Presidents Column

<h3>ABI Membership: More Valuable than Ever</h3>
<p>With more than 11,000 members and growing, ABI is
doing many things quite well. That we have grown to this size in a
relatively short period of time is impressive.</p><p>For example, at the end
of 1996, ABI had just over 5,300 members. We passed 7,000 in 1999 and
9,000 in 2002. We grew to more than 10,000 in 2004 and crossed the
11,000-member threshold this year. Our member retention rate of over 95
percent is further evidence that we deliver exceptional value to each
member. However, there is more to ABI's membership than might appear at
first sight.</p><p>The market recognizes that there is a significant value
in being identified as an ABI member. Many people proudly identify
themselves as an ABI member in various directories and biographies on
firm Web sites. Sometimes, people hold themselves out as members even
when they are not. Unfortunately for them, ABI's Membership Department
is hard at work checking their listings against our membership database
to see if everyone claiming to be a member actually is on our rolls.
When our Membership Department finds non-members publicly claiming the
benefit of ABI membership, they are invited to either actually join us
or to stop using ABI's name in their materials.</p><p>In addition to this
"enforcement" role, ABI's Membership Department manages an ever-growing
database of member information. Trying to keep the names, firm names,
addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of more than 11,000 people
is more of a challenge than most can handle. However, the Membership
Department must also keep track of each member's committee membership,
requested circuit update(s) and a myriad of other data. Each year, this
is published in a directory that is larger than many cities' telephone
books. (You can help immeasurably by logging on to <a href="/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home">http://www.abiworld.org</a&gt; and updating
your record directly.)</p><p>Another of the Membership Department's roles is
coordinating the recruitment of new members and providing a "new member
packet" to each new member shortly after they join. The packet contains
their first <i>ABI Journal</i> as well as other materials providing an
overview of all that ABI has to offer. They also follow up with members
that have not renewed to determine why their membership was allowed to
lapse and give them the opportunity to rejoin in case the lapse was
accidental.</p><p>This year, yet another task has been added to the
Membership Department's duties. Someone from ABI's Membership Department
is scheduled to attend each of our regional programs to be available on
site to handle any membership-related questions and to keep you up to
date with all that your membership provides. Please ask for them at the
conference's registration desk if you have any questions.</p>
<p><b>Melissa Kibler Knoll,</b> ABI's Vice President-Membership, is responsible for
overseeing all of the work of the Membership Department and for
developing ideas and processes to both increase and retain membership.
Chris Thackston is ABI's Membership Director, overseeing Membership
Specialist Emily Gaines, Membership Retention Manager Kimberly Hay and
Membership Assistant Larissa Mendes. You'll recognize a number of the
staff members from the "ABI Updates" you receive by e-mail each week as
yet another membership benefit. The Membership Department, along with
ABI's Director of Special Projects Caroline Milani, leads the charge on
our "Get Involved" campaign to provide each member with the opportunity
to work with ABI to maximize the benefits they receive as ABI
members.</p><p>An existing project that is handled by Melissa and the
Advisory Board (consisting of ABI's past presidents) is a series of
outreach events around the country in areas where ABI does not regularly
host a regional or national meeting. Each event includes a mix of both
current and prospective members. To date, the events have been held in
Cleveland, San Antonio, San Francisco and Seattle. Plans are underway
for other outreach events in St. Louis, Orlando, Fla., Boston and
Dallas/Fort Worth, as well.</p><p>The real challenge ahead of us remains to
continually create ways for everyone who wants to do so to participate
and contribute their time and talents in ways that provide substantive
benefits for ABI as an organization, for its members generally and for
each member individually. I encourage you to do what you can to Get
Involved, since doing so will make your membership even more valuable in
the future.</p>