This past Sunday, August 25th, the Newport Mansions kicked off their 4th Annual Member Appreciation Night. On Tuesday, August 27th, the Newport Mansions reports their phantom members count via email to their membership. Moreover, they were proud of their “nearly 600” in attendance. Except for one thing, The live event doesn’t support their phantom member count.
Newport Mansions Member Account
Apparently, the only way to attend this shindig, where members had to literally bring their own “picnic” with blankets and/or chairs, is via a ticketing system from their accounts online. Some members reported to us that they could only obtain four tickets, maximum.
Additionally, the Newport Preservation Society emailed “specific” instructions on where to park. They discouraged parking at the Elms, unless you had an “accessible” parking permit. If you didn’t have one of those handicap permits, you were out of luck. Grassy parking was provided to all others on Perry Street.
If they expect people to “follow the rules,” then they should have enforced it. We parked at the Elms and no one checked our handicap permit or even our non-existent tickets. (The Social Diary Adjudicators)1.
Newport Mansions Membership Problem
In 2023, the Newport Preservation Society went through a membership overhaul. They literally updated their membership benefits to attract new members. They even added a new Pineapple membership category for Rhode Island residents.
Like many “membership” organisations, attrition is a big factor. The Social Diary team have a combined total of 30 years experience in membership, member relations, volunteer management, human resources and event planning and programming. The number one problem that consistently plagues all membership organisations is not recruitment. It’s retention.
Sure, the Newport Mansions need all membership, but if you aren’t part of the Premium class, you don’t really count. If you think we are kidding, just read the sugary mentions given to Premium-level members. The Summer Dinner Dance was not a sell out by any measure, yet, it took a whole email to just thank everyone who participated. There are plenty “millionaires” next door who prefer to remain anonymous, whilst contributing to better society.
Moreover, the problem with the Newport Mansions is you cannot just offer mansion visits. You have to offer interesting, attendance-worthy events. However, the event staff are totally inadequate, according to many members whom we personally spoke with. Besides, there is a deeper problem with event attendance. Members don’t sell out events. The general public does.
The Newport Mansions give members 48 hours to purchase tickets. However, this was not the case for the Wine and Food event in September. Members had up to one week! Even given this extension, events weren’t a sell out until much later.
Newport Mansions Phantom Members
The Elms was the perfect venue for Member Appreciation Night. However, not everyone who attended were even members. Whilst the Newport Mansions encouraged people to bring their own “picnic” items, there was a steady flow of people who just wandered in. That’s right, they were literal “walk-ins.” They either walked by or saw the event posted on the website and decided to join in the fun. We previously exposed their security flaws in our Newport Mansions Flower Show Opening Night Reception report.
Furthermore, check points were non-existent. Whilst some attendees looked like they had paper copies of their tickets, others just came in and occupied a “space.” So one has to wonder how did they conclude they had “nearly 600” in attendance, when not everyone “checked in?”
The Newport Mansions can toot their own horn, but the evening was a free for all. Not everyone who attended were members and there weren’t “nearly 600” in attendance either. If we were to do a guesstimate, attendance was between 350 to 400.
About The Social Diary Adjudicators
Conflict resolution is at the heart of our “mission statement.” Moreover, we are experts at “breaking things.” These include but not limited to security, computers, internet, AI systems. We are white hats, so don’t worry, your data is secure. Our best asset is to “crash” events.
- The Adjudicator unit is an adjunct of The Social Diary ↩︎