Quarterly Program

Feb 15, 2021 | Articles, Kim Marie's Blog

It’s the start of a new year and time to make sure that your 2021 LeTip Chapter plans are in place.

This week I want to remind everyone of the benefits of our Quarterly Program Rotation.

There are three pillars to our quarterly program, Tipping, Membership and the Business Mixer. Two of these are highlighted with a Quarterly Roundtable and the third, the Business Mixer is your big chance to build your chapter is big leaps. The foundation of this program doesn’t need to change because of COVID or because of our virtual meetings. We still need to run the program to ensure we are keeping all chapter members involved in decision making. What does need to change in how we carry out these meeting in a virtual environment and that will take effort and planning by your Board of Directors and the Committee members who play a crucial role in these meetings.

I’ll start here with a reminder of how the Quarterly Program runs, but if you are already familiar with that, then jump down to the next section and I’ll talk about how to continue to make these successful with the opportunities that the virtual meeting provides us. There are three options for getting to know the Quarterly Program. First is a short write-up that you can read in 2-3 minutes. Second is a video that will take you 5 minutes to watch and finally, a long version of the explanation around the Quarterly Program that will probably take you 10 minutes to read. After those sections, you will find the ideas around Virtual Meetings below.

SECTION 1 – Quarterly Program – Short Description

Week 1. Prior to the 1st week of each month you hold a board meeting. Hand out Visitation Assignments during the first week of the month.

Week 2. Public announcements of Birthdays, Anniversaries, upcoming Chamber/networking events 

Week 3. Give Visitation Commercials

Week 4. No Committee Report – Tipping Round Table

Week 5. Prior to the 1st week of each month you hold a board meeting. Hand out Visitation Assignments during the first week of the month.

Week 6. Public Announcements of Birthdays, Anniversaries, upcoming Chamber/networking events 

Week 7. Give Visitation Commercials

Week 8. No Committee Reports – Membership Round Table

Week 9. Prior to the 1st week of each month you hold a board meeting. Hand out Visitation Assignments during the first week of the month.

Week 10. Public Announcements of Birthdays, Anniversaries, upcoming Chamber/networking events Week 11. Give Visitation Commercials

Week 12. Hold a Business Mixer instead of your normal meeting.

How to run a Quarterly Roundtable:

The Board chooses a subject and the membership is divided between all the members into separate groups. Seating assignments are by numbering tables and having members draw a number upon arrival. Put a star on one number for each table and a circle on another, the member who picks the star will be the facilitator or captain for that table. The member who draws the circle will be the one to write all the answers down everyone gives.
The President announces the quarterly roundtable, the topic, and any additional information deemed necessary in place of the committee reports in the flip chart. All showboaters, greeters and Speakers will perform on this day. The twenty minutes used for reports will be given up for the roundtable so it is fast concise and to the point. There will be fifteen minutes to answer questions and offer suggestions and the last five minutes of twenty where each table will share their three best ideas with the entire group.

The Tip Master or Membership chair (whoever is in charge of the roundtable) will collect these ideas before the meeting is adjourned and use them in the next board meeting to decide what can be used to help the chapter and what is not useful. At the first meeting of the month the President stands up and announces that with the help of the entire chapter here are the ideas we are incorporating. He or she then thanks everyone and reminds them to be thinking of the next roundtable and when it will be. The President also reminds everyone to bring a guest or two to the next meeting!

SECTION 1: The Quarterly Program – Video Description: Click here to watch

SECTION 1: The Quarterly Program – Detailed Write-Up:

Quarterly Program – (A quarter begins in the month of your choice)

Month #1 is all about Tipping! Prior to the first chapter meeting of the month, the board will have held its board meeting. This ensures the board is up-to-speed on chapter’s success and who needs to be applauded, or a warning letter sent. The board sets the tone for business from the very first monthly meeting, sets future expectations, and decides on two or three questions for the round table for the last week of the month.
The below written reports will be needed at each monthly board meeting:
• Tip Master
• Membership
• Attendance
• Treasurer

These are shared with all voting members of the board. There must be a minimum quorum of four of the maximum 6 or 7 in attendance for a valid board meeting. Refer to Robert’s Rule of Order meeting format when in doubt. These written reports must be viewed at the same time for discussion. One single copy of all reports, the minutes and a copy of the written agenda will be retained monthly by the chapter Secretary.

Week #1
Board announces the previous month’s Top Tipper and presents the badge.
Each member puts their business card into the Tip bucket, to be drawn one-by-one during the 30-second commercial(s) towards the meetings’ end. The Visitation Chair (VC) retains a log of visitors. The VC supplies a copy to the VP if the VC is not at the meeting on the day of visitation commercials and will serve as a reminder who is visiting whom each week.
All meetings must run according to the flip chart, on time, missing nothing, especially committee reports. (All reports are given in order listed and should never be skipped or missed because someone is absent. Each position should have a committee member to turn to if necessary.)

Week #2
Follow the flip chart. The President will automatically call for a “Fiver” Day for the next week, every week when no guests are in attendance. Members bring guests to the next meeting along with a five dollar bill. If you do not have a guest in attendance, the money is picked up by the Sergeant-at-Arms and held to the end of the meeting when the President either gives it to a member who brought the most guests or places it in the chapter bank account. No one should receive the benefit of cash unless they have brought two or more guests, this minimizes a tie and dollars exchanging hands creates energy and enthusiasm for the next Fiver Day.
During committee reporting of the meeting you should add in the “social information” that is valuable to your chapter. Anniversaries, birthdays/chamber, local functions, and announcements which are appropriate for the chapter; this would be in place for the second meeting of every month.
Return to the flip chart for committee reports, commercials, etc. Done!

Week #3
Follow the order of the Flip Chart. Changing nothing and being energetic, while doing so, have some fun!
This week each member should have completed the “visitation” and when giving a commercial for the week will actually be giving the commercial for another member. The only time a member gives his/her own commercial is if the member was not visited by anyone doing a “visitation”. Remember, if you did not do your visitation, you owe that member $5.00 each week until the visitation is completed.

Week #4
This is the final week, of the first month, of the quarter. Your Tip Master should be preparing the room to have a “Round Table” discussion with the chapter. At beginning of the month, during the Board meeting, the board selects the questions to be discussed during this round table.
Some examples:
1. Outside vs. inside tips and how do we get more outside business?
2. How do we keep from getting Bogus Tips?
3. How do we get more members to be able to Multiply outside tips. One Tip becoming 4, 5,or more by having all members see the story behind the Tip.
4. How can we get Member A and Member B more business?
These questions are put on the table and the chapter is split into groups. A chapter of 25 would have five at each table and guests would be encouraged to participate, as guests have no filter yet and may have great ideas! You dispense with the committee reports on this day only! It is a 20-minute slot. Each table has a presenter and a writer. The writer records all of the good ideas the small group has for 15-minutes, then the presenter stands and shares their groups’ ideas to the rest of the room. The ideas are then submitted to the Tip Master to be shared at the next board meeting.
The following week is the board meeting before your regular meeting. Once again you are excited to be presenting the top tipper badge and making important announcements. One of the announcements will be to the group what ideas were great and which ideas will be adopted by the chapter and implemented. This is AWESOME because every member now realizes they have a part in helping the chapter move forward for the betterment of every member.

Month #2 of 3 is all about membership!
You follow the above procedures: Week#1, #2, #3; however week #4 of the month the round table discussion will be membership.
For example:
1. Who you need to fulfill the tips that you are looking at or who is a power partner for the group that you don’t have.
2. How do you get more guests to your meetings, etc?
When finished, the Membership Chair will pick up all the ideas shared on paper to be shared at the next board meeting. The following week is the board meeting before your regular meeting
Month #3 of 3….is all about Business Mixer!
You follow the above procedures: Week#1, #2, #3, however week #4 of the month the round table discussion is replaced with a Business Mixer. Be energetic and positive bringing it all together with a purpose.
1. We have identified the need for specific tips.
2. We identified the new members we need to fulfill tipping requirements and power partners.
The Business Mixer Chair, once you start the quarterly program, knows a year in advance, when the mixer is scheduled. Never a surprise; you can count on it! The mixer will give you the results your chapter needs for growth. Four times a year these are professional business mixers; not socials. It takes the place of your regular meeting. It counts as a regular meeting for guests towards the requirement of attending two consecutive.
This is a game changer. Using the guest list from the event; each guest is to receive a follow-up call or email telling them thanks for their RSVP and that you look forward to seeing them at the mixer, your meeting will be filled with guests who want to join what you are creating! This is “confirmation of reservation”.
It works: follow-up & follow-through! Have a purpose and a reason! 

SECTION 2: Adjustments for Virtual Meetings
How can you make the Roundtables work best in a virtual/hybrid environment?

1. Meeting preparation is the most important thing you can do. Members need to know what to expect and when they will be asked for participation. Have the questions the teams will focus on ready from your Board Meeting. Preferably 2 questions, but not more than 3. Remember to tell them that the benefits of these roundtables are that the chapter has a say in how to improve Tipping and Guests inviting. That is the motivational factor that is paramount when doing a virtual meeting. You need to make sure they have bought into the premise of the meeting.

2. Next, use Breakout Rooms in your virtual meeting. As long as you have at least 10 members in your chapter, then the breakout rooms will benefit your meeting. You need to get into smaller groups to really be able to brainstorm. Pay attention to which members are going into which breakout rooms. Make sure you have a leader in each breakout room/or tables for hybrid meetings. If all of your members who “start conversations” are in one room, then the other rooms will struggle to get started. You can try breaking out members by their BANK codes. Pay attention to the results. Sometimes 5 Action or Blueprint members can get a lot done in a meeting if they can go at the pace that their communication styles desire. Sometimes, having a mixture of all 4 BANK codes will lead to a higher level of creativity as long as they recognize and respect each other’s communication styles. You will want to have your Breakout Room leaders have access to recording the breakout rooms locally. They cannot be recorded by the Main online account, but they can be recorded locally. You can do this with screen capture software (such as OBS or QuickTime).

3. Sharing solutions after the Breakrooms. All Breakout rooms should share their top 3 solutions even if they are duplicative. Its good for members to hear that other people are coming up with the same solutions. Make sure to highlight these speakers on the Zoom Call when they speak. Move away from Gallery view into Speaker view. In this way, everyone else will pay more attention to them. If you are in a hybrid meeting, the members in the face-to-face portion need to get near the camera when giving their solutions. Speaking from their seat which is 20 foot from the camera does not provide them with the professional respect or appearance.

4. Having great Virtual Business Mixers. The purpose is to bring guests, be more social, and relate the value of what LeTip is. Make these meetings fun. Get ideas from the LeTip Lunch Bunch, Happy Hour or other LeTip chapters. Share the wealth of your knowledge with the chapters in your state or across the country. You need to hold breakout rooms about specific topics so that guests can find out about LeTip in a more personal way. People join because of how you make them feel. Make them feel special. Don’t put all of your guests into one breakout room. Make sure that you are using your BANK coding information to group guests with members who have like BANK codes in the breakout rooms. When having a hybrid Business Mixer you will need to be extra diligent in making sure you know where the guest will be, in person or on Zoom. At your Business Mixers, have a large screen so that everyone can see the Virtual attendees. You should have a tight script that all of your board and Business Mixer Committee knows about and can follow, in case the virtual link is lost. At the end of the Mixer, make sure you are answering questions and having someone follow up with the Guest immediately to see if they want to fill out an online application. You can send applications from your LeTipWired Mobile App, but it may be best to have a iPad/Laptop for the Guest to log into their email and fill out the application with you.



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 Kim Marie Branch-Pettid 

Kim Marie is one of the leading women business owners in charge of an organization which includes more than 5200 members worldwide, now entering their 40th Anniversary Celebration. Her motivational speeches have been heard all across North America. With 28 years in the banking industry in all forms, including mergers and acquisitions, she has been and continues to be involved in fund raising for non-profit organizations, as well as a member of California Women for Agriculture, Sequoia Guild, member of Vistage Trusted Advisor Group and WPO-Women Presidents Organization, Phoenix, AZ. Also, she is a past board member of ASBA (Arizona Small Business Association). Her specialties include trainer, motivator, connector with years of experience in bringing businesses together for a 'great fit’. 
 
The Gold Standard of Networking™ for over 40 years. 
 LeTip.com (800) 495-3847 #LeTipNow Over 40 Years of helping build businesses just like yours, everyday of the week.