The Oklahoma Bar Journal August 2023

M embership E ngagement

Meet the OBA Membership Engagement Committee

By Tim DeClerck and April Moaning

T HE MEMBERSHIP Engagement Committee was formed in late 2021 with the aim of helping the OBA better engage its members through improved communication and promot ing the value of the benefits the association provides to its members. April Moaning and I were appointed co-chairs of the committee. We were pleased to be appointed because we both under stand the benefits provided by the OBA, and we enjoy the commu nity the association provides to Oklahoma lawyers. We wanted to help the association learn what its members want from the OBA. After discussions with OBA

committee worked with Fastcase to develop two OBA-specific training sessions – basic and advanced – that launched in fall 2022. The training sessions showed members how to get the most out of Fastcase – a great research platform available to all members at no cost. The com mittee worked with the OBA CLE Department to ensure the trainings qualified for MCLE and with the OBA Communications Department to publicize the availability of the trainings. The survey, publicity and training were a success! As a result, Fastcase usage by OBA members has increased by nearly 10% so far this year. More desire to engage with OBA membership led the commit tee to create two more targeted surveys in early 2023. One survey was developed to determine how our members want the OBA to communicate its programs, bene fits and CLE information to them. The other survey sought the opin ions of our members about how to make the OBA Annual Meeting more relevant to all members. Both surveys received hundreds of responses and at least a 5-10% response rate, which is considered a healthy response. The surveys have directly led to action being taken by the associ ation based on the opinions and preferences you expressed. You

staff and other committee mem bers, we determined that to figure out how to improve member experience, we needed to know what the membership wants out of its association. The committee, with OBA staff support, helped develop a wide-ranging mem bership survey that would help identify our members’ likes and dislikes about the association as well as what offerings and ser vices our members want. One result the survey showed was that the member benefit Fastcase free legal research plat form was underutilized and, in some cases, unknown by mem bers. With that information, the

The committee, with OBA staff support, helped develop a wide-ranging membership survey that would help identify our members’ likes and dislikes about the association as well as what offerings and services our members want.

56 | AUGUST 2023

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL