Metrics - How do we gauge progress?

Keeping up with the theme of "Lessons Learned" I want to write
about measuring progress in an organization, a fledgling one at
that. Previously, we mistook progress to mean the number of
events staged. This is certainly a good metric to understand the
activeness of the organization but it is not an indicator of growth
or success.

A better measure of growth is membership or subscriber size. Even more
importantly, it is the growth in active membership. In
a dues-paying system, members who pay their annual dues can be
considered active members. Foregoing the due-paying model, we are
left with few choices of tracking membership. The number of unique
e-mail addresses in the mailing list can be substitued for a due-paying
roster. Unfortunately it includes passive and active members alike.
Perhaps a refinement to the mailing list model can also help us distinguish
between active and passive members. Otherwise a more innovative technique
will need to be conceived to track active membership.

Furthermore, a definition is in order of an active member. A person who
attends 50% of the events can be considered active. Members around the
25 and 75 percentile mark can be considered somewhat active and very active,
respectively. At a later point, we may want to expand the definition to include
other contributions to the organization besides event attendance as a measure
of activeness.

Since CAMPDC can be considered as starting from scratch, the primary
goal of the board members should be to make it grow. We should set
a bar for Q1 of 2007 that should be met or exceeded in terms of the
number of members and then work diligently towards achieving it.

What should that magic number be?

Event of Interest: Breakfast - State of Private Equity in Pakistan

Date: Nov. 18th 2006 State of Private Equity in Pakistan (Breakfast) Join us in discussing the dynamics of the nascent and promising private equity investment initiatives in Pakistan. Expert Panelists include: Javed Hamid - Senior Advisor, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Bert van der Vaart - President and CEO, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds at SEAF Discussion Items: Key players investing in Pakistan or interested in investing in Pakistan Current sector focus Expected growth markets in the future over next 2 to 3 years and next 5 to 10 years Opportunities for Pakistani American entrepreneurs The significance of investing in Pakistan from a regional perspective (India, Central Asia, Dubai, Turkey). Lessons from similarly situated countries Time: 9:30am to 12:00pm Venue: Sheraton National Hotel 900 S. Orme Street Arlington, VA 22204 To register and learn more, visit our web site at http://www.openwashingtondc.org.

Update on Seminar

Well at this point we received very positive reactions about the powerworkshops by Muhammad AlShareff, president of powerworkshops. Unfortunately, he cannot attend in person but said he would like to do a webinar.

He has worked with CAMP in the past and said the following "I'm very impressed with the concept of CAMP and I wish you guys the best in your organization. It's very important."

He would like to do a full 3 hour webinar. We're still trying to iron out the details. Also, we contacted Dr. Zayd Abdul-Karim from dtsys.com. He's does some amazing stuff. There's an excellent article about him in the muslim link. (make sure you search by his name)

Finally, theres one other brother we're looking to bring to the table.

What do you think? Is a webinar okay? Would you attend an event with these speakers?

Common Problems in Organization Outreach

Definition of a successful event: An event which produces a desired audience turnout who feel
that they have gained something by attending.

In the past, CAMPDC has organized several events. Many of them were successful. They reached a crescendo in 2005 in terms of the sheer number of events staged. Over time however, the audience turnout gradually declined. We faced attrition among our board members due to demoralization and burnout. Furthermore, the organization did not have the means to gauge member satisfaction via surveys, forums or other feedback mechanisms. In retrospect however, most ex-board members would agree that the general members were not satisfied with the events because they did not think that they were gaining what they wanted.

As an organization, CAMPDC may have suffered from a few problems specific only to itself. These are a topic for another post. I want to highlight some of the challenges that CAMPDC faced through no fault of its own, i.e. those challenges that every organization affiliated with
the regional Muslim community can and does face.

1. Lack of a marketing platform
   Pre-event marketing avenues are limited and require a great deal of effort
   to get the word out. Announcements and flyer distributions at regular gatherings such as Friday prayers or popular venues such as restaurants tend to rely on a network of dedicated ambassador-individuals. With individual styles, personalities, and schedules, it is possible to represent an inconsistent image of the organization. Flyers are consistent, but they are most effective when handed out to every prospective attendee in person, which requires a great deal of effort.
   
   
2. Lack of visibility into the community
   The feasibility of an event depends (among other things) on the time and date on which it can be scheduled. In the Baltimore-DC area, there are many Muslim organizations that are contending for the same time slots. Unfortunately, there is no way to gain insight into the general activities occurring in the region. As a result, it is possible to have two comparable events conflict with one another, the organizers being unaware all the while.
   
   
3. Inability to provide closure
   To be successful in the future, post-event marketing is probably as important (if not more) as pre-event marketing. It creates a continuum between successive events and allows the attendees to digest the event. In effect, it provides closure to the attendees. In the case of prospects who are unable or unwilling to attend, a simple, upbeat press release can gain attendees for a future event even before that event has been conceived. This suggests that post-event marketing is really no different than pre-event marketing if executed properly.

CAMPDC will be competing for the attention and patronage of a diverse and vibrant population with other Muslim (and non-religious, cultural) organizations. It is my opinion that we are players in a crowded marketplace, which may not bode well for all organizations. However, if CAMPDC can leverage the above issues and address them for the benefit of the whole community, it will gain a lot of recognition. A few ideas have been floated that can address the above issues, namely a unified community calendar and a blog style news magazine. The technological solutions exist and can be implemented rapidly, however it is getting people to adopt and embrace them that are part of the social challenge that will present the most inertia.

Comments welcome.

Credibility to CAMP

CAMP should be a motivating force. Welcoming Muslims of all backgrounds to meet and participate in a variety of projects. CAMP needs to go after the successful Muslim Professionals. We need to add some heavy hitters to the roster.

CAMP should be characterized by entrepeneurs, industry leaders, PhDs, networking specialists, etc.

We should try to go after the 30s to 40s crowd. They should be the speakers and the strategists, whereas we should be the people on the ground.

With a strong cast, we will easily drive in the yuppies and that would strengthen CAMP as a whole.

What do you think? Do you have anyone in mind?