Welcoming New Members

• Welcomes New Members
• Link to “New Members Wiki” (important)
• Tone + philosophy
• What success looks like

Welcoming Contact

It is best practice to contact new members within a few weeks of finding out (by pulling the report) that a member has joined, reinstated, moved into the area, preferenced in, or has been reassigned due to local group boundary changes (from local group dissolution or occasional redistricting). Some groups also contact their prospects and candidates. There are many possible ways to initiate this communication, and they are discussed here in further detail. You can find information on these members through the month-end reports provided by the National Office.

Your Local Secretary (LocSec) will designate you to receive this information.

By postal mail: Taking the time to hand write a personal note is preferred. Use a notecard to write 3-5 sentences welcoming the new member. Include a business card or contact information should they want to reach out. Those who might be unable to write legibly can find a ghost writer or another member to assist. If you send a form letter, (a sample of which is included at the end of this handbook), enclose it with some personalized message. Invest the time in the beginning with new members and your chapter will yield higher returns in the future. By phone: Making a personal phone call can be used in several ways. If you aren’t comfortable with phone calls, you can be brief and simply acknowledge the new member, confirm their contact information, then send a note. Another consideration is to make a phone call a week or so after the personal note has been sent to confirm receipt and follow up if the new member has any questions. Consider sending a text message first to establish who you are and why you want to call, as calls from unknown phone numbers can be frequently ignored by the recipient. By email: Sending a personalized email is another option, and is best used in conjunction with other forms of contact. This can be a good way to provide an introduction and send links to the group’s social media pages or timely information about upcoming events the new member may attend. Note the word “personalized.” Sending what is obviously a form email is not preferred. In person at a meeting or event: Face-to-face interpersonal interaction generally takes precedence over all other forms of greetings. Social etiquette is an important factor when greeting new members. If this is an area of personal growth for your chapter, invest time in finding a guest speaker to come and present on interpersonal communication or people skills. It takes a team: Make an effort to have every officer be part of the greeting team during meetings. This shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of the membership officer and their team. Everyone should have a name badge or identifier, including the new member. If a mentor is available, they can introduce the new member during the meeting and ease their comfort level. (More info on mentors shortly.) If new members are recognized during meetings or events, ask them if they would like to introduce themselves or otherwise have someone else do it. The goal is to make the new member feel welcome and comfortable.

Less preferred – text message, smartphone apps, social media etc.: While these can be great ways for continued engagement, more personal means are recommended for first contact. Mentor program: Mentors are a great way to connect new and experienced Mensa members, establishing a connection right off the bat. Consider starting a mentor program in your chapter. How do you find mentors? Reach out to your life members and ask them if they would be interested. Once the program has taken off, create a mentor chair position that can lead the efforts. Mentors can fill out a questionnaire and be matched with the new members appropriately. Use good judgment when identifying mentors, as not all members might be suited for this role. A poor mentor selection or assignment could be detrimental to the new member experience. Remember – make it personal: When inviting new members to special events or functions, consider making a personal phone call, acknowledging the person by name, and inviting them to attend. It is always a good practice to take time and reach out to our new members. Also, consider publishing their names in a new member section of the newsletter. Remember the Member. If you respect your members’ time, there is a good chance they will give you their time in return.

Encouraging Attendance It’s natural for most people to be at least a little bit nervous in coming into a new situation, especially if they have inflated expectations (“Gosh, all these really smart people!”). It doesn’t matter that these expectations may have little or no basis in reality; all that matters is that they are real to the new member. In any case, there are those who need help over the hurdle of coming to their first Mensa event, and an incentive may help. There’s no best way to go about this. Newbie door prizes may work for some, but it’s likely that the effectiveness of incentives will vary widely among individuals. Some local groups have “My First Time” buttons for people attending a Mensa event for the first time. If you choose to do something, keep it simple and consider: What would (did) make you interested in coming to your first event? In general, the most effective way to help “newbies” feel comfortable attending their first event among total strangers is to ensure that at least one person at the event is not a total stranger! If you’re hosting the event, you can do this yourself; if you’re not, you can encourage your event hosts to do the same thing. The Proctor or Testing Coordinator might also be a good person to greet the newbie. How do you do this? Reach out to new members and introduce yourself! Call (or text) new members and let them know when you’re hosting your next event, or the next event you’ll be attending. Ask them what kind of events they might be interested in. Let’s say, for example, they show an interest in playing games. “I’m going to be at the games night at [location] on [date],” you can say. “The event starts at 4 p.m., but most people don’t show up until around 4:30 or 5. Why don’t you meet me outside the house at 4:30 p.m., and we’ll walk in together? That way I can introduce you around to the other people there.” If the event is going to be at a restaurant, offer to meet outside the restaurant at a specific time. Tell the new member what you’ll be wearing, or send a photograph of yourself, so they will recognize you and will have a “shepherd” to escort them into the event. (Even for the most outgoing and confident, it can be intimidating to walk into a restaurant and sit yourself down at a table full of strangers, no matter how welcoming!) Whenever you take this approach, a day or so before the event, call or text the member and remind them of your plans. When you have specific plans in place, the member is less likely to back out at the last minute. This is one reason having a new-member meeting (dinner or event) can be so helpful. When you hold a regular new-member event, monthly or quarterly, new members are more likely to attend because they know that other new members will be there, and they won’t be walking into a “clique” situation where everyone (except the new member) knows everyone else. Once you get the new members to show up, work on forging connections. Make sure that you recruit one or two outgoing and friendly veteran members, preferably those who attend many in-person events, to come to your new-member event. That way you can make personal connections between the new member and veteran members who are likely to be at upcoming events. Encourage the exchange of contact information, whether it’s exchanging phone numbers or email addresses or “friending” each other on Facebook. The more people the new member feels like they know in the group, and at an event, the more likely the new member is to be comfortable showing up.

• Contact Methods - postal mail, phone, email, in-person, what to avoid for first contact, texting
• Timing - when to reach out, how to access month-end reports from the National Office
  • Best practices: number of contacts
• Making It Personal - the "form letter + personalized touch" balance
• Mentor Programs - how to start one, finding mentors, matching, the questionnaire approach
• New Member Events - planning checklist (timing, budget, venue, food, RSVPs, accessibility), event formats, who to invite

Templates & Samples (subpage) - welcome letter, reinstatement letter, welcome emails ×2, welcome to move-ins, mentor/interest match survey