Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Cutting Membership

Someone mentioned to me today that they had cut back on some of the groups they belong to because of cost savings and in fact, the groups they left weren't fruitful for them. They asked me what I thought.

I didn't have a good answer right there. Of course not. I never do!

But later I realized why they need to continue those memberships.

Here's the deal.

Yes, you can participant with some groups as a guest paying an extra fee. However, I think having a membership pushes more involvement. the conversation in your head might sound like this, "You know, I better go to this event so I can get my money's worth from it."

But here's more of the deal. And I've written about this before. If you're not out there playing and meeting people, you won't be able to help your networking contacts. And if you stop helping them, probably they are going to limit their help to you.

So my new answer is, "Hell, yes, you need to be a member. It will get you out there instead of you allowing yourself to sit in your office cave."

So there!

1 comment:

Jacki Hollywood Brown said...

While I agree with you, that membership promotes involvement, there are groups for which one may get no benefits.

I've been to several meetings of groups that call themselves "networking" groups that turn out to be bitchfests or coffee hours. There is no REAL networking going on at all.

Those are the groups that I would leave in a heartbeat. REAL networking groups are worth the money! You can bitch over a coffee with your girlfriends for free.