David Wallace of Post 180 in Vienna, Va., spoke to the 2018 National Legion College Class about membership engagement.
David Wallace of Post 180 in Vienna, Va., spoke to the 2018 National Legion College Class about membership engagement. As a 2016 Legion College graduate himself, Wallace shared that “engagement starts with knowing your members. If you’re going to engage, especially in today’s Legion life, Legion Family life, you need to focus on every Legion Family entity. If each of your entities are growing, so are you.”
Wallace shared five questions to ask when engaging a new member:
- What is their family life? This creates potential for Legion Family membership if they are married or have children. And show them opportunities at the post for family involvement.
- What is their vocation? Identify their skill set and where that may apply within the post.
- What is their passion or hobby? This helps identify what programs or events they may want to be a part of.
- What did they do while in service? This is an opportunity for mentoring. Pair them with a current post member who shares the same service history to initiate mentorship and to show the common bond they will have with other Legionnaires.
- Why are they interested in The American Legion? They joined for a reason, so learn why and how they want to further their American Legion experience.
“The big thing – no matter if you’re asking these questions or anything else – when you’re engaging somebody, the most important thing is to just ask. If you don’t do the just-ask part, no matter what the question is, you’re not going to engage that person,” Wallace said.
Other ways to start the engagement process include:
- sending out a thank-you letter after a new member joins
- hosting an initiation ceremony or new-member orientation
- having a welcome brochure about your post home
“There’s nothing worse than signing somebody up and that’s it,” Wallace said.
Legion College student James Talaska of Post 100 in Illinois said his post has new members fill out a survey to know “what they’re interested in, what they’re good at, what they like and what they don’t like.” Then the post mentors the new member by pairing him or her with a seasoned Legionnaire who explains how The American Legion operates and what they do as a post. “We engage them,” Talaska said.
But engagement isn’t just for new members – it must continue with those who are renewing, looking to transfer posts, and with the longtime Legionnaire.
“Engagement is art. You are creating a landscape as to what The American Legion is to a new member, or why they should come to your post, or why they should continue to be a part of the Legion Family,” Wallace said.
- Dispatch