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Prime Time Women May 4, 2008 Hello Everyone The next Membership Development meeting will be at the Sullivan Masonic Lodge on Saturday, May 17. The address is 36 W. Vine, Sullivan The meeting will begin at 8:30am and should be over by 11:00am. Another meeting you may wish to attend is the reception for the General Grand Chapter Committee Members of Missouri. It will be held May 10, the Methodist church, Fayette College campus, Fayette, MO. It will begin at 5:00PM. All are invited. One of the objectives of the Membership Development meetings is to help attendees increase their vocabulary for describing the benefits of OES membership. (If you cannot describe the product you are ‘selling, your prospect will not be impressed.) Listed below are the benefits of OES membership as described by attendees at a recent Membership Development meeting: social activities; charitable contributions; leadership opportunities; trust among members; commitment to the organization; pride in the organization; belonging to a unique international organization; provides an opportunity to ‘dress up’; sharing ideas; sharing ideals; sharing values; making new friends; sharing outside activities with members; Bible-based; learning/teaching ritual of the organization; food; working together on events; community involvement; An attendee at a another recent Membership Development meeting shared with us “A Members Guidebook” developed by Russell Chapter #109. This little booklet is designed for newly initiated members. It provides space for the name of the new member, date of their initiation, names of the officers, an overview of OES, names of the heroines, their colors, values, and emblem, a list of abbreviations commonly used in OES, a list of commonly asked questions about OES, importance of the Dues card, things to be prepared for at the first meeting after initiation, positions of the various officers within the Chapter room, and various other information that will be helpful to the new initiate. Copies of the Guidebook may be obtained by contacting Linda Berch, P.O. Box 272, Ash Grove, MO 65604. Don’t forget ! The next Membership Development meeting will be held May 17 at Sullivan Masonic Lodge, Sullivan, MO. Meeting begins at 8:30 am. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
April 27, 2008 Upcoming Meetings The next Membership Development meeting will be at the Clayton Masonic Lodge on Saturday, May 3. Address for the Lodge is 222 North Brentwood Blvd. It is the home of Brentwood Chapter #429, OES. The meeting will begin at 8:30am and should be over by 11:00am. One of the objectives of the Membership Development meetings is to help attendees increase their vocabulary for describing the benefits of OES membership. (If you cannot describe the product you are ‘selling’ your prospect will not be impressed.) Following are the benefits identified at a recent Membership meeting by the attendees:
One of the attendees at a recent meeting shared with us “A Members Guidebook” developed by Russell Chapter #109. This little booklet is designed for newly initiated members. It provides space for the name of the new member, date of their initiation, names of the officers, an overview of OES, names of the heroines, their colors, values, and emblem, a list of abbreviations commonly used in OES, a list of commonly asked questions about OES, importance of the Dues card, things to be prepared for at the first meeting after initiation, positions of the various officers within the Chapter room, and various other information that will be helpful to the new initiate. Copies of the Guidebook may be obtained by contacting Linda Berch, P.O. Box 272, Ash Grove, MO 65604. The reception for the General Grand Chapter Committee Members will be held May 10, 5:00pm at Methodist Church, Fayette, MO. Everyone is invited. Next Membership Development meeting will be held May 17 at Sullivan Masonic Lodge, Sullivan, MO. Meeting begins at 8:30 am. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
Hello Everyone The Membership Development meeting for
Saturday, 26 April will be held in the Masonic Lodge in
Springfield at 1930 West Catalpa. I believe that facility is
known as the York Rite Building. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
April 13, 2008 Here is the latest on Prime Time women. This past Saturday we met at Grandview Lodge in Grandview which is close to KC. It was very good session. Lots of questions and comments about the OES membership situation and what needs to/should be done. There is no lack of comments on this topic. The next meeting, on April 19 will be at the Morley Lodge in Morley, MO. This is the home lodge of John Chaney, Worthy Grand Patron. We have plenty of space available, so if you would like to attend a Membership Development session, please feel free to drop in. The session will get underway between 8:30 and 9:00am. I have made some more revisions and additions to the material and so we will finish sometime between 11:00 and 11:30 am. This will be the seventh of these meetings and so far I have made three sets of revisions and additions to the materials. Perhaps, by the time of the last meeting I will “get it right”. Seriously though, as questions from the attendees come up, they point out the need for additional material to help OES members in their efforts to find new members. The major addition to the Grandview session pertained to “customer commitment” and factors contributing to it. Customer commitment exists when the customer likes what your are ‘selling’ and is always willing to buy from you, at a fair price. But that is only half the story. The other part is finding out what the customer commitment is based upon. To do this the attendees were asked to list the factors about OES, that they thought were important in causing them to maintain their OES membership. The purpose of these two exercises is to help the attendees become familiar with a vocabulary that will help them explain to prospective OES members the advantages of OES membership. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
March 25, 2008 Membership Update Hello Everyone Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
February 29, 2008 Membership Meeting Places Below is the list of the community locations of the Membership Development meetings and information indicating where the meeting will be held. All meetings will be held in the Masonic Lodge in that community, if "Confirmed". Street addresses are provided where available. OES members may attend location of their choice.
Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
February 27, 2008 CAN IT BE DONE?? Can we stop the downward trend in OES membership? I don't know, I just believe that we need to try. There seem to be two viewpoints on the subject of increasing membership. One viewpoint holds that we need place more emphasis on improving ritual proficiency. The other viewpoint believes that we need to make changes in the OES structure and ritual. Both of these views ignore the thoughts and wishes of our Target Audience - Prime Time Women. Those women, likely over 40 yrs of age, whose children have left home, have mastered the intricacies of managing a household, have an accommodating relationship with their significant other, and who may hold a job outside the home are beginning to have a desire for new experiences in their lives. They are beginning to realize that life is finite, that they are mortal and that if they are to experience some of it in their remaining years they must 'spread their wings'. These women are likely to be interested in exploring new possibilities, to be interested in life long learning and to be interested in searching for the significance or meaning of life. It is our hope that they will "spread their wings" in the direction of OES. But what will attract these women to our organization? That is the big question we will be considering in the membership meetings "Changing Barriers into Bridges". The membership meetings will consist mainly of two parts. The first part, focuses on what could/should be changed to attract prime time women. Closely related to this task is the question what would appeal to prime time women. The second part of the meeting will be concerned with how can these changes be achieved. Both of these tasks are difficult and complex. The answers to these difficult questions are in your thoughts. Be sure and bring your thinking caps. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
February 20, 2008 Membership Development Meetings Well, it is almost time for the Membership Development meetings to begin. They will be held in 12 different locations, beginning on March 1. Each meeting will be held on a Saturday morning beginning at 8:30AM. The exact location of each meeting has not been finalized but we are trying to hold them in the Masonic Lodge at each location. This has been a little difficult due to scheduling conflicts and the fact that some lodges charge for use of their facility. The theme or focus of the meetings is 'Changing Barriers to Bridges to Increase Membership". People can have many reasons for not joining OES. Things such as time commitments, community awareness, family demands, lack of knowledge about the organization, what it does, etc. At these meetings we hope to identify some of the reasons people are not interested in OES. After identifying some of these reasons, we will then work on how to overcome these barriers. Below are the dates and locations of the planned meetings.
If you have questions please call me at 573-449-7114 Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
February 15, 2008 Contacting Prospective Members May I direct your attention to page 48 of the current Eastern Star Journal. On that page is an article by Jeff Bolstad, GGCCM Visionquest Director and PGP of Montana. The article is about how OES members can work to increase membership. The steps are:
Note: Be sure your chapter has a "New Member" person who will help the new member become integrated into the Chapter. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
February 10, 2008 "Could It Really Happen ?" Could what really happen? Could Missouri OES actually cease to exist because all of its members dropped out? I don't know, but I do know that are membership has been decreasing since at least 1979. In that year we had approximately 70,000 members. In 2006 we had about 20 to 21,000 members. What has happened ? I am not sure, but a review of the Proceedings suggest that we are losing about 1900 members per year. About one half of those are due to Deaths and about one half are due to Suspension for Non-Payment of Dues. Let's think about membership for a little bit. I think individual membership in an organization may go through three phases. In Phase 1, the member is extremely interested in the organization's activities, attendance is regular and dues are paid on time. In Phase 2, interest of the member begins to decline, attendance begins fall and becomes sporadic. In Phase 3 the member has little or no interest in the organization and attendance ceases. Finally the organization drops the member. In OES we call this step "Suspension for Non-Payment of Dues". Now back to the original question, could Missouri OES cease to exist? In theory the answer is a qualified 'yes'. In 2006 we initiated about 300 members. If all of these became active members, then instead of losing 1900 members per year, we would only be losing 1600 per year (1900-300 = 1600). This would stretch out the time before our demise by a little. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
January 31, 2008 PRIME TIME WOMEN What are Prime Time Women and what do they have to do with OES? First, I think the term has a nice 'ring' or sound to it and secondly, I like the implication of the term. The term 'Prime Time Women' implies that there is a group of women who are in the 'prime' of their lives. That is, they are free of the burden and worry of child-rearing, they have mastered the intricacies of managing a household (and a husband possibly) and may very well be employed outside the home. They may be college educated and have their own earning power and may be experiencing the joys and tribulations of property rights. Such women have 'control' of their lives, possibly, for the first time since leaving their birth home. Because they have a certain degree of control over this prime time of their lives, they are interested in having new experiences, exploring new possibilities and in listening to their own counsel rather than listening to others. In other words Prime Time Women would make ideal OES members. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
January 27, 2008 MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT BEGINS This is the first communication about the "Membership Development Effort". I don't have a budget so I plan to communicate with you through the OES WebPages "MissouriOES". I know this will be difficult for members without email, but I have no budget and hope to be communicating weekly with you. Please be generous in sharing information. Membership Development plans for 2008 are primarily built around 12 meetings to be held throughout the state during March, April and May. These are scheduled so they will not conflict with the Worthy Grand Matron's activities. Future information about the dates, times and locations will be sent by mail to each chapter. That one letter will be the only one sent to all chapters. Attendance at each meeting will be restricted to the first 25 persons signing up. The meetings will focus on membership likes and dislikes about current OES meetings. The information from each meeting will be summarized and then put into a final report. Hopefully we will have information that will be useful in future OES Membership Development activities. As you know Sister Pearl Harrell, PGM is chairperson of the Missouri VisionQuest effort. We are not sure what that means but believe it refers to visions about future Eastern Star. Perhaps the information from the 12 meetings will be helpful to that effort. Paul Lineberry Paul Lineberry, PGP
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Copyright
© 2002-2008. Grand Chapter of Missouri, Order of the Eastern Star.
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