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Electric Co-op Annual Meeting Ideas to Boost Attendance

Practical ideas to make an electric co-op's annual meeting feel like a gathering members want to attend, from the invitation to the last song.

By Explainer Music Videos · October 17, 2026 · 4 min read

Every co-op manager knows the feeling: the hall is set, the coffee is on, the board is ready, and the folding chairs are half empty. Members care about their co-op. They just don't think of the annual meeting as something they'd want to give up a Saturday for.

The good news is that the fix is rarely money. It's mostly about making the meeting feel like a gathering of neighbors who happen to own a utility together, because that's what it is.

Why members skip the annual meeting

Ask a few members why they don't come, and you'll hear the same handful of reasons:

• "It's just reports and votes."
• "I didn't know when it was."
• "I can't bring the kids."
• "Nothing changes whether I'm there or not."

None of these are about the co-op itself. They're about what the day feels like. That's something you can change.

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Turn the meeting into a day out

Keep the business meeting. It matters, and your bylaws and your state's rules may say what it has to include, so check them. But build a day around it that people would come to anyway. Ideas that fit most co-op towns:

• Food worth driving for. A pancake breakfast, a pork chop lunch, pie from the church ladies, or a local food truck. Say what's on the menu in the invitation.
• Something for the kids. A bucket truck ride or a lineman showing how the gear works (with your safety staff running it), coloring pages, a bounce house.
• A short program. Aim for a business portion people can sit through, then music, door prizes and time to talk.
• Local music. The high school band, a church choir or a bluegrass group from the county.
• Faces, not slides. Introduce the line crew by name. Let a longtime employee say a few words about the storm they'll never forget.
• A reason to come early. Registration gifts, a coffee and donut table, a raffle drawn at the start of the program.

Check your bylaws and your lawyer on anything that ties to voting or quorum, such as how door prizes or registration work. Rules differ, and it's easy to get right if you ask first.

Invite people the way they actually hear things

A single notice in the co-op magazine is easy to miss. Invite members several times, in different places, with the same simple message: what, when, where, what's to eat, and why it's worth coming.

• Your magazine or newsletter, with a full-page invitation, not a box at the bottom.
• Bill inserts and the bill itself, a line on the statement.
• Facebook, a short post each week for a month, with a photo from last year.
• Local radio and the weekly paper, if your town still has them.
• Your offices and the places members gather, like the elevator, the café and the church bulletin.

Say plainly what's in it for them: "Lunch, music, a bucket truck for the kids, and the chance to vote for your board."

Give members a story to be part of

The most powerful thing a co-op has is its story. Members own it. Their parents or grandparents may have signed up when the lines first came through. Younger members may never have heard how their co-op started, and many would be proud if they did.

Use the meeting to tell it:

• A wall of old photos from your archive, with names when you know them.
• A short history talk from a retired board member or local historian.
• Old-timers' corner, where longtime members can share what they remember, if they'd like to.
• A short film or song that tells the founding story in a few minutes, played right before the business portion so the room is warm when the votes begin.

A meeting that starts with "this is ours, and here's how we got it" feels different from one that starts with the treasurer's report.

Where a song fits

A song about your co-op gives members something to hear together, and something they'll still hum on the drive home. It also gives you a piece you can use well beyond the meeting.

Our Milestone package ($3,900, paid once) is made for days like this: a 4-minute song about how your co-op started and grew, three 15-second ads to invite members to the big day, a 2-minute story song with a widescreen video for your website and YouTube, and a 30-second jingle with a vertical video for Facebook and Instagram. You hear the song and okay every word before the video is made, and you don't pay until you've seen the result. You can play it at the meeting and use it on your website, social media, local TV and radio for as long as you like.

You can watch We Turned the Lights On Ourselves, a sample we made for an example electric co-op's 90th anniversary, and read more on our page for co-ops.

Whatever you choose, plan the meeting around what members will enjoy, and tell them the story of what they own. That makes a day worth coming to.