membership Suggestions, articles, TIPS, tools and ideas
Membership: What Sets Your Chorus Apart As You Plan Your Season?
Though many choruses take time off over the summer from singing, we’re still busy scrambling behind the scenes for fall. Most other choirs and choruses are doing the same. So how do we set ourselves apart to reach our target market?
Following are a few simple guiding principles that the Stampede City Mixed Chorus has used to over triple in the past few years.
1. DESIGN AROUND BASIC NEEDS
Successful choruses cultivate relationships and challenge. These are different for each person. But relationships require a sense of individual self as well as of community. For some, it’s all about the social aspect; for others it’s about contributing by singing and being valued for that. Most are somewhere in between. Challenge is a continuum that balances risk with safety in terms of personality, repertoire, expectations, singing skill/readiness, and experience.
Clarifying and living your messages in a few simple statements that all singers know helps. For example, we advertise the Stampede City Mixed Chorus as the place “where acapella meets happy” and where “we sing a little better today than yesterday.”
Knowing and planning around these basic needs during our welcome weeks and during the season, then finding the right people to support this has made a huge difference for us.
2. KNOW & GROW YOUR CULTURE and IDENTITY
Our chorus advertises itself as a non-audition mixed acappella community chorus because it fills a niche in the Calgary choral scene, especially with 4 other great barbershop choruses here. We also sing “for the Joy of It!” in order to make a difference in our Calgary Community.
In addition, we stress something many choirs don’t have—a larger barbershop culture. As an example, our first year we had a mock Div III Contest in May. It hooked many of our first-year members. This was a “Weekend Coaching Festival Contest” of 6 choruses from near and far that took advantage of our BHS and EVG experts/judges to give an experience most choirs don’t have. We try to consider and acknowledge this larger cultural connection whenever we can.
For us, it boils down to the fun factor, as you know. People only participate in hobbies when they’re having fun. This happens when they find a unique home where they can sing while meeting their basic individual and cultural needs. For us, it starts with the welcome, warmth, and energy of our chorus culture, as determined by each chorus member.
If you’d like more information or to discuss some of these ideas further, please don’t hesitate to contact me at gregsasinger@gmail.com.
Greg Verhappen, Co-Director,
Stampede City Mixed Chorus, Calgary, AB.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ARTICLE
Membership growth is not accidental. It takes work – and it’s worth it!!
Some things have to be seen to be believed. But on the other hand, some things have to be believed to be seen.
Our singing together is a TEAM SPORT – it requires everyone to be prepared and supportive of each others’ skills, it requires endurance, stamina, and training. It really can’t be laid down for a while and picked back up at the same level as when one stopped.
Best part of our sport is that we have good times being together – and there are no bruises!… Plus, we get to show off what we do best – and that’s SING!
HEALTHY MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM
“You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing there will be no results.”
Mahatma Gandhi
A healthy membership program is a giant swirling circle in time focusing on finding, attracting, recruiting, and retaining members.
Keep in mind, that we need to be constantly open to change:
- Reinvent what we do to keep current members enthusiastically coming week after week,
- Revitalize the chapter’s image to attract new members
- Redesign membership tools and methods to make it easy to convert guest to a member.
- Encourage communications to stay open with former members
MOTIVATION is ongoing
PROVIDE FOR INDIVIDUAL GROWTH
INDIVIDUAL MEMBER DEVELOPMENT
- Tell people what their responsibilities are, and give them authority equal to the responsibilities assigned to them.
- Set standards of excellence and provide them with training that will enable them to meet the standards.
- Give them knowledge and information.
- Provide them with feedback on their performance.
- Recognize them for their achievements.
- Trust them.
- Give them permission to fail.
- Treat them with dignity and respect.
TIPS FOR KEEPING MEMBERS ENGAGED
- Fast paced short meeting and announcements
- Active and varied song list
- New music added regularly
- “Hour of Power”
- Quarteting or VLQ
- Fun vocal and physical warmups – with explanation on what the value/lesson is
- Sectionals with value
- Active music teams
- Education
- Coaching
- Member recognition
- Point out health benefits
- Make members feel important
- Use talents and grow skills
- Opportunity for ownership of the chapter
M & M Working Together
After two successful Marketing Zoom meetings, there are concerns over marketing for new members and audience. The most pressing issue seems to be recruitment and retention in a pandemic world. Covid has cut deep into many chapters.
For a look at some of the membership ideas click on the M&M cover — or CLICK HERE to download a pdf file.
Strengthen & Grow Your Chapter: Host a "harmony cabaret"
Alberta Harmony Cabaret Makes History
The Stampede City Chorus hosted an historical event on October 1st and invited singers, family members, and friends to spend a fun afternoon full of singing, visiting, good food, and tons of fun! This first-of-its-kind event was a mash up of an Afterglow with a Harmony Platoon, activities that have been showing up in connection with more and more barbershop convention/contest weekends because of the informal camaraderie that is such an important part of our barbershop experience.
<<download the article, photos, and ad>>
more ideas
Host a Bring-a-Friend Special Event
Idea: Invite a special coach for an evening and treat it like a party: make invitations, plan treats and even entertainment. Then pass out invitations to your members and invite them to come – and ask them to bring a friend to enjoy the fun evening with your chapter.
RANDOM ACTS OF HARMONY =
BARBERSHOP “FLASH MOB”
There’s nothing like giving a gift of song. This can be a very simple project for a chapter to do … just hop in cars and agree to just “appear” somewhere to sing to everyone who walks by. You might pick a store, or a nearby mall, or even a street corner. In “flash mob” style start singing a simple, recognizable song to whoever is near. At, or near the end of, the song start mingling and sharing how fun it is to sing with your friends.
