The NEC in Detail: Director of Marketing and Communications and Director of Member Recruitment and Retention

This is the fourth in a series of posts describing the roles of the Editors Canada national executive council by Heather Buzila. This series is also available in French (cette série est également disponible en français). 

Following on my post about the roles of secretary and director of branches and twigs, each month, I’ll give you an overview of two national executive council (NEC) directors’ duties and responsibilities.  

This post will focus on the roles of director of marketing and communications and director of member recruitment and retention. 

Director of marketing and communications

Effective internal and external communications and marketing are essential for the success and healthy functioning of Editors Canada. The volunteer who fills the role of the director of marketing and communications facilitates this by liaising with the national office (specifically the senior communications manager) and the marketing and communications committee, as well as reporting on the committee’s major campaigns and goals to the NEC. 

The ideal person for this position is enthusiastic, conscientious, and able and willing to follow through on new ideas related to marketing and communications. Experience in the field is an asset, but it is not required — as long as the volunteer is excited to learn new skills, lack of experience is not a drawback.

The director of marketing and communications oversees the marketing and communications committee as they complete specific projects designed to promote the association to current and potential members. The director may attend monthly committee meetings or meetings with smaller groups focused on specific goals (e.g., social media). If the committee creates or revises marketing and communications documents (e.g., handbooks), the director may help edit the documents and will facilitate NEC review and approval. 

This director also oversees The Editors’ Weekly and its volunteer editorial team. They provide final approval of blog posts before the posts are published and take requests or concerns to the NEC as needed.

Director of member recruitment and retention

The director of member recruitment and retention is a relatively new director role (established in 2019), with the goal of increasing Editors Canada membership numbers. They monitor internal and external membership trends, make recommendations about attracting and retaining members and work with various committees to promote membership goals. This may include attending committee meetings to encourage membership engagement. 

The ideal volunteer for this role is a team player and an active listener. A sense of humour is also a great quality to have! While it’s not a requirement, being comfortable communicating in French is a definite asset: it allows the director to connect with people in both languages to discover more about what members are looking for. 

This director spends much of their time learning what members want and expect from the association and finding ways to keep members engaged. This might include looking into a new member benefit based on members’ suggestions or working with a task force (such as the former insurance task force) or a committee to create a new member service. They also address questions from new and returning members about their membership.

Currently, the director of member recruitment and retention oversees the mentorship committee, but committees can be moved to different directors based on interest or time commitments. 

Upcoming role descriptions

In my next post, I’ll focus on the roles of director of professional standards and director of publications. 

If you have any questions about the director positions or would like more information, please email me at pastpresident@editors.ca. 

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Previous post from Heather Buzila: The NEC in Detail: Secretary and Director of Branches and Twigs

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