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-
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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
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