Purpose: An active chapter is continuously recruiting new members and striving to provide relevant information and activities to retain members. Specifically INCOSE has established an objective of doubling membership within five years.
Description: Membership activities should follow the Recruiting/Retention plans documented in the Chapter Plan. There are several proven membership activities. A good starting point is to develop and distribute a chapter recruiting package at chapter activities where prospective members are present. This should contain general materials about INCOSE (available at no charge from INCOSE central office, see below), and also specific information about the local chapter, such as a tri-fold brochure. Member retention/renewal activities include reminders, personal contact and feedback from those not renewing (such as by a survey). Another effective way to build member commitment and loyalty is to survey chapter members as an input to setting chapter direction and provide feedback to INCOSE central, both to better meet member interests. Using the newsletter or website, new members can be introduced to the general membership.
Membership also extends to enlisting Corporate Advisory Board members, both at the International CAB level, as well as local CAB members such as is currently often done in Europe. Once CAB members are present in the local chapter area, it is a good opportunity to work actively together to explore ways to mutually assist one another.
If there are schools with engineering programs nearby, starting / supporting an INCOSE student division for your chapter helps promote interest in and knowledge of systems engineering.
For Chapter Leaders ONLY: There are free promotional items available from the INCOSE Store to support new member recruitment. These include: Post It Note Pads, Bookmarks, Pens, and Brochures.
Go to this link for the order form and to order other technical publications free of charge to members from INCOSE.
Additional information relating to membership recruitment and corporate outreach is locatedhere.
Examples of a Membership Plans (can be stand-alone or an Appendix to an Operating Plan):
INCOSE_CC-2016-Membership-Plan-March-7-2016v3
SoMD-Chapter-Membership-Plan2010
LA_Membership-Renewal-Plan-2008
HRA-Membership-Plan-2010