Like any winning team, when a group works together towards a goal great things can happen. Similarly, the staff at IAVM Headquarters knows that staff and members working together can make a difference to the success of the Association. IAVM’s membership is truly an inspirational gathering of industry professionals with a rich understanding and a broad perspective of the venue industry landscape.
With such talented and passionate members, it only makes sense that more is better, and that a larger membership means a richer network of talent and ideas for all of our members to take advantage of. So taking a cue from the old adage that “two heads are better than one” IAVM reached out to its member base and set forth a lofty goal – gain enough members to break the 4000 mark by the end of the Association’s 2012-2013 fiscal year ending March 31.
With this goal in hand, ICommit was created by IAVM’s Director of Membership, Gina Brydson. Gina took the lead in coordinating the program and decided to take the challenge out to the membership. “I know that our members have a rich and deep network of venue managers that they communicate with that IAVM really doesn’t have the resources to reach out to. So I figured, who better to get help from than the people who know people.” To meet the goal, the IAVM ICommit team needed to sign on at least 4.5 members per day between the start of the member drive February 1 to the end of the campaign on March 31.
“We found that our members who are passionate about us are the best advocates to encourage others to join.”
The incentive to participate was a sweet deal – Five $500 Apple gift cards. Approximately 90 current IAVM members signed up to participate. Each time a new member applied, they shared the name of the person who referred them. That referral received an entry into the drawing. “So the more people you referred, the better your chances of winning,” said long-time member and winner of one of the gift cards, Todd Mastry of the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi. Todd brought in a total of five new members.
“Overall, the campaign was a huge success. By the final day of the campaign we had 4,103 total members. We found that our members who are passionate about us are the best spokesmen to spread the message and be an advocate to encourage others to join. I think we will certainly try this again. We thank Ungerboeck, one of our global sponsors, for supporting this important growth initiative,” said Gina Brydson.
Complete list of winners:
- Todd Mastry, Executive Director, Landers Center
- Sisco Spence, CFBE, Regional Manager, Levy Restaurants
- Ron C. King, Executive Director, Dallas Convention Center
- Valorie Jones, Assistant Production Manager, Walton Arts Center
- John Siehl, CFE, Regional Vice President, VenuWorks
