Chapter Recognition - 10 Part Series to Improve Your Chapter

May 2019 - In 2019 EAA will be rolling out the Chapter Recognition Program. This program is designed to help chapters improve the experience for their local members, and to recognize our many outstanding chapters. Chapter recognition will be based on 10 criteria and how many of those criteria a chapter meets.

The 10 criteria are as follows

Each month, EAA will highlight one of the criteria and show your chapter how to take advantage of a potential new opportunity.

1. Current chapter leaders who have attended chapter leadership training.
2. The chapter membership is growing or holding steady.
3. The chapter offers an EAA IMC or VMC Club.
4. The chapter participates in the Young Eagles or Flying Start program.
5. The chapter has an EAA-approved flight advisor or technical counselor.
6. The chapter partakes in the annual EAA Chapter Survey.
7. Chapter leaders regularly read EAA's ChapterGram.
8. The chapter has used a ChapterBlast or ordered promotional materials.
9. The chapter hosts at least two public events per year.
10. The chapter owns or leases a facility.

May's Criteria — Activity Equals Success

Each year, EAA sends out a Chapter Member Survey to help the organization understand what aspects of the local chapter members enjoy the most. Or, vice versa, what they would like to see changed about their local chapter. One of the overriding learnings from this survey was that EAA members have a strong desire for a number of activity offerings from their local chapter. Editor's note: The Chapter Member Survey will be discussed more in-depth later this year.

The first question asked was the following. "On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very and 1 being not at all, how likely are you to recommend your chapter to a friend or colleague?" The goal of this question is to determine the net promoter score (NPS), which is one of the best ways to measure satisfaction. Respondents who answer with a 9 or 10 are considered promoters, while people who answer with a 6 or less are consider detractors. In other words, promoters love your chapter and would recommend it, and detractors dislike your chapter and would not recommend it.

Following the NPS question, survey takers are asked to explain why they gave the numerical answer they did, which provides a bit more detail about their opinions.

When it came to recommending an EAA chapter, 28 percent would recommend their chapter due to "lots of activity." On the flip side, 42 percent of those who said they would not recommend their chapter indicated it was due to a "lack of activity."

As we like to say, activity equals success!

Members thoroughly enjoy gathering with like-minded aviation enthusiasts, but what they enjoy the most is participating in aviation. EAAers participate, not spectate.

Whether it be a pancake breakfast, chapter fly-out, ATC tower visit, or a simple hamburger cookout, your chapter has many different aviation activities it can host. They key is to keep them fun and aviation oriented.

The best way to know if the event is enjoyable for members is to ask yourself, "Am I having fun?" If you aren’t having fun, then other members probably aren't either!

If you have more questions of EAA's promotional materials or ChapterBlast, please email us at chapters@eaa.org.