Chapter Member Engagement

What does "member engagement" mean? It means having members that feel committed to your chapter, attend events, and value their Tau Bate identity. There are two main stages of engagement: pre- and post-initiation. See the initiation page for initiation-specific information. Engagement post-initiation is challenging for many chapters; see the rest of this page for advice on keeping members engaged.

Ultimately, the chapters with the most successful engagement are those that form a Tau Beta Pi community. Be inclusive, talk to shy members, and avoid a clique atmosphere. See the Guide to Developing Member Culture for ideas of creating a healthy culture.

It is also important to engage your officers and advisers as they are your best assets and allies. Hype them up with your visions and plans so they are excited to contribute and engage other members. Find out how to engage your officers and utilize your advisers on our Officers & Leadership page.

Member Incentives

Over the years, chapters have found ways to boost member participation using creative incentives. Here are a few examples:

Giving out Tau Beta Pi graduation stole/cord to members who meet participation goals.
Rewarding active members with a free invitation to a post-initiation banquet.
Recognize members and officers who go above and beyond via a Member Spotlight social media post, an article in a newsletter, or a quick shout-out at a meeting. Reward them with words of praises or prizes such as gift cards or a TBP swag.
Recognizing tiers of active membership at an end-of-term general meeting (e.g., list 'active' members, 'distinguished active' members).
Some chapters have found success in assigning points when members participate in events. Read more about this in Activity Points System.
Scholarships for students that apply and meet participation goals.
No incentives needed - Host engaging enough events that people simply want to come!

Make Meetings & Events Engaging

Some chapters have regular chapter meetings. However, meetings for the sake of meetings will bore members and drive down participation over time. Consider invigorating your meetings with some of the following activities:

Ice breaker
Community service
Brainstorming activities
Engineering challenges
Professional development or even an Engineering Futures session (professional development session that TBP offers for free)
Member and Officer Spotlight/Shoutout
Speakers -- technical or non-technical

Get more ideas about specific meeting activities that engage members in Activities for Member Engagement in Meetings.

Some chapters spice things up by restructuring their meetings. They spend up to the first half of their meetings doing interactive or networking activities before diving into the agenda of their meetings. Some chapters have each officer or committee make specific presentations or announcements during a meeting instead of having the President speaking the whole time.

Chapter Communication

One of the most vital components of engaging members is communicating to and with them. Nobody can attend an event they don't know about! Events will get the best attendance when they are advertised well ahead of time and more than once.

Include key details about events to ensure people can join:

Location and/or virtual link to join
Time and date
Any draws for the event - Free food? What type of event is it? Any speakers?

Ways to advertise events:

Email Newsletter - Have a template and regular day of the week for these so members know what to expect and when. Consider using Mailchimp to create the template and send out emails to all your members.
Social Media - Post details on your chapter Instagram, Facebook page, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. Aesthetically pleasing posts will draw the most attention and give your chapter a positive image.
Chapter Group Chat - Have a chapter Groupme, Discord, Slack etc.? Advertise an event the day before or day of as a reminder. Perhaps limit the amount of messages sent or have a separate group chat for conversations so that members are not constantly receiving messages throughout the day (you don't want them to have the chat on mute due to over-chatting).
Posters - Best for events that invite students beyond just TBP members. Have a nice visual and be clear with the What, When, Where, and How to sign up.
Word of Mouth - At a meeting or in the hallway. Make sure this method is in addition to one of the other methods above for greatest turnout.

It is a good practice to obtain feedback from participants after the event. This can be done by quick conversations or an in-person/online survey. This way you can remove aspects that didn't work for your members in the future and add improvements. Keep a record of the feedback where future officers will be able to access it.