Best Practices: Leadership Responsibilities, Roles and Relationships

Conference

• Invite speakers that appeal to a wide audience.
• Involve students in conferences and meetings to seek active participation in event organization.
• Provide consistency in conference location by contracting with a reputable convention center location.
• Book your convention site location for 2–3 years in a row, so that your affiliate has time to dedicate to other initiates.
• Seek a venue such as a university that could provide a cost-free location for events.
• At the conference, provide a rich academic program, a balanced exhibit area, and a social/cultural event.
• Provide “clock hours” for professional development for K–12 instructors.
• For your conference planning group members, provide a handbook with specific roles and responsibilities.
• Skype conferences.
• Seek sponsors who can provide financial support to pay for the costs of conference fees such as lunches, dinners, etc.
• Provide a large annual conference that would move to different locations throughout your state or country.
• Provide one miniconference (December) and one annual conference (May).
• At your annual conference, hold a “special event” to increase new membership.
• Have a raffle for a “free conference registration and hotel package deal.”
• Offer a free cultural event.
• Offer a discount for members.

Membership

• Survey members annually and discuss the findings at board meeting (using SurveyMonkey, etc.).
• To increase membership, create a section on the website for “Benefits of Membership.”
• Develop “board member benefits” such as providing funds to attend state, regional, or national conferences.
• At your annual conference, provide a booth for your affiliate to promote and discuss member benefits.
• Members receive monthly communication from the state affiliate communications chairperson.
• Provide 1 free year of membership for new ESL-endorsed/licensed teachers.
• Dedicate a specific month each year for a “new membership” drive.
• Include “membership fee” in the conference registration, when applicable.
• Provide an “open house” and invite nonmembers to participate for the first open meeting each year.
• Appoint a member to be in charge of an “interest section” and set up monthly or quarterly interest section workshops or meetings.
• Allow each member to choose one primary interest section.
• Elicit the help of your current members to recruit one new member by word of mouth.
• To attract new members, have a drawing for a few free affiliate memberships.
• Host four general meetings each year that are open to all members.
• Divide your affiliate into two separate affiliates, K–12 and university + other.
• Establish a strong and clear line of communication with members.
• Offer a “lifetime membership” fee.

Grants/Scholarships

• Provide mini-grants. Recipients report back by writing a summary of their grant-funded project/activity for the affiliate newsletter.
• Offer travel grants.
• Offer one or more graduate student awards/scholarships.
• Offer a student award that would be presented at the state conference.
• If funding is available, increase the amount of your travel grants and scholarships.
• Award scholarships to high school students who are current or former ESL students.
• Provide awards, scholarships, and grants “for members only.”
• Establish criteria on how to provide “seed money” for regional representatives to set up meetings and engage members across the state or country.

Website/Historical Data

• Scan past information such as agendas, board minute meetings, and so on to post in an archival section on the affiliate website.
• Use an online membership database that is connected to the affiliate website.
• Create an area on your website for institutional history.
• Provide quarterly “lesson plan sharing” in a newsletter or website format.
• Purchase software to link membership and conference registration information to your affiliate website.
• Post all conference information on your website.
• Create a “members only” entry site with a section for online discussions, messages, an online journal, and so on.
• Seek sponsors who can provide financial support to pay for the costs of conference fees.
• Appoint a website manager who is responsible for keeping the website updated.
• Create an e-newsletter.

Advocacy

• Appoint a member as a lobbyist to get involved at the state level.
• Hire a lobbyist at the state level.
• International affiliates seek U.S. Embassy or British Council sponsorships, meet together, and update the website with any new information.
• Reach out by sponsoring an “English by radio” program
• Affiliates could make contributions to local groups who support Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the "Dreamers", a demographic profile of immigrants who might benefit from the Obama Administration’s DACA, and so on.
• Establish one advocacy initiative each year and elicit support from your members.
• Affiliates could provide funding for Dreamers to attend leadership training sessions.

Other

• Offer monthly workshops (events) for teachers.
• Offer at least one event/program per year for each group that is represented in your affiliate (elementary, secondary, higher education, literacy councils, etc.).
• Get involved with other local associations with similar missions.
• Offer credits for professional development.
• Select a broad range of board members with various backgrounds/expertise.
• Encourage your members to publish in a TESOL-related journal. Present their published work at the annual convention.
• Provide speakers who travel throughout the state, region, and country and offer professional development opportunities for teachers at workshops.
• Promote the TESOL International conventions.
• Increase your affiliate exposure by setting up a Facebook and Twitter account.
• Provide a newsletter or journal that is distributed to your affiliate members.
• Request embassy grants to attend conferences.
• Design surveys to find out the needs of your members.
• Form a connection with your local affiliates and TESOL International.
• Establish an investment fund for financial stability.
• Solicit articles from conference presenters for publication in an affiliate journal.
• Set up chapter meetings that could reach and support members who live in various locations.
• Collaborate with the Ministry of Education.