IEEE MGA Geographic Unit Officer Position Description

POSITION TITLE: Membership Development Chair

Your first task as you assume the role of Section MD Chair is to familiarize yourself with your new duties and responsibilities. Part of this familiarization is to help you understand where you fit in the overall organization.

Organizationally, your position reports through the Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) organization, both through your Section Chair as well as through the Region MD Chair.

As the MD Chair, you have the greatest opportunity to influence the development, engagement and growth of your Section by understanding your members’ needs and then working with the rest of the Section, Chapter, Affinity Groups and Student Branch Executive Committees to develop/deliver key programs based on those needs. This will help to retain, engage and grow your members in order to outperform previous achievements and to also inspire new and potential members about the extraordinary benefits that IEEE provides.

As a first step, you should look to meet with the previous MD Chair or volunteer equivalent (i.e. Section Chair) to ensure the continuity of previously successful programs/plans. It also ensures that all relevant information is passed on. This is a good way to get a head start on your new job and can give you a big boost in tackling your new responsibilities. Be sure to identify key volunteers, documents, and other resources that have been useful to your predecessor.

Success in the MD role relies on these key factors:

  • Being a “champion” of IEEE
  • Having a passion for:
    • Serving your members by understanding what they want/need
    • Partnering with the sub-groups within your Section to deliver an excellent member experience and knowing what is on their calendars
    • Driving member engagement within your Section on both a short and long term basis
    • Having an interest in networking/relationship building within IEEE and externally
    • In other words, “always be in the know” regarding your Section and members’ needs
  • Understanding that there are a number of development/engagement opportunities already available that you can leverage in your efforts such as:
    • IEEE Events & Conferences
    • Sub-Committee activities/meetings

The 3 main responsibilities of the MD Chair are to:

  • Retain, engage and develop existing members;
  • Grow and attract new members;
  • Promote membership elevation, such as transitioning from a Student or Associate Member to full Member or full Member to Senior Member

In addition, you will also be responsible for:

  • Receiving mailings of membership materials from IEEE Operations Center and give this information to the Section/Chapter/Affinity Group or Student Branch that it relates to
  • Developing a local Membership Development Activities Plan
  • Monitoring a current record of membership.
  • Working with other volunteer leaders to develop, execute and monitor plans and goals for membership growth, engagement retention, and recovery.
  • Analyzing membership information and trends to identify membership problems and opportunities. Share your Analysis with IEEE officers of your Section and discuss viable solutions
  • Ensure adequate supplies of membership development materials are available for distribution at appropriate venues
  • Communicating regularly with the Regional or SocietyMembership Development Officer
  • Providing quarterly membership status reports with recommendations to the Section, Regional or Society Membership Development Officer
  • Coordinating membership exhibits for local meetings and conferences, soliciting materials for exhibits, identifying volunteers to staff booth
  • Optimizing local recruitment efforts by ensuring that Membership Development activities parallel headquarters’ programs and processes
  • Cultivation of prospect lists for membership. For example, use event attendance lists.

The complete list of roles and responsibilities are outlined in the IEEE Membership Development Manual (link is found in the MD Chair Action Plan.)