BlogMembership Ideas to Make Your New Member Orientation a Success Membership Ideas to Make Your New Member Orientation a Success Author: Tatiana Morand July 5, 2024 Contents 🕑 10 min read Building a strong membership for your organization isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work to recruit new members, introduce them to your organization and keep them engaged year after year. A huge part of keeping your members happy and involved is starting them on the right foot. Your organization needs a strong new member orientation process. Provide them with the information and tools they need to be successful, but make it fun and engaging! No one wants to sit through a boring presentation, especially if it doesn’t meet a new member’s needs (nor do you want to give a presentation with unengaged members). In this blog, we’ll provide you with the best tips and tricks for your onboarding process, including how to engage and interest new members from the start! Why is New Member Orientation Important? Many people think the orientation or onboarding process for new members is just giving the information and expectations of a member in their organization. While this is important, new member orientation should be the start of your long-term relationship, a time to make members feel welcomed and inspired. Members who feel welcomed from the beginning tend to build a positive relationship with their organizations. This in turn increases their member engagement, making them happy members that stick around for a long time. These long-term, highly engaged members are vital to the success of your organization and tend to be huge champions of your mission. And it all starts with a strong new member orientation process. 14 Ways to Make Your New Member Orientation Successful Your onboarding process should provide these main things for new members: Introduction to the organization – who you are, your values, your mission and your goals. Information about what it means to be a member – member expectations, dues, meeting schedule, member benefits, etc. A warm welcome to the community – meeting other members, sharing impact stories and any mentorship programs you may have. We’ll touch more on how exactly you can execute this in our ideas below. 1.) Communicate Expectations Clearly To avoid “new member’s remorse,” confusion and frustration, communicate clearly. Send a welcome email that explains the next steps (more on that in a minute), and don’t assume they know how things work. Don’t just tell new members they must attend orientation. Explain how orientation works, where it is held, how long it will take, and what steps will follow. This clarity will help them feel confident and maintain their initial enthusiasm. Something else to ask yourself is whether orientation is required for participating in activities. For example, a club may require new members to complete orientation before going on the group’s hikes because the club needs to submit liability waivers. If this is true for your org, make this requirement clear. This will help new members understand your process better. WildApricot tip: consider adding a new members section on your organization’s website and create a new member tag in your contact database. It will make it easier to lay out the entire process and send informational emails specific to your new members. 2.) Send a Welcome Email The first thing new members typically receive when joining an organization is a welcome email. However, many welcome emails can feel like a receipt for membership dues. Many aren’t warm or interesting and seem to be written by a robot. If this is true for your welcome email, rework the message. Consider changes like instead of the email being from “the organization”, it should be from you or whoever is in the role of New Membership Chair. This gives new members a real person to direct their questions to, and helps them feel like they already knew someone before orientation. Welcome emails should have: A personalized greeting An exciting subject line A warm message of welcome A quick introduction to the club and its mission An outline of the orientation process A link to sign up for an orientation meeting Directions to find the new member section of the club website Implementing these changes in your welcome email will lead to more new members signing up for orientation without being reminded by phone, and they will arrive at orientation better informed. 3.) Build a Welcome Kit A welcome kit is a collection of useful materials for new members. It can include your organization’s brochure, handbook, contact list, membership card, events calendar and maybe even a little swag, like a keychain or button with your organization’s name on it. The welcome kit should also include information on membership FAQs to save new members from wondering and yourself from answering the same questions over and over again. These can include things like membership fees and how to pay them, member obligations, conflict of interest issues and how to join committees. Read More: How to Create the Ultimate New Member Welcome Packet 4.) Introduce the Organization People join organizations for all sorts of reasons and there is a chance your new members may not actually know your mission or goals. Seems shocking right? Maybe they saw a sign, know about one thing you do, or a friend invited them to join… the list goes on. Not every new member will have scoured your website for details and read your mission statement, so if you assume they have, you may be missing out on an easy way to get them more involved. Plus, new members may not connect your mission to what membership involves. So, in your orientation, provide your new members with an overview of your club’s mission, history, plans, goals and activities—rather than just listing things the club does, emphasize how new members can get involved. 5.) Get to Know the New Members Have you ever asked yourself, “I wish I knew this sooner!” about one of your members? If you give your new members more chances to share information about themselves, such as through a member spotlight, that question will come up less and less. Give new members opportunities to introduce themselves during the orientation program with icebreakers, partner activities and group discussion. Getting to know your new members at your orientation makes them feel like they matter. It’s not fun to feel anonymous at a group event like orientation. To do this, add a brief icebreaker to the beginning of the orientation session. Start the new members off by having a little conversation about themselves and their interest in the club. It may feel silly at first but you’ll discover so many fun and surprising details about your new members. Plus, this will allow you to plan your follow-up with them in a more personalized way. 6.) Meet One-on-One During the onboarding process, introduce a one-on-one chat with your new members to get to know them even better. This could be something as simple as inviting new members to coffee within a month or two of their joining. If there are more members than your schedule can handle, enlist the help of other leaders in your organization to take meetings, too. A one-on-one meeting will allow you to learn more about new members’ interests, skills and motivations. This will help you positively shape their experience by suggesting next steps, activities, projects or committees they may want to work on. This ensures they’ll have a personalized, engaging experience as soon as possible. 7.) Make Connections Many people join organizations in part to meet others who share their interests. The social element is part of the appeal. Help your new members get connected right away by introducing them to other members, based on what you’ve learned about them in orientation. Whether it’s a shared enthusiasm for a program or even just having kids around the same age, help them connect with other members with whom they have something in common. If it makes sense for your particular organization, you can also consider implementing a buddy program where you pair new members with experienced ones in an informal mentoring capacity. Read More: Why Your Organization Needs an Online Member Directory 8.) Mix It Up Many organizations struggle with their orientation because the presentation becomes a monologue. Frequently, the membership manager is the only person talking for an hour until it’s time for new members to fill out forms. This leads to many members “zoning out” and missing the valuable information you’re presenting. It’s hard for people to listen for extended periods of time without their minds wandering. So, avoid losing attention by changing up your activities. Add discussion, Q&A, and audiovisual material to keep the audience engaged. Include this in your onboarding plan rather than an hour of talking: An introductory group icebreaker A short slideshow of photos for each program An infographic about the mission, history, and membership instead of a slide of only words A brief interview with an established member Short Q&A Sessions after each section, instead of a big one at the end This will leave new members with a much better first impression of your organization and more information retained. 9.) Be Efficient New members are forming an impression of what being in your org is like. Don’t let “boring,” “time-wasting,” or “could have been an email” be what they settle on. Run your orientation efficiently by removing tedious activities. Consider if forms can be submitted online beforehand rather than filled out and turned in at the meeting. Print name tags ahead of time, and place orientation materials at each spot instead of taking time to pass everything out. Keep an eye on the clock throughout. Think critically about what you include in your orientation session. In most cases, if you’re going over an hour, it’s worth considering if you can cut some material. 10.) Go Digital We live in a digital world where many people work remotely, attend virtual classes or webinars and even connect with friends through social media and Zoom. So why not implement this with your new member orientation? Utilizing some online orientation during your onboarding process will allow you to better use your in-person time with new members. This can be anything from prep videos to online documents to review and forms to fill out. Depending on your organization you could also implement live virtual onboarding through platforms like Zoom. Virtual onboarding gives you the flexibility to orient more members without the constraint of room capacity. Plus, you can record the session for those who missed orientation. WildApricot tip: It’s a good idea to house a lot of your new member orientation materials online in a members-only area. Providing a library of orientation videos will also improve your membership experience. If a new member cannot attend your orientation, they can utilize these videos on demand from the comfort of their home. These videos also allow members to review information given at orientation if they need a refresher. 11.) Ask for Feedback The people who attend your orientation will know things you don’t, like: If anything was confusing What they were still wondering when it was over What they particularly enjoyed After the orientation session is over, send a survey for attendees to provide feedback. This will help you continue improving your orientation and show new members that you value their input. 12.) Involve Your Community Welcoming new members is everyone’s responsibility. Bring your community into the orientation process by inviting existing members to share their experiences, help run orientation sessions or even training them to deliver the orientation. Consider asking a few established members to rotate as “guest speakers” at your orientation sessions. They will be able to tell new members about their favorite parts of being a member, what they have learned from your organization’s activities, and their advice for new folks. 13.) Remember New Members Throughout the Year Your new member orientation is not just one meeting; it’s really a process that lasts through the first year of membership. So, you need to be in welcome-mode that entire time to ensure they don’t miss any opportunities to participate. As you move through the calendar, remember that each season brings new information for your members. Check-in to explain what’s coming up and how they can be involved. Here are some examples of what types of events (don’t forget the registration links!) you should include in your new member communications throughout the first year: Orientation events/training opportunities Community service events Fundraising events Social events – field trips, happy hours, trivia event Networking events Educational sessions – think thought leadership and guest speakers Read More: 13 Membership Certificate Templates for Any Occasion (Free Download) 14.) Segment Your New Members If you have a membership management software (and you should), use a “New Member” tag for all your new members. This allows you to send targeted communications to new members and share information that is vital for them in their onboarding journey. WildApricot – that’s us! – is a powerful all-in-one membership management software that will make your new member onboarding process a breeze. Utilize WildApricot for: Cloud-based membership database Member communications through emails Online dues and payment processing Event management Try a 60-day free trial of WildApricot and transform how you handle your new member orientation! Member Retention Starts Immediately Implementing the above tips will change your new member orientation process and, in the long run, increase your member retention rate. And bonus!! With a strong and established onboarding process, as a membership manager, you’ll have more time for the member activities you care about most. Be consistent with your onboarding strategy, and you’ll see that your members are less likely to drift away. Your organization will be stronger than ever, and your new members will be highly engaged advocates for your organization—and it all started with the successful onboarding process. Related Membership Articles Membership 🕑 8 Min Read Club Leadership 101: Roles, Responsibilities and Best Practices Membership 🕑 12 Min Read How to Start a Car Club in 8 Steps + Tips to Grow Your Club Membership 🕑 12 Min Read How to Create a Winning Volunteer Newsletter: Ideas, Examples and Templates to Inspire The Membership Growth Report: Benchmarks & Insights for Growing Revenue and Constituents Get the report now!