• 10% Discount on international dues for new and renewing members
• We’ll be giving away 4 x $500 Amazon Gift Cards, two for renewing members and two for new members
• We really want to encourage member referrals and activate our network and multiplier effect in October – for every new or reinstating member that a member refers (who lists the member as their referral source), the referring member will receive a $10 Amazon e-gift card.  There’s no limit – refer one member, get one gift card.  Refer ten members, get ten gift cards!
• The small, medium, and large chapters with the greatest percentage net growth at the end of Member Month will each receive a complimentary registration to the 2017 Leadership Institute.

Why did you chapter decide to start hosting webinars and how has the chapter benefited from them?

The Boston chapter actually represents most of New England, not just the city of Boston, so our members are pretty well spread between various states and throughout the Boston suburbs. Boston can also be incredibly tricky to navigate and get from place to place - which makes in-person networking across a large group of well-spread members, even more challenging. We introduced webinars in an effort to address more of member's interests, in terms of what they've said they want to learn more about, without requiring them to try to figure out how they will get to a given location that may very well be impossible for them during the evening commute. It also allowed us to introduce lunch-time learning, versus having all our events in the evenings. Overall, it was really an effort to meet people where they are and make it as easy as possible for them to engage as members and learn some best practices. 

What is the process the chapter follows for organizing a webinar?

We've luckily been able to capitalize on the in-house web hosting services that various members of our board have access to at their jobs. Systems like Cisco Go To Meeting and WebEx have been great for this purpose. It's so easy to run a webinar using one of these tools. I've personally found it to be incredibly intuitive once you know you have access to the right tool. Plus, most of these technologies also offer easy recording options, so we can record the sessions and send them out to members who registered for the event. I wouldn't say we have a set process but usually we determine which topics work best in webinar format (sometimes speakers will suggest this when they submit a proposal to us). Once we identify our topics and presenters, we determine dates and set up a registration page via Eventbrite, just like for all our other events. Then registrants get a link to join the webinar just before it starts, the day of. Most presenters are pretty comfortable with the various technologies that can be used to host a webinar but occasionally we will do a dry run with the presenter just to ensure the technology is working and everyone knows what to do during the live event. Then when it's go time, registrants join via the link provided.

What advice do you have for other leaders that are interested in organizing webinars for chapter members?

It's easy! And such a great way to offer additional programming without the burden of identifying locations and setting aside budget to cover event costs (because if you work it the way we do, it's FREE!). Start simple, pick a topic you'd like to cover that you think would best be delivered in a web-based session. Once you know what you want to cover, determine if anyone on your Board has access to web-conferencing technology that you might be able to use for your sessions. Since most employers support professional networking as part of career development, we've found that they are pretty open to an employee making use of their individual web-conferencing line for these types of programs. Once you have the technology and the topic/presenter identified, it's no different as setting up any other event! Oh, and consider starting with a few free sessions. Since these most likely won't cost you anything to host, it's a great bonus to offer them free to members who are already paying for their regional membership and access to the great knowledge that comes with it.