Agenda For First Planning Meeting

If you haven't decided, think of a name for the Club. It should be based on an approximate physical location. For example; (Seattle - Mercer Island), or (St. Louis - Kirkwood), or (Baltimore - Downtown).

Determine who will assume leadership positions in your Club. This can be done on a temporary basis, say the next 4 months until the Club has a larger base of members, or for the next year, which we recommend. Choosing your Club officers for the next year will give it a stronger foundation. Make copies of Officers Duties & Responsibilities for all attending.

Each new officer should review his/her duties and plan to update those areas of the Club's new web site for which they are responsible. The officer's web site responsibilities are listed later in this section.

Spend time discussing potential Business Categories that are not yet represented in your core group. Each member makes a list of prospective members he/she will contact about joining the new Club. Remember the key to recruiting new members is to simply get them to the My Referral Club web site. Make copies of the Business Categories list. Targeting future members is the most important function you will do in this meeting.

Discuss where to hold your next meeting and set a time and date. We suggest you give yourselves 7 to 10 working days before your next meeting. The Club will want momentum and that means to at least double the size of the core group.

It is also the time to think of a permanent meeting site for the Club. Your selection will be based on your community and the business professionals you want to attract. Some Clubs will want to keep meeting expenses at a minimum while others will want an exclusive address. A large restaurant back room or a company meeting room will both work.

The Club will need a checking account and initial funding to cover the continuing costs of the meeting room, refreshments, and other miscellaneous expenses. This will be your new Treasurer's job. Each new member will be required to make an initial payment to this account. The core group may need to kick in a little extra. Because each Club will have different requirements, this amount will vary for each Club. After the Club has been meeting for a month or so, you will have a better handle on the Club's expenses and can set a monthly dues amount collected quarterly.

Until you expand the core group to around a dozen members it will be easier to conduct your membership voting on an informal basis. When a new member is accepted, the Club's Membership Director can go to the Vote For New Member page to send the new member an email with a link to start his/her registration process. Special note: It is especially important when the Club is just forming that new members complete their registration process quickly. As we have stated before, a rapidly growing Club is powerful, and will cause prospective members to join before someone else in their business category does.

NEXT: Officers Duties & Responsibilities