EDUCATE!

For the past 6 weeks, I have been working with four other members, which includes our own Public Relations Liaison Gina Thomas Patterson on the Education Committee for the National convention to be held in Las Vegas next June.  In working on this committee I realized we all have very different opinions on education, which brought me to this month's "E" word- Educate.

Educate in this Association can mean many things- Continuing Education, education on the benefits of the Association, education on the protocol, parliamentary procedures to run a successful business meeting, board meeting, etc., it can also mean educating the local, state, regional and national committees on just what it is that will keep the others interested, involved and coming back for more.  So let's explore a few of these using my interpretation and feedback I have received from others.

Continuing Education- for the great state of California, if you work in the industry, most of you have a license of either Property and Casualty or Life & Health.  And we also have the pleasure of renewing that license every two years.  Now in order to keep current on issues the State requires that we complete a certain amount of educational requirements during that two year term between renewals.  One way we can be a successful Association on the local, state, regional & national level is to continue to give our members what they need and what we were founded for- Education.  We have to keep it interesting and to do that we can't keep offering the same thing over & over again- and we have to find out from our members just what it is they want.  We have several vendors that offer CE classes at no cost so they can get their name out there, but honestly when you look at the classes they offer- they need to jazz it up as well- but if we don't express that to them, how are they going to know??  I talked to one of our listed providers on this website just last week about a class they offered two years ago that was no longer on their list- it was a disaster recovery class that was based a lot on how you can prepare for the huge disasters like Katrina that most of us think we will never face.  We are in the wildfire capital of the world in Southern California- and I myself was forced out of my home twice now and the first time I was definitely not ready.  Long story short, they are going to look into offering this class again and if they do, our Association will be knocking at their door to present it.  How would they have known this class was really missed had we not educated them?  How many of you have actually reviewed the list of CE courses that NAIW offers to us for presentation?  Until recently, I had no clue that the CE courses they offered had zero cost for filing fees if you go through NAIW for the State of California.  I was not educated!!  For others that do not need the CE credits, that does not mean you can't go to one of these classes, it just means you don't need the filing done for you at the State of California.  I have instructed several CE classes for the company I am employed with that had others in attendance that did not need the credits, but they wanted the education. 

Educating our members and others on the benefits of belonging to NAIW is another piece of this educational puzzle that we are really lacking on.  In the coming year, this is one of my main focuses is to find out just what the members are looking for, why did they join, do they still have this need as the main purpose or has it changed over the years, why do they stay...  For me, I joined because my employer thought it would be a good idea for me to network.  I have to tell you at the age of 46 I had no idea what he was talking about, but since I had an invitation to a bunco night presented by San Diego Insurance Women, I took a chance and went.  It still took me a few months to really get involved, but it was because I had a deaf ear on what was going on around me.  I started as one of those that just wanted to go to a meeting once a month to get to know new people and really had no clue about what all was involved and part of the Association I had joined.  I did not educate myself and since my local Association was going through one of those hard times we have all seen, they did not educate me either.  But as you all see- that changed a LOT!  So as a challenge to the members personally and the Local Associations- dig deep and find out- what each of you are really looking for as a member of this Association.  Is it the educational opportunities, is it the Community Action that we offer, is it the networking opportunities you have in not only your own local involvement, but also in a state, regional and national level, or is it that you really just want to get the heck away from the husband and kids once a month?  Whatever the reason is, let’s figure it out so we can try our best to give each of you what you are looking for. 

We have been on a steady decrease in membership for the past five years that I know of- we don't seem to have a problem bringing them in the door, we have a problem keeping them.  Now I know we are in hard economic times, but this is also the time you benefit greatly be being a member of a networking and educational type of Association.  BUT if that new member or existing member is not getting what they signed up for, it does not matter what the cost of belonging is, they are not going to continue to pay that fee.  And if they can't tell their employer what they are getting out of being a member, how the heck are they going to get them on board??

Let's go out there & educate, let's also educate ourselves!

In fellowship,

Kathleen Kerstenbeck, ARM, CPIW

California Council Director