Summit 2014 Key Takeaways

1. Summit 2014 Key Takeaways From the 2014 Chapter Leader Summit Houston, TX 4/24-4/25/2014

2. Your top 2 playbooks • Membership recruitment and retention • Marketing toolkit Actions: We will develop these playbooks into best practices programs in 2014, and turn the info into slides, posts and other consumable portions.

3. Your key chapter issues • Member engagement • Develop future Chapter Leaders Your best practices: • Make volunteer efforts bite-sized and finite • Avoid leader burnout – get new people involved • Focus on the key messages that you are communicating inside and outside of the Chapter Actions: We will start working on sharing information and best practices on member engagement

4. STEM/Community Outreach key points • We are reaching more people than ever - >$250k back to our communities in 2013 • Reach out to schools and provide guidance on curriculum • Several Chapters have great programs forming or in place – learn about what others are doing • We are working on bringing visibility to what Chapters are doing • Get to know your regional contacts: • Pradeep Kumar – West • Gonz Roman – Central • Greg Fell - East

5. Feedback for the CE • Communications is improving – Chapter Chatter is a good step • Be more assertive – use some capital to make decisions • Be the voice of SIM • Not clear on the CE role • Keep managing expectations on processes • Connect directly with Chapters and Boards • Connect directly with Chapter Presidents • Help Chapters understand what to disseminate • Push status updates more often

6. Membership key points • People who attend, learn and are successful with networking will want to come back • Make it personal – call and talk to Chapter members • Best practice – Dallas buddy system • Develop marketing materials focused on potential members • Generating interest among potential members: • Intro breakfast (maybe before a regional event) • Vendor contacts and referrals • Word of mouth • Evolve your membership criteria – think about start-ups, etc. • Continue to work on common membership criteria across Chapters

7. Membership key points • We want RLF members to be productive Chapter members after they graduate • Develop a standard set of criteria for RLF members, discuss at SIMposium (include practitioner, vendor, MIT, academic) • Develop a common guideline for transferring members (include practitioner, vendor, MIT, academic) • Most Chapters in attendance would support common membership criteria (with caveats and limitations) – we will continue to develop ideas

8. Branding key points • Chapters support the general direction • There would be no objection to moving faster • Need to include the ability for Chapters to place ads • Use the site and the app to tell the story of SIM • Standardize Chapter names and url’s to make them easier to find • Consider crowdsourcing the new logo • Chapter Leaders are looking for a result in 2014 – preferably by SIMposium

9. SIMposium key points • Cost for members needs to continue to decrease • People attend the conference for networking and programs • Develop value prop for the conference • What is the elevator speech for the conference – and how is it different from other conferences? • Look at limiting vendor keynote speakers • Organization and processes are on the right track • Keep room rates low for members • Do some analysis on comp registrations for Chapter Presidents

10. Core offerings key points • In addition to new programs, we should strengthen what we have • Better marketing, leadership pipeline for national groups • Many aren’t aware of what’s available – improve marketing, provide better info to Chapter Leaders to disseminate to members • Chapters can help bring visibility to our national programs • Many national programs have great local components

11. Technology key points • Web site needs to be faster, easier to navigate • We need a fully functional app • SIMnet site has improved over last two years, but much more needs to be done • Look at what the next solutions are, and don’t be too anchored to a single solution or platform

12. Planning points • Summit 2015 – Las Vegas • Dates TBD, probably late April • SIMposium 2015 – Charlotte • Dates TBD, probably Sept/Oct • SIMposium 2014 – Denver • 11/2 through 11/4

13. Thank you for attending Summit! The Chapter Leader Summit is an annual event, hosted by a different Chapter each year. This is an exclusive event for Chapter Leaders only, and is an excellent networking, professional development and Chapter development opportunity. Your participation at Summit is what makes this a go-to event for Chapter Leaders each year. We are a great organization because we are built on a solid foundation of Chapters that are active in their communities. Thank you for everything that you do for SIM, your communities, and for IT!