Smooth The Path

JULY 26, 2018

If I were to build an association, I would pull the most significant insights from all of the research I have conducted. Here is what I would focus on as I created my dream association. One of the core staff values would be to be intensely member-focused. We would talk with members often, conduct listening tours, and interview them. We would use all the member insights we gain to develop our member communications, set our strategy, and create an innovation plan.

Innovation 74

Innovation Member Insights Member Experience Recruitment 74

Spark Consulting

JULY 25, 2018

Sometimes, despite your best efforts to understand your members’ most pressing problems and most important goals, and provide solutions for them, members lapse. What happens next? You should try to find out why they left. One approach membership pros often take to discover their reasons for leaving is to ask membership committee members to make calls to lapsed members.

Survey 170

Survey Sample Committee Team 170

Higher Logic

JULY 24, 2018

Your annual event might be looming, or it might be a year away – wherever you are in the planning, it can feel like you’re stuck in a crazy-making cycle. The good news is, if you have an online community, you’ve got access to a tool that puts you one step closer to making your job so much easier. Are you taking advantage of the support your online community can provide?

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Resources Content Software Examples 168

Wild Apricot

JULY 23, 2018

Here are 42 free nonprofit webinars for August 2018.

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Here’s Your Blueprint for Year-Round Member Engagement. Are you ready to transform your association into a thriving, 365-day community? Download GrowthZone’s ebook, How to Create a Community Your Members Can’t Get Enough Of , and learn strategies for leveling out the peaks and valleys of member engagement. This guide provides actionable strategies to create consistent networking opportunities, deliver value-packed content, and foster connections that your members won’t want to miss.

Member Engagement

Reid All About it

JULY 27, 2018

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community… You can improve your content marketing by rethinking your website user experience. Organize your content into pillar pages or topic cluster pages. They’re great for both SEO and the user experience. HubSpot walks you through seven examples of pillar pages so you can see how they work.

Chicago 30

Chicago Washington DC Tools 30

Higher Logic

JULY 26, 2018

When was the last time you saw a commercial that made you cry? Maybe it was one of those gems during the Super Bowl, or maybe you’re not the crying type – either way, what’s the secret behind these stirring commercials? When you think about it, it’s odd that we’d cry over something (not you, non-cryers) that’s simply advertising a product or service for purchase.

Examples 247

Examples Marketing Video Software 247

Wild Apricot

JULY 27, 2018

You can now ask questions and run surveys from your Wild Apricot admin account, thanks to our new Polls feature. Find out how to start creating polls, and get some inspiration on ways to use them.

Survey 281

Survey How To Products 281

AMR Management Services

JULY 25, 2018

AMR's own Emily Lane shares something new, called Human Data Visualization, that the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) tried at their Midyear.

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Eric Lanke

JULY 23, 2018

Four weeks ago, in Step Four: Discussing the Strategic Implications, Part 5 , I continued a description of a Scenario Planning exercise my Board chair and I decided to conduct at our two most recently completed Board meetings. I ended the previous post with a comment that, in the process of defining the external factors that will most dramatically affect the course of our industry, and of identifying the strategies and tactics that our association should employ in order to help those things happ

Strategy 100

Strategy Course Process Resources 100

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

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 27, 2018

Who wants to attend a common, ordinary, ho-hum, everyday , I’m-just-like-all-the-others traditional conference? Even worse, who wants to pay to attend one? And who wants to plan or sell one? Your conference growth and revenue depends upon repeat paying attendees year after year. Customer loyalty is the cornerstone for your event’s success. And your customer loyalty is built upon making your common conference uncommon.

Conference 88

Conference Discount Price Revenue 88

Smooth The Path

JULY 24, 2018

The majority of my early career was working for a huge and beloved brand. The company was very focused on professional development for staff. Often trainers came onsite to work with various departments on topics like communication, or managing diverse personalities, or team leadership. If I ever identified a conference, or a seminar, or a workshop I wanted to attend, money would be found and off I would go.

Association Value 84

Association Value Conference Communications Course 84

Association Adviser

JULY 26, 2018

With advancements in technology, and an increased desire of employers to provide work-life balance, remote working has become more and more common. To successfully implement a remote work program, employers must set guidelines that allow remote employees to seamlessly conduct business. This can encompass anything from the ability to access and disseminate data and intellectual property, to communication tools and support and even tips for safety and well-being.

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Guidelines Technology Communications Products 79

Membership Marketing

JULY 26, 2018

2018 marks the tenth anniversary of the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. Looking back over the past ten years, we have witnessed very stable growth in membership counts and continued the maintenance of positive membership renewal rates. However, this has not represented a changeless marketing environment. In fact, the methodology and focus of how associations have accomplished their goals has evolved and changed over the past ten years.

Marketing 76

Marketing Analysis Recruitment Recruiting 76

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Education

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 23, 2018

Content marketing has grown by leaps and bounds during the past five years. Unfortunately, too few event organizers fully embrace the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing. Likewise, many conference professionals have no idea what embracing the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing even means. It’s a foreign concept to them. Most marketing and communications teams agree that content marketing serves as the foundation to their conference marketing strategy.

Content 78

Content Conference Video Marketing 78

GrowthZone

JULY 26, 2018

So, you want to make money (a.k.a, sell memberships) maximizing your organization’s social media and digital marketing efforts. Imagine that, right? You have done the groundwork… your organization is online in all the right places, ensuring your target market is aware of its existence. You have also engaged with people, going beyond mere awareness of your organization to the point of building relationships and building up the ‘know, like, and trust’ factors.

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Social Media Proposal Content Marketing 74

Association Adviser

JULY 23, 2018

The shift to digital in nearly every facet of daily life has majorly impacted the ways in which we interact on a daily basis. Think about it- we shop, stream TV, send countless texts and emails, take classes and telecommute – all online. Now it’s just part of our day-to-day. Twenty-first century business culture no longer supports the idea that once you earn your degree your learning career is complete.

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Certificate Class Education millennials 74

Association Success

JULY 26, 2018

Social media has changed the pace of work and the world. Can associations keep up? Social media has changed the game. When I started in social media about ten years ago, associations were asking: Do we really need to worry about this? and Is social media just a fad? A decade later, that ship has sailed, but as an industry, we still do not understand the ways that social media impacts every part of an association, from leadership to membership.

Social Media 74

Social Media Marketing Strategy Content 74

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Revenue

Idea Architects

JULY 25, 2018

She's no longer at the right place. She's no longer in the right profession. And so she's looking for what's next. That is what I learned in a colleague's email. And she asked for advice. You could amass quite the collection of books on finding purpose in your life, career planning, and the like. I've read many of them, and many are quite good. Rather than a book, I offered these three fundamental questions for her to consider and answer on her own, hoping they wold help her clarify her own inte

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Resources 68

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 26, 2018

Conference and meeting professionals like action when planning their events. They are accustomed to juggling multiple demands. They have long to-do lists that require their attention and often exceed their available time. So, they have the tendency to want to hurry up and check-off items on their to-do list–yesterday. Herein likes one of their challenges when starting a conference improvement process.

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Process Conference Innovation Marketing 11

Association Adviser

JULY 23, 2018

Optimizing your association’s online career center to make it one of your most valuable assets is simpler than it looks. Especially now that you’re reading this easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide from the leading provider of association career centers. Associations want to provide a useful online hub for active and passive job seekers. Employers want to be visible on these hubs so they can find the best talent for their open positions.

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Maine Revenue Newsletter Content 68

Association Success

JULY 24, 2018

A look behind the scenes of our two-tiered innovation process. Our interest at AssociationSuccess.org in harnessing collective knowledge has two levels: we are excited both by the insights generated through collaboration, and by the innovative potential of experimenting with ways of harnessing them. Our mission, as we see it, is both to source cutting-edge ideas, and to spark them.

eBook 70

eBook Project Innovation Process 70

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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.

eBook

Beth Kanter

JULY 23, 2018

Mobile phones and 24/7 connectivity blur the lines between personal and work time, especially during summer break or vacation. And according to recent poll s, some 62% of people check their work email while on vacation. And that can ruin your time at the beach and more importantly prevent you from reaping the full benefits of taking break. In the Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout , Aliza Sherman and I did a deep dive into the research literature about the proven lin

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Tips Social Media Project Products 51

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 24, 2018

What’s your favorite room in your home? I have two: my front porch with its porch swing and my master suite that looks out into my backyard. I cross the thresholds of those spaces daily without much thought. We rarely think about thresholds. Yet, we spend a lot of time traversing them—both literally and figuratively. Crossing from a room that is comfortable and familiar into one that feels uncertain and unpredictable, can be frightening and disconcerting.

Conference 49

Conference Team Process Organization 49

Association Adviser

JULY 24, 2018

Your events play a major part in gaining recognition for your association. They strengthen your community, increase brand recognition, provide networking opportunities, establish thought leadership and generate revenue. One area of career center exposure that associations sometimes overlook is incorporating their career center or job board into their onsite events.

Revenue 60

Revenue Discount Resources Leadership 60

Association Success

JULY 23, 2018

A step-by-step guide to a successful rebranding process. Your association’s brand is your image, or the perception of the association by your target audiences. In short, it’s your association’s personality. Often we think of a rebrand as changing your association’s logo—but it’s more complicated than that. Rebranding also involves your color scheme, tagline, and messaging.

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Newsletter Social Media Recruitment Recruiting 68

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

Holly Duckworth

JULY 27, 2018

There seems to be a conscious shift in the mindset of people when summer arrives. Summer to most of us is defined by being over programmed to the point of crazy. If you work, it’s the time of year when many meetings and events are happening; if you have kids, you have the additional responsibility of summer camps and keeping them busy. It seems we all unconsciously choose to be busy, or over programmed during the summer.

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Project 31

GrowthZone

JULY 24, 2018

Could an Association Management Software (AMS) solution be the answer to the inefficiencies that plague your association? This article will help you evaluate ten association software options. What is Association Management Software (AMS)? In a nutshell, an AMS provides membership-based organizations an all-in-one member management system. These membership management tools – contact database, email system, billing and payment options, event platform, website builder, and other useful services – w

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Software Association Management Austin Atlanta 84

Beth Kanter

JULY 24, 2018

Here is a recent roundup of articles, blog posts, and research on the “Age of Automation” and what it means for nonprofits. Special Report: AI for Good: Earlier this month, Allison Fine and I wrote an op-ed for the Chronicle of Philanthropy on the age of automation and it implications for fundraisers. It is part of a special report on AI for Good.

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Report Technology Innovation Education 30