In mid-September, our chapter sent me to Milwaukee to an MCA-I leadership conference. It was eye-opening, to say the least, as my knowledge of MCA-I had really been limited to the activities of my local chapter. It was an opportunity to integrate my knowledge of local events with the greater purposes of the international organization. What follows are my impressions of how I think our local chapter will be consorting with national in the months and years to come.

MCA-I is the admittedly unfortunate renaming of a formerly well-known organization. I say unfortunate, because almost every accomplished media professional who is now a non-member says, with an almost wistful look in the eye “oh, yes, the old ITVA!” whenever I mention the new name. This just makes my job a little harder than it needs to be when recruiting. But the real question this begs is “why recruit?” I’ll get to that in a moment, but first some more background on what is coming up.

College Recruitment

This year there is going to be a big push on college and university recruitment. The innovative membership policies at national will make it much easier for a college department to encourage their young talent to join the international organization and attend local meetings. This is one way in which the MCAI name will no longer remain an impediment to recruiting. Additionally, bringing in young people will also usher in an era of risk-taking, adventures in media convergence and a host of new ideas we can’t even imagine right now. I look forward to the changes this will bring. We are already seeing some fruit from this nascent push, as students are beginning to join the local chapter on their own. Here’s how the new departmental membership policy will work:

For one low price, a college will be allowed to take on 6 floating memberships and 1 faculty membership. This means the college can send as many as 6 students each month to meetings, though the students can be picked by the faculty member and they do not have to be the same students each month. This lets the students try on membership before they commit to becoming members on their own. And when they do become members, their fees are quite low until they actually enter the workforce.

Professional Connections

MCAI serves the professional community by being a de facto standards-creation organization. It also exists to promote the services of highly skilled professionals who can see themselves as deserving the same status as doctors, lawyers, accountants and other highly trained knowledge workers. It’s even in the logo of the organization. “The Power of a PROFESSIONAL…When You Need Results.” That’s a statement I’ve been able to take to the bank for a few years now. I hire MCAI professionals all over the country because my clients are so geographically dispersed. I almost never hire anyone who is NOT an MCAI member. Why? Think about it. When you have your backside on the line for a big corporate client with a big deadline, who do you trust in an area you’ve never been to? You could try the big services like Crews Control or Production HUB, but I prefer to get personal with the artists and crafts people with whom I interact on projects. 
These associations have often been the basis of more long-running relationships that turn into larger projects.

Benefits

Ah, the bennies! We all do tend to join for the immediate benefits even if we stay for deeper reasons. At this time the international organization offers a number of tangible benefits, that taken together, can be a considerable draw toward membership. From networking opportunities, to leadership development, to partnerships with organizations like Production Hub to medical insurance, the international organization has enough to attract us each to an initial annual membership. But the intangible benefits are much more robust.

Remember that MCA-I exists to promote our industry as a profession. If your job is media communication, MCA-I is there to serve your interests as a media professional. Just as accountants and attorneys have national organizations to try to protect and promote their members, we have MCA-I. There is no other organization with such a charter. It is amazingly convenient to connect with another MCA-I member anywhere in the country. Just mention the name, and it’s like a secret handshake. The door opens and the teapot is put on the stove, metaphorically speaking. You’ll be speaking easily to people with whom it may have been nearly impossible to get an audience otherwise.

MCA-I opens doors. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

We’ll be discussing our relationships with the international organization off and on over the next few months. In the meantime, if you are not a member of the local chapter, try it out. If you are a member of the local chapter, consider joining the international chapter. You’ll be making the whole organization more alive and your own status as a media professional even stronger.