Wild Apricot
JULY 8, 2015
Have you considered using Facebook groups as a channel for connecting members? In our latest Free Expert Webinar, John Haydon - the author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies - will reveal his best kept tips and tricks for building a thriving online community.
Spark Consulting
JANUARY 6, 2015
'And you can’t claim to have a relationship with people you don’t know. This topic has come up frequently with clients in the past six months, both within full engagements, where we’ve been looking at how to increase membership, and in speaking engagements, where I’m trying to help chapter leaders learn how to be more effective.
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Higher Logic
OCTOBER 29, 2015
Many people think that the Holy Grail for community managers is proving a community’s ROI. Wrong! In Rachel Happe’s Super Forum keynote address, she said that many people misunderstand this point. The Holy Grail for community managers isn’t proving ROI -- sometimes when you’re starting out, it’s negative -- it’s improving the value of your community to ultimately increase ROI.
Reid All About it
JANUARY 22, 2015
'If you’re looking for me, check out my food blog, Grabbing the Gusto. I write several times a week over there. You can also find me online writing on the blogs of some of the best technology vendors in the association market, but I’m doing that undercover in collaboration with some of the best brains in the industry. I’m also helping them with case studies, white papers, tip sheets and articles.
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Socious
SEPTEMBER 29, 2015
There are a lot of mediums available when it comes to engaging your customers or members—social media, your online community , email, etc. Each serves its own purpose and comes with its own set of best practices advantages and disadvantages. Email is a marketing channel that has shifted in usage and popularity over time, making it increasingly harder to capture the attention of your members.
Association Universe brings together the best content for association members and organizers from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Association Leaders
JANUARY 13, 2015
'I came across a great blog posting recently related to – you guessed it – Leadership. What a cool story this blogger has to tell about their grandfather and the 20 Mantras of Great Leaders he developed through a business and teaching career. Read the full post here. I think my three favorite (maybe the ones I connect best with) are: 1.
Mariner
JANUARY 31, 2015
'Join a group of volunteer evangelists as we explore new solutions for association volunteering on an Association Trends. webinar series. Tom Hood, CEO, Maryland Association of CPAs , Debra BenAvram, CEO, A.S.P.E.N. , Rick Grimm, CEO for NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement , and Laura Garrison-Brook, President & CEO, Engaging Communities Consulting provide a look at 5 association case studies ranging from total governance overhaul to ad-hoc volunteering to a simple board training make-ove
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
KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup
MARCH 24, 2015
'I''ve been reading an excellent book by Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant, When Millennials Take Over , that identifies four capacities for the future of business: Digital, Clear, Fluid, and Fast. The March 24, 2015 edition of Association Chat will focus on The Digital Organization - inspired by this great book. Is your association a digital organization?
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
Optimist Consulting
JANUARY 28, 2015
'A rebrand for a membership organisation can be an important part of a new strategic direction. It can revitalise the organisation and engage members and potential members. However, it can also raise questions in members’ minds – ‘What did that cost?’ and ‘Why do we need that?’, so it was good to see how the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) approached it recently.
Wild Apricot
MARCH 17, 2015
'Effective volunteer onboarding can lead to more motivated, satisfied volunteers – who not only join, but stay and become actively engaged. Here are details on our upcoming free Expert Webinar about Volunteer Onboarding with Tobi Johnson.
Spark Consulting
JANUARY 21, 2015
'Last week, I was teaching the volunteer management course for ASAE’s Association Management Week with the smart and talented Andrea Rutledge (Executive Director of the National Architectural Accrediting Board), and she and I got chatting about membership recruitment. Andrea’s been a volunteer with ASAE’s research committee, which supports the work of the ASAE Foundation, and we specifically got talking about the Future of Membership project.
Higher Logic
NOVEMBER 12, 2015
Generations expert (and my co-author and partner) Jamie Notter recently posted this extensive article detailing some numbers research he has been doing around exactly how many Millennials there are. It’s important stuff, so I’m going to interrupt my regular column to point you to it. Here’s an excerpt: When you look at the most recent population projections from the Census Bureau, it gets even more interesting.
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Reid All About it
JULY 1, 2015
Every year, when I register for the ASAE Annual Meeting, I check the box to receive emails from exhibitors. As a writer/marketer, I like seeing how vendors in my community use email marketing. Some of them do it well, but some, oh boy, they really blow it. The list ASAE provides to exhibitors includes association execs and staff as well as consultant members like myself.
Socious
AUGUST 27, 2015
Each year, membership marketing firm, Marketing General (MGI), publishes the results of their Membership Marketing Benchmarking survey. It is the association industry’s deepest look into trends, tools, and tactics. This year over 900 associations participated, making the 2015 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report one of the strongest narratives to date on how to grow membership.
Aaron Wolowiec
SEPTEMBER 29, 2015
Kate Pojeta, conventions and exhibitions manager. Q & A with Kate Pojeta, conventions and exhibitions manager, Event Garde. Q: What are you looking most forward to in your role with EG? A: Event Garde has some amazing clients and I’m excited to be on the team to help conventions succeed. Conference planning was a part of my work experience for years, and then I took a little hiatus from it.
Association Leaders
APRIL 28, 2015
To most people, the concept of becoming “lean” connotes having less or doing more with less. For example, I am 35 pounds lean er than I was fifteen months ago. My company is managing more associations today with fewer employees than we did two years ago – we are lean er. To many businesspeople the concept of lean is also associated primarily with manufacturing businesses.
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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!
Golden's Rules for Association
MARCH 3, 2015
'A lot of self-help books and personal development coaches advise taking a break from your area of professional focus every now and then to read things entirely outside your field. In today’s world of mass media, information overload, and 24-hour-a-day, day jobs, that is increasingly hard to do. But I have found this to be […].
YourMembership
NOVEMBER 9, 2015
Quinn Brady, Vice President, Customer Success at YourMembership. Hello! Please allow me to introduce myself as the new Vice President of Customer Success at Yourmembership. It is my pleasure to make your virtual acquaintance. As this is a new role for me, our marketing team requested that I write a blog for you, which you will find below. Please enjoy.
Jamie Notter
SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
Core values seem to be somewhat popular among companies that get involved in culture work. It's almost a necessary box to tick. Gather your staff for an off-site, have them reflect about their personal values, then the corporate values, and then narrow down and word-smith your list of values so they can then be printed into posters you put on the wall.
Virtual
MARCH 11, 2015
'I’ve written before about how Boards need to be willing to drop bad members from the Board. Deadwood can kill a Board. But what makes a good Board member? Think QUICK. Q uestions: The best Board members have the courage to ask the hard questions of staff and their fellow Board members. U nderstanding: Board members don’t have to be subject matter experts, but they must take the time to develop an understanding of the organization and its mission.
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.
Wild Apricot
JULY 7, 2015
This summer is a great time to get ahead on your non-profit education. Here's a list of 17 FREE live webinars that offer up a host of learning opportunities.
Spark Consulting
MAY 26, 2015
I’m excited to share the launch of the sixth whitepaper in the ongoing Spark whitepaper series, Leading Engagement from the Outside-In: Become an Indispensable Partner in Your Members’ Success. Co-authored with Anna Caraveli ( The Demand Networks ), the whitepaper tackles the question: if engagement is so critical to associations (and we would argue that it is), why aren’t we doing a better job of it?
Higher Logic
SEPTEMBER 15, 2015
Ever wonder who the people behind the curtain are here at Higher Logic? We're introducing you to our three community managers. They’ll talk about why they love community management, helpful resources to use and weigh in on the dog versus cat debate (as you can see, this is serious stuff…). We hope you enjoy getting to know the first community manager we’re introducing, Jenny Taylor.
Reid All About it
AUGUST 22, 2015
Yesterday, one of my friends started a conversation on Facebook about all the post-show emails sent by ASAE Annual exhibitors. We’re not receiving nearly the deluge of emails that go out before the show, but, once again, many of these emails are missing the mark. Segment your list. You scanned badges. You know the names of the attendees who visited your booth during the show.
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Socious
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Regardless of how talented your community managers are, it takes more than community professionals to create a sustainable community that provides consistent engagement and value. According to research from The Community Roundtable , “investing sufficiently in community teams so that the community is integrated across functional areas of the organization” increases both visibility with, and value to, the organization.”.
Aaron Wolowiec
JUNE 16, 2015
Tara Ericson, group vice president at Naylor Association Solutions. This month’s guest blog post is by Tara Ericson, group vice president for Naylor Association Solutions , where she oversees group publishers and specialized industry market teams. It was originally published on Association Adviser. Do you have a three-tiered (platinum, gold, silver) event sponsorship offering?
Association Leaders
APRIL 21, 2015
'There are many traits successful leaders have. We have discussed many of them through this blog. Of course, there are some traits shared by most, if not all, successful leaders such as, honesty, focus and commitment. There are other leadership traits that we commonly think of when we think of great leaders such as communication, selflessness and humility.
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