Episode 606: Meeting at a Different Time to Get More Visitors (Ask Ivan)

Synopsis

This question comes up at least once or twice every year. A BNI director passed it on from the president of a BNI chapter.

How about once a quarter we move our normal meeting from 7 am to an evening meeting so we can invite more visitors? We'll do the same meeting, take the same attendance--it just might be easier to get visitors to come. I feel we need to do something different, so I really want to try moving one of our meetings to the evening.

Meeting at a different time was a thought that Dr. Misner himself had in 1986 and 1987. He tried it, and it turned out to be a complete and utter waste of time. People who won't come to a morning meeting as visitors won't come to a morning meeting as members.

The timed repetition of meeting every week at the same time contributes to BNI's success. You can use meeting stimulants to help keep those morning meetings interesting for both members and visitors.

If your chapter has experimented with changing the meeting time or holding a social event outside the regular meeting, let us know in the comments.

Priscilla:Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast which is brought to you by The Networking For Success Channel on YouTube, which features Dr. Ivan Misner and many other networking experts. I’m Priscilla Rice and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, CA. I’m joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you today?

Ivan:I am doing fantastic, Priscilla, and I have a question today. It is sort of an Ask Ivan question because somebody sent me this question, and I thought it would make an interesting podcast because it really goes back to 19n86 or 1987, when I first considered this idea and it comes up every year at least once or twice when somebody asks me the question, so I thought after all this time, maybe it would make a good podcast. 

Here is the question: It was sent to me by a BNI Director who said, “ I recently had a President ask a question that I would like your feedback on. The President said, ‘I have an idea. Once a quarter, we move our normal meeting from 7:00 am to an evening meeting so we can invit more visitors. The same meeting, take the same attendance. It just might be easier to get visitors to come. I feel it would be easier to get visitors to come but we need to do something different, so I really want to try moving one of our meetings to the evening.’”

Know here that the question went on and I am going to share a little more of the question here in a minute, but for everyone listening to this podcast, most groups meet in the morning all around the world. A very, very small number meet in the evening. A little larger number meet at lunch. So we do have groups around the world that meet at lunch and a very small number of chapters meet in the evening. Well over 90% - at least 90% or more meet in the morning. So most of our chapters do meet in the morning, and that should tell you something.

Here is a side issue that I want to address. He said, “Episode 585 will allow me to experiment without breaking the rules," so I want to clarify this. My approach to a no win situation. That is not what 585 said. So as you are listening to podcasts, don’t say, “Oh, well, I am going to apply this podcast to everything I do.” That particular podcast wasn’t about changing the meeting time. Most importantly, is was really about how to deal with a no-win situation, and I don’t think meeting in the morning when 90% of the organization meets in the morning is a no-win situation. My side point here is don’t miss apply my podcasts to other situations. 585 definitely does not apply to the time of the meeting.

The Director asked me after she shared this entire question, do I have any suggestions to help navigate this issue. Here is my answer. I know before we went on the air, Priscilla,