Presenter - Joseph Marcheggiani, PID
Past Director Marcheggiani is a professor at Butler University, a Certified Public Accountant and a member of many professional organizations. He served as International Director from 1994 to 1996. While on the International Board he served as Chairperson of the Membership Development Committee. He has received many recognitions and awards including twenty for Extension, Key Member, six International Presidential Medals and the Ambassador of Goodwill. He is also a Progressive Melvin Jones Fellow. He has presented at numerous International conventions and USA/Canada Forums. He and his wife, Lion Connie, Have four children and 12 grandchildren.

Good day, it certainly is heart warming to see that so many Lions are interested in membership. Any organization will tell you, that without new customers there is no growth, and without growth, you stagnate and your demise follows. If we are going to "Build a Better Tomorrow" new members will be the prime pathway to that better tomorrow.

I wish that there were a panacea for obtaining new members that each of us could employ, but such is not the case. Whatever your line of business, you know full well that marketing your product or service in one geographical area will differ from that in others. The same is true in recruiting new members. The strategies that work in an urban area may not work in a rural area. Geography is not the only demographic that we have to deal with. What will interest a craftsman may materially differ from what will interest a professional. Therefore, rather than me reciting the elements of a model that works well for me, and which may not work at all for you, I think we will get a lot more out of this session if everyone offers their ideas. Then each of you can select those ideas from this menu that you think will work well in your area.

Therefore, we will explore several areas that might inhibit or promote membership recruitment activities. We will accomplish this by answering some questions that I have formulated. After we have fully discussed these questions, each table will be asked to create solutions to the problem areas you have identified. To assist this process, we will again have a series of questions that each table will address.

Well, let’s get started with phase one. We will discuss each of these questions:

1. What percentage of Lions recruit new members?

2. Do individuals between the ages of 25 - 40 value time or money most?

3. Is your Club satisfying the more urgent needs of your community, or is it providing the service it is most comfortable performing?

4. If we randomly selected 100 individuals in your community, how many would be able to tell us what your Lions club does?

5. Would you join your Lions club today if you were asked for the first time?

6. How many of you wear your Lions pin at all times, sleeping excluded?

7. If your club does not have any female members stand up. Please be seated and the rest of you stand. If the females in your club represent less than 40% of the total membership, be seated.

8. Does your club involve the entire family in Lionism?

9. In the past year, how many individuals have you informed of the value Lions membership is to you?

10. Does your club, district, multiple district have a membership contest?

11. Has your club ever held a planning retreat? Were non-Lion community leaders participants?

12. Does your Club confer special recognition to those who have been successful in recruiting new members? Do you think it would have a positive motivational impact?

13. What sort of rewards is Lions Clubs International offering under President Fukushima’s membership program?

14. Is the membership chairperson position in your Club, District and Multiple District viewed as the most important position in the organization?

15. Does your club have a plan for early involvement of new members?

16. Does your Club, District or Multiple District have a brochure on their major projects?

17. How often does the membership chairperson of your club give a report to the members? How often does the fish fry, pancake breakfast, fruit sale, candy sale, whatever chairperson give a report?

Now that discussion has identified some problems and we have explored some of the facets of these problems, let’s attempt to develop some solutions. Once again, to direct our search for solutions, each table will be assigned a series of tasks to address and report back to us what they have accomplished.

The tasks are:
1. Prepare a list of actions that can be taken to:

a. Increase the number of Lions that recruit new members.
b. Assure individuals that their time in Lionism is well spent.

2. Identify steps your club can take to ascertain that it is serving the more urgent needs of your community.

3. Prepare an action plan that will increase your community’s awareness of what your club does.

4. Make a list of those things that would make you want to join your club and another list of those things that would not.

5. What do you view are the benefits of wearing your Lions pin at all times? What actions can be taken to encourage members to wear their pins more often?

6. How can we improve the acceptance of women in Lions clubs?

7. What sort of activities might a member’s spouse and children become involved in?

8. How can we more effectively inform others of the benefits we derive from our Lions membership?

9. Prepare a list of the advantages of having a membership contest.

10. How will a club planning retreat improve your club’s service to the community? How will including non-Lion community leaders help improve your club’s stature in the community?

11. What advantages would be obtained by having a planning retreat that includes non-Lion community leaders?

12. What sort of special recognition might a club confer on members that have been successful in recruiting new members?

13. What awards are available under President Fukushima’s membership program?

14. What steps can be taken to elevate the importance of the membership chairperson position at all levels of Lionism?

15. What activities can we get new members involved in so they become firmly bonded with Lionism?

16. What would you include in the design of a brochure to explain the benefits of a major project to the public?

17. List the items that might be included in the membership chairperson’s report that would motivate members to recruit prospects.

As you can see membership is a multifaceted problem, and each problem has several curative prescriptions. Thus, the plans that may be devised will be as diverse as the number of hues in the color spectrum. Doctors of Medicine use trial and error, so don’t fret if you are not sure of what you devise. Monitor it and if it works, like the good doctor tells the patient to take more. If what you devise doesn’t work than like the good doctor prescribe something else.