As President and CEO ’round these here parts, I’m going to be giving myself the day off. What? Oh, yeah. You heard me. It’s somewhere in that employee manual thingy I created if you want to flip through there. Eh, it’s somewhere near the back. Oh, never mind.

Today is my wedding anniversary.

So, what the heck does that mean for you? Well, you can check out a few posts I’ve written for my other HR blog or you can even get in touch with my softer side by checking out the note I left my wife on the adoption blog. Bring a hankie.

I’ll catch you guys later this week.

• Onboarding-gimme some intimate and personal contact, baby
• HR-let’s see some value and stop sucking, ‘kay?
• Customer service-optional? Stop sucking the life from your customers.
• Happy third anniversary to my amazing wife

As President and CEO, I’m… is a post from: UpstartHR

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These ideas for SHRM chapter leaders are a part of the SHRM Chapter Leadership Guide.

I often hear from other HR pros who are members of a local SHRM chapter that stinks. Depending on your chapter leadership, you could be having an amazing experience or a horrible one. Whichever you may be in, it wouldn’t hurt to pass this link on to someone at your local chapter. And if you are in a leadership position, explore the list. I don’t have all the answers (admitting that up front!), but I do love coming up with ideas that could really be beneficial for the average HR professional.

Here are a few ideas to make things more interesting and engaging for your members.

1. Want to convert more website visitors into members? Use a video on your sales page.
2. Don’t have an amazing website? Get one.
3. Make new members feel welcome. Create a simple one minute welcome video telling people that you appreciate them joining the team and share it immediately after they join.
4. Create an onboarding program. Your company probably has one, so why not a SHRM chapter? It’s all about setting expectations from the very beginning, and establishing a set method for assimilating new members into the chapter is a good way to do that.
5. Reach out in multiple ways. Facebook pages and/or LinkedIn groups take a few minutes to set up and can be updated as frequently or infrequently as you like. Offer people multiple ways to connect and don’t force your own communication preferences on your members. Email blasts work, but they don’t allow for bidirectional communication. You’re missing out if email is your only communication medium.
6. Offer multiple volunteer opportunities and offer them multiple times. Let people help in areas they are geared toward, and make sure you make it known how to get involved as a volunteer if/when someone changes their mind.
7. Offer free events. Contrary to popular belief, HR pros don’t make as much money as doctors, lawyers, and actors. Offering high value free events is a great way to pull people in before it’s time for a paid event.
8. Archive everything. Every event you can record is an opportunity to market the chapter, increase revenues, or just keep up that nostalgic buzz HR people seem to love so much.
9. Send a newsletter. Yes, it can be via email, but it doesn’t have to be a list of announcements. Make it worthwhile. It should read like a blog post, not a press release.
10. Start a blog. We did, and it’s generated some great intra-chapter conversations. If you need help with this one, just let me know and I’ll get you up and running.
11. Share blog posts with your people. I mentioned how to do this in another post on how to get more out of your SHRM chapter membership.
12. Create a welcome kit. It can contain links to: the video in #3, the blog in #11, or the content in #14.
13. Create unique content that is only available to members. Anyone can attend a chapter seminar/meeting/function if they pay. Let’s give our paying members something extra, huh? Record a pre-event interview with the speaker and share the link only with members. There are dozens of ideas for this one!
14. Offer extra networking time. That’s a big reason people join these chapters, and the meetings are often crammed into busy schedules. Give people more time to just chat.
15. Create multiple survey points for adjustments. Survey your new members on what they want. Survey your current members on how you’re doing. Survey people who are leaving on what made them go. Get some data and use it.
16. Offer smaller events. Yes, it seems counterintuitive, but the smaller the event, the more people participate. You never know how much that short dude in the back of the room really knows until you stick him in a round table discussion and let him participate.
17. Develop collaborative projects and case studies from (and for) members. Make that networking in #15 really work for people. Give them ideas for projects to work together on and let them create things that could benefit the whole chapter.
18. Pair with nearby chapters and offer large events. Find one of those big name people and bring him/her in. Share the cost with another chapter so it doesn’t cut into finances so much.
19. Bring in new blood (voluntarily). Please don’t let your volunteer pool stagnate. If you have the same ten people volunteering day in and day out, you’re going to kill your volunteers.
20. (Don’t) kill your volunteers. Make it very simple and easy to connect if someone shows an interest in volunteering, and let them go where their strengths lie if there’s any possible room.
21. Have an informal voice too. You can talk in the uber-formal voice that is expected of a SHRM affiliate without always being a stick in the mud. Have some fun with your members! This profession is too serious not to laugh often. Like this picture for instance. Rejoice and be glad that your SHRM chapter meetings don’t look like that!
22. Pair student chapter members with professional chapter members as an informal mentoring gig. It’s a great way to lead the student members into a professional membership later on, and it gives value to both parties.
23. Get a website that doesn’t make your eyes bleed. Yes, you may have one already, but if it has a bounce rate above 80% then you’re doing something wrong. See #2 for more info.
24. Do webinars (free!). Using something like Dim Dim‘s free service to create small webinars for your people. You can even use it to test drive a speaker or topic. If it rocks, then you may want a full chapter meeting on the topic!
25. Make an effort to be more diverse. We hear about diversity often, but this time I’m pushing my own darn self interests (wink wink). How many of your volunteers are under 25? We are going to be the next generation of HR directors and VPs. Spending time working alongside the other more experienced superstars in the chapter is a great professional development opportunity for us.
26. Make people who aren’t even local want to join. This sounds strange, but there’s a chapter around where I live that gets people to events that are not local at all. Some of them drive 2+ hours for events there, because they’re that good. Strive to be that kind of chapter!
27. Find out why people join. Do more of that.
28. Find out why they leave. Do less of that.
29. Find out why they stay. Keep that up.
30. Get member generated content via contests. If you do go the blog route, keeping up a steady flow of content can be tough at times. Why not get others to do it for you? Get a sponsor to donate something (books are great) and offer it in a contest to a person who writes a comment on a post. Maybe you could ask how to handle a sticky issue or something similar that is sure to get a lot of responses…
31. Figure out what works for you. There’s nothing wrong with ideas. They’re free, and they are abundant. It’s the actual doing something that is the hard part. Sift through the ideas, find a few that make sense for your chapter, and give ‘em a shot!

Learn more about the SHRM Chapter Leadership Guide.

Anything you’d like to add to this list? Let me know in the comments!

30+ Ideas for SHRM Chapter Leaders is a post from: UpstartHR

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AKA

As if I don’t run my mouth enough on my own blog…

Maybe we'll still be friends when we are old?

Every once in a while I get the chance to write a little something for some of my friends. In an effort to repay their kindness, I share the links with you in case you’re interested in checking one out. If you’re interested in seeing some of my previous escapades, click here for the Guest Post Blitz archive.

Victorio at the Creative Chaos Consultant (gosh I love that name!) blog put out an interesting challenge early this year. He wanted people to either commit to their goals or shut up about it. It was appropriately named the Put Up or Shut Up Challenge. A few weeks later I shot him an email detailing my progress so far. Click here to see how I fared with the Put Up or Shut Up challenge.

April Dowling at PseudoHR is a fellow geek. When I asked if I could write a post that involved science fiction, zombies, and giant meteors (and still tie it back into the human resources profession, mind you), she was thrilled. Click here to see how science fiction makes me better at HR.

RocketHR, the blog that I run for my local SHRM chapter, has a post from yours truly every Monday. Recently I talked about how to look brilliant, a free HR eBook, and free HR podcasts. As of now, there aren’t any other contributors over there, so if you subscribe to RocketHR, you’ll be getting a little more me each week (and can’t everyone stand to get a little bit more of me?).

HRevolution has been on my mind lately, especially since we just opened up ticket sales for this year’s event. While it’s not exactly a guest post, I did design the HRevolution website, and that definitely took more effort than a guest post. I have to say that when I started in HR I had no idea I’d end up building blogs/websites as a side job. But I love it!

Anyone else read something cool they’d like to share? Maybe something you’ve read in the past week that really hit the spot? Drop it in the comments so everyone can benefit.

Guest post blitz #5 is a post from: UpstartHR

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This post on SHRM chapter planning and marketing is a piece of the SHRM Chapter Leadership Guide.

Today I had the opportunity to meet with the NASHRM Webmaster (anyone else think “webmaster” is the coolest title ever?) to go over some ideas for the upcoming year. In just a few short weeks, we’ll be starting 2010, and I will officially become the “Assistant Webmaster” for NASHRM. We both have some great ideas for making this chapter the best. How many other SHRM chapters are thinking about…

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Rebuilding the site with the user in mind
• Blogging
• Email newsletters

I bet there aren’t many. I’m thrilled to have such a great guy to work with on this project. Erich laughs about being a lurker in the social media space, and I keep telling him that I’m waiting on a guest post for the SHRM chapter blog. It’s a fun experience, and neither of us is new to this whole social media thing.

Back on topic: I’m so excited to see what we can do with this thing. There has been a lot of talk lately about how SHRM may or may not be worth the expense, and we are looking at this redesign with that in mind. Some of the questions in the forefront of my mind:

• How can we provide enough value to justify membership?
• What can we do to help those HR pros “in the trenches?”
• What can we do to open their eyes to the competitive advantage of social media?

I’ve been talking a lot with other professionals in the past few days. The topic has been the difference between local and national SHRM membership. While I can make a great case to people for joining a local SHRM chapter, it’s harder for me to do that with national membership. However, that doesn’t mean local always wins. For instance, two of my friends went out of their way to get involved with their own local chapters, and they were pretty much turned away!

Some local SHRM chapters just plain suck (yep, I said it).

Let me give you a hint if you’re involved with a local chapter somewhere: you are selling membership. You aren’t a charity, you’re a business. Act like it. Sell your members on the benefits of your organization. If you can’t succinctly tell prospective members the benefits of joining, then maybe you should revisit the reason your organization exists.

Are you a member of a local SHRM chapter? Do you get anything out of the experience? Why or why not?

Images by worldislandinfo.com and dan taylor.

SHRM Chapter Planning and Marketing is a post from: UpstartHR

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I try not to let things catch me by surprise. But it happens anyway. Oh, well! I am on the move much of the time, and I try to save my best writing times for this site. However, I occasionally slip in an article somewhere else, and I try not to let them go by without at least a passing mention. With that in mind, feel free to explore these little seeds that I’ve scattered to the four corners of the online world.

Zombies, Bacon, and HR

Halogen Software has a blog set up just for some of the more fun posts related to the HR world, and every once in a while they let me send something along. This post is funny and serious at the same time, so give it a try.

3 Ways to Use Twitter at Work

Do you tweet on the job? I’ll be honest. I do sometimes. It may be important and valuable. It may be silly and useless (other than giving someone else a laugh). But what if you had a boss that’s not as cool as mine? What if you couldn’t tweet on the job? Check out this post at Jobacle to learn what to do about it.

Sphere of Influence

A recent post on RocketHR was inspired by a comment at HRevolution, and I believe it’s something that people should consider. Would your sphere of influence as an HR professional be bigger or smaller if you focused your efforts on a select handful of people? I don’t think the answer is that obvious. Click through and leave a comment if you disagree.

HRevolution Carnival

Y0u may have seen my long post “HR Unconference” recently. That was one of many great posts that were featured in an HRevolution-centric HR carnival. Check it out for everything you ever wanted to know about HRevolution!

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Every so often, I try to give some sort of mass update here, because people often ask what I’m working on, why I’m taking forever to reply to their emails, or what my favorite type of cookie is (probably chocolate chip brownie pillows). Anyway, here’s the stuff that you do and don’t want to know about my current level of insanity.

1. The last time I posted on the goings-on, I was gently reminded by a few of my friends out there that it looks like I’m not taking enough time for family. I just don’t usually bore people with that kind of thing. I live a fairly boring life outside of my jobs. But to satisfy those familial cravings, just check out #10 and #11.
2. At the urging of a friend, I have started writing three times a week on this blog ( Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). This is a change from my normal “whenever” posting. It’s interesting to try to fit to a schedule, but it’s also a lot of fun, too.
3. With sales doing about as well as I had hoped, I have been working to finish the second Rock the PHR bonus item. It’s actually 99% complete, and I have started to outline the third (and probably last) bonus giveaway. For only $14.99, this thing is a steal if you’re planning to take the HR certification exam.
4. I’m writing a post every Monday for the RocketHR blog. I’m trying to make it more beginner-friendly, and I’m hoping that it will be a stepping stone for my local HR professionals into the world of social media.
5. In a recent post, I went over some of what I’m doing with the local SHRM chapter’s student group. I was one of those youngsters not too long ago, and I am looking forward to helping them with all of the wisdom I’ve accumulated (i.e. not much).
6. Along with my designer, I am revamping my company’s website. It’s going to be more user-friendly, searchable, and better aligned to our organizational goals. It’s been a fun experience so far.
7. My online antics never cease, because I have also started working with another local SHRM chapter to help them set up a Website. (If your local chapter doesn’t have a Website but wants something, shoot me an email. I might be able to help.)
8. Secret project with Stephen from HR Gumbo. I’m waaay slower than he is at times.
9. I’ve been working on a half marathon training plan with the race scheduled in November. Should be a lot of fun. Haven’t done a long race since the Dizzy Fifties 50k a few years ago.
10. My wife is amazing, and I’ve been working with her as a coach to help her prepare for a local 5k. She is going to do amazingly well. I tried to promote it to my coworkers, but with less than 5 days to race day, my wife and I are the only ones who have signed up for our team!
11. Not sure how many of you know about it, but we’re adopting. And this thing has been going very slow in recent weeks with lots of work and extracurricular activities. But we’ve finally finished most of the preparation work for the home study, and we’re getting ready for our adoption.
12. HRevolution planning is going well, and we are gearing up for the big day. It’s about three weeks away, but I can remember when it was three months away, and that blows my mind. We have a few sponsor slots left (last time I checked), and if anyone’s looking to put $25o or $500 toward a good cause, you might be able to secure one of the final slots.
13. My loads of spare time are spent building my business and helping others do the same. I’ve been talking with 4-5 people about getting their own products/services out there on the market, and it’s amazingly fun for me.

I’m sure I’m missing a lot of other things that are going on. The Diet Mountain Dew is flowing cold and fast these days, and I’m hoping to keep up the amazing work that I’m allowed to do on a daily basis. Look for another “real” post on Friday, assuming I can keep up with the schedule I just committed to.

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