Membership

I've always been passionate about education, and as much as I loved my team and the leadership role I was in my previous role at an online learning solution, I knew my long-term goal in earning the CAE certification was to run an association.

Sales is the job of everyone in your association. If you think about advertising and sponsorship sales more like pitching a movie to a friend, maybe it won’t be so daunting.

As we begin the new year, it might be a good time to consider new ideas about how you can make some changes around your personal self-care. The key thing is that you can’t be effective if you are stressed and overwhelmed, so let’s start there. Maintaining Sanity for You! As an Association or Hospitality professional, one of the most ...

Finding balance can be a tricky endeavor. Too much (or too little) of any given thing on one side tips the scales and creates an uneven approach. This year’s Association Communications Benchmarking Study showed us that traditional forms of member communication – live events and print media – continue to be popular among associations and their members. Live events remain ...

Merriam-Webster defines transition as a passage from one state, subject, or place to another or – when in relation to an atomic nucleus or a molecule – an abrupt change in energy level usually accompanied by change in energy. In my experience over the past few months, the transition from a stand-alone association to an association management company (AMC) has ...

In 2003, I coached a company that makes liquid cleaners schools, hospitals and bus depots use to wash their floors and countertops. A team of about 150 executives and salespeople spent a lot of time talking about the company’s “sustainable earth” products and sustainability emphasis in research and development. I couldn’t have cared less. Frankly, it didn’t mean anything to ...

If you do not have a profile on LinkedIn, the largest social media platform specifically for professionals to connect, you are missing out on a tremendous resource. Many employers believe that the lack of an Internet presence is a negative. If employers “Google” your name and find nothing, they assume you don’t have the technology skills to have an online ...

As many of us know, young professionals are proving to be the lifeblood of any association membership. They’re ambitious. Eager to learn and eager to be taught, young professionals are looking for a place to help them hone in on their professional skills and build up their experience for future career endeavors. So, it only makes sense that associations and ...

Does your association’s publication have members saying, “Wow!”?  It should. After all, your publication is one of the most effective and important communications pieces that your association uses to reach members. According to the 2017 Naylor Communications Benchmarking Report, print magazines continue to be among the most highly rated member communications channels – 68 percent of all association executives surveyed consider ...

Associations don’t always have all the answers. (We know, you’re shocked!) We definitely have some major advantages, not the least of which is that we are highly a cooperative and collaborative community, in large part because there’s not a lot of intra-industry competition. But there are some areas where we lag and where other industries—charitable fundraisers, for example—do things better than ...