Welcome!
Robert Conley, PGM
Administrator MRC
What Happened?
How did we end up here?
What can we do about it?
Where have we been?
 In
1959 there were 4,000,000 Masons in
the United States
 Today there are under 1,700,000
 Once we made the cover of Life
 Today nobody knows our name
 Once we created change, today we
don’t even react to it!
©RCE Industries 2004
Lets do some thinking
 What
do you believe is at the root of the
membership decline?
 What
caused this problem?
©RCE Industries 2004
You Answered
 Apathy
 TV
 Moral
Decline
 No Commitment
 No Concern for Tradition
 Young People are just stupid
 Who cares, I don’t like them anyway
©RCE Industries 2004
Keep Thinking!
 What
is the average age of your Lodge?
 What is the average attendance in your
Lodge?
©RCE Industries 2004
The bigger picture.
 Every
group has had significant decline
in numbers.
 Most organizations have not been able
to sustain themselves over the long
term.
 No single answer is available.
 Today we do know a great deal.
©RCE Industries 2004
It isn’t all our fault.
 Society
changed.
 People changed.
 Generations changed.
 Entertainment changed.
 Education changed.
 Our Membership Changed
 Attitudes and Viewpoints Changed
©RCE Industries 2004
Society Changed.
 Freeways
took people out of city’s
 Men’s “roles” have changed since the
50’s
 Women “certify” their men’s involvement
 Men take a more active role in child
raising
 Family structures are very different
©RCE Industries 2004
People Changed.
 Men
are living longer today
 Women are living even longer
 Divorce rates went from 5% to 55%
 The average family went from 1 home
per lifetime to 11
 Adulthood begins at 28 compared to 18
 More-©RCE Industries 2004
Our Members Have Changed
 In
1954 Married Couples composed
80% of the Adult Population
 In 2003 Married Couples composed
50.7% of the Adult Population
 11% of Children were being raised by a
single parent in 1970
 In 2001 that percentage had risen to
33%
©RCE Industries 2004
Generations Changed.
 1900-1945,
Traditionalists-Chain of
Command, Loyal
 1946-1964, Baby Boomers-Change of
Command, Competitive
 1965-1979, Generation X-Don’t
Command me at all, Skeptical
 1980-2000, Millenials- Don’t Command,
Collaborate, Realists
©RCE Industries 2004
Traditionalists
 DiMaggio
 Lindbergh
 Edward
R. Murrow
 Bob Hope
 Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Bay of Pigs,
Korea, Victory Gardens and Radio
 The New Deal and the GI Bill
©RCE Industries 2004
Baby Boomers

Martin Luther King
 JFK
 The Cleavers
 Manson Family and the Osmond Family
 Captain Kangaroo and Captain Kirk
 Monkees, Beatles and the Stones
 Watergate, Hanoi Hilton, Chappaquiddick,
Kent State, sit ins, Love ins, Laugh In, and
Woodstock
©RCE Industries 2004
Gen X’rs
 Bill
Clinton, Bill Gates, Monica,
Ayatollah
 Beavis and Butthead and OJ
 MTV
 Not Many Heroes
©RCE Industries 2004
Millenials
 Prince
William, Chelsea Clinton, Tinky
Winky, Ricky Martin, Leonardo
DeCaprio, Kurt Cobain, Barney and the
Back Street Boys
 Dawson’s Creek, Oklahoma City, Outer
space to Cyberspace, 9/11
©RCE Industries 2004
Entertainment Changed.

From Paper, to Radio, to Television.
 87% of Adults get their information from
Television.
 Movies make less than 20% in the theaters.
 DVD’s, MP3 files, digital music and movies
downloaded from the internet will continue to
evolve, and change the entire industry,
whether the industry likes it or not.
©RCE Industries 2004
Education changed.
 Today
89% of graduating seniors will go
on to a four year college.
 Emphasis in Grade school on problem
solving.
 Teach more, at a younger age. Schools
must be accountable.
 50% of students graduating 8th grade
cannot read at a 3rd grade level.
 The US is making progress with grade
school students.
©RCE Industries 2004
Education continues to
change.

The fastest growing age segment obtaining
an advanced degree or just going back to
school are senior citizens.
 The concept of Life Long Learning is
becoming more predominant among all age
groups.
 Groups that provide education will be able to
take advantage of these developments.
©RCE Industries 2004
Attitudes and Ideas Changed.
 Diversity
will continue to expand
 Children outside of Marriage is
considered normal. (by some)
 Elitist organizations get a bad rap
 People want to make a difference
 Their organizations must be relevant
 Value is expected
©RCE Industries 2004
Diversity

Projected population in the United States in
2050 will be 420 Million
 By 2030 20% of Americans will be over 65.
Up from 12% in 2000
 White Americans will see their percentage
drop from 69% in 2000 to 50% in 2050. In
1950 the share was 90%
 We will continue to grow faster than Europe
©RCE Industries 2004
We never changed.
 We
still do things exactly as we did.
 We still expect society to regard us well,
without giving them reasons to.
 We didn’t move when people did.
 We didn’t grow when people did.
 Our rituals, presentations, etc., have not
made any change since the invention of
the light bulb.
©RCE Industries 2004
What do we mean by
Relevant?
Relevant, with it, valuable, the
premier place to be.
Some Irrelevant Organizations
 The
Knights of Pythias
 Pan Am
 Montgomery Wards
 Warren Featherbone Co.
 Freemasonry?
©RCE Industries 2004
Some Relevant Organizations
 The
Girl Scouts
 AARP
 NRA
 Marine corps
 Jet Blue and Midwest Airlines
 Lowe's & Home Depot
©RCE Industries 2004
Are We Relevant?
©RCE Industries 2004
What can be done?
 Change
focus of “us” to “them”
 Learn that Membership is the only
reason for our existence.
 Focus on important things, not
extemporaneous things.
 Give them what they want.
©RCE Industries 2004
Our Biggest Enemy (us)
 5000
Recently suspended members
were polled as to their reasons for
leaving
 85% Responded they left because of
one reason
 They were:
 IGNORED
©RCE Industries 2004
Give them what they want!
 Fellowship
 Friendship
 Role
with the Family
 Role with the Community
 Chance to be the Leader
©RCE Industries 2004
Fellowship, the most
important!
 Do
we provide good fellowship?
 Does the leadership understand the
importance of fellowship?
 What can you do to improve the
fellowship in your Lodges?
©RCE Industries 2004
It all can be called enrollment.
 An
enrolled member stays.
 An non-enrolled member doesn’t.
 We lose more than 50% percent of our
newest members within 5 years.
 What does that tell us?
 Do we provide value?
©RCE Industries 2004
Enrollment?
 First
impressions are lasting
 Good impressions last a while, bad
impressions last longer.
 Does the lodge give the member
satisfaction?
 Does the experience instill pride, and
enrollment?
©RCE Industries 2004
Try This
 Develop
a Checklist/of enrolling factors
 Assess the current status of these
factors
 Develop an action plan to minimize the
negatives
 Measure your success
 Visit an organization that knows how to
enroll
©RCE Industries 2004
Some positive Enrolling Steps
 Talk
to the new member
 Listen to the new member
 No man stands alone
 What does he enjoy, does he have
children, etc.
 What are his skills, work, church, etc.
 Uniforms, programs, communications
etc.
©RCE Industries 2004
Some More

Certificates
 A small gift
 Gift Certificate, Rest.
 Verbal Recognition
 Thank you Party
 Name in Lodge
Paper
 Name and Photo on
Bulletin Board

Personal note from
the Grand Master
 Asked for input on
important decisions
 Dinner
 Thank you note from
Master
 others you can think
of
©RCE Industries 2004
Negatives to Enrollment
 Don’t
surprise them
 Let them know what will happen to them
 Don’t make them “undress” in front of a
couple of old men
 Don’t ignore them
 Don’t take them for granted
 If your doing ritual, do it well, and
explain it
©RCE Industries 2004
Remember what they said
they wanted?
 Fellowship
 Friendship
 Role
with the Family
 Role with the Community
 An opportunity to Lead and make a
difference.
©RCE Industries 2004
What does it take?
It takes Leadership!
 The
effective leader of an organization
gets elected by those in his organization
based upon his ability to enroll them as
followers.
©RCE Industries 2004
The Knowing Doing Gap
The Knowing Doing Gap
Knowing
Knowledge
GAP
Doing
Time/Tasks Accomplished
©RCE Industries 2004
What causes the Gap?
 Knowing
what to do is not enough.
 When talk substitutes for action.
 When memory is a substitute for thinking
 When Fear prevents acting on knowledge
 When measurement obstructs good
judgment.
©RCE Industries 2004
How do we close the gap?
 Why
before How.
 Knowing comes from doing and
teaching others how
 Action counts more than elegant plans
and concepts
 There is no doing without mistakes, how
does the leadership deal with them?
©RCE Industries 2004
Closing the gap, continued
 Fear
fosters Knowing Doing Gaps, so
drive out fear.
 Fight the competition, not each other.
 Measure what matters, and what can
help. Turn knowledge into action.
 What leaders do, how they spend their
time and allocate their resources,
matters.
©RCE Industries 2004
Something to Remember
 Generation
Differences Matter
 What was True might not be so now
 Different Generations look at their world
differently
 What are some of those different
viewpoints
 How do they affect us
©RCE Industries 2004
We Need to Provide Value?
©RCE Industries 2004
Do I get my _______ Worth?
 Is
it worth my time?
 Is it worth my money?
 Am I getting better at life, fatherhood,
husbandry, etc?
 Will this help my career?
 How are you going to reward me?
 Others that you can think of.
©RCE Industries 2004
How did we do?
©RCE Industries 2004
Have a great day!
Go out and make a difference, the
craft needs you right now!