Each Impact100 chapter should host several public events during recruiting season. These should be fun and well publicized; held at places members love to attend. In addition to the bigger, public events, there should be a multitude of smaller events sprinkled throughout the community and the recruiting calendar.
These smaller events are private perhaps held in a home or office with guests invited with the purpose of learning more about Impact 100 in their community. Typically, events are held over coffee, a meal or even wine and appetizers. Private events allow smaller groups of women to get together and learn about Impact 100 to determine whether a membership is right for them.
You will want to be intentional as you seek out venues and dates for your public events and when connecting with potential hostesses of private events. It is important the you offer a variety of times, dates, locations event types to increase the probability of attendance. Recruiting a diverse pool of members is a priority, so the recruiting events must be as diverse as your population, hosted by many different women.
The format of these events is very simple:
Whether public or private, women are usually invited for 1.5-2 hours. They should know that the purpose of the invitation is for them to learn about (and ideally, join) Impact100. Be sure to have plenty of Impact100 information sheets and membership sign-up sheets out on tables so attendees can get a bit of an idea about the organization before the presentation begins. After the first 30-45 minutes of guests arriving and socializing, there is a presentation explaining the Impact100 story and inviting questions. This may last 20-30 minutes, depending on the questions. During the remaining time, guests can approach Impact100 board members with questions, individually. It is helpful to have more than one Impact100 member in attendance, to be a resource and to make the guests feel comfortable.
Pro-Tip: Having a raffle drawing of Impact 100 logoed items, bottles of wine, or something will help incentivize guests to complete their membership form and commit to Impact100 membership at the event. This ‘call to action’ creates a sense of urgency and can spur a decision to join now, rather than wait until the deadline to join gets closer. (We can all tend to procrastinate especially when it comes to writing a check or making a financial commitment, incentives like a raffle drawing can be very effective in overcoming our procrastination tendencies.)