[Membership-affairs] Hello

[Edward Morris]

Hello,


A belated welcome to the Membership Affairs working group and associated
mailing list. To those who have been part of our nascent Outreach and
InReach groups welcome to our broader grouping. To those who are beginning
their journey with us here: welcome.

The remit of this group is quite large: to find new members, admit them,
help them acclimate to the NCUC and to serve as THE place to go for our
current members. We’re a mixture, in the best sense, of a recruiter, a
welcome wagon, a concierge and an educational institution. Bill has also
recently placed certain communications functions, such as the development
and production of an introductory NCCUC brochure, in our remit. In my view,
this is easily the most important administrative component of the
Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC).

Although we have had some useful discussion and proposal’s (Sam is taking
the lead on youth outreach, Nuno volunteered to head our recruiting efforts
in a few large European countries, Roy with librarians, Amr has a fantastic
and ambitious member engagement strategy) there has been a lack of forward
movement here that can largely be attributed to me. I should offer a bit of
an apology and explanation.

Outreach has been hampered, in great part, by our difficulty getting
recruited candidates admitted into the NCSG in a prompt manner and my
reaction to this situation. For those who aren’t aware, to be admitted into
the NCUC a candidate first needs to be admitted into the NCSG. As you can
imagine, the NCSG EC is a very busy place. It’s understandable that
processing new applications isn’t always the highest priority for the
volunteers serving us on that committee. Those people do a fantastic job
but the, certainly understandable,  backlog of applicant files creates a
bit of a problem for us.

As an example, until recently we’ve  had some applicants who have been
 waiting for a membership decision since mid March, almost three months
ago.  A former NCSG EC member recently told me there is no reason, in his
opinion, that  individual membership applications should take more than a
week to approve / reject. People are different than institutions.
Institutions can wait for decisions. People don’t want to. When you recruit
an individual (and we have over 20 from in excess of 15 different countries
currently waiting for approval) that person is usually excited to join us.
When they don’t hear back from us within a week of applying they often
write me ‘what’s happening?’ Same thing the next week. After about a month
of this the e-mails stop. They stop caring. The enthusiasm is gone. I’ve
never seen it come back. We lose potential active members.

I decided to hold off on any major mailing or recruitment campaign until we
had the infrastructure and commitment in place to properly handle an influx
of new applicants. I didn't feel it was fair to  to recruit volunteers
knowing there was a lengthy waiting list before their application would be
acted upon. Some understood my position, others disagreed. I saw damaged
potential assets, others saw slower than desired numerical growth. Neither
view is right or wrong, just different perspectives of the same situation.

I’m happy to report things are headed in the right direction. Tapani is
working on an integrated database that should allow for easy intake
communication between the NCSG and NCUC. It should be brilliant. At the
NCUC meeting in Durban I will make all gathered aware of this problem and
it's importance  and I’m sure we can figure something out. These are good
people, we all want the same thing, it’s just a question of figuring out
how to deal with the constraints our respective positions. As an all
volunteer organisation we’ll never be the most efficient but we can, and
I’m sure will,  do better in this area.

Our other major recruitment problem is, frankly, the fact that we have
little to nothing to recruit with.

Directing people to our existing web site seemed to discourage, not
encourage, potential applicants. :)  The new web site is progressing and
should be ready before Durban. We have a great new film extolling our
values, now we just need a strategy to get people to view it. Most of all
we need written material: outreach receptions have limited utility when
there is no printed material to tell people who we are and what we are all
about. Bill has requested ICANN funding for printed matter and hopefully we
can produce some brochures, cards etc. sooner rather than later. These
items are recruiting  basics which we need and soon, with a bit of luck and
hard work,  will have.

InReach has also been problematic. Roughly 90% of our membership is
relatively inactive. Motivating them to remember why they joined the NCUC
and stimulating a reconnect would yield amazing new energy and strength for
us. It’s also a time and energy consuming job. Our first Outreach meeting
yielded just two participants, including myself. Amr has some great ideas,
we just need some people to help him implement them.

That’s where you come in: we need your help, you ideas, your energy, your
participation. There are things I haven’t mentioned ( for example, some
ICANN coordinated outreach with other Constituencies / SO's) that I have
been working on but that aren’t yet finalised. Regardless, it is safe to
say that we’re reaching the point where we will have the institutional
capacity to recruit and absorb new members and, with some luck, engage our
current membership to levels not currently seen before. To make this happen
I need your help.

As we begin this journey there are two items I’d like for you to think
about and act upon:

1. Over the next 7-10 days I’d like to ask everyone to post a little about
yourself and your reasons for joining this particular group. What do you
see as the major issues we should be addressing? How do you propose we
handle them? And, most importantly, what are you hoping, willing and able
to contribute to the group? What would you like to do?

2. This is not a short term project. It certainly is not one that will be
completed by December. It deserves leadership willing to make a substantial
multi year commitment. I regret that I am unable to make such a commitment
at this time. My hope is that someone in this group is ready to step up,
make this a priority, replace me as facilitator and lead us into the future.

I should note, in the end, it’s up to Bill to select who leads this group.
Still, it seems at times it’s a question of who can make the commitment
rather than any sort of competition between people. If you want to make a
real difference, if your circumstances would allow you to focus on inreach
- outreach efforts as a priority...please consider stepping up and helping
us build and ensure a vibrant noncommercial presence at ICANN into the
future. Please consider becoming the facilitator of NCUC’s Membership
Affairs group.

If someone is willing to take the role I’m happy to step aside and help
with the transition. All I ask is that you really are willing to make this
your priority and that you would be able to fulfill this role (should next
years Chair ask) for 2014 as well. This really is an important position and
it deserves more time and focus than I’ll be able to give going forward. If
you’re able I hope you’ll step up: merely post your interest or send me an
e-mail indicating same and we'll go from there. Please think about it. If
not, I promise energetic, active leadership until the end of the year and
hope somebody will be able to take over at that time.

I look forward to hearing everyone’s ideas on how we can reinvent all
aspects of membership affairs at the NCUC. and where you see yourself
fitting in as we do it. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Ed
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