UCWN member Susan Metzger, Director of Research at Renaissance Research & Consulting, Inc., donated her time, energy, and resources to conduct a preferences survey of active as well as former and potential members of UCWN who comprise our data base. Forty-five women completed all the survey questions, out of some 470 names who were emailed the questionnaire by UCWN President Leslie Snow.
As Susan suggested, given the response rate of 10%, the results should be viewed as qualitative and suggestive (like a series of research focus groups) rather than quantitative and conclusive. Nevertheless, a great deal of insight can be gleaned from this type of research to be relayed to the advisory committee for its consideration when developing strategy and planning future events.
The key findings from the survey
UCWN is very special to most of the survey respondents. It is a socializing meet-up and networking group that fosters friendships and creates a community of interesting women who live in Ulster County and surrounding areas. It offers gatherings for fun and educational talks on a variety of topics.
UCWN has a diverse set of members, as well as former members and prospective ones on the mailing list (“friends” who have either attended as members’ guests or indicated interest). Survey takers comprise women who are working, retired, volunteer, entrepreneurs, and creatives (artists, writers, musicians, crafters and garden experts). As such, those who took the survey have a variety of preferences.
Some survey participants would like UCWN to offer more business-oriented event topics in order to enhance their knowledge and help client acquisition, while others are seeking mainly social interaction and enjoy subject matters that broaden their horizons, offer stimulating ideas, and help with goal planning. Some others enjoy the no-presenter happy hour gatherings that focus on meeting fellow members for networking and socializing purposes. UCWN currently presents a balance of all these interests and hopefully will continue to respond to relevancy for members.
One of the themes of the research findings was the interest in going beyond the monthly meetings.
As such, based on the survey, we are proposing a number of other ways to go beyond the monthly meetings:
- Create an online business and professional directory for members, but possibly available to non-members:
- Not surprisingly, those associated with UCWN are interesting and engage in projects and business that potentially have wide-ranging interests and value to other members, as well as to a broader base of area women.
- The directory could also be presented as a perk of membership and might also encourage more paid membership, as it increases the members’ ability to network even if unable to attend a given event.
Having this directory might be particularly well received to those who would like the organization to be more business and professionally oriented and could even serve as a way for business and professional members to find each other!
- Meet more than once a month on an ad hoc basis for salons or sub-groups, in addition to scheduled monthly events, which are usually held on the second Tuesday of the month, but are moveable; and
- Hold online interactions for the benefit of those who cannot physically attend a meeting and/or want to have more frequent interactions with others in this group than just once a month.
Attendance is affected by factors that include the event topic, which is the key determinant, followed by availability, location, type of restaurant, and weather.
Most of the respondents are at least “somewhat satisfied” with UCWN, while 20% are either “extremely satisfied” or “very satisfied.” The reasons given as to why some are not sufficiently satisfied are: topics that are sometimes not of interest to them, venues and driving distance, costs for some restaurants selected, and time of meeting (lunch vs. dinner) that may not align with their work schedules.
Many would like to see women in UCWN support each other’s work more than they’re doing so far. UCWN is perceived currently by some respondents as more of a social group rather than a “networking group” as its name suggests.
Areas mentioned by members for the Advisory Committee to consider are as follows:
- Organize / Plan for the next decade;
- Define UCWN mission and purpose;
- Engage speakers who stretch our minds and are professional presenters sometimes outside this group, versus mostly in-network ones (both members and “friends”);
- Share information more than only making sales pitches;
- Provide more business-oriented talks;
- Organize some group outings: 1) day trips; 2) volunteer with others in the group; 3) a cooking club; 4) a gardening club; and 5) games, cards (non-bridge) and bridge clubs
We thank our fellow member Susan Metzger for lending her professional expertise to UCWN in formulating a preferences survey, collating and analyzing the responses, and delivering a report to our Advisory Committee. Special thanks to Rachel Jackson and Gloria Waslyn for managing this long-term project and for writing this summary.
We also thank our engaged membership for taking the time to fill out the survey. We will strive to meet the overall needs expressed in the report, as well as other suggestions made by you throughout the year, both formally and informally. Please add any ideas that occur to you at any time for the Advisory Committee to consider.