A monthly newsletter for IABC leaders. Take a look inside for details on the March Member Month campaign, Chapter Management Award winners, a Leadership Institute recap, and more!
Grow your tribe during March Member Month
The theme for March 2018 Member Month is “Find Your Tribe” (for non-members) and “Grow Your Tribe” (for current members/referrals).

This will build on the notion that joining IABC builds a sense of global community. Some chapters did request an alternative set of messaging, so there will also be graphics available if you prefer to say “Find your community" instead. Key messaging will emphasize the IABC value proposition and how membership will quickly pay for itself.

A marketing toolkit for chapter leaders will be posted on Leader Centre . Stay tuned for a communication plan and marketing materials to be posted shortly.

The goals and incentives include:

Drive retention (Audience: Active members who renew) 
  • 10 percent discount on dues
  • Entered into the drawing to win the grand prize VIP World Conference package

Increase number of new and renewing members (Audience: New and lapsed members who join/reinstate)
  • 10 percent discount on dues
  • Entered in drawing to win the grand prize VIP World Conference package

Encourage word-of-mouth referrals (Audience: Existing IABC members who refer new/lapsed members who join) 
  • For every new or lapsed member who lists you as a referral source, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win one US$250 Visa gift card. You may not list yourself as your referral source.
  • Refer five or more new/reinstating members and get a year of free membership.
  • Be recognized on the IABC website as an IABC Champion for the months of April and May.
  • Special recognition at the IABC 2018 World Conference as an IABC Champion. (A pop-up banner will be displayed near membership booth.)
  • Social media campaign: Encourage member testimonial videos. We will ask members to create a testimonial video and share it on social media using the hashtag #IABC. We’ll provide three questions for them to answer (e.g., Why did you join?) and give out a US$25 gift card at random as an incentive.

Encourage full chapter participation (Audience: Chapter leaders)
  • A US$200 Visa gift card for the small, medium and large chapters with the greatest percentage of net growth. Chapters will be encouraged to use it for World Conference or IABC chapter event expenses.

The grand prize (VIP prize package for 2018 IABC World Conference for a new or renewing member) includes: 
  • One Full Conference registration to World Conference (US$1,875 value)
  • Three nights hotel accommodations at the Hyatt Montreal (CDN$249 x 3 = CDN$750 + tax)
  • Uber car service from the airport to hotel and back (approximately CDN$100)
  • Welcome basket and note from IABC chair and executive director in hotel upon arrival (approximately CDN$50)
  • Gift card to coffee shop in hotel lobby (CDN$25)
  • Reserved VIP seating for four at all keynote sessions
  • A copy of Seth Godin’s book

If you have any questions about Member Month, please contact member_relations@iabc.com .
Congratulations to the 2018 Chapter Management Award winners
The 2018 Chapter Management Awards (CMA) ceremony took place at the start of the 2018 Leadership Institute (LI) on 8 February in San Diego, California. CMAs were awarded to 18 IABC chapters in nine out of 10 CMA categories. Congratulations to the 2018 leaders and chapters of the year:

Region Leader of the Year: Chip Bush, IABC Southern Region
Chapter Leader of the Year: Shaun Jones, IABC Wellington (Check out his post on LinkedIn to learn more about his IABC leadership experience.)

International Chapter of the Year: IABC Edmonton
Large Chapter of the Year: IABC Edmonton
Medium Chapter of the Year: IABC Wellington
Small Chapter of the Year: IABC Newfoundland & Labrador

You can learn more about the Chapters and Leaders of the Year on Leader Centre .

A complete list of CMA winners can also be found on the IABC website , and you can see photos from the awards ceremony on Flickr . Winning work plans will be available on Leader Centre in the coming weeks. 
Leadership Institute recap
IABC leaders from all eight regions and 49 chapters around the world gathered in San Diego, California, from 8–10 February for the 2018 Leadership Institute (#IABCLI). It was an exciting three days that included networking opportunities, best-practice sharing, and inspiring keynotes from Cynthia D’Amour, MBA and Chris Van Gorder, FACHE, president and CEO of Scripps Health . Check out a recap blog post about Cynthia’s presentation by IABC Vice Chair Ginger D. Homan, ABC, SCMP. For those of you who were unable to attend, here are some important updates that you may have missed:

Resources for leaders
We’ve updated the onboarding toolkit and the IABC 101 video , which can be used to help new leaders learn more about IABC while also serving as a refresher for current leaders.

A new corporate membership model is coming soon
A new IABC corporate membership model will be rolling out in the coming weeks. Check out the recently released briefing to learn more about the new structure.

The Hub: IABC’s new social network will launch soon
IABC is creating an all-new social network that will be available only to IABC members. Members can use this online community to share ideas, ask questions and #createconnection. We’ll share more information about The Hub in the coming weeks.

Thank you to all of the chapters and leaders who attended #IABCLI and made it such a success. We’ll announce details for next year’s LI soon. In the meantime, continue using the hashtag #WeLeadIABC to share your IABC leadership experience.
Thank you to the Marquee Sponsor:
Check out the brand-new Leader Centre
We are excited to introduce a brand-new Leader Centre ! Leader Centre is a primary resource for you, our leaders, where you can find updates from headquarters, tools, templates and more. Please share this site with fellow board members and check out the resources available before you reinvent the wheel.

If your chapter has a resource that you feel would be a valuable addition to Leader Centre, please feel free to submit it to leader_centre@iabc.com
Finance reports are due by 1 March
Each year, IABC chapters and regions are required to submit a finance report, end-of-year bank statement, and consent form to IABC. This allows IABC to include your chapter in the group tax return. Finance reports for the 2017 calendar year must be submitted to leader_centre@iabc.com by the extended deadline, 1 March. Please be sure to include:

  • Your financial statement. We provide a template that is easy to follow. Submit your income and expenses for the year.
  • Your ending balance statement. Please include a PDF of your 31 December 2017 bank statement for all accounts.
  • A consent form. There are two versions of this simple authorization form: one for regions and chapters inside of the U.S. and one for all other countries.
Chapter/region award platform: OMNI
Effective immediately, IABC will no longer be offering the umbrella program for chapters and regions through Award Force. Chapters and regions are welcome to continue using Award Force independently.

For those interested in checking out a new program, OMNI Solutions has developed a template that is easy to set up and use. Some chapters and regions are already using this platform and have sent positive reviews. The template will be in place so that regions can customize messaging, but will not need to set up each of the awards, which lessens the workload for chapters. The current pricing is US$2,000 for the first year and US$1,200 for each year after. You can check out a demo to learn more about how this program works. This program is set up to be managed completely by the chapter/region. You can reach out to Omni directly at sales@omnisg.com with questions.

Chapters and regions are welcome to use any awards platform that works for their program.
Futurist Anab Jain announced as second 2018 IABC World Conference keynote speaker
The World Conference is coming to Montreal from 3-6 June 2018 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. Seth Godin will be giving the opening keynote and IABC recently announced that futurist Anab Jain will also be joining us.

Don’t miss this chance to connect with peers from around the world.  Register today to save more than US$200 on the full conference price before 1 March 2018. Stay tuned for additional keynote and special event announcements!
IABC Minnesota offering a discounted rate to IABC leaders who register for their Convergence Summit
IABC Minnesota's Convergence Summit, to be held 23 March at the University of Minnesota , brings together experts from both the business and academic realms to explore the convergence of communication and business success. This third annual daylong summit designed for mid- to senior-level professionals focuses on converging issues, trends, technologies and methods that impact our careers in communication and marketing. As an added bonus, this one-day event is worth up to 10 certification credits for anyone who needs points for their CMP or SCMP certification .

As a special welcome to everyone we met at the 2018 Leadership Institute, IABC Minnesota is offering a US$50 to interested chapter leaders. Simply add the code IABCLI2018 to your registration .
Important dates
29 March 2018
9 –10 a.m. PST


3 6 June 2018
Montréal
Sharon Hunter, SCMP
International Executive Board Chair