Cincinnati
1. What were your best chapter meetings or seminars? (Topics, speakers, venue, etc.?)
 Topic: Mock deposition/ECM/Panel/Rapid fire
 Venue: Hotel/BOA/Top of Tower/Conference Center/Casino
 Speaker: Laura Clark-Fey/Kelly Twigger/ Conference Center
 Lunch meetings – Topic and time were both important
i. Project mgmt. for records mgrs.
ii. Location – science museum, mall of America, Willis tower, fun locations
iii. Close
 Info security topic
 Round tables worked well
 Vial records topic
 Back to RIM basics sessions
 Winery, motorcycle hall of fame, Professional Development ethics (CLE credits)
 State prison
 Rock hall archives
 Info Mgmt for dummies
 Around the world @ 3 miles/hour
 Professional development
 Minnesota Historical Society tour
 NARA/St. Louis tour
 IGP/Ray Cunningham
 Mock trial with real life actors
 Baseball and tailgate party
 Records meeting for dummies author presented
i. SharePoint for dummies
ii. Panel disc w/ presenters at end of meeting
2. How does your chapter plan for changes in your leadership? How is institutional knowledge
passed onto the new board?
 Board recruitment subcommittee/task force
 Connect w/ prior board member in that position
 Prayer!
 Personal contacts – talk to members
 Find your own replacement – except president
 Give new members a year to get acquainted
 Try to not rope in new members to board
 Handpick – selective
 Term limits
 Networking before/after meetings – recruit
 Mentorship program
 Think ahead
 Board responsibilities @task level
 Continuity of board members
 Create trainee positions to shadow current members
Cincinnati
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Create director positions to draw from for the board
Board manual
Job descriptions – updated
Board Retreat
Old member grooms new member of Board
Mentoring of new potential board members having them attend a couple board
meetings to learn and ask questions
 Transition mtg in June
 Position – level ‘binder’ passed on
 Accumulate documentation on a board site
3. What are some successful topics for monthly meetings?
 IGP Certification
 Tours
 Speakers are from various industries
 Name recognition
 Hacking
 How to promote RIM in organization
 Records industry – past, present, future
 Certifications/degree plans
 Tours/field trips/history
 EDRM
 Wearable technology
 SharePoint
 Identity theft
 Computer forensics
 Social media
 Defensible disposition
 Big bucket theory
 Panel discussions
 World café format with specific topic
4. How can we drive up meeting attendance?
 Door Prizes
 First meeting free
 Bring a friend and both get in free
 ARMA bucks earned (completing surveys, bringing friends, etc.) for end of year drawing
for prize
 High quality content
 Location
 Food
 Professional development outside of RIM, career coach
 ARMA guest speakers
 Free booze
 Combined with other orgs
Cincinnati
 Tours (museums, archives, NARA
 Communicate “session of the month” to members
 Send postcard
 Communicate with plenty of lead time through multiple channels
 Field trip
 Attendance prizes
 Free reg fees if find a sponsor
 Free membership
 Price points
 Virtual mtgs
 Communication with broader groups
 Contest
 Mentoring
 Financial
 Incentive
 Board members each bring guest
 Solicit attendees through vendors
 From lunch to happy hour time
 Offer funds through a scholarship fund i.e. collect credits towards funds
5. How do you keep your members engaged?
 Yearly subscription
 Monthly mtg topic survey
 Creative mtg locations
i. Tours
 Change mtg times
 Spring seminar planning
 Networking mtg
 Free apps & drinks
 Frequent communication
 Survey of needs
 Free lunch instead of a monthly meeting to brainstorm
 Tied charity/fundraiser into mtg – SUC project
 Assign a mentor
 Relevant/exciting new topics
 Email, newsletter, website communication
 What’s in it for me?
 Table topics/ice breakers at tables
 Never marry them (?)
 Raffles – for prize and charity split
 Build relationships with members
 Educational content
 Membership surveys appoint new members to serve on committees, taskforce (rather
than ask)
Cincinnati
6. How do you plan your upcoming year of programs?
 Get help from Vendors
 Planning retreat
 Ideas from chapter reports given at leadership
 Outreach to potential speakers at other conferences.
 Theme setting for whole program year
 Committee
 List tops and match with speakers
 Find best attended/rated sessions @ national conference – ARMA, AIIM, MER
 Survey with prize drawings
 Theme for the year
 Planning session in July or August (after leadership)
 Survey members for topics (end of year)
 Proactive in scheduling speakers well in advance
 Backup plan in case of poor weather
 Theme the who year “CRM theme”
 Examine past 3.5 years
 Info security and privacy – how to handle a breach /forensics
 General Business skills
i. Project management
ii. How to manage a records mgmt. project
iii. How to implement a records/content/document mgmt. system
 Change management
 BYOD
 Legal/eDiscovery
 Emotional intelligence, leadership, roundtables, work
 Life balance – appeals to all industries (CLE, IGP, CRM)
 Personal development
i. IG
ii. IT
iii. Disaster recovery, panel discussion
 SharePoint, cloud, social, mobile, BYOD, wearable tech, email
 Winery location for meeting
i. Tours
 Don’t be afraid to be specific, you cannot reach everyone at one shot!
 Case studies – work, re-group
 Situation – moderator (Disaster Recovery)
 Industry specific workshops
 Experienced  Newbies
 Debate
7. What is the success rate of attracting members to monthly meetings?
 So-so –average – 30%
 20-35% attendance (one 60%)
Cincinnati
 20-30%
8. How do you attract members that historically don’t attend meetings?
 Hot topic “in the news” speaker
 One on one communication using multiple channels i.e. email, phone, etc.
 To keep, have a personal relationship with their members
 Content!! Advertise it!
 Target students
 Scholarship opportunities
 Incentives: ARMA $; prizes/gift card
 Personal call
 Vendor sessions that are free before meetings
9. Do you have an auditing procedure? If so, who is it conducted by and how often?
 1 Person who is a non-board member who is nonobjective for accountability
 1 group performs an assessment annually.
i. Performed by treasurer, CHM of board, and the sitting president.
ii. All do the monthly finances with the entire board.
 Pres, VP, chapter members
i. Review yearly at year end.
 1 non-board member and treasurer and past president audit
 Third party (another chapter)
 Comprehensive audits by non-member or outside group every other year.
 ARMA Groupie does it for chapter connections in financial group
 Upload financial statements to drop box to share with board
 Treasurer plus two non-ARMA with finance background – annually
 Annually – 1 outside financial person
 Random transaction sample received by non-board member – incoming
 Annually, volunteers from chapter general membership
 Random sampling method in off months (June, July, August) – or beginning of new
admin.
 Have treasure appoint and impartial 3rd party (not same company, etc.)
 Annual financial review, not audit (audit implies wrong doing)
10. How can we identify and solicit new member prospects? Who’s responsible for decisions on IT,
to focus marketing and membership efforts?
 As a vendor/member bring a client to a meeting, personal invitation or generic invoice
 Communication
i. Via face to face
ii. Use new hires
iii. Networking at the other events
iv. Add visitors to mailing lists
v. Share invites to/within your group
 Know who cares about the topic
 Use linked in to find non-member records managers in your area
 Advertise no job websites
Cincinnati
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Advertise in free business periodicals
Facebook, mailchimp, LinkedIn, Eventbrite, twitter
Marketing with other organizations i.e.: IIMC, CMCA, Bar Assoc.
Interface with other companies
Local business news
Interaction with local schools/college/universities
Vendor inclusion and contacts
Word of mouth through all business contacts
Table at career fair @ local MLIS/IS schools
Free 1st meeting