group and with chapters.
Possible PCC summer meeting dates – Mark your calendars for the weekends of July 11 or July 18. Neither April or Colleen can do July 11 weekend, while Katherine will need to leave Sat on July 18 weekend.

Next Steps (All PCC, Karen A, Megan)

By May 15, the PCC will let Karen A know if they are unavailable to attend a PCC summer meeting on the weekend July 11 or July 18.
By May 30, Megan to secure a hotel for the PCC summer meeting.
By June 30, the PCC will determine deadlines for transitioning role information to new owners.
By June 30, the PCC will send Karen A a list of things the PCC currently does that should end.