How Can We Boost New Member Engagement?

Hi Janet Lentz‍ , Great topic !

Millennials care about CONNECTION. We need to try to connect and provide like a constant interaction via social media on a VARIETY of platforms.
Normally they spend more then 18 hours a day consuming media. 
I personally think it's not only networking on linkedin, fb, MyASQ, etc, but also about relationships. REAL friendships with real people that share a common goal and
want to make a difference.

Luigi

Hi Janet, this is a good question.

I am the vice-chair of the Santo Domingo Section and in our last meetings we opened a discussion about that. We get the conclusion that Gen X and Millennial are more visual, and they prefer platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. We were trying to make a strategic planning with our post on those platforms to boost the new members engagement. In our accounts you can find infographics with the ASQ information and pictures with quotes related with quality.

Also, like Luigi said, those generations prefer the real networking. I can make a testimony about that. I am 32 years old and I love to talk with experience people in the quality field of any kind industry to get a wide angle of our profession and passion. Sometimes I found a quick solution when I talk with experts in quality that are consultants or are retired and they feel happy to talk with me about my problems in the company and help me to find the correct solution.

I think the visual content and the networking are the keys to boost the new members engagement. Furthermore, I think people like to be immerse in P2P activities like the world conference and workshops. I think the ASQ need to improve they efforts on that and foment the use of the MyASQ website.
 

Interesting information. Talking about Gen X and Millennials we use the terms connected in a cyberspace context. The other items that are associated with P2P, Person to Person, are the same draw that I had to ASQ 30 years ago. Contact with others that had more experience to talk through issues I had or learn from their experiences. This was not by traveling to conferences, it was at local section meetings. I know my section leadership works hard to present a variety of topics and provide that P2P contact so we may learn from each other.
Back to the Interesting Information, we try to invent the latest methods to connect but forget, we were the same age with the same desires at one time and there are tried methods that may still apply.

I was excited about joining ASQ four years ago; and I was ridiculously excited to learn that there were local ASQ chapters. I'd just relocated to one of the largest cities in the US; and barring normal work hours, I had a ton of free time to do all of those things people do when they move to a new place. I attended every one of my local chapter's monthly professional dinner meetings for well over a year. 

My attendance stopped when I finally accepted that ASQ was just not interested in the likes of someone like me. At that point, I'd worked in Quality for a short four years. I was new. I was eager. I wanted to be involved and to meet other Quality professionals.  During what I'll call my ASQ bliss, I made sincere and steady attempts to become involved with my local chapter.  I volunteered to work the door for dinner meetings, to help with menial tasks during any stage of the annual regional conference, I offered to assist with clerical activities.  I'd like to say that nothing panned out; but that phrasing implies that there was interaction, mutual interest. And there wasn't.  Instead, there was radio silence. When I realized and accepted what was happening -- or better, what wasn't happening -- I was incredibly embarrassed, a bit humiliated, and gave up. 

The best way to engage people of my generation is as simple as communicating and providing opportunities for involvement. 

Hello Carla Comb. My name is Forrest Rattray. I am the Chair for ASQ Greater Houston Section 1405. I'm very sorry to hear you had this experience with your local chapters. You previous post doesn't mention which chapters or cities. However, the Greater Houston Section 1405 chapter has monthly Professional Development Dinner Meetings located at the United Way Center every 3rd Thursday of the month except for July and November. you can find out more information of those meetings on our website https://www.asqhouston.org/ and myASQ page https://my.asq.org/communities/home/214

We are always seeking members to volunteer with one or many of our committees. You may find more information about those committees on our website https://www.asqhouston.org/contact-us/ as well and contact email addresses for each.
You may also contact me anytime here on myASQ or by email chair@asqhouston.org

Cordially,
Forrest R.
Chair
Section 1405 Greater Houston

Carla Comb‍ I had a similar experience in my local ASQ chapter. It will be two years next month since I have attended any meetings or local events. However, I have found what I was looking for in the ITEA judge community. As an auditor you may enjoy participating as well. You have to apply in the summer, I think June or July, if you're interested you might want to make a note of it.

https://asq.org/programs/team-excellence

I find this discussion odd given that many sections have difficulty getting new people to volunteer.  It would be interesting to know how the outreaches occurred and what specific responses there were.  Perhaps there needs to be a better defined process for how people can volunteer.

Amanda Foster:
Carla Comb‍ I had a similar experience in my local ASQ chapter. It will be two years next month since I have attended any meetings or local events. However, I have found what I was looking for in the ITEA judge community. As an auditor you may enjoy participating as well. You have to apply in the summer, I think June or July, if you're interested you might want to make a note of it.

https://asq.org/programs/team-excellence

I'd suggest the active members do brown bags on quality topics at their companies, especially the high-tech/streaming media companies. When I worked for Google Cloud last year, I attended ASQ meetings in that area, but if I mentioned ASQ at work, people went "Huh? What's that? Oh, you mean the inspection group." Their perception was AQLs, Deming and calipers to measure stuff. I'm a PCI QSA, IT Auditor, ISO 27001 Auditor and haven't handled calipers since the late 1980's (yep, I'm old). ASQ needs to tailor its appeal to the work the millenials and GenXers are actually doing. Like, secure quality code development, encryption key management, PKI,Quality By Design aligned with Security by Design, management and maintenance of cloud services (IaaS, SaaS, etc.). ASQ is stuck on hardware in the most holisitc sense, but doesn't 'get' the virtual environment that these groups work and live in. Offer these companies some free 45 minute "brown bags", go talk about ASQ, maybe have a Meet-and-Greet free buffet for anyone interested once or twice a year. Have booths for incoming freshmen at the colleges, tell 'em about all the glories of Quality Improvement, Quality Engineering, etc. Bottom Line: Don't sit on your butts waiting for them to come to you. ASQ isn't a bonus for them, so make it something of value.

Just my $.02 worth.  

I am unsure what you mean by engagement. 
Do you mean getting more new members?
Do you mean getting members who just joined to participate in events or discussions?
Or Do you mean something else?

Do you mean new members in the the discussion forum?
Do you mean new members in ASQ?
Do you mean new members of your workplace team?

Thank you everyone who commented. Much food for thought.

Janet,
An Android/Apple App would help.  I find myself spending most of my networking time on my tablet or phone, so an app would be more attractive and easy than having to log into the website and find the discussions section. 

Thanks, 

Hi Everyone - this is a great topic.  I would encourage sections to make a welcome phone call to new members.  See what they're looking for & point them to the available resources and share your personal experience. 
You might also want to change up meetings.  Perhaps offer a quarterly lunch, breakfast, or a networking happy hour.  After work time is at such a premium these days & employers are a bit more willing to let an employee go to a lunch or breakfast for professional development.  
For spreading the word to non-members, I liked William Casti‍ idea.  Create a meeting at work & invite others to view a webinar available from ASQ.  ASQTV can be a great resource for that too.  
I'd love to hear more ideas.  How can I help?  what do you need from me? 
Thanks all
Trish 

I echo Alfonso's remark.  Even though I'm a Gen X, having an app of ASQ.org in mobile format would be helpful, with a separate app for social discussions (Reddit-style).   

Alfonso Garcia Jr:
Janet,
An Android/Apple App would help.  I find myself spending most of my networking time on my tablet or phone, so an app would be more attractive and easy than having to log into the website and find the discussions section. 

Thanks, 

Good discussion here.

I do not really see this as a generational divide even though younger generations use virtual means and social media more adeptly than older generations in general.

Engagement is about connection and whether that connection be physical via things like Section meetings and conferences or virtual like myASQ here, the methods of connection have to function and be easy for the receiver (new member).

Right now, I see two major problems:
1) That Sections are being starved of resources as ASQ Transformation is sucking all of the air out of the room.  Sections and Divisions are due to get only a fraction of the member dues allocation that is owed to them under current ASQ dues allocation policies (only $12 per member instead of $30, meanwhile ASQ HQ is now taking 93% of your $169 member dues).  Solution - at least fund Sections and Divisions to the level that they are supposed to be getting and even more.
2) myASQ is a closed, behind a pay wall platform that does not work well on mobile devices which is the opposite of what people using virtual means expect/demand.  Solution - fix myASQ so that it works more like LinkedIn or abandon myASQ and go back to LinkedIn which is open and free.  And the money saved can go back to the Sections.

These are my opinions based on my experiences, submitted in good faith.

Entice at every level of needs per Maslow, condition behavior per Pavlov.
      IRS motto:  "if you know what they love and what they hate, you can get anything from them"

 

Our section has had good success by alternating company tours with the regular speaker lead section meeting.  All of our members appreciate networking and job leads.  What really fills the seats are people earning RUs for recertification.  We often have a surge of attendance at the end of the calendar year (Oct-Dec).

Ahh… Millennials are illusive creatures. Very hard for us old folks to catch. We’ve tried every trick in the book but can’t seem to figure out what makes them tick.

Maybe we should listen… and trust their ability to get things done. Allow them to teach us. Treat them like adults. My experience is we talk about involving the next generation if they are involved on our terms. Doing things the way we’ve always done… using tools we know. The conversations tend to be subtle, but I notice we talk AT the younger generation.

In my opinion the way you engage the next generation is get them involved with objectives that are meaningful to them and get out of their way. Give them advice when they ask. Let them make mistakes and learn. Let them drive.  
 

 We can fix one Mentor for the new person to observe and assist him positively in the new work environment for him. It may help to engage the new person and fitting him to the new work culture.

Regards
(P N Gupta)

Perhaps in addition to the millennials and the younger generation,we can appeal to the older "forgotten" quality personnel, who have fallen into a rut and perhaps not developed their careers ,have gotten by without renewing certifications and maybe they can be "energised to become part of the quality society again (speaking from experience)