Strengthening club operations while hosting online meetings

Your club is online and meeting virtually. Are you having trouble finding agenda items to fill the time your club has together?

There are ways you can provide normality to your club members with an online meeting format:

• Invite a speaker to join your online meeting.
• Collect virtual happy dollars in the form of an “I owe you” to be collected later.
• Interclub! Who else in your division, district, or the world is hosting an online meeting? Ask to virtually visit.
• Do or plan a virtual service project together.
• Member orientation. Remind your members of the mission of the club and their obligations as members.

Consider using this time to strengthen your club operations. You may not be able to do service as you know it, but this is a time when you can give back to your club—to make is stronger when the world returns to meeting in person, handshakes, dining in at restaurants, and children back in classrooms.

Define or redefine your purpose. What does your club want to be in your community? What do you want to accomplish in the long-term? Now is a great time to work through Creating the Purpose (link), to give your club the clear purpose everyone can articulate and strive for.

Analyze your members; more importantly, your non-members. Use the Roster Analysis Worksheet (link) as a reminder of individuals who would likely enjoy being part of Kiwanis — and whose skills, relationships and experiences could enrich your club’s impact. Create a list of people to invite to your next service project or open house.

Invite your past members and guests. As more people are working from home and many activities have been cancelled, this is a great time to bring back some of your past members and re-introduce them to the service your club provides for the community. Also think about previous speakers, community partners, and friends of your Kiwanis club.

Evaluate your service projects. You have a focused group to Analyze your Impact (link) of each of your projects in the community. Is it time to refresh some of those projects to increase their impact, relinquish one or two to be able to focus on more impactful work or add a new project that these times are necessitating?

 Learn how your members feel about your club. This is a great time to conduct a Member Satisfaction Survey (link) to learn more about what your members think about your club and to discuss changes you can make when meetings and service projects return to normal.

Other virtual meeting ideas:

• Invite your Service Leadership Program members and celebrate their successes and service this past year.
• Make sure regular club business through September is scheduled and rethink how to proceed virtually. This includes elections, correspondence, newsletter submissions, etc.
• Learn what’s happening around the division or district and listen for potential ways to collaborate by inviting the district governor, lieutenant governor, or district secretary to a club meeting.
• Invite school personnel and discover what they anticipate being the most important needs for children once the school doors are open again and find out how your Kiwanis club can prepare now to assist.
• Are funds available in your service account to allocate to a project that benefits those affected by the COVID-19 crisis or to celebrate the unsung heroes in your community working through this pandemic?
• Invite an exercise or physical therapy expert to teach simple stretching, yoga, or relaxation techniques. 
• Keep Kiwanis fellowship and service alive. Have fun. Be creative. Think outside the box.