Volunteer recruitment best practise

I'm interested in the similarities and differences in approach that would be beneficial when recruiting to Local Network and Technical Network committees and sustaining participation. It seems to me that there are some subtle but important differences.

1. 
   Technical Networks attract participation through webinars (as well as physical events) - there is no face to face contact possible in a webinar. They also depend more on online communication (including MyCommunity) - again without the face to face contact.

• 
  Technical Networks appeal to specialists who are often geographically dispersed and require employers to permit/subsidise attendence (including travelling time) - this rules out social events

• 
  Technical Network committees meet by phone more than face to face. It took me over a year from joining the committee before I met the other committee members face to face.

• 
  Technical Networks are not directly associated with Younger Members groups, as Local Networks are (but perhaps they could be?) so they lack a "pipeline" of youthful but experienced committee members moving from YM to Senior committee

• 
  Technical Network activities are less easily visible to the average engineer/manager (whether they participate or not) because they lack geographically concentrated publicity such as events calendars and posters

From this list it looks like Local Networks have a relatively easy situation in terms of recruitment/participation. I'm not trying to pretend that is the case.



Increasing recruitment and sustaining participation is of critical importance to the Tribology Network. We are planning a recruitment email "shower" some time later this year and need to make this an effective exercise as it can't be repeated often and appears to be the standard solution.



I'll continue to follow this discussion with interest.

I'm interested in the similarities and differences in approach that would be beneficial when recruiting to Local Network and Technical Network committees and sustaining participation. It seems to me that there are some subtle but important differences.

1. 
   Technical Networks attract participation through webinars (as well as physical events) - there is no face to face contact possible in a webinar. They also depend more on online communication (including MyCommunity) - again without the face to face contact.

• 
  Technical Networks appeal to specialists who are often geographically dispersed and require employers to permit/subsidise attendence (including travelling time) - this rules out social events

• 
  Technical Network committees meet by phone more than face to face. It took me over a year from joining the committee before I met the other committee members face to face.

• 
  Technical Networks are not directly associated with Younger Members groups, as Local Networks are (but perhaps they could be?) so they lack a "pipeline" of youthful but experienced committee members moving from YM to Senior committee

• 
  Technical Network activities are less easily visible to the average engineer/manager (whether they participate or not) because they lack geographically concentrated publicity such as events calendars and posters

From this list it looks like Local Networks have a relatively easy situation in terms of recruitment/participation. I'm not trying to pretend that is the case.



Increasing recruitment and sustaining participation is of critical importance to the Tribology Network. We are planning a recruitment email "shower" some time later this year and need to make this an effective exercise as it can't be repeated often and appears to be the standard solution.



I'll continue to follow this discussion with interest.