Events Committee Duties

Many chapters have a standing event committee, or appoint an event chair, whose duties include organizing and implementing mission related events to engage the current membership as well as draw interest from the general public. The event committee performs a key role by organizing events to tell the chapter’s compelling coldwater conservation story, foster camaraderie among current and potential members, and work in alignment with other chapter committees and partners.

As you discuss committee goals with your board, you will want to keep those goals in mind during the committee planning process. The committee works very collaboratively within the chapter and the community at large.

For instance, if a goal is to increase age diversity, consider offering family friendly, 2-3 hour weekend opportunities in collaboration with your youth engagement committee, offer revolving weeknight events virtually or at social venues with food and beverages for sale and/or collaborate with your conservation committee or community partners to organize active, outdoor restoration activities like river clean-ups, tree plantings, non-native invasive plant removals. Along with age diverse events, you will want to work closely with your outreach committee to promote the events via demographic specific channels to reach your intended audience.

When Starting an Event Committee or Taking Over as Event Chair

• Receive and review records from the past event chair including the position description. Ask the past chair for lessons learned and a full review of the prior year’s duties, activities and goals.
• Review the Membership Memo
• Review the Engagement Resources
• Discuss the event goals with your board to gain a better understanding of expectations and your new role.
• Ensure your chapter president enters you in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org (so that you have access to the rosters, updating membership contact info, etc…)
• Get into the Leaders Only Tools section and explore. Reach out to your Volunteer Operations Staff if you have any questions.
• Meet with other chapter committees to discuss collaborative opportunities (e.g. interface with the outreach committee to promote virtual events, explore opportunities with the fundraising committee, engage with the Diversity Initiative)
• Explore the Leaders Forum discussions by role related keyword searches (e.g. winter events, fall events, event ideas, member recruitment).

Ongoing Tasks of a Event Committee or Chair

• With the chapter board, set event goals for the chapter and develop plans with the membership committee for recruiting new members and retaining existing members
• Encourage your committee members to learn and grow through TU provided resources (e.g. virtual event training, intermediate virtual event planning, improve chapter meetings, annual events) and third party opportunities.
• Report on event status against these goals at each chapter board meeting including: total attendance, attendance changes, trends, new members, etc. Membership information is available from the membership changes report in the Leaders Only Tools section
• Work with your diversity initiative committee to promote community and inclusion in event promotions by including pertinent details (e.g. full street address, event times, welcoming language) and at events by identifying greeters, capturing contact information via a contact sheet and encouraging interaction with new attendees.
• Confirm that the chapter holds the proper insurance coverage for the types of events the committee is planning to offer.
• Ensure that the chapter has current TU membership applications brochures in stock and properly coded with chapter’s 3-digit number to recruit new members – train and encourage all board members to use the special page www.tu.org/intro to recruit new members online. All new members recruited by a chapter volunteer earn the chapter a $15 rebate at the end of the year
• Work with your membership committee to identify new members so they can welcome them to chapter by letter, e-mail or phone, and encourage their involvement.
• Ongoing quality control of the chapter roster so current membership has accurate contact information as you may email, call or text event reminders. Learn how other chapters are finding success maintaining a high level of roster accuracy in the Leaders Forum.