Enhancing Rotaract

I read this article about a rotaractor who did a presentation in Preconvention Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. Motivating and enjoyable.

Motivation and communication

Transcript from Emily Wood’s presentation “Enhancing Rotaract: Engaging Members and Motivating Volunteers”, which was delivered on Saturday 5 May at the Rotaract Preconvention Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.

Enhancing Rotaract: 

Engaging Members and Motivating Volunteers

Membership – it’s the eternal challenge for volunteer organisations, and Rotary and Rotaract are no exception. In fact, Rotaract now faces even greater challenges in recruiting new members as other volunteer organisations look to recruit younger generations.

The question is: How do we attract – and then retain – these volunteer members? Recruitment is often spoken of as a significant challenge, but engaging and retaining current members is just as important as motivating new volunteers to get involved.

My name is Emily Wood and in addition to being a keen Rotaractor, I’m a communication consultant and a past Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

Enhancing Rotaract research project

While I was oversees completing my Masters in International Public Relations I wanted to do something to give back to Rotary for giving me the best year of my life. So, for my research dissertation I decided to look at how communication could be used to increase Rotaract’s brand recognition and recruitment success.

Communication can be an incredibly powerful tool, particularly in the recruitment of volunteers. But in order for communication to be truly effective, you must first understand who you are communicating with.

Effective communication is the right people getting the right information at the right time.

My research started with identifying the ‘right people’. I wanted to understand not only who Rotaractors are, but why they are Rotaractors. I wanted to understand what motivates Rotaractors to get involved.

Research shows that people are more likely to get involved – and stay involved – if the volunteer activity matches their motivations.

So, what motivates Rotaractors?

533 Rotaractors from 79 different countries completed an online questionnaire that asked them what motivated them to become volunteer members of Rotaract. What was wonderful to see was that Rotaractors throughout the world, no matter what country they were from, were motivated by the same three factors.

1.The desire to help others
At its core, Rotaract is a service organsiation. Through community service and international service we help those in need. So, it stands to reason that members of Rotaract are motivated by the the desire to help others. We wouldn’t be Rotaractors if we weren’t.

2.The desire to learn new things
Through Rotaract we have the opportunity to learn more about ourselves and the world. And through the avenue of professional development we are able to develop new skills that will help us in both our personal and professional lives.

3.The desire to make new friends
Rotaract is great way to build friendships with new people. Like many of you, I’ve met some wonderful people through Rotaract who I enjoy spending time with and who I now call my friends. We may be from very different walks of life, but we have a lot in common. And, I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet them otherwise.

From these results, we can see that the opportunities that Rotaract provides matches what motivates us to become involved.

• Community and international service satisfies our desire to help others;
• Professional development satisfies our desire to learn new things; and
• Club service satisfies our desire to make new friends.

 

What does this mean for communication?

Well, communication tailored to address motivations to volunteer is proven to be more appealing and influential. So, if you know what motivates people to volunteer and you tailor your recruitment communication to those motivations, your communication will be more effective.
Our motives to volunteering are satisfied by what Rotaract has to offer. Our challenge in recruitment is being able to communicate this message – not only to potential members, but also to Rotarians, family and friends.

Educating all members of the Rotary family is incredibly important. My research showed that 60% of Rotaractors found out about the program from a family member or friend who was a Rotarian and Rotaractor. A further 23% find out about it from a Rotary club or program. This means an incredible 83% of recruitment is attributed to members of the Rotary family sharing the Rotaract message.

With this in mind, we need to make sure Rotarians, Interactors, and participants of RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), Youth Exchange and a whole host of other Rotary programs know what Rotaract is.
The more people know about and fully understand Rotaract, the greater the potential for increasing brand awareness and recruitment success.

However, this doesn’t mean you can forget about other forms of communication. A potential member may first hear about Rotaract from a current Rotaractor or Rotarian, but that first communication may not be enough to secure membership. What if they want more information? Are you able to give them a brochure or flyer? What about if they Google your club? Will they be able to find your website?

There are a large number of possibilities for communicating with potential members. What you need to do is figure out which communication channels are most appropriate for your club. For example, if you have a website, are you keeping the information up to date? The same applies for social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

So, what is our message?

We now know that Rotaractors are motivated to volunteer by the desires to help others, learn new skills and make new friends, but how do we use this in our communication?

In my district, we have adopted the following tagline… Help. Learn. Enjoy.

Rotaract is an opportunity for young adults aged 18 to 30 to help local and global communities, to develop new knowledge and skills, and to have fun with friends – to help, learn and enjoy.

Over the past two years our district has been using this tag line to promote both Rotary and Rotaract.
What started as a bus advertising campaign moved on to a newspaper article and district brochure. Then, to an online competition within my Rotaract club.

Our President Bowen was one of the ‘models’ in the campaign, so we had a competition to see who could snap the most photos of him and post them on Facebook.

It was all just a bit of fun, but it got people talking about the campaign.

We then took it further by putting a story about it on our website (www.rotaract9630.wordpress.com) and then getting publicity in Rotary Down Under magazine.

This campaign was not just about letting people know about Rotaract and why they should get involved. It was also about reminding current members why they should continue to be involved. Sometimes we just need a reminder. The competition brought us closer together and made us a stronger club.
Remember, engaging and retaining current members is just as important as motivating new volunteers to get involved.

What can you learn from this research and campaign?
Communication can come in many different forms. Each Rotaract club is unique and you will need to decide what communication is best for your club. But, there are a few lessons that I hope will be useful for you.
First, tailor your communication to match what motivates people to join Rotaract. Remember, we are motivated by the desires to help others, learn new skills and make new friends. Our communication needs to reflect this.

Second, make sure that you promote a consistent image of Rotaract. Decide on who you are as a Rotaractor, a club and district, and then tell your audience. But, once you decide on your message, stick with it. Consistency will reinforce the Rotaract brand. Inconsistency will just confuse people.
Make sure you also remember the rule for effective communication – ‘the right people, getting the right information, at the right time’. Who is your audience, what is your message, how are you going to get it to them, and when? Are you going to communicate via your club bulletin or through the media? There are so many different options for you to explore.

Last but not least, BE ROTARACT! We as individuals are the most powerful form of communication. Word of mouth is a big part of how we recruit new members and we should not forget that. We need to be ambassadors for our clubs, our districts and the Rotaract program as a whole. If we can show everyday that Rotaract gives us the opportunity to help others, learn new skills and make new friends, we will be well on our way to increasing Rotaract’s brand recognition and recruitment success.

Not only that, by talking about what motivates us to volunteer, we can remind current members why they became involved and why they should stick around.

Hopefully, at the end of the day, this will help us with… Enhancing Rotaract.

Source:  http://enhancingrotaract.wordpress.com/motivation-and-communication/