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PRESENTATION TO THE INFORMS BOARD

Strategies for Group Memberships. PRESENTATION TO THE INFORMS BOARD. Informs Membership Committee. Aug 7, 2006. AGENDA. Introduction & Motivation Group Membership Tell-a-Friend Campaign Corporate Membership Other Membership Ideas. MOTIVATION.

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PRESENTATION TO THE INFORMS BOARD

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  1. Strategies for Group Memberships PRESENTATION TO THE INFORMS BOARD Informs Membership Committee Aug 7, 2006

  2. AGENDA • Introduction & Motivation • Group Membership • Tell-a-Friend Campaign • Corporate Membership • Other Membership Ideas

  3. MOTIVATION • New ways to stimulate and expand our membership base • Possible new revenue streams • Greater exposure to wider audience • Provide more options to our current members

  4. Group Memberships Exploring the possibility of an Informs Group Membership

  5. GROUP DISCOUNT ON MEMBERSHIP

  6. Group rules: Any restrictions? How sign up? Discount policy: On what? How much? Group demographics: How large? Ratio new / existing? Price sensitivity: New members? Existing members? KEY QUESTIONS Decision variables Data

  7. ANECDOTAL DATA • Informal survey of academic and practice colleagues • Wide range of potential group sizes (3 to 100’s) • Current participation moderate (25% to 75%) • Low price sensitivity (≥ 50% discount on membership dues, heavy discount on practice conference) • ACORD survey of academic department heads • Reaction was unfavorable • Opinions of membership committee members

  8. A Simple Break-Even Model

  9. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS • If one check per organization: • How can grant money be used? • Risk losing entire group if lead departs? • Can new members join after the fact? • Not allowed by some schools (SMU) • If individuals enroll with a group #: • How know final group size? • How enforce restrictions? • Do we allows refunds? • How construct the discount policy? • Same for all member types? • Does it include full benefits? • Is there an increasing discount schedule?

  10. BENCHMARKING OF OTHER SOCIETIES • Of the 25 societies investigated: • Only 1 offers a generic group discount • $10 application fee waived if ≥ 15 join as one transaction • 11 offer corporate memberships • Emphasis on visibility for the company and revenue for the society • 5 offer academic memberships • Emphasis on full set of publications • Often provide free student memberships • Many of these programs are highly customized

  11. RECOMMENDATION • A generic group membership program appears risky • Consider more tailored alternatives: • Tell-a-friend program • Corporate membership • Customized group membership

  12. Tell-a-Friend Campaign “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make them my friends?”Abraham Lincoln

  13. Tell-a-Friend Campaign

  14. Tell-a-Friend Incentive Options • Discounts • __ % discount on membership fees • First __ months free access to PubsOnline – low cost, sink the hook • Single vs. multi-year options • Smaller incentive for 1-year membership; larger for 2-3 year signup • Allows conference networking and journal familiarity to take root

  15. Tell-a-Friend Incentive Options (con’t) • Chapters to run local drives • Boost chapter fees to fund activities • ASA example: http://www.amstat.org/membership/cgm/index.cfm • Prize drawing • Referrer’s name in hat for each new member • Fewer, significant prizes to create buzz, without large total cost • Ex: Conference fee waived, conference airfare for sig other, etc. • Ex: “Science of Better” coffee cup for all referrers • See attached model for example details

  16. RECOMMENDATION Tell-a-Friend Prize Drawing Option (@ 2% referral rate)

  17. Breakeven @ 0.3% referral rate

  18. Corporate Memberships Exploring the possibility of an Informs Corporate Membership

  19. PROPOSAL Explore the possibility a Corporate Membership option for INFORMS membership

  20. Value Proposition To INFORMS: • Increased revenue • Increased awareness of the society at a corporate level • Greater Membership Options for members • Greater recognition of the profession To the Corporation: • Greater visibility within the Informs community • Access to Informs resources and expertise • Ease of membership application/payment • Collaboration Opportunities

  21. Possible Corporate Membership • Included # of Memberships into the society • Additional discounts for subsequent members • Hard copy of all journals/access to pubs online? • Logo on promotional material or website • Special Event for Corporate Members • Discount at conferences • Discount on publications • Roundtable Membership: • $1500/year • Separate conference and reception • One Informs Membership Included • Membership in CPMS • $100 discount for conference fees • No other discounts/memberships

  22. Other Societies Offering Corporate Memberships Benchmark report of Other Societies (click icon to open, in non-viewer mode)

  23. INFORMS Current Company Membership Top 20 Companies (by number of members)

  24. INFORMS Corporate Membership Model • Mean of companies with more than 1 member = 4.7 • Median of companies with more than 1 member = 3 Rough Model: • Assumptions: • 25% of eligible companies would join as Corporate Members • Conservative model (does not include companies with less members than free memberships to join) • See attached spreadsheet model for details

  25. RECOMMENDATION • A corporate membership program appears to be a viable option with a strong revenue impact. • Three or four included memberships seem to be the ideal number. • Needs to differentiate from Informs Roundtable. • Biggest expense will be advertising/corporate outreach. • Further analysis required to determine correct pricing structure.

  26. Other Membership Ideas “Variety is the soul of pleasure.”Aphra Behn

  27. Memberships for Developing Nations

  28. Joint Memberships with Other Societies

  29. Tell-a-Friend Incentives for Institutions

  30. APPENDIX

  31. INFORMS Membership Committee July 20, 2006

  32. Membership Committee Members Susan AlbinProfessor and Director of the Graduate Program in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Rutgers University Richard Barr Chair, Dept. of Engineering Management, Information and Systems, Southern Methodist University John Neale Director of Research, Optiant Inc. Anne Robinson, ChairManufacturing Manager, Demand Planning, Cisco Systems, Inc. Jim Williams Operations Research Mgr, Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods

  33. Membership Committee Members Jacquie JohnsDirector of Finance and Member Services, INFORMS Barry ListDirector of Marketing and Public Relations, INFORMS Bob ShieldsManager ofMembership Services, INFORMS Rick Rosenthal, VP MembershipProfessor of Operations Research, Naval Postgraduate School

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