Member Benefits Task Force

1. Member Benefits Task Force Recommendations 1-4-10

2. Contents Project and Team Background 3 Top Recommendations 11 Satisfaction and Needs 19 Key Member Segments 26 • International 28 • QRCA Tenure – Newer and Longer-Tenured 40 • Tech-Forward Members 57 • Home-Based Sole Practitioners 63 Communication 67 Member Engagement 72 Benefit Overview 76 Insights and Opportunities by Benefit Area 81 • Professional Development/ Knowledge/ Education 82 • Networking and Affiliation 87 • Conference 89 • Chapters 92 • SIGs 96 • Mentoring 98 • Website 100 • Forum 104 • Information Vehicles (Publications) 108 • Stature and Leadership 112 • Credentialing 114 • Social Networking 115 • Discounts 116 • Business Generation 119 QRCA Knowledge of Members 120

3. Project and Team Background

4. MBTF Overview Mission Identify gaps and opportunities for QRCA Member benefits in order to strengthen the value of QRCA membership* Special Attention* to: - New/young - Long-tenured - International • Timing • Initiated April 2009 • Tri-weekly conference calls, supplemented with email, Forum, googledocs • Preliminary recommendations Q4 2009 • Final recommendations Q1 2010 * Per the Strategic Plan

5. MBTF Members • 9 Members hand-picked for their passion and diversity • Particularly in terms of tenure and geography

6. Scope of Work • In-depth review of Current QRCA Benefits • Evaluations of other professional member organizations’ (AMA, MRA, MRIA, etc.) relevant practices • Review of 2008 Member Survey • Including additional in-depth analysis • Additional Member input -- at Conference, in IDIs • In-depth review and discussion with leaders of TechComm, VC • Mining of prior Forum postings • Ongoing brainstorming to identify key gaps and opportunities in the roster of benefits • Among Members overall as well as key segments

7. Guiding Principles Collective Wisdom • MBTF is not “the expert” • The wisdom and history of others guides us • What’s been considered or tried before Data Drives Decisions • Extensive Member input • Critically evaluate Forum and other qual sources • Practices for other orgs Retention Over Acquisition • Our focus: Improve relevance and value for current Members • This should drive prospect interest as well

8. Guiding Principles (p2) Bang for the Buck • Focus on areas that matter most • Impact the greatest number of Members • Segment Attention • Cater to a few key segments • Younger/ Newer • Longer-tenured • International Brand Consistency • Affirm our brand niche with benefits that: • Pay off mission/ vision • You can’t get anywhere else

9. Guiding Principles: Key Topics • What are the advantages of being a Member? • Without QRCA in our lives, what would we lose? • What do we get vs. other professional organizations we belong to? • How are we engaged with the organization? • How are we enriched? • How are we supported? • What value do we get for the money we spend each year? • Does what we get exceed what we spend/ invest?

10. About This Document • A few things to note as you read this document: • For pages with sourced data, specific references are included in the “Notes” area of each page • Sources, Base sizes, Question Wording, etc. • On some charts, asterisks (*) or letters (A/B/C) are used to denote statistically significant differences at the 95% confidence level • * means the % is statistically higher than the other group in the comparison • A means the % is statistically higher than the first group in the comparison • B means the % is statistically higher than the second group in the comparison • Importance vs. Satisfaction quadrant charts (for example, on p22) are used as a way to telegraphically represent how well QRCA delivers based on how important each dimension is. • Top 2 box importance is plotted left to right • Top 2 box satisfaction is plotted top to bottom • The 4 quadrants are delineated based on the average top 2 box ratings across all attributes for the group under consideration, and thus will vary chart to chart

11. Top Recommendations

12. Top Recommendations • Members may expect this Task Force to generate recommendations for lots of new things we need to offer • However, enhancing and communicating current benefits more effectively is a far bigger opportunity than adding new benefits to the QRCA roster • For the most part, we don’t need more stuff. We don’t need to add new things to satisfy Members • We need to do a better job with the strong benefits we already have

13. Top Recommendations Our recommendations cover 3 broad themes Have Know Use Recommendations are prioritized: High Moderate Low

14. Top Recommendations • Focusing on these improvements will have the biggest impact on Member value and satisfaction: What Members Have Opportunity: Optimize Current “Double Whammy” (Knowledge and Affinity) Benefits What Members Know Opportunity: Communicate to Everyone With Relevance What Members Use Opportunity: Connect Members With Our Unique Community

15. Top Recommendations: The “Have” Opportunity: Optimize Current “Double Whammy” (Knowledge and Affinity) Benefits • Ways to • Engage: • Make Conferences “Can’t Miss” Events • Improve the usability and usage of the Forum • Make Chapters and SIGs the focal point of Member interaction Why: Knowledge and Affinity are the top 2 benefit areas Members want See details on pages: 38-9 84-6 88 91 94-5 105-7

16. Top Recommendations: The “Know” Opportunity: Communicate to Everyone With Relevance • Ways to • Engage: • Organize the website more intuitively • Segment communication for key types of Members with different needs • Transform “My QRCA” Why: Member benefits are hard to connect with and offered “one size fits all” See details on pages: 39 51 56 70-1 102-3

17. Top Recommendations: The “Use” Opportunity: Connect Members With Our Unique Community • Ways to • Engage: • Invite volunteering, sharing, and personal connections • Make organizational needs known • Blatantly reward involvement in the organization Why: More involved Members value the organization more See details on pages: 55 74-5

18. Recommendations: Making It Happen • This Task Force has made lots of recommendations. There’s lots to do! • Bringing these recommendations to life will require ongoing vigilance and effort from every team, committee, and chapter • MemComm will likely be the lynchpin that “owns” many of the opportunity items

19. Satisfaction and Needs

20. Member Satisfaction by Subgroup • Members report high overall satisfaction, but levels are lower among: • International (non-NA) (directional) • Office-based • Newer • Younger (directional) • More tech savvy Country Location * * Age QRCA Tenure C * * Technology Comfort *

21. Member Satisfaction by Subgroup • Engaged Members are more satisfied • True across multiple measures of engagement Chapter meetings BC C C C A Volun- teered B B Go to website (PY) C C C C A Go to Forum (PY) C C

22. Benefit Importance • Knowledge and Affinity are the top 2 benefit areas Members seek from QRCA membership. • There’s a gap in how well some offerings are seen to fit their purposes. • Members don’t necessarily see Chapters, SIGs, and Volunteering to be as important as affinity and knowledge in general

23. Benefit Importance vs. Satisfaction QRCA resources appear to be well aligned to Member needs, given the positive relationship between importance and satisfaction Professional contact Belonging/ Affinity Improve qual knowledge Referencing QRCA Credentials Contributing to professionalism Social contact Learn from experts Support as leading int’l Chapter participation Volunteering Yet several specific offerings that drive knowledge and affinity are not seen to be as important SIG participation

24. Feature Importance • Knowledge-building and educational offerings top the list of important current features.

25. Feature Importance vs. Satisfaction Online learning is important, but all specific offerings are seen to under-deliver Views Website Connections Conference NewsBites Facilities & Svcs Dir Membership Locator Board communs Competencies doc Forum Educational oppys QCasts Online learning: VC Self-Evaluation Online learning: SIGs Joint AQR/QRCA Conference

26. Key Member Segments

27. Key Member Segments • Based on the QRCA Strategic Plan, the MBTF was focused specifically on needs and opportunities among 3 Member segments: • International • Newer/ Younger • Longer-tenured • Two other areas of interest emerged during our work: • Level of technical savvy • Business type (work location and company size)

28. International Members • International Members make up a very small share of QRCA membership • Learning in this section reflects the feedback of a very small base of international Members

29. Internationals: Member Satisfaction • International (non-NA) Members are directionally -- though not significantly -- less satisfied with QRCA membership • Because of this gap – and the relatively good impressions among Canadian Members, we focus our efforts on Internationals (non-North America)

30. Internationals: Profile • Compared to US Members, Internationals are: • More male (41% vs. 32%) • Have different educational systems and levels • Office-based (44% vs. 26%) • Owner-partners with employees (56% vs. 27%)

31. Internationals: QRCA Experience • Compared to US Members, Internationals show some signs that they engage less with QRCA: • Less satisfied (as noted earlier) • Less likely to attend Conference (37% vs. 21% US say “never”) • Less engaged as volunteers (26% vs. 40% in PY) • However, they do seem to make better use of some of the resources available to them: • More likely to attend AQR/QRCA conference (52% vs. 16% ever) • Read more Connections (44% vs. 35% 10+ issues) and NewsBites (48% vs. 39% open usually/always)

32. Internationals: QRCA Experience • There is a divide in Chapter participation • For perspective, 82% are Virtual Chapter Members (vs. 8% in US) • Overall, fewer International Members attend Chapter meetings (57% vs. 39% US say none in past year) • But a notable segment are Chapter loyalists (35% vs. 20% attend most/all meetings)

33. Internationals: Benefit Importance(Key differences only) • Internationals place more importance on professionalism, affinity, and – not surprisingly -- international credibility. Contributing to Professionalism of Qual Professional Contact with QRCs Social Contact with QRCs Supporting QRCA as the Intl Org for QRCs * * * * * *

34. Internationals: Benefit Importance vs. Satisfaction Knowledge and international support are the key unmet needs among International Members Professional contact Contributing to professionalism Belonging/ Affinity Social contact Referencing QRCA Credentials Support as leading int’l Improve qual knowledge Chapter participation Learn from experts Volunteering SIG participation

35. Internationals: Feature Importance(Key differences only) • Internationals respond to benefits that represent the more global aspects of the QRCA community, such asViews, VC learning opportunities, the AQR/QRCA Conference, and Professional competencies • Less importance on education overall and the Facilities and Services Directory, which has limited relevance outside North America * * * * * * * *

36. Internationals: Feature Importance vs. Satisfaction The biggest feature opportunities for Internationals are educational – particularly online learning via SIGs and VC, as well as the AQR/QRCA Conference Connections Website NewsBites Board communs Views Forum Conference Competencies doc Online learning: VC Self-Evaluation Joint AQR/QRCA Conference Facilities & Svcs Dir Educational oppys QCasts Membership Locator Online learning: SIGs

37. Internationals: Considerations • There are significant challenges to engaging international Members • Lack regular consistent connection • Time zone dispersion makes call/meeting participation difficult • Small numbers of Members in any one region/ country • Virtual Chapter and online learning should be the critical engagement points – but don’t yet appear to deliver • Perception that QRCA is a US organization focused on US Members and issues (anecdotal) • Some current benefits are less usable outside North America • Facilities and Services Directory, Discounts • International attendance at Conference is likely to remain limited • Issue of time more than money (anecdotal) • Internationals have unique needs in how qual is conducted -- customs, religious practices, etc.

38. Internationals: Opportunities • Overcome the lack of face-to-face by making online venues work harder • Online learning and training (see Education section) • Add resources for online 2-way follow-up/ Q&A after sessions • Make QCasts and SIGs more accessible • Vary times to allow those in different time zones to participate • Hold special sessions for different regions • Include an online component for all SIG activities so International Members can interact • Enhance in-person activities • More frequent, shorter VC meetings (under consideration) • Promote QRCA/AQR conference

39. Internationals: Opportunities • Communicate with relevance • Segmented messaging for International Members • Utilize new standards/checklist for all activities • How do we make this more accessible to International Members? • How do we make this more relevant to International Members? • Increase interaction and appreciation between US and International Members • US chapters adopt a country/ sister city • Share respective chapter learning • “Contact a friend” buddy system • Informal communication venues

40. Members by QRCA Tenure • One in 4 Members is “newer” to QRCA (less than 2 years) • More than 1 in 3 are long-tenured (9+ years) Newer Long-Tenured = 37%

41. Members by QRCA Tenure: Satisfaction • Satisfaction with QRCA increases with tenure • Not surprising, as satisfied members will self-select over time C A A

42. Members by QRCA Tenure: Profile • On a few profile characteristics, newer and longer-tenured Members fall on a spectrum:

43. Members by QRCA Tenure: Profile • Tenure and age are closely, though not perfectly, correlated

44. Members by QRCA Tenure: QRCA Experience • There are significant differences in the QRCA experiences of newer and longer-tenured Members • Newer Members, not surprisingly, are less engaged and experienced with what QRCA has to offer

45. Members by QRCA Tenure: Benefit Importance(Key differences only) • Newer Members are more focused on knowledge-building, and longer-tenured Members are more oriented to affinity-building Sense of Belonging/ Affinity with a Prof Org Improve Qual Knowledge Learn From Industry Experts Social Contact with QRCs Volunteering with QRCA * * * * * * * *

46. Newer Members: Benefit Importance vs. Satisfaction Newer Members have few clear gaps in delivery. Opportunities are with knowledge, social and professional contact, and internationalism Belonging/ Affinity Improve qual knowledge Contributing to professionalism Referencing QRCA Credentials Professional contact Support as leading int’l Social contact Learn from experts Chapter participation Volunteering SIG participation

47. Longer-Tenured Members: Benefit Importance vs. Satisfaction Longer-tenured Members show few gaps. Even with their experience, they still want to learn! Professionalism and internationalism matter too Professional contact Belonging/ Affinity Improve qual knowledge Social contact Contributing to professionalism Chapter participation Support as leading int’l Learn from experts Volunteering Referencing QRCA Credentials SIG participation

48. Members by QRCA Tenure: Feature Importance(Key differences only) • Newer Members place equal or less importance on many QRCA offerings – suggesting that they have yet to realize what is available to them. The one area they want more than Longer-Tenured Members do is online learning via the Virtual Chapter • Longer-tenured Members place more importance on conferences, as well as several information resources * * * * * * * *

49. Newer Members:Feature Importance vs. Satisfaction Learning – particularly online vehicles – represent the biggest feature opportunity for newer Members Website Views Facilities & Svcs Dir Connections NewsBites Conference Board communs Forum Membership Locator Educational oppys QCasts Online learning: VC Self- Eval Joint AQR/QRCA Conference Online learning: SIGs Competencies doc

50. Longer-Tenured Members:Feature Importance vs. Satisfaction Learning overall and the Forum are the most notable gaps for longer-tenured Members Views Conference Connections Membership Locator Facilities & Svcs Dir Website NewsBites Board communs Competencies doc Forum Educational oppys QCasts Self-Eval Joint AQR/QRCA Conference Online learning: VC Online learning: SIGs