It’s time to host your open houses. This is the time of year to get your open houses and grow your club membership. We have just paid on March dues and we want to get our membership strong going into the spring and summer. So, April and May are the perfect time to host an open house.

Some tips for hosting a successful Open House and getting guests to return and become members:

1) invite people personally, it’s good to write people in groups too because it’s easier to join a new event as a team or with a friend.

2) try using promotional options like Meet Up and Facebook to post invitations to people who might be interested in your clubs, topics and atmosphere.. ask our PR director if you need some help promoting your open house. Our PR team makes flyers and can help you connect to the right social media network for promotions

3) have your membership information prepared? You can print out application forms and also have a digital farm ready to send out to all the people who join online or who prefer an email application. Also, you can include information about when your club meets the frequency of your club meetings and the time of day that you meet so they can share with other people they want to bring back to the club and save to their calendar. Lastly for paperwork, include the membership due information and an easy way to pay to sign up right away. So when you host your open house you can get people to apply and join right there. If they don’t join during the meeting, invite them to the next meeting and also send them the information they need to apply.

4) have a buddy sit with the member if they didn’t come with someone so they have someone to ask questions to during the call and they don’t feel alone during the meeting. If your meeting is online, have a chat buddy reach out and welcome them offering to answer questions forcing the call.

5) always welcome every guest and ask them about themselves and if you have time for a brief intro from each guest before the meeting starts. Also, at the end of the meeting, don’t overlook circling back to those guests and asking them how they thought the meeting went and their experience. It’s very important for them to feel like they can connect to and be a member of this club if you want them to join.

6) lastly, don’t forget to follow up. Get all the emails of your guests and then send them a thank you for participating and an invitation to come to the next club. Call whether or not they have submitted their membership application. A welcome packet. A digital version is fantastic and check in on them. If they don’t come to the next meeting they want to feel like they are wanted and welcomed at the call then they will return.