Our Strength in Numbers: A Closer Look at TMS’s Membership Development Efforts

JOM, Aug 2012

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Our Strength in Numbers: A Closer Look at TMS’s Membership Development Efforts

David F. Bahr Latin South America with the ideas and insights of others who share our professional interests. To keep these connections strong, it is vital that TMS continues to grow the materials science and engineering (MSE) community. This has been a challenge-not just for TMS, but for many other professional societiesin the wake of a global recession and ongoing economic concerns that can weigh on the decision to invest in a membership. Keeping TMS on an upward trend for the long term was the goal of a two-phase growth plan that was implemented in early 2010. on reaching out to recently lapsed TMS members by offering them a trial membership providing access to online-only TMS resources as a means of reacquainting them with the Soci- - TMS had increased its overall professional membershipto include emembersby 9.5% over the 2009 baseline. Persuading these individuals to become full dues-paying members in 2011 was the goal of the next years membership development activities. These yielded extremely positive results, with the number of TMS professional members increasing by 11.3% over the 2010 baseline. As part of this process, TMS staff examined each and every membership record to ensure that our numbers and tracking were as accurate as possible. This provided some interesting insights into who our members are and how they are changing. According to our most current membership statistics, TMS is 11,676 strong, with 7,142 dues paying professional members and 4,534 student members. The largest segment of our professional members (45%) hails from industry, followed by academia (33%), and government (14%). About 6% of our members have retired from full-time employment, but still retain their membership with TMS to connect with their profession. TMS has also clearly evolved into an international organization, with members calling every populated continent of the world home (Figure 1). In light of the critical need to attract women into science and engineering, it is interesting to note that TMSs membership demographics have presented a distinct generational shift (Figure 2.) Among our youngest members, the percentage of female scientists and engineers makes up between 20 and 30% of the total membership in their age group. Much work still needs to be done to recruit and retain women in MSE, but these numbers indicate a heartening trend. (Please note that this information is based on data that each ures are approximate rather than exact.) been helpful in creating a portrait of who TMS members are, it has also become very apparent that we still have much to learn about their interests. A full 27% of TMS members have not iation as part of their membership registration (Figure 3). Knowing this enables TMS to best match its resources to every members needs, while also providing you with connections to the committees, projects, and people who development and provide the greatest value to your work. Another important insight that we are missing from many of our members is indication of keyword interest areas. Knowing the topics that are of the most value to you helps TMS ensure that the information you receive is targeted and relevant. (As an interesting data point, TMSs top ten keyword interests, in descending order, are: mechanical properties; aluminum; high-temperature materials; characterization; iron and steel; modeling and simulation; advanced materials; nanotechnology; advanced processing; and molten metal and soTMSs membership also falls into the associate member categoryThese individuals have yet to provide their educational background or professional work history necessary so that TMS may update their membership status. Many readers of this article will soon be receiving their TMS dues renewal invitation for the coming year. If you have not yet indicated your division alignment, provided your eduFIGURE 2. TECHNICAL DIVISION AFFILIATIONS OF TMS MEMBERS Professional Membership Total Young Professionals (35 and Under) Male Members Female Members nical keyword interest areas, I urge you to take this opportunity to do so. In addition to ensuring a steady infusion of new members, TMS has also set its sights on enhancing its retention efforts in order to continue strengthening our base of membership experience and expertise. Our goal is to achieve an 81% renewal rate by 2014, which is considered an industry benchmark for associations offering compelling The key to our success in achieving ganizationour volunteer-centric culture. The programs and resources that TMS offers are largely developed by our members for our members, with portunity to connect with others, while contributing in a meaningful way to your profession. are reaching broader communities in of TMS is the one that will be told by its peopleas we plan TMS2013 in San Antonio, prepare articles for our journals, and develop new ways to strengthen our professional network. Thats the story that Im really looking forward to hearing and I invi (...truncated)


This is a preview of a remote PDF: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11837-012-0397-y.pdf

Our Strength in Numbers: A Closer Look at TMS’s Membership Development Efforts, JOM, 2012, pp. 894-895, Volume 64, Issue 8, DOI: 10.1007/s11837-012-0397-y