PRESENTATION TO THE INFORMS BOARD

Aug 7, 2006

Informs Membership Committee

Strategies for Group Memberships

AGENDA

Introduction & Motivation

Group Membership

Tell-a-Friend Campaign

Corporate Membership

Memberships in Developing Countries

MOTIVATION

New ways to stimulate and expand our membership base

Possible new revenue streams

Greater exposure to wider audience

Provide more options to our current members

Group Memberships

Exploring the possibility of an Informs Group Membership

GROUP DISCOUNT ON MEMBERSHIP

Multiple members join concurrently as part of an organization

Goal = increase membership without hurting revenue

Offer group rate to each institution to overcome…

Concern about cost

Negligence

PROCESS TO EVALUATE

Identify key questions and possible answers

Collect data

• Informal survey

• Survey to ACORD Members

Create simple spreadsheet model of impact on membership and revenue

GROUP MEMBERSHIP ANALYSISCurrent Membership (2005)

Members Revenue

Practice Member 3,039 $ 1,034,020

Academic Member - Regular 4,964 $ 2,210,087

Academic Member - Student 2,127 $ 153,166

TOTAL 10,130 $ 3,397,273

Breakeven

Discount 20%

Discount to existing member $ 67.07

Gross margin from new member $ 184.45

# new required per existing 0.36

Assumptions:

• Gross Margin 75%

• Discount applied to:• Membership• Subdivisions• Publications• Annual Meeting• Practice Meeting

• See attached spreadsheet model for details

Group Discount Analysis

Discount Rate

Discount to existing member

# of new members required per

existing member

5% $ 16.77 0.07

10% $ 33.54 0.15

15% $ 50.31 0.25

20% $ 67.07 0.36

25% $ 83.84 0.50

30% $ 100.61 0.67

35% $ 117.38 0.88

40% $ 134.15 1.14

45% $ 150.92 1.50

50% $ 167.68 2.00

New Members Required Per Existing Member

-

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Total Discount

GROUP MEMBERSHIP ANALYSIS

RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATION

Group Memberships may not be a feasible option for INFORMS

Academic Departments Chairs have not request the ability to sign up their departments

Tell-a-Friend Campaign

“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make them my friends?”

Abraham Lincoln

Tell-a-Friend Campaign

When current INFORMS members renew their membership, they can sign up a new member at the same time.

Tell-a-Friend Incentive Options Single vs. multi-year options

• Smaller incentive for 1-year membership; larger for 2-3 year signup

• Allows conference networking and journal familiarity to take root

Discounts

• First __ months free access to PubsOnline – low cost, sink the hook

Joint memberships with other professional organizations

• IIE, APICS, ASA, etc.

• Reduce total membership cost, increase joint revenue

Tell-a-Friend Incentive Options (con’t)

Chapters to run local drives

• Boost chapter fees to fund activities

• ASA example: http://www.amstat.org/membership/cgm/index.cfm

Prize drawing

• Referrer’s name in hat for each new member

• Fewer, significant prizes to create buzz, without large total cost

• Ex: Conference fee waived, conference airfare for sig other, etc.

• Ex: “Science of Better” coffee cup for all referrers

See attached rough-cut model for “ability to incent” Microsoft Excel Worksheet

Prize ExpensesQty Value Cost Expense

Conference fee waiver 1 $950 $950 $950Conference flight 2 $500 $500 $1,0001 year PubsOnline subscription (max 100) 100 $190 $40 $4,000"Science of Better" coffee cups for all referrers 203 $5 $10 $2,026Total expense $7,976

Regular Student Practice Total49% 21% 30% 100%

Current membership (2005) 4,964 2,127 3,039 10,130

Percent of current members referring a new member 2.0%Referrals as new members 99 43 61 203

Margin contribution per new member $334 $54 $255 (from Group Membership model)Probability that new member would have joined anyway 50% 50% 50%New margin contribution due to tell-a-friend event $16,579 $1,149 $7,749 $25,477

Net Gains $17,501

Tell-a-Friend Prize Drawing Option

Pct Referring Net Gains0.1% ($1,183)0.3% $3521.0% $5,7752.0% $17,5013.0% $29,2265.0% $52,677

Breakeven @ 0.3% referral rate

Qty Value Cost ExpenseConference fee waiver 1 $950 $950 $950Conference flight 2 $500 $500 $1,0001 year PubsOnline subscription (max 100) 100 $190 $40 $4,000"Science of Better" coffee cups for all referrers 203 $5 $10 $2,026Total expense $7,976

Membership Gains Academic AcademicRegular Student Practice Total

49% 21% 30% 100%Current membership (2005) 4,964 2,127 3,039 10,130

Percent of current members referring a new member 2.0%Referrals as new members 99 43 61 203

Margin contribution per new member $334 $54 $255 (from Group Membership model)Probability that new member would have joined anyway 50% 50% 50%New margin contribution due to tell-a-friend event $16,579 $1,149 $7,749 $25,477

Net Gains $17,501

July 7, 2005

Corporate Memberships

Exploring the possibility of an Informs Corporate Membership

PROPOSAL

Explore the possibility a Corporate Membership option for INFORMS membership

Greater visibility within the Informs community Access to Informs resources and expertise Ease of membership application/payment Collaboration Opportunities

To INFORMS:

To the Corporation:

Value Proposition

Increased revenue Increased awareness of the society at a corporate level Greater Membership Options for members Greater recognition of the profession

INFORMS Current Company MembershipEmployer

1 IBM

2 United States Army

3SAS Institute Incorporated

4 United States Air Force

5 Mitre Corporation

6 Boeing Company

7 Booz Allen & Hamilton

8 Intel Corporation

9United States Military Academy

10 ILOG Incorporated

11United States Air Force Academy

12General Motors Corporation

13 AT&T Laboratories

14 Hewlett Packard

15 United States Navy

16 American Airlines

17Lockheed Martin Corporation

18 United Parcel Service

19 IBM Research

20IBM TJ Watson Research Center

To

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Number of Members

Number of Companies

Percent of total

Percent with greater than one member

greater than 30 5 0.3% 1.5%

between 25 and 30 3 0.2% 0.9%

between 20 and 25 3 0.2% 0.9%

between 15 and 20 7 0.4% 2.1%

between 10 and 15 14 0.8% 4.1%

9 3 0.2% 0.9%

8 7 0.4% 2.1%

7 12 0.7% 3.5%

6 17 1.0% 5.0%

5 17 1.0% 5.0%

4 30 1.8% 8.8%

3 63 3.7% 18.6%

2 158 9.3% 46.6%

1 1357 80.0%  

Total 1696 100.0% 100.0%

Possible Corporate Membership

• Included # of Memberships into the society

• Additional discounts for subsequent members

• Hard copy of all journals/access to pubs online?

• Logo on promotional material or website

• Special Event for Corporate Members

• Discount at conferences

• Discount on publicationsRoundtable Membership:• $1500/year• Separate conference and reception• One Informs Membership Included• Membership in CPMS• $100 discount for conference fees• No other discounts/memberships

Other Societies Offering Corporate MembershipsOrganization Abbr/Link

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics AIAA

American Institute of Architects AIA

American Management Society AMA

American Mathematical Society AMS

American Society for Quality ASQ

American Statistical Association ASA

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (Roundtable) INFORMS

Institute of Business Forecasting IBF

Institute of Industrial Engineers IIE

National Society of Professional Engineers NSPE

Operations Research Society of Japan ORSJ

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics SIAM

Microsoft Word Document

Benchmark report of Other Societies(click icon to open, in non-viewer mode)

July 7, 2005

Memberships in Developing Nations

Exploring the possibility of an Informs Corporate Membership

Memberships for Developing Nations

Should INFORMS institute some form of low cost electronic-only membership for people from countries that are identified in

some way as developing nations?

APPENDIX

July 20, 2006

INFORMS INFORMS Membership CommitteeMembership Committee

Membership Committee Members

Susan AlbinProfessor and Director of the Graduate Program in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Rutgers University

Richard Barr Chair, Dept. of Engineering Management, Information and Systems, Southern Methodist University

John Neale Director of Research, Optiant Inc.

Anne Robinson, ChairManufacturing Manager, Demand Planning, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Jim Williams Operations Research Mgr, Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods

Membership Committee Members

Jacquie JohnsDirector of Finance and Member Services, INFORMS

Barry List Director of Marketing and Public Relations, INFORMS

Bob ShieldsMembership Services Manager, INFORMS

Rick RosenthalProfessor of Operations Research, Naval Postgraduate School