Garden Strategies, Part Two
The Gardener has been on spring break for a few weeks. I’ve been tending to some big events in Colorado, including SPJ Region 9's Spring Conference.
The conference, titled "Brave New World" drew more than 90 journalists to Fort Collins, Colo. from as far away as Wyoming and Utah. Because we pegged the price of the conference to an amount equal to one year’s dues, we were able to add 48 new members to SPJ in a single day.
Meanwhile, I was delighted to take in a bumper crop of new ideas for growing our membership. Keep those suggestions coming. They’ve been wonderful. Later this week, I will ask the SPJ membership committee to help me pick the best, most original idea and we’ll send out that $25 Starbucks gift card to the winner.
First, here are a few suggested by members of the membership committee:
SPJ Bistro
Offer practical and focused workshops, similar to those being offered by the NYC-based group Media Bistro, which does an excellent job convening journalists in several large urban areas. SPJ has the advantage of having members in areas of the country where Media Bistro traditionally has not reached. We should offer similar programs in these areas.
In Your Facebook
Take advantage of the trend toward online social networking and establish an SPJ Facebook site where members can exchange ideas and helpful information.
And here are just a few of the creative ideas suggested by SPJ members:
SPARTANS, PREPARE TO JOIN
Bringing to mind "The 300" movie, SPJ could use this motif for ads to
hammer home the point that we're the largest journalism organization in
the nation and we're shooting for a membership 10,000 strong. Suggest
strength and dedication, even against great odds.
Graphics could be photos of groups of journalists (and SPJ members) in
newsrooms all over the country. The larger the group the better. SPJ
could put out the word that we're looking for group shots of SPJ members
in newsrooms and broadcast studios and colleges all across the country
to feature in our ads.
I COVER THE WATERFRONT
Create ads that highlight major stories that a member has covered. For example, feature someone who has been in the middle of covering Hurricane Katrina or the polygamist ranch raid in Texas or a four-alarm fire in their hometown.
It could end with some catchy slogan like "Be proud to be a journalist. Join SPJ"
WHO’S YOUR MENTOR?
Identify journalism students about to graduate and set them up with a working journalist as a mentor. Using e-mail the mentor and grad could communicate about internships, getting that first job, feedback on stories or other questions. The graduates could be encouraged to come to SPJ events where they would already know someone — their mentor.
SPJ-TUBE.
These days everyone is turning to multi-media platforms, so why not put some videos together and create an SPJ profile on You Tube?
A video could be placed on the SPJ site as well or on other sites. It could have testimonials from various members talking about why the joined SPJ/what they got out of it. Maybe you can even get each chapter to submit videos/pictures from their local SPJ events and you can put it together in a montage of sorts with the testimonials.
Or you could even hold a small contest for people to put together an inspirational video that gets the word out about SPJ. And see who does the best job.
A JAVA JOLT
The hardest thing for any organization to do is to actually get their members out to the regular meetings. They pay for it, but they still don’t go!
But as the SPJ Member Resources email said, we’ll do anything for coffee, right? So why not hold chapter meetings in places that donate good coffee at the meeting in exchange for an ad on the chapter’s homepage? If a cup of good coffee averages $3 these days, then monthly attendance would save $36 in coffee, and since dues are $72, that’s a 50% savings! Wow! Nice piece of math, eh?
AN SPJ DRIVE PERK
Why not offer free licence plate holders to members who renew within a certain timeframe or for new members who sign up for two years initially?
GO WHERE THE MEMBERS ARE
If new members won't come to the organization, take the organization to them. Many small towns and rural areas have no members because of the distance to the nearest active chapter. The nearest chapter could schedule a membership meeting in the target area, inviting local media members to attend. At the meeting they could describe the role of SPJ, including a slide show, and describe the kinds of activities they have been involved with. The meeting would close with an invitation for new members to enroll and an offer of further assistance to help get the new chapter on its feet.
SPJ CERTIFIED
Certify publications whose newsrooms achieve a high percentage of membership, say 70 percent or more, with an official designation such as SPJ CERTIFIED. This status could be awarded in the form of a plaque or certificate, as was as a listing on a special SPJ web page of hyperlinks for all CERTIFIED publications with a public notation of their membership percentage..
FREE MEMBERSHIPS
Several members suggested giving journalism post-graduates one year of free membership. The Gardener is less than keen on this idea for the following reason.
We currently have a very good deal on post-graduate members which enables them to get one year free if they pay for two years at the rate of $36-per-year.
This incentive seems to be working. Post-grads are among the fastest-growing sector of SPJ membership, with a total of 674, a nearly 22 percent gain over the previous year.
The Gardener wishes to thank all of you who took the time to e-mail me your thoughtful suggestions.
SPJ by the numbers
Membership this week 9,216
Membership one month ago 9,212
Membership one year ago 8, 801