Dear XXXXX,
We have some exciting changes being made right now! Please make sure to read this email all the way to the end and let me know if you have any questions.
SPOTLIGHT TABLE CHANGES
We now will have only 1 Spotlight Table available per meeting starting on the May 9th meeting. Spotlight Tables will have 15 minutes to present about your business, how you got started and/or your passion. You will have a 6 foot table to set up a display of your products and/or services. Price has increased from $20 to $27 and this is a limited introductory offer. The price will probably go up in a few months but it depends on how often and quickly they sell out.
PRIZE DRAW CHANGES
We will continue to do this on a quarterly basis. Instead of just a cash prize option, the winner will have a choice of one of the following. Once a prize has been selected, it cannot be selected again until the remaining options are exhausted.
- FREE Cash Prize (about $50 value)
- FREE Spotlight Table ($27 value)
- FREE Featured Membership ($55 value)
- FREE Paid Membership ($35 value)
MEMBERSHIP CHANGES
This is going to be rolled out very soon. The membership dues will be increasing and we will have some new membership levels as well. This is more of a heads up announcement so please don't do any of the changes now. I will send out another email once everything is done and ready for people to upgrade.
All levels (except the free one) are changing and I will disable auto renewals for all the old membership levels. You are welcome to wait until your membership is coming up for renewal. However, what I would LOVE is if you can update your membership to the appropriate level that works for you sooner rather than later. I need you to do this EVEN IF IT IS BASICALLY THE SAME LEVEL YOU WERE AT BEFORE.
The system that I use isn't as smart as I want it to be so I have to do it this way to make it work. Normally, you can't change your membership until a month before your renewal date. I am going to remove this limit so you can update your level sooner than that. There is no way to prorate the membership so what I will do INSTEAD is push out your renewal date for a year plus whatever the number of months left on your current membership. I will also give you an extra TWO MONTHS as a thank you for updating. See the example below the new membership descriptions.
There will still be a FREE MEMBERSHIP which is assigned after someone attends our meeting for the first time. Free Members get invites to our meetings and other events. They also have to manually renew their membership (log into your account and click a few buttons) every 6 months. They can do this as many times as they want for now. Eventually, people will not renew and then they are removed from the database.
The PAID MEMBERSHIP will have a new name! It will now be called the BRONZE MEMBERSHIP and the new cost is $39 per year. This is only a $4 increase since 2018 which was a year after I first implemented dues. The perks remain the same at this level which is access to the Spotlight Tables, listed in our membership directory, and a discount on a travel consultation fee.
The FEATURED MEMBERSHIP level will now be the SILVER MEMBERSHIP! Again, all the perks remain the same which are the same as the Bronze level PLUS you get to publish a web page on our website. It remains on our website until you decide not to stay at this membership level. It serves as your digital business card and we use it when we refer people to your business. This level will now cost $59 per year.
NEW LEVEL! If you want to eliminate your per meeting fee of $5, this is the level for you! It is called the GOLD MEMBERSHIP and it has all the perks of the previous levels but this one INCLUDES all the meeting fees for the year. I calculated that we have about 22 meetings per year which equals $121 for the year in meeting fees. If you attend at least 66% of the meetings over the year, you will save money with this membership level! Plus, our organization will save on credit card processing fees as well. This membership level will only be $119 per year.
NEW LEVEL! If you want to eliminate your per meeting fee of $5 AND you want to be a Featured Member, this is the level for you! It is called the PLATINUM MEMBERSHIP and will cost just $139 per year.
I will also revamp my admin membership levels and costs as well but they have already been informed of these changes.
EXAMPLE: You are currently a Paid Member. Your renewal date is March 10, 2023. You want to stay at the same level with the same perks as before. You will log into your account and follow the steps for changing your membership level. You will select the Bronze Membership and pay the membership fee. This should automatically set your renewal date to 1 year from the date you pay. Let's say you updated it on June 1, 2022 so your new renewal date will be June 1, 2023. This leaves 9 months extra that was already paid for. I will add two more months to this so your new renewal date will be May 10, 2024.
Trust me, it is a good deal. :) Let me know if you have any questions about anything!
~Monica~
