communication department

Volume XX Number 9

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In this issue.... CAA Deadline Extended to April 3 Now Open: Online Conference Registration STC Announces Fellows and Associate Fellows for 2006 Selling STC to the Boss 2005 Region 5 Conference: STC'S Transformation in Action Board Meeting Minutes Posted Community Membership Drives Connecting with Inactive and Lapsed Members Feedback Welcome! March At-A-Glance Leadership Links masthead PDF version

Connecting with Inactive and Lapsed Members

In March, the STC office will purge from its records the names of all members who did not renew their memberships by the February 28 deadline. As usual, community leaders will receive a list of inactive members from their community in early April. Some may simply have forgotten to pay their dues; some may have lost funding from their employers for professional societies; others may be deciding whether the benefits of membership justify its costs. But communities shouldn't let inactive members simply drift away—no matter their reasons for not renewing.

Contacting Inactive Members

One effective way to convince inactive members to remain with STC is to send each of them a letter on community stationery explaining the benefits of membership and inviting them to renew. A letter from a local community leader often has much greater impact than e-mail: Letters (even form letters) lend a personal touch to communication that is difficult to achieve with e-mail. Consider offering nonrenewing members a coupon for one meeting at the member rate—such a gesture lets the recipients know that they're an important part of the local STC community.

Contacting Lapsed Members

Leaders are also encouraged to reach out to those whose memberships expired several years ago. These lapsed members may have lost touch with their communities and may not know about recent changes in STC, including new benefits such as the online STC member forum. When contacting former community members, outline the new benefits of STC membership—and the specific benefits of membership in your community—and invite them to attend a meeting, peruse your community Web site, or read your community's most recent newsletter. A personal, courteous invitation is often hard to turn down. STC keeps contact information on lapsed STC members for five years, so you may have a rich field to mine. To receive contact information for former members of your community, make your request to STC's membership department.