Mar 02, 2023

When developing a new work item or forming a new committee/subcommittee, it can be helpful to connect with stakeholders who may have an interest in the topic. The previous installment of this column highlighted several ways to promote new activities. Here, we focus on member promotions to engage new parties in your work.

A member promotion will reach out to a broad audience, encouraging additional participants to contribute. Promotions can target specific groups, such as standards buyers and attendees of ASTM International courses, making use of eCards and mailings to share information about upcoming events and invite people to become involved. In the future, promotions will expand to include social media campaigns.

This resource can bring a diversity of voices into the conversation, ensuring many different perspectives are represented in the process. Promotions also spread an awareness of ASTM International’s mission and the fact that anyone can offer value to the consensus process, planting the seed for people who potentially have not considered involving themselves with standards development.

To run a member promotion, your staff manager will coordinate with ASTM’s Ileane Smith, manager of member promotion and academic outreach, who develops robust and creative strategies for a given project. Promotions make use of press releases, SN articles, and other resources, drawing on available materials and working to understand the interest people may have in a topic.

Regardless of the subject matter, member promotions have the potential to expand your audience. It is possible to channel interest in related standards and industries, finding current members who may share an overlapping interest but are not already engaged with the topic. It can also be effective to use a member promotion to address specific committee needs, finding producers, users, or other parties who will bring their own knowledge and experience to the table.

Ultimately, member promotions are a key way of increasing reach and building connections, both with individuals who are already involved with standards development and those who have a unique perspective to add to the conversation.

Regs Corner

Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees outlines procedures related to official and non-official votes.

6.1.1 official vote, n — in a committee or subcommittee, one cast by an official voting member on a ballot or motion, and that is used for calculating the numerical voting requirements of these regulations.

6.1.2 voting interest, n — an organization, a subsidiary of an organization, or an unassociated individual member having a distinctly separate interest from any other interest with regard to the scope of a committee or subcommittee.
Discussion — Committees are encouraged to further clarify voting interest in their bylaws, where appropriate.

6.1.3 subsidiary, n — of an organization, an operational unit that functions in a nearly autonomous fashion.
Discussion — Examples are the research or marketing departments of a corporation; different branches of a university; the production or manufacturing committees of an association; the various agencies in either state or federal governments.

6.1.4 official voting member, n — of a committee or subcommittee, a member who has the official vote on ballots and motions concerned with ASTM standards.

6.1.5 non-official voting member, n — of a committee or subcommittee, a member whose votes and comments on all ballots or motions shall be fully considered, but whose votes are not included in the calculation of the numerical voting requirements for standards.

6.2 Voting Privileges — Every ASTM member is entitled to vote on all Society Review items as well as on each ballot of a main committee and subcommittee to which the member belongs. All negatives and comments received from all ballot returns, including those from non-official voting members, shall be considered in accordance with these regulations. ■

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