Spark Consulting

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I’m totally stealing this idea from smartie Beth Brodovsky , who emailed me this same question recently for her Driving Participation podcast series. My resolution for association marketers would be for us to stop talking about segmentation and personalization and start doing it. We know it’s important, but we’re full of excuses for why we don’t do it (and no, by personalization, I don’t mean sending an email to “Dear Elizabeth” as opposed to “Dear

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Wild Apricot

DECEMBER 3, 2015

We’re proud to announce that Capterra, a service that ranks software, has once again rated us the #1 Membership Management Software on the market - that’s 3 years in a row for us!

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Software Membership Management Marketing 178

Higher Logic

DECEMBER 17, 2015

Any kid could tell you there’s a difference between just listening and actually hearing. They know right away if a parent is giving them their full attention or if their mind is wandering off into other territory. How do you think kids feel when they know they don’t have their parent’s full attention? Maybe frustrated, annoyed, like their time isn’t valued.

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YourMembership

DECEMBER 10, 2015

Without a doubt, two of the most important shifts occurring in the association industry are the use of cloud and analytics. Data is enabling us to receive, store and retrieve information in real-time. What’s being done with that data will allow for members to have more access and for associations to provide members exactly what they’re asking for. Imagine meetings and events becoming more productive and more valuable through a “mobile first” lifestyle with mobile meeting apps, wearables, and vir

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Aaron Wolowiec

DECEMBER 22, 2015

As you probably gathered from our recap of 2015 , it’s been a pretty awesome year for Event Garde! And it shows. Again this year, Event Garde has been nominated for the best meeting planning company for the Michigan Meetings + Events 2016 Best of Michigan Awards. We’d love your support, and ask that you vote for us! Click here to vote. Each year, Michigan Meetings + Events sponsors the readers choice awards.

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Spark Consulting

DECEMBER 1, 2015

#GivingTuesday is not a huge thing in associations – although the ASAE Foundation has done some nice work on social media drawing attention to their donors today (more than directly asking for donations). But it’s ENORMOUS for fundraising/cause-oriented organizations. It doesn’t really kick off the holiday giving season – trust me, they’ve been laying the ground work for their holiday campaigns since before Labor Day – but it does often give a big boost to the

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Wild Apricot

DECEMBER 7, 2015

We’re excited to announce that Version 5.7 is now live! This means you can expect lots of updates, bug fixes, and a list of new features ready for use.

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Higher Logic

DECEMBER 30, 2015

Diversity is a global topic that deserves attention. These days, most people know diversity and inclusion is important for a culture and community to thrive, but it can be hard to back up that claim with solid answers -- beyond just knowing , morally, that diversity is important. Since your online community is an extension of your organization -- whether comprised of association members, customers for a certain product or service, or just die-hard fans of a movement -- it makes sense that mainta

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YourMembership

DECEMBER 23, 2015

Did you miss #AskJP, our first CEO Twitter chat, on December 3 rd ? Here are the five essential takeaways you should know: Shifting requires accommodating the millennials entering the workforce. Without question, associations are interested in connecting with millennials as both members and leaders. Millennial needs and wants are different than those of generations past.

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Speaker: Jessica Bonney from VICA and Jeff Horne from Wicket

What does delivering an exceptional member experience mean in today's world? With the right insights, tools, and strategies, you can identify what truly matters to your members, drive meaningful engagement at scale, and continue to meet the ever-evolving needs of your members. Join association experts Jessica Bonney from VICA and Jeff Horne from Wicket who will share practical insights on how to build an exceptional member-driven experience by gaining a deeper understanding of your members and d

Member Experience

Aaron Wolowiec

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Most moms are multitaskers. For example, we can cook dinner, help our kids with their homework and check our email….until dinner burns or the kids cry because while trying to reply to an email you forgot how to perform the “new” way of division. Sound familiar? Yeah…maybe mom multitasking is a farce. Or least overrated. And the kids? Why can they only do one thing at a time?

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Socious

DECEMBER 3, 2015

According to the 2015 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report from Marketing General Incorporated, 67% of associations surveyed boasted increasing retention rates year over year with the average individual member renewal at 85% for trade associations and 76% for member organizations. As an industry, those are decent numbers, but how does your association compare?

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Jamie Notter

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Here's the secret: Don't. You're welcome.

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Wild Apricot

DECEMBER 28, 2015

Tech leaders and authors, Beth Kanter and Aliza Sherman will share 10 powerful techniques for nonprofit and association leaders to avoid burnout and get more energy for 2016!

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Higher Logic

DECEMBER 22, 2015

It's time to get those community management challenges addressed. This year marked our second annual expert panel of kick-ass community managers, who all agree: communities are here to stay and offer the best engagement for members. But there are still an endless amount of tasks to tackle, so the panel is here to address communities as systems that must be maintained.

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YourMembership

DECEMBER 1, 2015

As consumers, we’re always seeking the next best way to simplify the way we go about our daily lives – the way we work, the way we play, the way we engage friends and family. Whether we know it or not, we are constantly challenging companies to find new ideas that keep us ahead of the game. With that being said, what can companies do to guarantee the output is reflective of, or creating shifts in their industry?

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Aaron Wolowiec

DECEMBER 15, 2015

‘Tis the season for giving! Retailers consider Black Friday the official kick off to the giving season, but many nonprofits consider #GivingTuesday – the Tuesday after Cyber Monday – as the start. And millennials are taking note. According to the plethora of research on millennial behavior, Gen Y embraces social responsibility. Doing good is just what this generation does.

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Socious

DECEMBER 16, 2015

This time of year is a whirlwind of activity on most people’s calendars. If you’re like me, you’re extra busy wrapping up the goals set forth for this year, evaluating what worked and what didn’t, and planning what can be accomplished with the upcoming year.

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Mariner

DECEMBER 23, 2015

On a recent webinar, I was asked again for ideas on how reward and recognize volunteers. It seems many people are stuck on what gifts they can give.

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Wild Apricot

DECEMBER 30, 2015

If you’re like us, you’re using this time between the holidays to reflect on everything you’ve done this last year. At Wild Apricot, there’s so much that’s happened, it’s hard to pick what to talk about!

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Higher Logic

DECEMBER 15, 2015

As a community manager, it may feel like you’re often breaking new ground, trail-blazing through an innovative profession. And you are. It’s a relatively new job force and there aren’t many forebearers for you to look back on.The very idea that you could have a collaborative community online was in its infancy in the mid-’90s (discounting old listservs and forums popping up since the 1970s), and didn’t really begin to take off until the 2000s (.guess MySpace was good for something).

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Portage Group

DECEMBER 21, 2015

Keep it Simple! By Alan Ward The thought of conducting an organizational review shouldn’t give anyone reason for sweaty palms. Unfortunately, it has that potential. A quick survey of the topic can lead us to near despair: infrastructure planning, internal architectures, process analyses, and blueprints for change… I mean, really, who knows what to do?

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Speaker: Radhika Samant and Todd Wuestenberg

Employee recognition has often been deemed a "feel-good" initiative, tied closely to rewards. While we understand its importance, we tend to associate recognition with intangible outcomes like engagement and sentiment, rather than direct impacts on retention and high performance. In today’s workplace, the true ROI of recognition lies in its ability to regenerate tangible, business-driven results.

Certificate

Aaron Wolowiec

DECEMBER 29, 2015

Anne Bonney. This month’s guest blog post is by Anne Bonney. She is a John Maxwell Team certified speaker, trainer and coach specializing in leadership and empowerment topics. Bonney has spent the last 20 years bringing this to leadership and educational roles with companies including Under Armour, Les Mills International, Town Sports International and The New England Aquarium. .

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Socious

DECEMBER 22, 2015

As a community manager, your primary goal is to ensure the success of your community. Okay, but that’s pretty broad. What does that really mean? Well, it usually means that you’re really responsible for keeping your community members engaged and participating. This is a task that is much easier said than done. There is a lot that goes into getting your community members active in your online community.

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Tools Member Engagement Association Management Communications 149

Optimist Consulting

DECEMBER 17, 2015

On 3 rd December I delivered a full-day workshop for the Small Charities Coalition on Building engagement through e-mail newsletters. It was interesting to hear that the challenges small charities face were very similar to those experienced by membership bodies. A recent MemberWise survey states that the most cited open rate is between 21%-30% and the average click through rate is 18%.

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Wild Apricot

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Learn ways you can use structure to create naturally more effective and engaging virtual meetings. We will share stories, along with tips and tools. These suggestions can be used with any form of virtual meeting technology!

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Higher Logic

DECEMBER 28, 2015

The holidays are a great time to reflect on all of the year’s hard work, and what we’ve accomplished together in 2015. I’d like to brag about a few outstanding goals Higher Logic (and our clients!) achieved this year. Automation Rules.Ruled. Our automation rules (and community automation across the board) has gained a lot of traction this past year, and we’re excited how useful and well-received auto rules have been for our clients.

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Review Team Member Engagement System 131

Mariner

DECEMBER 15, 2015

What's on your 2016 list of resolutions (you have 16 days to ponder)? Will it be to do something innovative with your volunteer workforce?

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Eric Lanke

DECEMBER 28, 2015

As we end another year, here's a look back at the five posts on this blog that received the most page views in 2015. 1. Stop Calling It Strategic Planning This has been on every year-end list since it was originally posted in January 2012, and keeps getting a ton of traffic, including as the page through which the highest number of people enter my site.

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