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FEI Membership Value Research

FEI Membership Value Research. Quantitative Phase: Spring 2007. Objectives. The main objective of this research is to determine how to increase the value of FEI membership (Boston Chapter) and active participation

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FEI Membership Value Research

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  1. FEI Membership Value Research Quantitative Phase: Spring 2007 JRQ Research, May 2007

  2. Objectives • The main objective of this research is to determine how to increase the value of FEI membership (Boston Chapter) and active participation • Also to explore the appeal of initiatives identified in a qualitative phase of research including: • Forming special interest groups within the chapter • Varying the time and location of events JRQ Research, May 2007

  3. Methodology • This report is based on an online survey of FEI Boston Chapter members: • The initial list (provided by FEI) contained 1109 names and there were 93 “bounce backs” (total mailed = 1,016) • JRQ Research sent the initial broadcast and two reminder mailings • There were 220 completed interviews for a (good) 22% response rate JRQ Research, May 2007

  4. Executive Summary (1) • Many members are unaware of some FEI National services. They may derive more value from their membership by taking advantage of these services. • Usage and awareness of FEI Boston Services is high. Satisfaction with FEI Boston services is also high. • The most common reason for attending a professional development (p-d) session is interest in the topic. There is most interest in attending p-d sessions on financial issues followed by management, technology, treasury, and human resource issues. • Early morning and after work are the most popular times for p-d sessions. At both of these times Waltham/128, Newton/Needham, and Burlington/128 generate the highest interest as locations. There is also substantial interest for an early morning session in the Financial District and lunchtime Webinars. JRQ Research, May 2007

  5. Executive Summary (2) • Attendance at dinner meetings is high in this sample. Frequent attendance is higher among long term members. The greatest barrier to attendance (other than work/family conflict) is the location of meetings • More members favor a dinner meeting after work than at other times and there is most support for Newton/Needham, Waltham/128, and Burlington/128. However, there are more members who are likely to have a “much higher” attendance if the meetings are in Boston (especially the Financial District) JRQ Research, May 2007

  6. Executive Summary (3) • Members put educational content just ahead of entertaining content/presentation in judging the appeal of a dinner speaker • Many members are satisfied with the current format of dinner meetings. There is substantial support for having dinners with “tables sometimes divided by industry/role” and “peer contacts assigned to make introductions for new members” • Nearly two-thirds of members are interested in joining a smaller group within Boston FEI that would allow them to build a knowledge sharing network. There sub-groups with the most support are “private companies”, “high tech”, “public companies”, and “start ups” • More recent members are more interested in joining a sub-group than longer term members. This could change with different suggestions for sub-groups (e.g., retired members). Most would like to meet before work. JRQ Research, May 2007

  7. Executive Summary (4) • Based on this survey it is recommended that the following issues be explored: • Forming sub-groups of special interests • Including new locations for dinner meetings • Considering new formats for dinner meetings • Including new locations for professional development sessions, having some after work, and instituting lunchtime Webinars • Educating members about the benefits of FEI National JRQ Research, May 2007

  8. Respondent Profile • Job titles are CFO (37%), Controller (11%), VP of Finance (8%), retired/in transition (8%), Treasurer (6%), consultant (5%). Other positions (2-3%) are CEO, Partner, President, and academic/educator • Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the respondents have been members of FEI Boston for 5 years or more • 92% of members intend to continue their membership to FEI. Reasons for discontinuing are high costs and limited benefits/participation. JRQ Research, May 2007

  9. Respondent’s Company Profile • 70% work for private and 30% for public companies • Most work in the technology (24%), manufacturing (16%), financial services (11%) and business/professional/consulting services (10%) sectors. JRQ Research, May 2007

  10. Committee Membership • Over a third (36%) have served on an FEI Boston Committee and 3% have served on an FEI National committee • 14% of respondents (31) have not served on an FEI Boston Committee but would like to do so. JRQ Research, May 2007

  11. FEI Dues • Two-thirds (66%) of respondents (N=220) have annual dues paid by their company (31% by self) • Over half (56%) of respondents have professional development meetings paid for by their company (32% by self) • Just under a half (48%) of respondents have dinner meetings paid for by their company (45% by self) JRQ Research, May 2007

  12. Awareness/Usage of FEI National Services (1) • Usage is highest for Financial Executive magazine (91%), followed by Career Services (44%), FERF Online Library (25%), and FERF FELIX Online Discussion (19%) • Awareness of National Conferences and Summits is high (79%/84%) but attendance is relatively low (18%/13%) JRQ Research, May 2007

  13. Awareness/Usage of FEI National Services (2) JRQ Research, May 2007

  14. Awareness/Usage of FEI National Services (3) • More than 50% are aware but less than 10% have used: • Board resources • Government relations • More than 50% are unaware and less than 10% have used: • CPE credits for reading Financial Executive magazine • Online CPE testing/record keeping • FERF on demand staff research • Online financial toolkits JRQ Research, May 2007

  15. Awareness/Usage of FEI National Services (4) JRQ Research, May 2007

  16. Awareness/Usage of FEI National Services (5) JRQ Research, May 2007

  17. Awareness/Usage of FEI Boston Services (1) • Awareness of dinner meetings, career services, and professional development sessions is very high (>97%) • Attendance at/usage of dinner meetings is highest (81%) followed by professional development sessions/seminars (57%) and career services (53%) • 40% have used the discounted rate for professional dev. seminar plus dinner meeting, but 14% are unaware • 13% have used the director’s connection to obtain board seats, but 34% are unaware. JRQ Research, May 2007

  18. Awareness/Usage of FEI Boston Services (2) JRQ Research, May 2007

  19. Satisfaction with FEI Boston Services (1) • Users of services rated them on a satisfaction scale (of 1-5 where “1” is “not at all satisfied” and “5” is “very satisfied” • All services (dinner meetings, career, prof. dev., discounted rates for prof. dev + dinner) have high satisfaction ratings with means of 4-4.1 • Career services has the highest percentage of “very satisfied” users (42%) and prof. dev. sessions have the lowest (26% for am and 30% for pm sessions) JRQ Research, May 2007

  20. Satisfaction with FEI Boston Services (2) Satisfaction is rated on a 1-5 scale where “1” is “not at all satisfied” and “5” is “very satisfied”. Graph shows satisfied respondents (rating 4 and 5) JRQ Research, May 2007

  21. Professional Development: Current Attendance • Over three-fourths of respondents (76%) attend professional development sessions, and most attend occasionally (59%) JRQ Research, May 2007

  22. Professional Development: Reasons to Attend • The most common reason for attending is interest in the topic (91%), followed by the speaker (47%), networking (46%), and CPE credits (30%) JRQ Research, May 2007

  23. Professional Development: Issues • Respondents are most interested in Financial Issues (86% interested), followed by Management (70%), Technology (68%), Treasury (50%), and Human Resource (31%) issues. JRQ Research, May 2007

  24. Professional Development: Location and Timing (1) • More respondents favor p-d after work (75%) and early morning (72%) rather than afternoon (60%) or lunch time (49%). • Favored locations after work (N=164) are Newton/Needham (54%), Waltham/Route 128 (52%), and Burlington/Route 128 (38%). These locations are also favored for afternoon sessions. • Favored locations for early morning (N=158) are Waltham/Route 128 (52%), Newton/Needham (49%), and Burlington/Route 128 (36%) and the Financial District (29%) • There is substantial support for a Webinar format, especially at lunchtime (44%, N=108) and in the afternoon (39%, N=131) JRQ Research, May 2007

  25. Professional Development: Location and Timing (2) JRQ Research, May 2007

  26. Professional Development: Location and Timing (3) • If p-d sessions were held at the respondents’ preferred locations/ formats/times, over half of respondents (53%) would have slightly higher and over a third (34%) would have much higher attendance. • “Much higher” attendance is more likely in areas far from the current venue (see slides 23 and 24), especially in Boston. JRQ Research, May 2007

  27. Professional Development: Location and Timing (4) JRQ Research, May 2007

  28. Professional Development: Location and Timing (5) JRQ Research, May 2007

  29. Dinner Meetings: Current Attendance • Over three-fourths of respondents (76%) attend dinner meetings. Over a third attends (35%) “occasionally”, over a quarter (26%) attends “sometimes” , and the remainder (15%) attends “frequently” JRQ Research, May 2007

  30. Dinner Meetings: Current Attendance • Nearly half (48/9%) of long term members (5+ years) (N=142) attend dinners sometimes/frequently compared to only a quarter (25%) of those who have been members for 1-4 years (N=56) JRQ Research, May 2007

  31. Dinner Meetings: Barriers to Attendance (1) • The greatest barriers to more frequent attendance are work (59%) and family (49%) conflict • Other important barriers are the location of meetings (31%, up from 22% in ‘01) and low interest in the speakers/topics (22%) • Other barriers include no friends/contacts planning to attend (11%, up from 5% in ‘01) and the day of the week (9%) • The time of the meetings is not a barrier for most respondents (6%). “Other” responses include cost (3%) and focus on sponsors (1%) JRQ Research, May 2007

  32. Dinner Meetings: Barriers to Attendance (2) JRQ Research, May 2007

  33. Dinner Meetings: Location and Timing (1) • More respondents favor a “dinner meeting” after work (86%) rather than breakfast (59%) or lunch (44%). • Favored locations after work (N=190) are Newton/Needham (57%), Waltham/Route 128 (55%), and Burlington/Route 128 (42%). • Favored locations for breakfast (N=130) are Waltham/Route 128 (49%), Newton/Needham (47%), Burlington/Route 128 (35%), the Financial District (29%), and Back Bay (25%). • Favored locations for lunch (N=96) are Waltham/Route 128 (46%), Newton/Needham (41%), Burlington/Route 128 (35%), and the Financial District (27%). JRQ Research, May 2007

  34. Dinner Meetings: Location and Timing (2) JRQ Research, May 2007

  35. Dinner Meetings: Location and Timing (3) • If dinner style meetings are held at the respondents’ preferred locations/times, over half of respondents (55%) would have slightly higher and just under one-fifth (19%) would have much higher attendance. JRQ Research, May 2007

  36. Dinner Meetings: Location and Timing (4) • After work dinner meetings in Boston (especially the Financial District, Seaport, and the North Shore) are more likely to have “much higher” attendance JRQ Research, May 2007

  37. Dinner Meetings: Speakers • Respondents rated the importance of educational content, entertaining content/presentation, and fame/notoriety to the appeal of a dinner speaker (on a scale of 1-5): • Educational content is rated as most important (mean rating 4.1), followed by entertaining content/presentation (3.8), and fame/notoriety (3.2) • Further guidelines for choosing speakers include: • Satisfaction with existing “mix” • More entrepreneurs/small company/speakers with passion • At least one big name a year JRQ Research, May 2007

  38. Dinner Meetings: Format • Respondents rated the appeal of different meeting formats on a 1-5 scale • The highest appeal is to “retain the current format for all meetings” (50% rated 4/5, mean rating 3.5), followed by “tables sometimes divided by industry/role” appealing (44% rated 4/5, mean 3.2) • The appeal of “peer contacts assigned to make introductions for new members” has a neutral response (36% rated 4/5, mean 3) • Most respondents do not find “occasional networking sessions with a buffet (no speaker)” (28% rated 4/5, mean 2.6) or “annual social dinner with spouses” (21% rated 4/5, mean 2.3) appealing. JRQ Research, May 2007

  39. Boston FEI Sub-Groups (1) • Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents are interested (rating 4/5 on a 5 point scale) in joining a smaller group within the FEI that would allow them to network • Of those interested (N=170), the most appealing sub-groups are Private Companies (66%), High Tech (39%), Public Companies (35%), and Start-Ups (29%) • There is also some interest in the Service Sector (24%), Medical/Biotech (22%), and Non-Profit (19%) • Other suggestions include Higher Ed., Financial Services, Healthcare, and Treasury. JRQ Research, May 2007

  40. Boston FEI Sub-Groups (2) • More recent members are more interested* in joining sub-groups than longer term members. *Interest rating on a scale of 1-5 where “1” is “not at all interested” and “5” is “very interested” JRQ Research, May 2007

  41. Boston FEI Sub-Groups (3) • Three-fourths (75%) of those interested in joining a sub-group (N=170) would like occasional breakfast meetings and just over half (54%) would like occasional after work meetings. There is less support for lunch meetings (40%) and minimal support for virtual meetings (via web conference 17%, chat room 15%) ` • Those interested in joining a sub-group want an opportunity to build a knowledge sharing network. “A higher level of personal contact and networking” “To share experiences and challenges. To have sounding board opportunities. To both give and take” “Stronger networking, discussion, brainstorm solutions to unique challenges and issues” “More focus on content and less on vendors and people looking for jobs” JRQ Research, May 2007

  42. Other Ideas • Respondents were invited to make extra comments. They are as follows: • Nothing more to say (27) • On benefits of interest groups and suggestions for a group for retired members (9) • Congratulations on a strong chapter (8) • High cost (7) • Inconvenient location of meetings (7) • Improving networking/integration of new members (5) • Scheduling (including day of week) (4) • On the make-up of the membership and reducing presence of vendors (4) • On the format of meetings (3) • On the focus of the organization (3) • Other (4) JRQ Research, May 2007

  43. Conclusions (1) • Many members are unaware of some FEI National services. They may derive more value from their membership by taking advantage of these services. • Usage and awareness of FEI Boston Services is high. Satisfaction with FEI Boston services is also high. • The most common reason for attending a professional development (p-d) session is interest in the topic. There is most interest in attending p-d sessions on financial issues followed by management, technology, treasury, and human resource issues. • Early morning and after work are the most popular times for p-d sessions. At both of these times Waltham/128, Newton/Needham, and Burlington/128 generate the highest interest as locations. There is also substantial interest for an early morning session in the Financial District and lunchtime Webinars. JRQ Research, May 2007

  44. Conclusions (2) • Attendance at dinner meetings is high in this sample. Frequent attendance is higher among long term members. The greatest barrier to attendance (other than work/family conflict) is the location of meetings • More members favor a dinner meeting after work than at other times and there is most support for Newton/Needham, Waltham/128, and Burlington/128. However, there are more members who are likely to have a “much higher” attendance if the meetings are in Boston (especially the Financial District) JRQ Research, May 2007

  45. Conclusions (3) • Members put educational content just ahead of entertaining content/presentation in judging the appeal of a dinner speaker • Many members are satisfied with the current format of dinner meetings. There is substantial support for having dinners with “tables sometimes divided by industry/role” and “peer contacts assigned to make introductions for new members” • Nearly two-thirds of members are interested in joining a smaller group within Boston FEI that would allow them to build a knowledge sharing network. There sub-groups with the most support are “private companies”, “high tech”, “public companies”, and “start ups” • More recent members are more interested in joining a sub-group than longer term members. This could change with different suggestions for sub-groups (e.g., retired members). Most would like to meet before work. JRQ Research, May 2007

  46. Recommendations • Based on this survey it is recommended that the following issues be explored: • Forming sub-groups of special interests • Including new locations for dinner meetings • Considering new formats for dinner meetings • Including new locations for professional development sessions, having some after work, and instituting lunchtime Webinars • Educating members about the benefits of FEI National JRQ Research, May 2007

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