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Some ideas for expanding your LLI membership:
1. Solicit retired faculty, administration and staff from local colleges
and universities.
2. Send letters with brochures to local libraries.
3. Send letters of introduction to community and senior service centers.
4. Link up with the local cultural and/or heritage commission. They will
publicize your program on their websites or in their brochures.
5. Connect up with the retired elementary and high school teachers association.
6. Offer 50% off course or membership fees to first time members.
7. Put your brochures in credit unions, banks, beauty shops, doctors and
dentists offices, grocery stores.
8. Make friends with the Mayor and get him to proclaim a special day for
your LLI.
9. Offer gift certificates.
10. Have a presence in parades and set up booths at local health and wellness
fairs.
11. Invite local reporters to give a talk and then get them to write articles
for the press.
12. Establish a connection with local real estate companies. They will
be glad to promote your program as it makes the community more attractive
to prospective home-buyers.
13. Have special “Invite a Friend” days.
14. Make up business cards for your LLI, give them to your members and
encourage them to pass them out whenever appropriate.
15. Add material to the local “Welcome Wagon” or “New Baby” packages that
are sent by businesses. The “New Baby” package can include something for
the new grandparents.
16. Link your LLI website to the local Chamber of Commerce site.
Ideas to Promote Your Program
The LLI at Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ put together the following
program promotion ideas for a workshop at the 2000 Mid Atlantic Conference.
1. Speaking Engagements
• Rotary Clubs
• AARP Chapters
• Senior Clubs and Centers
• Libraries & Community Centers
• Chamber of Commerce
• PTA
2. Carry brochures, newsletters or course catalogs with you wherever you
go. Always have something to hand to an interested person.
3. Ask people to be LLI Community Ambassadors (there should be one in
every town). Their tasks would be to:
• Distribute LLI promotional material to libraries,
town halls, etc.
• Get you speaking engagements
• Represent you at community functions
4. Search out newsletters for groups like the Retired Educator’s
Associations. Get mentioned or put notices in their publications.
5. Try to get on the mailing lists for all associations, organizations,
etc.
6. Don’t forget the college newspapers. The parents read it too.
7. When sending in press releases first mention the event and/or speaker,
then give an explanation of the LLI program.
8. Publicize your program in senior assisted living residences although
your return from these venues many not be that good.
9. LLI students are the best advertisers (word of mouth) – keep
a high profile in the community using your members.
10. Make bookmarks designed on your computer. Put them in libraries and
bookstores.
11. The local medical societies/doctors offices are excellent sources
of both speakers and members.
12. Program speakers that you use may have their own following.
13. Put take-one holders in local stores, restaurants and businesses with
your LLI brochure in them.
14. Flyers should be posted at eye-level and brief but always with a phone
number. Use brightly colored paper – using the same color scheme
all the time gives your LLI name recognition (ex. Lilac in spring –
blue in fall). Never use red print on the flyers, it’s too difficult
to read.
15. Look for inexpensive giveaways – bags, folders, etc. Merchants
may have unused items they will give you.
16. A good slogan to remember - A Business without a Sign is a sign of
no business.
17. Have generic cards printed for volunteers where you can fill in their
name (it can be done on the computer).
18. Get a volunteer to oversee promotion.
19. Hairdressers and barbershops are great places for flyers.
20. Get your LLI members to write Letters to the Editor.
21. Survey students for the names and addresses of friends.
22. Print up labels for the front of blank folders (get free from local
merchant), bags and cards.
23. Have a color scheme that’s the same as your logo.
24. Find an inexpensive source of refrigerator magnets with the LLI phone
number. Query your members about a source.
25. Do you have a closing party? Admission to the party can be either
the name and address of a potential student or a potential teacher or
presenter.
26. Have an open door policy – encourage class visitation
27. Know where your potential students shop – put flyers there
28. Offer some “low key” indirect courses such as –
enjoyment or art – music – ballet, etc.
29. Ask people how they heard about you.
30. Do course evaluations (the next to last course, never the last).
31. Have someone answer the phone – live. Listen to what students
and potential students have to say – they are your customers.
32. Review the feedback from the 2000 Census – it should tell you
a lot about demographics in your area.
33. Check your own mail for examples of how others “promote.”
34. In March send Personnel (Human Resource) Directors a poster and flyers
(good for June retirees). Do the same in September for December retirees.
35. Get a retired marketing person on your Advisory Council.
36. Hold an Appreciation Luncheon for instructors and volunteers (Board
members bring the food).
37. It seems as if men love history. Be sure to have plenty of those topics.
Prepared by: Dean Lois E. Marshall, Director
LLI - Bergen Community College
201-447-7156
lmarshall@bergen.cc.nj.us
Increasing LLI Membership
Happily, most Lifelong Learning Institutes (LLIs) have more than enough
members. There are some, however, that for whatever reason, need to boost
their membership numbers. Following are ideas and suggestions that may
help increase membership, and have been compiled from different LLIs.
Word-of-Mouth
• Word-of-mouth is the most effective way of publicizing. At MVILR
65% first heard about us by work- of-mouth as against
28% recruited by the media (including 2 by Internet) and only 2% through
Open House events and 4% through our flyers.
• Very interesting statistics that are borne out by what’s
been heard from other LLIs across the country. Your members are
your best resource. Somehow you need to get them out there recruiting
for you.
• Ask each member to recruit one person. Let them sit in on a class
to see what it’s like.
Special Events
• Sponsor a "Bring a Friend to Class Day" with special
events, lunch, etc. Make it special, offer incentives, etc. If it’s
a big success, do it again in six months or a year.
• Host a kickoff event. In the kickoff packet we included our brochure,
an abbreviated list of coming course/activities
(not our large catalog), a letter from the Board and a flyer of future
day trips. We mailed about 1500 invitations and approximately
150 attended the morning kickoff. We served coffee/tea
and goodies brought by our refreshment committee. The events are held
in the large Forum in the college cultural center, but
could be held anywhere.
For the kickoff, we put together exhibits and photos showing our classes,
day trips, etc. along with examples such as foreign studies artifacts,
baskets made in a class, Great Books display, etc. We had a short program,
introducing instructors and their classes, and our Board of Directors.
We encouraged Q&A, and the Board members circulated throughout the
group, wearing a different colored name tag, so people would know who
they were.
Out of the 150 attending the kickoff, we acquired 25+ new members. Some
of those attending joined at a later date. We have had 4 kickoffs in the
last two years, 2 fall, 2 winter/spring, using the same format for each
kickoff. The more we do it, the easier it gets to produce. Each time,
we have boosted our membership.
We have gone from 70 members two years ago, to 225 now and we and growing.
We attribute most of that growth to our kickoff efforts, and the word-of-mouth
memberships they generate.
Our theory is that the new memberships offset the costs of the kickoffs
and adds to our publicity to get the word out about us and bring more
members in the future. We are already planning our kickoff in August for
our fall 2000 classes and hope to add more folks to our membership.
We have a great deal of competition for members, since we are in the
Washington, DC area, which has a very active, well-established LRI at
a University near us, as well as two more in DC, along with courses and
trips offered by the Smithsonian, Senior Centers and Counties, so we think
we are doing very well!
• We select courses that can generate some interesting “follow-up”
activities. For example, our classes on Creative Writing have spawned
a writing club or two. Our course on Genealogy has developed
several genealogy researchers. Our classes on Finance and Investing for
Seniors has spawned 4 investment clubs and another is
pending. Over 100 members are more knowledgeable investors than they were
before. We constantly run Beginning Computer courses, etc.
• Many persons come into LIR because we offer some activities such
as plant tours, etc., that are not part of a regular agenda.
• Critique the courses being offered. Make course changes in terms
of overall goals: more members? more academic? more fun? more social?
a stronger core group?
• They may be offering courses that no one is interested in or that
are available elsewhere.
• For our group, the courses have been the key. The most popular
courses are related to southern
Illinois or computers. We have a husband and wife team
that do southern Illinois history in a story telling form. This has brought
in new numbers for the group. Southern Illinois Indians was also very
popular, as well as the unique history of the college
president (a controversial figure) from the 50's and
60's. This is all to make my point that the courses that are unique to
our area have drawn the most publicity and the greatest number of people
to our group.
Gather Information
• Talk to the members they do have, find out what they want, what
they like and don't like.
• Call those who sign up for classes and then don't come to find
out why they don't come.
• If they were selling soap and getting disappointing results, they
would take a poll and find out why. They must have some kind of feedback,
what is it? If it's not adequate they better find out more. There was
one reply with recommendations that might help but until they understand
the disease, they won't know whether to operate or give an antibiotic.
• They have to contact some of the people who may have expressed
interest but have not become involved and find out why.
• Have they polled their members to get ideas for study groups;
and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, if they have, have they then followed through on
these suggestions?
• It sounds like there may not be enough interest to establish and
maintain an LLI at that site. However, they surely must have an
assessment of the potential population, their interests and needs.
Some LLIs (like the one in Waukesha, WI that is affiliated with the Technical
Institute) serve a blue-collar population rather than
a professional one and therefore design their classes to be
less academic including bridge, crafts, etc.
• If their population is rural, their interests should be assessed
and served. If it offers something that they want, they'll come.
• When looking for ways to improve growth and publicity - it would
be helpful to know all about the community - what media exists there -
is it a "one corporation town" - farm community - what educational
facilities exist - religious organizations in town etc. Also the population
demographics - old and young. Not every PR plan fits every community.
• Think back to the last time everything was O.K. (or close to it),
after which things started to go wrong. Why were things good, and then
why did they turn bad? If they can pinpoint the critical time of transition
and what really happened, that can at least be a starting point of self-
examination. If they can never go back far enough to when anything was
O.K. then the premise for starting the program was suspect from the beginning.
Get Help
• We have excellent support from both the local paper and a “Senior
Times” which publishes both pictures and stories as news.
• Work with local senior centers and similar groups (Y's, church
senior groups, AARP) to find out what they are going. Don't compete --
learn and cooperate.
• Are there other LLI's in the geographic area? Visit them, ask
for help.
• Try to get individuals involved in planning and other activities?
One of my favorite quotes from when I was involved in another volunteer
organization was, "You can't be down on what you're up
on". The other was, "People don't like to be should upon".
So - - how are they involving people so that they feel they are up on
what the organization is doing, and are they, by chance, telling people
they should be doing this or that?
• We are very rural and it was a little slow to start off, but now
we are growing and we anticipate 200 members by the
end of the year. Is it possible for this group to receive a list of the
emeritus faculty and staff from the college? This is a good mailing list
to start with.
• The local extension office through the land grant University has
been very helpful in publicizing information for us. We mailed to all
local churches. Some were supportive, some not. The core group is very
important to start the group.
• We started with approximately nine people, but found that at least
three of that group were not accomplishing the goals.
We found replacements for them and all is going well at this point and
we are working on all positions on all committees being rotated every
three years.
• We used the services of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
to help plan the organization and marketing of the program, the concept
being that the LLI is really a small business. SCORE helped design protocols
or action plans, not only for start-up but for follow-up too that
have helped make the LLI strong and vigorous.
• Call together a core of volunteers and have a brain-storming session.
Map out a plan of attack that addresses the issue from
several different angles.
• Get the college involved. Get their mailing list of alumni who
still live in the area and/or their mailing list from the Development
Office.
• Talk to the Development officer at the college. Recruiting money
or members, both have certain commonalities.
Miscellaneous Suggestions
• Write newspaper articles
• Advertise in City section of paper
• Advertise in give-away neighborhood papers and magazines
• Mail brochures
• Offer a free week of attendance at any of courses
• Print bookmarks with phone number, fax, web site & other pertinent
info & leave them at libraries
• Do interview on local FM radio station
• Write editorial for college alumni newspaper
• Leave brochures in doctors offices, grocery stores, dentist offices,
libraries, wherever seniors gather.
• Website and Forum listserv.
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May 17, 2008
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