The fortress doors swung closed in front of us, and two French colonial soldiers with silly/stern expressions barred our path. “Who goes there?” called out one. I was six years old when my parents took me to Nova Scotia. I remember only bits and pieces of that week-long trip, and only from the day we went to Louisbourg.

The Fortress of Louisbourg is a Canadian National Historic Site and reenactment museum depicting a heavily walled and fortified town from the early to mid-1700s. French soldiers didn’t much like English soldiers during that time, and they said my little red jacket threw them off a bit. After some earnest assurances on my behalf that I was not, in fact, an English soldier or, worse yet, a spy, they let us in. What a welcome! Not every day do you get to travel back in time and joke around with the French army.

Forty-four years later, I remember walking through the streets, watching people cook, seeing the bakery, and eating the bread. Oh, the bread! The bread was sooooo good that I searched out a recipe online and baked it last week. Why, all these years later, after hundreds of trips and thousands of experiences, do I remember Louisbourg?

It is because of the first impression they made on me.

First impressions are memory makers. Good or bad, first impressions tend to get lodged in our brains. Members may not remember their third, fourth, or fifth conference when asked about them years later, but they’ll likely remember their first. One of the best ways to onboard new members is to optimize first impressions.

There are many opportunities to enhance member engagement by sprucing up first impressions. Here are some steps:

1. Brainstorm when first impressions are likely to happen.

2. Decide whether each experience is as good as it could be.

3. Re-engineer each first impression to make it great!