H.O.G. Officer Training 2011 in Seville, Spain

Make social media work for you. Whether your purpose is sharing funny cat pictures or something more important, you can use the power of online communities like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others to spread your message far and wide.

Why It Matters

• Keep your riders interested in chapter or rally activities.
• Spread the word about the joy of Harley ownership.
• Strengthen and maintain friendships between H.O.G. events.

What You'll Learn

• Techniques for using social media to engage in dialogue, share photos, and more
• Tactics to balance creation and conversation
• Platforms for engagement, along with their strengths and weaknesses

Conflict happens. Learn to use, manage and make conflict work for your chapter instead of against it.

Why It Matters

• Transform passionate conflict into productive outcomes.
• Respect disagreement as an opportunity for positive change.
• Open a free flow of ideas and learn to really listen to each member's opinions.
• Engage one another with respect.
• Explore how individuals respond differently to conflict and how best to engage and manage opposing conflict "styles."

What You'll Learn

• Four common sources of conflict.
• When to mediate and when not to.
• Process and options for conflict resolution – and how to practice them.
• Duties of a chapter officer in managing conflict.
• Your own conflict "style" and ways of working with all styles of conflict.

Bring the pack together and howl. Get a group ride together in safety and style – and pick up the core skills you need to plan and lead the rides and events that are the core of your H.O.G. chapter.

Why It Matters

• Learn how to talk about group rides with key terms and concepts.
• Plan memorable, fulfilling rides and events – step by step.
• Be ready to deal with unsafe situations – "live fast, die young" is out of style.

What You'll Learn

• Characteristics and role of a great ride leader.
• Details of the key differences between parades and group rides.
• Formations and techniques for safe group riding.
• Ways to communicate safe group riding practices to your chapter.

Deliver messages that get results. Stand out from the spam and be noticed with these guidelines and best practices for getting your message out. Confused about how social media like Facebook or YouTube can help? Learn the right approach here. Explore your communication options, learn which ones will stick and come out with a plan to communicate with impact.

Why It Matters

• Make communication creative, appropriate and motivational.
• Let the world know about your major events.
• Call your members to action and let them tell you what works.

What You'll Learn

• Messages that accomplish a specific purpose and move people to act.
• Plans for effective communication strategy.
• Tools that are most effective for particular situations and time frames.
• Ways to gather feedback from chapter members without annoying them.
• Principles for using social media and how your chapter can best benefit from them.

Keep volunteers from going on strike. Reward your crew with what they're looking for – community, fun and the jobs that suit them the best – and they'll reward you with their time and dedication. Learn how to recruit, train and retain the people that make your activities, rides and chapter tick.

Why It Matters

• Satisfy volunteers' needs and motivations.
• Match volunteer skills and abilities to the right job.
• Figure out the right number of volunteers to staff your events.
• Equip and train volunteers to do the job well.
• Develop rewards to keep them eager to volunteer.
• Prevent "burn out" of those members who volunteer all the time.

What You'll Learn

• Methods for recruiting volunteers that match interests to experiences.
• Plans to determine needed staff, job descriptions and what to do if things go wrong.
• Rewards to build and thank a strong cadre of loyal volunteers.
• Actions to jump-start your volunteer recruitment, planning and management efforts.

Keep the chapter strong. When the time comes for officer change, be ready for a clean shift to the next generation of leaders. Identify, inform and encourage your successors to pick up right where you left off. Learn from the pros and your peers in this interactive, discussion-based course.

Why It Matters

• Mentor new officers so they can step in with no interruption.
• Turn the organizational memory of your current officers into a concrete resource.
• Produce a steady experience of continuous leadership as you move to a new team.
• Prepare for unexpected position openings.

What You'll Learn

• Techniques to transfer skills and knowledge to new officers.
• Strategies for addressing transition problems.
• Policies to promote inclusiveness and diversity in chapter leadership.
• Plans for a smooth officer transition.

Sometimes you have to work with interesting people. It takes all kinds of people to make a successful chapter, but with the variety of personality types that ends up in our chapters, you need a way to mesh everyone's styles into an approach that reduces conflict and makes riding and having fun the main goal for all.

Why It Matters

• Cultivate a free and open flow of ideas, where everyone's opinion is respected.
• Approach the interesting people in your chapter as assets rather than liabilities.
• Engage your riders and nourish the bonds of friendship.

What You'll Learn

• Motivations behind individual behavior and your own motivations.
• Four different personality types and where your style fits in.
• Three-step process for turning confrontations into positive contributions.
• Plans for improving a challenging relationship.

Risk doesn't have to be a four-letter word when you learn how to manage the four biggest potential sources of trouble for a H.O.G. chapter: business issues, injury, regulatory compliance, and alcohol.

Why It Matters

• Make risk management a priority
• Handle releases and other documents correctly: named, signed, stored, and secured
• Stay clear of liability due to alcohol
• Manage gambling and other regulatory risks
• Get appropriate insurance - because paying out of pocket sucks
• Ask questions of your H.O.G. Manager and get a direct answer

What You'll Learn

• Specific examples of alcohol, regulatory, business, or injury risks
• Business risks involving incorporation, trademarks and logos
• Requirements from H.O.G. for event insurance, like the single-chapter-event requirement
• Methods to get insurance for events that aren't covered automatically
• Stuff you need to know – boring, but important.

Keep them coming back for more. Whether it's newcomers just starting out or experienced riders with more miles than money, you can motivate members to participate actively in the chapter. This discussion-based course allows you to learn from the pros, as well as your peers, as you explore your chapter's challenges and opportunities.

Why It Matters

• Welcome new members and help them find their place in the chapter.
• Keep long-term members engaged and excited about what you're doing.
• Create opportunities to listen to members and respond to their feedback.
• Transform low-participation challenges into opportunities.

What You'll Learn

• Practices for engaging riders, now and over the long haul.
• Opportunities that can flow from participation challenges.
• Strategies for getting inactive members fired up and ready to go.
• Practice in engaging a variety of different types of members.

Exchange ideas with other officers. Have you figured out the best way to do it? Want to meet someone who has? Trade ideas for solutions to common challenges and learn from the true masters: your peers.

Why It Matters

• Benefit from the collective experience of your peers.
• Get answers to your questions from the people who know them best.
• Teach others what you've learned the hard way.

What You'll Learn

• Approaches that have worked for others who are facing the same situations that you are.

• Plan events that feel new, unexpected, and exciting
• Learn solid brainstorming techniques to use at home
• Tap into each member's natural creativity

• Navigate the ins and outs of good negotiations.
• Prepare and examine strategies to get what you ask for and more.
• Share tips, tricks and ideas on how to improve your current and future plans.

• Examine how the rally works as a business.
• Discuss key procedures, requirements and deadlines.
• Build a realistic budget – and know how and when to adapt.
• Understand the hidden detail in a variety of financial statements.
• Manage tax issues and the process to close the books.

• Examine the process of finding and contracting potential partners.
• Outline the benefits of partnerships and how they can improve the overall experience.
• Calculate where the best resources and opportunities exist and how they fit into your specific situation.