How To Better Engage with ASIS&T Members? Lessons Learned from SIG-III's Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Collaborative engagement with members is crucial to sustained membership in professional associations. It also
empowers members to connect, build, and grow relationships across large special interest groups (SIGs) within a
widely networked professional association. However, members of professional associations increasingly experience
a lack of belonging, social disconnectedness, and disengagement. As of 2022, the ASIS&T SIG-International
Information Issues (SIG-III) had over 620 members. One of the challenges of having such a large member base is
maintaining engagement and finding ways to connect with an international community of academics and
information professionals. Engaging with geographically scattered and culturally diverse members is a demanding
situation resulting in weak ties among community members In this panel presentation, the speakers are officers and
members who planned, organized and carried out various successful initiatives. They will share the initiatives they
undertook to promote engagement among SIG-III members, the best practices for implementing those initiatives, the
lessons learned from their experiences and the results. Other SIGs, Chapters, and professional associations can
benefit from the critical lessons shared during this panel