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 Retention – Introducing Gareth Davies, Head of Membership at The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RECM).
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 the membership body you currently work for…
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is the professional body for those working in emergency medicine. We have over 12,500 Fellows and Members registered internationally and work to represent both members and the interests of patients.
Tell us about your role…
In my role I oversee all the membership functions as well as leading on our service delivery to members, candidates and other users.
Currently I have a team of 5 which administer all our membership processes and look after our members supporting them in managing their membership and accessing resources they require in their professional development journey.
Previous Membership Bodies/membership-related experience and number of years’ experience working ‘within membership’
I have been in membership roles for over 11 years now at the time of writing, all within medical membership bodies including two spells at RCEM!
Short overview of any recent key membership related achievements
We have been working on a MVP project over the last few months. I am really excited to better understand what our members want from membership and see how we can better communicate our member offer to different personas to increase recruitment and retention.
How did you get into membership?
Previous to my specific membership bodies experience I spent a number of years working in members fitness clubs, so a different kind of membership but it gave me a good background and understanding and gave me many of the skills and knowledge I use today.
Involvement with the network in the past
I have been part of the network for 7 or 8 years and have always found it a great resource to learn from the experiences of others.
During COVID it was great to still connect with others and engage in learning opportunities via the webcasts and over recent years its been really beneficial to attend conferences in person to hear form membership professional first hand and to network with industry suppliers and peers alike.
What are your current goals/challenges from a membership perspective?
As I mentioned earlier throughout this year we have been conducting a MVP research project so in the coming months the challenge will be to take the outcomes from this to improve our recruitment, retention and member experience.
How will you will champion your ambassador subject area?
Retention has been something we have been trying to better understand so I am keen to share my insights and eager to learn from others as its such an important metric to understand.
If you could recommend one thing to a membership/association professional starting out in a role similar to yours, what would it be?
Understand your data before you make any decisions!
Something unusual/unique about you…
I don’t know! I suppose its quite unique to have two people with my name both as Heads of Membership as part of the network!
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