Why is Attendance the Bare Minimum?
In BNI, V or Visibility is when the other members know who you are and what you do.
Attendance at each week’s meeting is the bare minimum needed to achieve Visibility. Attendance is a fundamental component of every successful BNI chapter. Studies in BNI have proven a very high correlation between attendance and chapter results. When one or more members are pushing the limits of the attendance policy and attendance falls below 92% this often results in the chapter struggling to grow, retain members and their chapter referral rate can decrease significantly.
If we can increase attendance and therefore visibility this can help us all move closer to profitability.
Why does it matter if we can’t attend every week?
Attendance = Visibility. Attendance goes beyond even Visibility. It’s a commitment to each other, to be here to learn about each other, to support each other and build relationships. Any week we don’t attend and don’t organise a substitute in advance we show we aren’t honoring that commitment to each other.
What are some of the more obvious reasons to show up every week?
- To discuss business opportunities during open networking
- To meet the visitors
- To educate your BNI Sales Team during your Weekly Presentation (60 seconds)
- To learn from and about your fellow members during their weekly presentations
- To be present during the feature presentation/s (10/7-minute presentations)
- To give and receive referrals
- You are paying to attend each week
- Your fellow members are paying to see you there
- You signed a membership form and made a commitment to attend
What are the BNI attendance policies?
- Attendance is critical to the group. If a member cannot attend, they may send a substitute (not a member of their own chapter) to the meeting, (this will not count as an absence).
- A member is allowed three absences in any rolling six month period. More than this and the individual’s membership may be reviewed by the chapter’s Leadership Team or Membership Committee.
Each week make your very best effort to treat your BNI meeting as an important part of your business day, you should be rating it as highly as a meeting with your most vital clients. You should aim to only ever miss a BNI meeting if it is completely unavoidable at very short notice.
