AnnualReport2020

2019 Membership Seminar

Shrine Association Meetings

for a humorous, yet powerful, glimpse of fraternal life, including conflict resolution, diversity, communication and servant leadership.

The Shriners International 2019 Membership Seminar was held in Tampa, Florida, Oct. 24 – 26. The successful annual event is dedicated to instruction and motivation centered on membership growth, and is supported by Shriners International Education Foundation. The “Just One Piece at a Time” theme emphasized solving the puzzle of increasing the ranks of active and engaged Shriners. The seminar featured classes, interactive roundtable discussions, and speakers focused on the 4Rs of membership development (Relationships, Recruitment, Retention and Restoration). The meeting provided ample networking time, and nobles were encouraged to share “Tell Your Story” accounts, offering best practices and recalling their membership development achievements. More than 300 people attended the event, including Shriners from 120 temples, and representatives of the Grand Lodges, Scottish Rite (NMJ and SJ), Daughters of the Nile and Ladies' Oriental Shrine of North America. The enthusiasm of attendees could be seen by overwhelming participation in the pre-con sessions, with inaugural pre-con workshops for MDS 101/201 and social media overflowing with participants. The Membership Executive Networking Party Committee, consisting of nobles and ladies, also conducted an interactive game night as an example of something temples could present to interest potential new members, furthering their own membership development efforts. Among the event’s highlights was Shriners Hospitals for Children Patient Ambassadors sharing their inspirational stories throughout the seminar to reinforce the connection between the fraternity and its philanthropy.

The business meetings for our Shrine associations are extremely important for our fraternity, and it is critical that temple Divan officers attend them. The business sessions allow Imperial officers to make presentations about hospital issues, membership, public relations, marketing and communications and more. Those attending have the chance to meet the candidates for Imperial Outer Guard. Participation at Shrine association meetings provides an opportunity for nobles to collaborate on membership ideas and resources and cultivate relationships with one another, which helps to increase and strengthen their own membership efforts. This year the coronavirus pandemic forced many of the spring association meetings to be canceled. However, association meetings that did go forward featured presentations focused on ways nobles can collaborate on Masonic family events, interest-based activities, club and unit development and community engagement. In addition, the meetings provided updates on our new BeaFreemason and BeaShrinerNow web platforms.

Fezcast: Resources for Shriners to Share is now into its second year. This monthly electronic newsletter provides Shriners with links and information to enhance and improve their communication efforts. It puts resources including videos, social media tips, toolkits and other content to share right into their hands. Strengthening our communication efforts will help us all better support the fraternity, as well as Shriners Hospitals for Children. Shriners International encourages all nobles to take advantage of all that Fezcast and Shriners Village have to offer.

Doing so helps everyone stay up-to-date on fraternity and philanthropy happenings.

Resources Help Build Connections New Uses for Video

A series of vignettes featuring some of our Shriners and their ladies was filmed, covering topics of interest to nobles. These 15- to 30-minute videos were released in phases throughout 2019. The first video was included with other resources, such as a “meeting-in-a-box” toolkit,

loaded on a flash drive and mailed to temple Recorders. The collection of resources helped temples add content and value to local meetings. In each video, the dynamic personalities bring their own experiences together

| JUST ONE: STRONGER TOGETHER 18