Hold family friendly association chapter events and watch attendance rise
Updated: Jul. 10, 2023 | Categories: Meetings/Events, Low Engagement
You do your best to make your association chapter events easy for all your members to attend – you schedule them at a time and location that works for most and you shift things around when you get feedback that things aren’t going as well as you thought they were. However, even with all that flexibility, for your chapter members with younger children, attending your association chapter events can still be difficult.
Finding childcare can be the difference between a member attending one of your events and not being able to. Whether it’s an association chapter monthly breakfast, Lunch and Learn or Networking happy hour, single-day educational session or a multiple day conference, attending events when you have kids that require supervision can require some extra planning. Finding a babysitter, especially an affordable one, can be difficult; forget looking for one last minute. And how can parents justify being away for a single day or multi-day conference?
Members want to participate in your chapter events, but for a number of reasons it can often be hard for them to get to your in-person ones; childcare shouldn’t be one of the reasons they give for not attending. Here are two ways to make your association chapter events more parent- and child-friendly.
Offer childcare
Depending on the size of your association chapter budget, you might be able to offer some form of childcare services at an event. Those with larger budgets can consider offering free association chapter childcare or providing subsidized care. For budgets that are small or non-existent, chapters can partner with a licensed daycare provider to organize onsite childcare programs that attendees pay for. Make it interesting and fun for the kids by connecting with providers that include games and other age-appropriate activities.
What if there isn’t enough interest to offer childcare?
If you’ve asked and it doesn’t seem like there is enough interest or need from potential event attendees for an association chapter childcare program, there is another option. Grants for childcare can help individual participants cover expenses, if they have to bring small children with them, or if they will have additional expenses if they leave their children home.
Attracting people, especially younger ones, to your association chapter events has always been a lot of work, with or without the issue of childcare. By offering association chapter childcare options, you’re taking an extra step that will be noticed, showing you care about your members and want to do what you can to make it easier for them to engage with your chapter.
Another option for association chapters with a limited budget is to hold an event somewhere like a park, winery with a playground, or a hotel pool where members can bring their children and keep an eye on them while also participating in your event.
Hold events where kids are can participate
Events where children can be active participants, like an association chapter picnic, or a chapter trip to a baseball game, can be a lot of fun for parents and kids. These tend to be more informal events with short adult interactions and more of a general focus on friends and family. Or with a little work and a larger budget, you could invite both parents and kids to a party, where they enjoy food, music and fun, with activities like face painting, a photo booth and a dance party.
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