Wild Apricot
JANUARY 22, 2018
Happy New Year everyone! This month I talk about our plans to simplify Wild Apricot's functionality and introduce some of the new features planned for 2018. Read the full update here.
YourMembership
JANUARY 22, 2018
Membership recruitment is a never-ending project. Every year, members leave your association—they retire, change jobs or professions, go out of business, lose their professional development budget, or just vanish for unknown reasons. As members go out the back door, you must keep new ones coming in the front. What strategies will guide your plan for.
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Reid All About it
JANUARY 26, 2018
The weekly list of free educational events for the association community… The world wants you just as you are—you are enough. This message is from one of the best pieces I read this week. Thanks to Jeffery Cufaude for sharing his wisdom with us. It reminds me of the advice my fellow yogis and I got during yoga teacher training—advice that applies to anyone who gets up in front of people: although it’s natural to channel the teachers you love, it doesn’t work.
Blue Sky eLearn
JANUARY 25, 2018
1. It’s Not in Our Budget. If you’ve never implemented a Learning Management System (LMS) before then it’s never been a part of your budget before. However, with the expense of an LMS comes online courses and on-demand webinars that can become a part of your non-dues revenue strategy as well as new avenues to acquire sponsorship dollars. In no time your sponsors and/or learners can be covering your LMS costs and then some.
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Customer education has become a key driver for growth, retention, and product adoption. Our latest 2024 State of Customer Education Report uncovers critical data and insights from a survey of over 200 industry leaders, offering a look at the evolving role of education in driving business success. Inside, you'll find data on key trends and strategies, including: Strategies for Scaling & Customization: Find out which investments in learning technology deliver the biggest ROI and scalability.
Wild Apricot
JANUARY 25, 2018
Here are 34 free nonprofit webinars for February 2018.
Association Universe brings together the best content for association members and organizers from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Higher Logic
JANUARY 23, 2018
Everyone knows getting buy-in for a new project can be frustrating. There are concerns, objections, other priorities that need to be addressed before you can move forward. It’s often a long process. Getting buy-in for an online community is no different. You’ll likely face questions and concerns even after you present your team with details on how an online community can improve acquisition, retention, and revenue.
Aaron Wolowiec
JANUARY 24, 2018
Fundraisers, who manage relationships with donors have figured out how to make everyone along that continuum feel known and appreciated in a way that’s commensurate with their giving level.
Jamie Notter
JANUARY 26, 2018
I see a lot written these days about this mysterious new generation that follows the Millennials, often called Generation Z. Yes, just when you thought you had figured out the “kids these days,” now you have to start all over again with a whole new generation! Or do you? The whole reason I got into generational research (almost 15 years ago), is because when I started digging underneath the surface of what was being written about generations, I discovered a lot of really weak research and relati
Eric Lanke
JANUARY 22, 2018
Spark Consulting is out with another white paper -- this one on what associations can learn about relationship building, campaign management, and attracting Millennials from charitable fundraising organizations. It's another thought-provoking read for association CEOs. If you're interested, you can download "Steal Like a Fundraiser: Innovations in Cause-Oriented Fundraising for Associations" here.
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Ever wonder why brands like Apple, LEGO, and Sephora are going all-in on branded communities? It’s because online community building is the secret sauce to connecting with audiences in ways that ads and emails simply can’t. But here's the best part—it’s not just for big corporations. Associations can create thriving online communities too. GrowthZone’s eBook, "The Power of Community," breaks down exactly why a branded online community can be a game-changer for your association.
Higher Logic
JANUARY 25, 2018
No matter where you go these days, you'll find people nose deep in their phones - on the bus, in line at Starbucks, or even as they wait for a meal at a restaurant. These gaps of time are known as micro-moments, and have become the newest frontier for marketers. These moments are an enormous opportunity, as the average consumer experiences them about 150 times a day.
Aaron Wolowiec
JANUARY 26, 2018
Scott Oser, founder of Scott Oser Associates, is Gardian of the Month.
Smooth The Path
JANUARY 25, 2018
Amor Towles is the author of two novels; A Gentleman in Moscow as well as the Rules of Civility. I like Rules of Civility but, I love A Gentleman in Moscow. The same author wrote two books, but one book, I found to be more fun and more memorable. Was it the story? Or the characters? Or the tone? I am not sure, but my best guess is, I am responding to the tone of the story.
Forj
JANUARY 23, 2018
Don’t you hate when you get out of a conference session feeling all pumped about an idea, but by the time you get back to your workplace you realize that you have no idea how to do the thing you were so excited about? Me too! Introducing people to new instructional design concepts is very important, but providing people with the tools and skills necessary to bring those ideas to life is just as important.
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Sales often gets a bad rep. Yet, if securing sponsors, advertisers, and exhibitors is part of your role, it’s essential. But what if it didn’t have to feel time-consuming, uncomfortable, or worse—icky? Join us for the 3-part virtual Sales Accelerator Labs , where customer experience and sales expert Carrie McIntyre will show you strategies to make sales easier, more effective, and dare we say, enjoyable!
Association Success
JANUARY 25, 2018
To overcome some systemic challenges, we might need to find a new way of approaching them. Associations are no strangers to challenges. Recognizing, emphasizing, and working to overcome the common hurdles we face in our industry is a continuous and consistent feature of any associations’ efforts. The challenges we face, moreover, are further complicated when they are communal.
Idea Architects
JANUARY 21, 2018
Some rename staff or board retreats as advances , presumably to signal the gathering's intention and desired impact. I'm a firm believer in the power of language, but am a bit skeptical that a new name alone changes outcomes. Better design principles for the actual event do increase the odds of advancing more from any retreating you do. Here are eight tips gleaned from my experiences designing and facilitating dozens of retreats for various stakeholder groups. 1.
Smooth The Path
JANUARY 23, 2018
The New Member Engagement Study, a collaboration between Dynamic Benchmarking and Kaiser Insights LLC, shows that new member onboarding, orientation, and welcoming plans (we call these New Member Engagement Plans) are very beneficial to associations and their members. They grow new member renewal rates by 9.7% on average, and they improve not only new member engagement but overall member engagement too.
GrowthZone
JANUARY 23, 2018
Get more out of your event marketing with Before, During & After: The How-To Guide to Successful Event Promotions. Sneak Peek: Here are a few ideas you can do before, during, and after your event to help promote your event. Name the event – Whether formal or fun, the name of your event will set the tone. Either way, make it memorable. Create a visual identity – Develop one image or look and use it consistently across all promotions.
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.
Association Success
JANUARY 23, 2018
Harness the power of your IT department to break down silos. We talk a lot about collaboration these days. We all want to reap the benefits of what company cross-pollination has to offer. But, how can we build authentic collaboration within our workplace and beyond? How do we go from identifying uncommunicative, silo culture as a general problem, to tackling it within our organizational spaces?
Idea Architects
JANUARY 26, 2018
I generally trust restaurant servers to steer me in the right direction, so I had no problem last night explaining that I couldn't decide between the special and the chopped salad. "So here's the thing," the server said. Today's special is a great value for the price and it's really good. But even though you can get it every day, the chopped vegetarian salad is really, really good.
Velvet Chainsaw
JANUARY 25, 2018
Too often conference and meeting professionals assume that their role is best suited to planning and executing the conference. They leave the big decisions about target customers, their needs and their aspirations to the organization’s leaders, the marketing department or even the education division. Sometimes they say, “Well, I’m not in charge of programming, content or speakers.
Achieve
JANUARY 22, 2018
The two major changes that nonprofits need to pay attention to involve. costs-per-click. (the price that you pay for each click on your ads) and. clickthrough rates. (how often people who see your ad end up clicking on it). The change: Eliminating the $2.00 cap on costs-per-click (CPC). What it means: Start bidding with Maximize conversions and relevant, high-yield search terms will be within your reach.
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The annual Cognition virtual conference is back on October 16, and this year it’s FREE! You’ll enjoy: Inspiring Keynotes from top learning industry leaders, providing fresh perspectives to help you outperform the competition. Hands-on, Skill-Building Sessions to elevate your growth, retention, and product adoption strategies. Exclusive First Look at the latest innovations from Thought Industries, empowering you with tools to grow faster.
SilkStart
JANUARY 25, 2018
Do you know what people are saying about you online? There’s an unimaginable number of places that you, your brand, and your association or non-profit may be mentioned online at anytime. Obviously, we don’t want negative things to be said about us online. Moreso, we’d even prefer to know when something good has been said, or really when we’re mentioned in any capacity.
Idea Architects
JANUARY 24, 2018
We were about halfway through the program on facilitation skills. Participants were practicing the core skills we had explored by facilitating various small group conversations. As I observed one very earnest young man in action, I kept feeling his efforts lacked authenticity. The questions he used and the gestures he made were too studied, too rehearsed, too textbook.
Velvet Chainsaw
JANUARY 24, 2018
Who owns the overall experience that customers have at your conference? Who oversees and manages the conference customers’ journey? Is it you or someone else? Or perhaps no one is considering the holistic experience of your conference customer? Are you functioning as a scheduler and executor of the conference with a divide and conquer mentality where every leadership team hands you their planned component and you schedule the details?
Beth Kanter
JANUARY 24, 2018
Note from Beth: In my book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout, we discuss how to create a culture of wellbeing to encourage self-care. Jay Wilkinson, CEO of Firespring , shares some thoughts on building the right culture of for your nonprofit. I’ll be doing a free webinar hosted by Firespring on avoiding burnout on Feb. 14th.
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Unlock the secrets to building strong communities and sustaining growth with GrowthZone’s “5 Pillars of Community” ebook. In today's digital era, fostering a sense of belonging is more important than ever. GrowthZone’s informative ebook will help you transform your association’s community and discover new opportunities for growth. Explore the importance of personal and virtual communities, the ACHIEVE Model for success, and the key pillars including Direction, Shared Responsibility, Personal Val
Membersuite
JANUARY 22, 2018
A few reasons MemberSuite gives to become a member of an association.
Effective Database
JANUARY 25, 2018
I first read this phrase in a James Clear blog post. And what it means, simply put, is that before you can really optimize any behavior, you have to standardize how you perform that behavior. And this is so true when it comes to data management. I harp constantly about the need to document processes. The primary reason this is important is that, as an organization, you have to have some agreement on how we do things.
Velvet Chainsaw
JANUARY 26, 2018
Once you’ve observed the conference through the lens of your target customer and gained insights from conference data, you can move to the next steps. These steps are critical for you and your conference planning teams to embrace, enlist and employ. You want to move from conference touchpoints to conference customer experience journeys. And remember, someone needs to own and to advocate on behalf of the conference customer’s experience.
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