Well it seems that the call for cost-saving ideas has been well returned in the form of both resolutions and the new two-day HOD meeting format. We will all need to be well prepared to meet the challenges before us at that meeting!

This year is really living up to the prediction, "2000, the year of change." With that, I've heard a lot of advice lately. "That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" seems to be the prevailing theme. Unfortunately, this absolutely will not work when it comes to our membership! If we don't get stronger in membership, it will kill us! This is serious, folks.

As I see it, each RCP is a piece of a puzzle. Some of us have put our pieces together, but our puzzle is only 30% complete. Others are still wondering where their piece fits. It's our job as leaders to share the picture of what the puzzle-or big picture- will look like, with all the pieces together: complete, or the vision. It's up to us to show others, encourage and help them to find the perfect fit for their piece of the professional membership puzzle. Emphasize how very important everyone's piece is to the whole. Without them, the picture will never be complete; there will be a hole.

The HOD officers and BOD have been working on a one-to-one phone system to follow up with lapsed members and personally welcome new members. This really is just one piece of the membership puzzle work that has begun. My lists showed 55 unpaid past members, while the new member list showed 11 new members. Scary huh? Our puzzle will never be complete if we continue to lose pieces.

It appears from Executive Office feedback that, despite this, membership is presently stable. That's a big thank you to everyone for their work on membership recruitment and retention, state society member/ non-member registration fee differentials, membership drives, personal appeals and utilizing all the other ideas and tools from the membership committee's packet. I continue to hear about returning members from the program director ranks, mostly, because they were personally asked. Now we need to get more RC dept. mangers to follow suit. Having these two roles that people respect and look to as professional examples would be a good influence for others. Why not ask yours?

Still another piece is building AARC membership into job descriptions, applicant screenings, and getting the AARC into our everyday conversations with our peers, students, and co-workers: "Have you heard about the _________ that the AARC is working on right now?"

When we have the opportunity, promote what RCPs do to our neighbors and other social contacts, so that slowly we emerge from being unknown by the public. Be even more proud of our "RCPship", talk it up, teach others about what it is we do for our communities. Share our puzzle picture with them. If RCPs feel they are missing the recognition and respect they want, there is really no one else to fault but ourselves. It's our big picture; the pieces to our puzzle are within our own hands.

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