The Chapter of the Year Award is bestowed to a NAPO Chapter, which, by its achievements, goes above and beyond to further the ideals and mission of NAPO. This Chapter provides its members with opportunities to develop leadership skills, prioritize camaraderie and support between and for members, and participate in community outreach projects by utilizing its professional and corporate members’ talents. This award recipient is selected by the Awards & Recognition Committee.

The celebrated winner of the Chapter of the Year Award for 2021 was the NAPO Houston Chapter. How did the Houston Chapter stand out amongst their peers to earn this award? Here is some insight, as provided by then Chapter President, Lisa Hettinger.

Your statistics well reflect your efforts to secure and retain all levels of membership. What do you consider your most successful process for this area?

NAPO Houston has a strong New Member Onboarding Process. The Onboarding Process includes the following: 

• New Member 90-Day Buddy—new members are mentored by more experienced organizers for 90 days.
• Newbie Organizing Group—new members meet with a small group of 3-4 other newbies.
• Quarterly New Organizer Meetups—new members meet quarterly with other new members.

What do you consider your biggest challenge in this area?

NAPO Houston’s biggest challenge in membership retention is participation at our monthly meetings. Because the Houston metropolitan is so large and traffic can be congested, we generally have about 50% of our membership at our monthly meetings. However, virtual meetings have allowed us to raise this number. In addition, because of the geographical limitations, we hold several Neighborhood Group Meetings (NGMs) which allow our members to gather with each other closer to home.

83% of your meetings were CEU eligible last year. Was this a result of CEU consideration being strongly included in your approach for program planning? What are other factors you consider?

NAPO Houston’s approach to program planning is dictated by our members. We regularly survey our members.

NAPO Houston intentionally sets CEU goals for our monthly meetings. Our goal for 2020-2021 was 80% CEU-worthy programming. We exceeded our goal with 83% CEU-worthy meetings. This is possible, in part, because our business-building curriculum is available outside of our monthly meetings, at our annual Back 2 Business Workshop. By covering subjects such as social media, administration, financial, legal, and other business topics at this annual 8-hour workshop, we have more time for more CEU-worthy content in our monthly meetings.

Your number of Business Partner members is impressive! What is your Chapter’s approach to outreach with Business Partners in your area, and how do you stay engaged with them?

NAPO Houston loves their business partners. At the time of winning Chapter of the Year, we had 14 business partners. Seven of these business partners were gained during the pandemic. NAPO Houston has a robust list of business partner benefits, including social media and newsletter promotion, meeting recognition and more. We also invite our business partners to our meetings. We have an average of 3-4 business partners in attendance at every meeting. Our business partner recruitment process is two-fold. We invite potential business partners to our annual Vendor Fair where the businesses can meet our organizers. If the business is a good fit, we invite them to become business partners. We also glean business partners from our Member Resource List, a list where members share the names of their favorite service providers. These service providers often translate into business partners.

The Houston Chapter has a healthy Social Media presence. How do you measure the success of your social media presence?

NAPO Houston has a public social media presence utilizing Instagram and Facebook. At the time of our Chapter of the Year win, we had 555 Instagram followers and 656 Facebook followers. During our GO Month Campaign, our members shared organizing “Tips and Tricks” videos, one per day for 30 days. This successful campaign brought us a total reach of 4,651 with 543 reactions and 143 comments, shares, or other interactions.

NAPO Houston has a private Facebook Member Forum. Members interact with this forum on a daily basis. The main conversations include members seeking vendor recommendations, job assistance and product ideas, as well as welcoming new members and organizer recognition.

The open window for accepting nominations for COTY will announced soon. We encourage all Chapter Board members to submit a nomination form for their Chapter (one nomination form per Chapter)!

About the Author: Pam Bowers is the current Chair of NAPO’s Awards and Recognition Committee. A member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter, Pam is the owner of Chaos Pros, LLC and has been a NAPO Member since 2007.