Volunteer Management ideas in the

Ultimate Ideas Newsletter

How to lead, recruit and retain more volunteers and members!

Issue 6

From Volunteer Management Newsletter Part 2 to Part 3 Continued...

9 Tips on Volunteer Recruitment for New

Committee Members

(continued)

Tip No 5 - Boring Meetings

When I conduct workshops I often ask - raise your hand if you have ever attended a boring meeting that was a waste of time. Every hand is raised. Another reason that people are reluctant to volunteer and join a committee is it often means boring meetings. It is now time to liven up those meetings so people want to come rather than 'shun' them. Here are a few more quick tips for meetings...

Tip No 6 - Roles for All

For those in volunteer management, spice up a meeting by changing and adding roles. Swap and experiment with roles. Here are some...'the facilitator' who leads the discussion and watches time; 'the referee' who calls a timeout when people stray from the topic; 'the scribe' who writes the notes on the whiteboard for all to see; and 'the gatekeeper' who makes sure everyone gets to speak on the issue. You get the idea - the chairperson doesn't always have to lead the meeting process.

Tip No 7 - Eat Up

Always have food at the meeting - not at the end but at the beginning. Having a cake and a cuppa at the start of the meeting reduces the formality, helps people to relax and adds to group cohesion. When people eat and drink together, they begin to share and form closer bonds. It is also an important part of your volunteer recognition process for your committee members.

Tip No 8 - Time In, Time Out

Always always start and finish on time (if not a little earlier). Sitting in meetings that have dragged on until daylight will ensure a quick departure of members from a committee. In all honesty, if you cannot discuss the really important issues, delegate tasks and make decisions in about an hour timeslot then what's happening? Much of the other information in meetings can be shared by other means - emails, voicemails, teleconferences, newsletters, etc

Tip No 9 - Stand Up

One final tip for now. Would you like to speed up the meeting process and ensure that decisions are made quicker than ever before? You would - then here is what you can do. For your next meeting - remove ALL chairs from the room. Conduct a stand-up meeting. Try it! You will be amazed how quickly decisions will be made. So make these meeting strategies part of your overall volunteer recruitment, volunteer recognition and volunteer management plan in recruiting committee members.

You can also get 100s more ideas on recruiting volunteers in Count Me In! 501 Ideas on Recruiting Volunteers by Dr Judy Esmond

Enjoy!

Judy

Dr Judy Esmond is the leading expert on how to gain, sustain and retain volunteers and members. Join up and receive FREE membership to her 'Ultimate Ideas' Mastermind Group and get the FREE E-Book and newsletter filled with 100s of ideas on volunteer management, volunteer recruitment, retention and volunteer recognition at www.morevolunteers.com

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