New Member Services Website
Happy New Year, SEERS members,
SEERS (and other CERF affiliate societies) are moving to a new web-based system for member services (e.g., membership renewal and meeting registration). Your Board is currently working to merge the SEERS member database into Wild Apricot, so you may see emails from the new system soon. No action is required from you at this point. Once the database has been merged into Wild Apricot, you will see another email from me with instructions on how to set up your account.
It is important to note that both existing and new members will need to set up their Wild Apricot accounts and renew or establish their memberships (including paying) before registering for the spring meeting. Otherwise, only non-member pricing will be available. If you have recently renewed your membership through CERF, you should show as an active member (but there may be a time lag since we have to receive the information from CERF and manually input into our database). If you haven’t renewed your SEERS membership yet, please wait and renew on Wild Apricot!
With this new system comes some updates to SEERS membership policies:
- Membership periods will now be in effect for 12 months from the date of sign-up or renewal. The previous system was Jan 1 – Dec 31, but the new system will be more flexible and allow members who sign up at meetings to enjoy a full year of member benefits.
- After 11 months of membership, members will receive an email reminder to renew. Two additional email reminders (7 days prior to and the day of the renewal deadline) will be sent before the membership is expired. Two weeks after a membership is expired, a grace period email will be sent, followed by an email 30 days after expiration stating that the membership has lapsed. In other words, there will be a 30-day grace period after the renewal deadline, but it’s in everyone’s best interest to renew early! Once a membership has lapsed, member benefits (reduced meeting prices, eligibility for student travel awards, access to the member directory, and communication from the Board and other members) will no longer be available.
- Members will now be able to manage their own member profiles, which should help with communication and networking among members since all active members will have access to the directory. CERF will also have access to the directory.
- When members sign-up, they will be asked whether they wish to opt-in to CERF’s mailing list for third parties.
- All SEERS communications will occur via Wild Apricot in the near future and the UGA listserv will be phased out.
This is a new system and the Board asks for your patience as we break it in. Please help SEERS by reporting any technical difficulties to webmaster@seers.org.
Once the membership database is merged into Wild Apricot, we will send another email to let you know membership renewal is open. Once your membership is established (and paid), you will be ready to register for the spring meeting.
Thanks for all you do for our estuaries! We hope this new system serves you well.
Nikki Dix, SEERS Secretary