Presidents Column

Presidents Column

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ABI Membership: More Valuable than Ever

With more than 11,000 members and growing, ABI is doing many things quite well. That we have grown to this size in a relatively short period of time is impressive.

For example, at the end of 1996, ABI had just over 5,300 members. We passed 7,000 in 1999 and 9,000 in 2002. We grew to more than 10,000 in 2004 and crossed the 11,000-member threshold this year. Our member retention rate of over 95 percent is further evidence that we deliver exceptional value to each member. However, there is more to ABI's membership than might appear at first sight.

The market recognizes that there is a significant value in being identified as an ABI member. Many people proudly identify themselves as an ABI member in various directories and biographies on firm Web sites. Sometimes, people hold themselves out as members even when they are not. Unfortunately for them, ABI's Membership Department is hard at work checking their listings against our membership database to see if everyone claiming to be a member actually is on our rolls. When our Membership Department finds non-members publicly claiming the benefit of ABI membership, they are invited to either actually join us or to stop using ABI's name in their materials.

In addition to this "enforcement" role, ABI's Membership Department manages an ever-growing database of member information. Trying to keep the names, firm names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of more than 11,000 people is more of a challenge than most can handle. However, the Membership Department must also keep track of each member's committee membership, requested circuit update(s) and a myriad of other data. Each year, this is published in a directory that is larger than many cities' telephone books. (You can help immeasurably by logging on to http://www.abiworld.org and updating your record directly.)

Another of the Membership Department's roles is coordinating the recruitment of new members and providing a "new member packet" to each new member shortly after they join. The packet contains their first ABI Journal as well as other materials providing an overview of all that ABI has to offer. They also follow up with members that have not renewed to determine why their membership was allowed to lapse and give them the opportunity to rejoin in case the lapse was accidental.

This year, yet another task has been added to the Membership Department's duties. Someone from ABI's Membership Department is scheduled to attend each of our regional programs to be available on site to handle any membership-related questions and to keep you up to date with all that your membership provides. Please ask for them at the conference's registration desk if you have any questions.

Melissa Kibler Knoll, ABI's Vice President-Membership, is responsible for overseeing all of the work of the Membership Department and for developing ideas and processes to both increase and retain membership. Chris Thackston is ABI's Membership Director, overseeing Membership Specialist Emily Gaines, Membership Retention Manager Kimberly Hay and Membership Assistant Larissa Mendes. You'll recognize a number of the staff members from the "ABI Updates" you receive by e-mail each week as yet another membership benefit. The Membership Department, along with ABI's Director of Special Projects Caroline Milani, leads the charge on our "Get Involved" campaign to provide each member with the opportunity to work with ABI to maximize the benefits they receive as ABI members.

An existing project that is handled by Melissa and the Advisory Board (consisting of ABI's past presidents) is a series of outreach events around the country in areas where ABI does not regularly host a regional or national meeting. Each event includes a mix of both current and prospective members. To date, the events have been held in Cleveland, San Antonio, San Francisco and Seattle. Plans are underway for other outreach events in St. Louis, Orlando, Fla., Boston and Dallas/Fort Worth, as well.

The real challenge ahead of us remains to continually create ways for everyone who wants to do so to participate and contribute their time and talents in ways that provide substantive benefits for ABI as an organization, for its members generally and for each member individually. I encourage you to do what you can to Get Involved, since doing so will make your membership even more valuable in the future.

Journal Date: 
Saturday, October 1, 2005