My house is just the right age that everything is breaking, and we recently moved in, so we’re doing some remodeling. Some days we have many people working on the house all at the same time. Monday was one of those days. Installers were around nearly all day, extending the heating to an unheated room. A truckload of boards arrived in the afternoon. Just after that, two more smiling gentlemen arrived on my doorstep, toolboxes in hand. They did not introduce themselves, and for a fleeting moment, I wondered if I was supposed to be showing them to the broken washer or the crew working on the heating.
Introductions are a great way of orienting people. Associations can help members feel like they know what is going on by making more introductions.
One association mandates that staff identify themselves when they answer the phone. “Hello!” is disorienting. “Hello, this is Bob” is friendlier and lets the member know that they reached the right person.
Another association makes sure to introduce board members every time they are presenting on or offline. As popular as many board members are, not everyone knows them, especially new members.
An association sends each message in their new member email series from a different staff person as a way to introduce not only each benefit but each staff person associated with that benefit.
A director of marketing calls every new member. In her small association, she knows who is working on what project, and she makes member to member introductions whenever she can.
In-person events can be overwhelming. People sometimes forget meeting other people, or they forget names, or they might not be acquainted with someone at all. Err on the side of making more introductions more often.
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