The MemberWise Network is unique as being the only Network led by association and membership professionals. A core part of our team are the MemberWise Ambassadors; a group of practising membership professionals specialising in a specific area that we consider core and crucial to the world of membership such as engagement, recruitment and value.
In recent years, we have branched out into complementary areas such as governance, leadership, AI, communications and PR, and people/volunteer management in order to show how the membership role requires broader business insight and experience.
We are now pleased to announce that we have appointed a new Ambassador in the area of Member Engagement – Introducing Gareth Davies, Membership Experience Manager at the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Let’s get to know Gareth (and the high profile professional body that he currently works for) who’ll be championing this crucial/developing area of activity…
Tell us about yourself and the membership body you currently work for…
The Royal Society of Chemistry is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to advance chemical sciences. We are a provider of knowledge, a professional body, and a voice for chemical sciences, with a heritage that spans 180 years. Working across industry and academia to promote collaboration and innovation. We advise governments on policy, and promote the talent, information and ideas that lead to great advances in science.
We have a membership of over 50,000 spanning 125 countries. Our RSC strategic goals support greater engagement and growth of our membership ensuring we reflect the diversity of the chemical sciences, offering enhanced support across all RSC products and services to better meet the needs of our community and ensure our future relevance.
Tell us about your role…
The Membership Experience Manager role is a key part of the management team for Royal Society of Chemistry membership and therefore delivery of our strategy. The role informs and contributes to wide strategic goals and leads on multiple streams within them, alongside maintaining and enhancing business as usual activities and processes. The primary objectives are to execute the RSC’s activities related to enhancing the member experience and to grow our community of members.
To achieve this, key aspects of the role include maintaining standards across the chemical science profession, widening the diversity of our membership, ensuring, and communicating a clear value proposition for membership, embedding professional development activities within the member experience and strategically advancing the membership product to meet the needs of the community across all career stages and sectors. This role and the reporting team will work closely with teams across the organisation and beyond to improve the experience members have engaging with all aspects of the RSC ensuring that as a business we proceed with a member first or where appropriate member only proposition to influence long term customer loyalty across all RSC activities driving long term, sustainable commercial success.
Previous Membership Bodies/membership-related experience and number of years’ experience working ‘within membership’
I have been with the RSC for 12 years but I always say I started my career in membership as a member first joining the RSC as my professional body in 2009.
Short overview on any recent key membership related achievements
We are currently growing our membership year on year with a 12% increase on total membership at the end of 2023 compared with year end 2022. In addition to this, our member satisfaction has grown with strong sentiments of pride and belonging which has in turn led to a retention rate for 2024 of 97%.
How did you get into membership?
Having already been involved in various forms of governance, when I started my chemistry degree in 2009 it made complete sense for me to become involved with the RSC – as a result of seeing the passion of the members around me, that involvement attracted to a role and subsequently a career in membership.
Involvement with the network in the past
Over the last 12 years I’ve delivered several keynotes at MemberWise conferences often with a focus on engaging early career members and students and contributed to MemberWisethought leadership reports. I’ve also been an active mentor as part of the mentoring program currently supporting my third mentee.
What are your current goals/challenges from a membership perspective?
My ongoing challenge is enhancing the degree to which we provide our members with a personalised experience that reflects a deep understanding of the needs they have in both their day-to-day roles and to achieve wider career success with a view to creating more engaged and active advocates for the RSC.
How will you will champion your ambassador subject area?
Low member engagement is typically a hallmark of low awareness. As an Ambassador I aim to help the membership community deepen the understanding they have of their audiences to deliver impactful member moments which lead to strong retention and advocacy.
If you could recommend one thing to a membership/association professional starting out in a role similar to yours, what would it be?
Ask why! Between the heritage of many of our organisations, coupled with the challenges we have with resource, technology and governance often the reason we do things is because we always have.
Whether it is asking why you have a certain process, why your members feel this way, why there has been a spike or drop in email open rates making sure you are understanding the reason or purpose will be the quickest way to being able to make a positive impact in your role.
Something unusual/unique about you…
My favourite way to keep my problem-solving skills in check is through role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Whether a player or a games master, it is a great way to build a wide range of surprising transferable skills whilst being able to fully embrace my inner nerd and I’m currently writing a game for my three year old son.
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