MoT #2: New Member Orientation

1. What is a New Member Orientation?

Many businesses have a "new employee orientation" that is designed to get new employees setup. In them, they'll cover rules, etiquette, getting signed up with health insurance, benefits, paperwork signing, and so on. This orientation is meant to give the new employee the basics of conduct as well as get required paperwork completed. Some follow up training may include how to do the day-to-day tasks the new employee has to perform.

If your club has a good new member orientation (NMO) program, you'll be doing many of the same things. A good NMO should introduce your members to the expectations and etiquette of your club, along with helping them get setup on your club's websites (especially now that Pathways has been rolled out). It should also get them introduced to beginner roles so they can begin participating with confidence.

Now that you know what an NMO should include, why should you bother with it?

2. Why Have a NMO?

One common weakness that clubs often* have (weak or strong) is that they don't have an active program to make sure a new member's first thirty days are productive. This can often lead to members that join and soon leave, and a club that finds itself constantly scrambling for new members while they have a giant leak that isn't getting fixed.

The first thirty days of a member joining is critical, and often can be the difference between members continuing with the club or not. As with First Impressions, if a new member has a negative first thirty days and feels largely abandoned, they're dramatically less likely to turn into repeat members. While NMO is just one factor in that (I've had a club take a few months just to process my paperwork and check before), it is a critical one in helping a new member understand how your club and Toastmasters works. Your club should strive to conduct NMO within a week and a half of a member joining.

A club that conducts effective NMO not only has the decided advantage of retaining more new members, but also reduces the learning curve for them. This in turn lets new members fill roles sooner, which provides more variety and reduces role burnout.

* Based on several club officer training surveys over the years, many clubs don't have formal NMO or at best, intermittent NMO.

3. What Factors Should You Watch For?

Toastmasters International suggests the following standards for New Member Orientation with some added commentary:

• Induct new members formally and provide a membership pin and manuals. 
  
• Make sure to budget for pins
• Pathways has (largely) done away with manual presentations (so expect this to go away)
• Make sure you have voted in your members first
• Some clubs don't induct members until they give their Icebreaker speech, to avoid members who suddenly vanish after signing up (it does happen)
• Assign a mentor for one-on-one assistance. 
  
• If your club doesn't have enough mentors, consider using accountability buddies
• Discuss how the educational program helps develop speaking and leadership skills.
•  Have a familiarity with Pathways to show how the program is now more customized per member
• Survey all new members’ learning needs. 
  
• Get a sense of their goals to help them pick a Pathway
• Assign a speaking role for the new member as soon as possible. 
  
• Getting the Icebreaker done within 30 days is a good objective
• Continue to make new members feel welcome and encourage their participation in meetings.
  
• Provide how-tos on doing beginner roles to help their confidence here

4. What Topics Should an NMO Cover?

What topics you include in your NMO are ultimately up to you and your club. This is a suggested topic list and layout. Experiment to determine what works best in your situation, based on available time, resources, and skill level. An average NMO should take 45-90 minutes.

1. Review the Toastmasters Promise. This is a good way to create expectations about attending and participating in meetings. I  also emphasize that "Toastmasters is a volunteer organization; if you don't volunteer, there's no organization."
2. A segment on etiquette; this should include lectern control, acceptable topics, etc.
3. Getting logged into Toastmasters.org. Show how to reset their password if necessary. If you need a guide on how to do this, see the RDG Members program. Also have them ensure their profile is accurate, and note that they should put toastmasters.org into their e-mail safe senders/spam whitelist.
4. Introduce Pathways and how to take the Pathways Assessment. You should direct the member to review the available tutorials available as well.
5. Make sure the new member can log into your member site (whether FreeToastHost, Easy Speak, or otherwise). They should also check and update their profile if necessary. Demonstrate basic functions such as how to sign up for meetings, as well as how to contact other members. Also have them add the appropriate domain to their e-mail safe senders/spam whitelist.
6. Review some of the beginner-level roles your club has, such as timer, WAG, etc.
7. Have the new member commit to signing up for a committee, to get a mentor, and complete an educational goal (use the New Member Commitment Form available in the resources section).
8. Where to go for more information (a resources sheet can suffice here).

Some other setup steps you may have can include:

1. If your club uses Telegram, WhatsApp, or other instant message clients, get the new member signed up there.
2. Get a commitment/sign-up for a first speech. You don't necessarily need the details, just a date.
3. Complete a new member profile.

Next, how do you conduct an NMO?

5. How Do You Conduct an NMO?

Depending on your situation, there are plenty of different options for conducting NMO.

1. You can have an entire meeting devoted to new member orientation. This is useful if you have a lot of new members and the only time that can be coordinated is the regular meeting. 
2. You have a face-to-face meeting outside of regular meeting time. Often, directly after or before the meeting may work (at least for community clubs). 
3. You use a video call (e.g. Skype, Google Hangouts, Facetime etc.). Google Hangouts is suggested because it's free, supports screen sharing, and can several people on the call at once. For a tutorial on how to use it, see this page from the RDG Leadership course. As long as you are moderately comfortable with technology, this is a good method.
4. You use a regular phone call. This is easy to setup, though lacks the ability to guide someone through web site setup.
5. You use pre-recorded video. This is less interactive, but if the new member can't find the time otherwise, this may work.
6. You use the RDG Members and Meetings courses. 
7. You use a combination of the above.

Because of the time commitment, most clubs will have someone (VPE, VPM, or otherwise) conduct the NMO outside of club meeting time. It's also possible to have the new member's mentor perform this.

Some last tips on running your NMO:

• NMOs work better if has a tablet or laptop to follow along with the presenter, especially when it comes to getting logged in, profiles updated, and so on. Many people learn these skills best through experience.
• Ask for questions at the end of topics by using the question "What questions do you have?" Wait for eight seconds. This gets people to think about what they don't understand, rather than just answering yes or no to the standard "Do you have questions?"
• If you can provide a new member packet (preferably in digital format), that can help continuing new member orientation efforts. A sample is available in the resources section. 
• Don't overload the NMO with too many topics as it will impede retention. This is why I suggest only starting the new member off with explanations of a few beginner roles, for example. You may want to consider having multiple smaller sessions rather than one session that is too long.
• You can use the Post MNO Checklist document (see Resources) to get members to follow up on NMO to dos. Edit the template that is there before sending it out to customize it for your club.