Pre-Induction Orientation

Working document · Membership Committee · BNI Elegance North Goa

24 September 2026 · Vice President's desk

Built: this document runs as a desk on the website, desk/orientation.html, reached from the MC Desk and the coordinators page. One record per person joining: the goal sheet (section 4), the checklists (section 5, and the RO's five steps of section 2a), the record (section 6), and a printable goal sheet. Deepak, the VP and the MC share it through the chapter store.

1. Why we do this

A new member's first ninety days decide their whole membership. The ones who start with a plan are Green by their first traffic light; the ones who drift are the renewals we chase in March. The orientation is the hour in which the Membership Committee and the joinee agree, before Induction Day, what the first term looks like: which categories they will refer to and be referred by, who their first 1-2-1s are, how many visitors they will bring, and what number they are aiming at on the traffic light.

It exists because of what has gone wrong before: members inducted with no Power Team placement, no mentor named for weeks, a category misunderstood on both sides, and a first traffic light of 30 that nobody had warned them about. Every one of those is avoidable in forty-five minutes.

One rule: the orientation happens before the person joins, not after. It is the last conversation before they commit: they hear what the membership asks of them and what it will give back, and the committee hears whether the category, the goals and the person fit. An application that has not been through it is not put forward for approval.

2. Who runs it, and when

Owner: the Vice President (Janak Dand), who chairs the Membership Committee.

In the room, every time:

• Deepak Kashyap, Application Review — he has met the applicant already and knows why they applied and what they expect.
• The President, Gavin Dominic Xavier — the welcome, and the chapter's three asks.
• Mahesh Pauskar, Mentor — names the mentor and the first 90-day plan.
• Vishwesh Kamat, Growth — the categories the joinee can feed and be fed by.

In the room when they can: Nikhil Shah (Retention & Renewal), Melwin Viegas (Go-Green), Raghavendra Gurav (Attendance), and the captain of the Power Team the joinee is going to.

When: after a visitor says they want to join and before the application goes in, or at the latest before the fee is paid. Application Review books it within a week of the yes. Forty-five minutes, at the venue after a Thursday meeting, on a Saturday morning, or on a call. One person at a time: this is the conversation in which they decide, and the committee decides, so it is not done in a group. The Induction Days this term, which the orientation feeds, are 8 Oct, 12 Nov, 10 Dec, 14 Jan, 11 Feb and 11 Mar.

The order: visitor says yes → orientation held and the goal sheet agreed → application submitted with the goal sheet attached → fee paid → approval → Power Team and mentor confirmed → induction on Thursday → Flying Start on the following Saturday. If the orientation ends with the person or the committee unsure, the application waits; that is the point of holding it first.

2a. The Regional Office's induction process, and where the orientation fits

The Regional Office's five steps, as shown at the LT training, are the rules. The orientation is how we do step 1 properly; nothing in this document replaces steps 2 to 5.

The MA form: BNI India's membership application for this chapter, with the chapter and region already filled in, is at https://www.bniindia.li/Elegance-goa-n-ma. Application Review sends it to the applicant after the orientation and checks the submission before step 3. The button for it is at the top of the orientation desk.

The one thing to settle: which address is the official chapter email id for step 3. If it is not already registered with the RO, the VP registers vp@bnielegance.com (or the chapter's existing address) before the first approval of the term goes out.

3. The session, forty-five minutes

Two things this session must also cover, because the person has not joined yet: the commitment in plain terms — the annual fee, the weekly meeting fee, every Thursday at 7.30 or a substitute, the one-absence rule, and what the traffic light measures — and the honest question back to them: is the category right, and is this the room for their business? Nobody should discover any of that after the fee is paid.

The tone: a conversation, not a briefing. The applicant talks at least as much as the committee. If a goal is set that they have not agreed to in their own words, it is not set.

4. The goal sheet

One page per joinee, filled in during the session, signed by the joinee and the Vice President, kept by Application Review. A copy goes to the mentor and the captain the same day.

The member

The first ninety days

The five names each way

Agreed by

Joinee: ________________ Vice President: ________________ Date: ________

5. The MC's checklist

Before the session

• Application approved and the category confirmed with the Regional Office (Application Review)
• Category checked against the roster: no overlap with a member, and the neighbours named (Growth)
• Power Team chosen and the captain told (Vice President)
• Mentor named and told (Mentor)
• The session booked with the joinee: date, time, place, who will be there (Vice President)
• Goal sheet printed; the roster, the term calendar and a copy of the paper to hand

In the session

• Category read back by the joinee in one sentence
• Five names each way, written
• Goal sheet filled and signed
• Photo taken for the roster
• Email and mobile confirmed as they will appear

After the session, within two days

• Goal sheet copied to the mentor and the captain (Application Review)
• Joinee added to the roster on the VP desk; team and captain set (Vice President)
• Member link made and sent, so they see their own page from day one (Vice President)
• First 1-2-1 with the mentor booked for the week after induction (Mentor)
• Induction slide filled: name, category, company, sponsor (Vice President)
• Flying Start date confirmed with the joinee (Vice President)

With the Regional Office (the RO's steps 2 to 5)

• Visitor entered in BNI Connect (Application Review)
• EOI taken by the Lead Visitor Host before the orientation; the MA form issued only after MC approval, filled and checked (Application Review)
• MC approval recorded, and emailed to the RO from the official chapter email id (Vice President)
• Payment details sent to the RO on WhatsApp or email; RO confirmation received (Secretary / Treasurer)
• Induction kit collected from the RO (Vice President or Secretary / Treasurer)
• Induction details in the RO's format, with the photograph, sent on the day of induction (Vice President)

At 30, 60 and 90 days: the mentor reports against the goal sheet at the MC meeting; anything short is named, and the fix is named with it.

6. The record

One row per joinee, kept for the term. Add a row when the application is approved; fill it across as things happen.

7. Open questions for the MC

1. Blaise and Omkaar joined in September without an orientation. Do we run one for them before 8 October, so they start the term with a goal sheet like everyone after them?
2. Where exactly does it sit: before the application form, or after the form and before the fee? Before the form is cleaner; after it catches people who apply at the meeting on impulse.
3. Who keeps the signed goal sheets: Application Review on paper, or a scan on the MC Desk beside the application? A scan would let the mentor's 30/60/90 report sit next to the goals.
4. Should the goal sheet's targets differ by category? A retailer's referral flow is not a developer's; the traffic-light targets can stay, the referral counts might not.
5. Does the Regional Office's own new-member material (MSP) cover any of section 3, so we do not say it twice?
6. If the orientation ends with a no, from either side, who tells the visitor and the sponsor, and how?

This is a working document. Change anything in it; the Membership Committee owns it.