October, 2015

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October 2015 Update: Introducing Wild Apricot Academy

Wild Apricot

October was a big month! We launched our new Wild Apricot Membership Academy + Rolled out new features with Version 5.6. Have a read and learn more about all that we've been up to.

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Success Lies in Making Small Shifts That Lead to Big Changes

YourMembership

A leader’s ability to make shifts to his/her organization is a key skill that is hard to master. Whether it is anticipating the needs of your members, responding to internal financial concerns, or predicting industry trends, leaders are constantly trying to get their staff and boards to stay one step ahead. Let’s face it. To stay ahead associations need to make quicker and more accurate decisions.

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Talking About the Lean Startup

Spark Consulting

In keeping with what’s becoming a regular practice when I release a new Spark whitepaper, I recently had the opportunity to present a webinar for the Yourmembership.com Thought Leader series on Innovate the Lean Way , which I co-authored with Guillermo Ortiz de Zarate. The free recording is now available: During the webinar, I relate A Tale of Two Projects, Parts 1 and 2, showing the difference using lean startup methodology can make in your innovation efforts (spoiler alert: building some

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The Quantified Community

Higher Logic

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.

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Ultimate Guide to Monetizing Association Member Education

Unlock More Profit and Smarter Packaging for Member Learning Every decision that goes into your learning monetization strategy matters for your association’s bottom line. Our research has shown a clear correlation between high program maturity (and ROI!) and choosing the right monetization strategy. This eBook contains clear, actionable ways to approach packaging and pricing models that will help your association grow revenue, improve profitability, and drive expansion into new markets.

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Bonus content – Event Garde e-news – November edition

Aaron Wolowiec

Tracy King, chief learning strategist, InspirEd LLC. Editor’s Note: This is our Thanksgiving edition of Event Gardeian of the Month! Q & A with Tracy King, chief learning strategist, InspirEd LLC. Q: For what are you most thankful? A: I am so thankful for my four beautiful children, family and friends – sharing love, laughter, good food and shenanigans!

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More Trending

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Take a Hike Through Our New Themes

Wild Apricot

For our new themes, Terra and Firma, we wanted to mimic the serenity of calm, natural environments like, blue misty mountains, grey pebbly beaches, and flowing fields of golden wheat. So, grab your gear and take a hike!

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Building Space for Change: Your Questions Answered

YourMembership

We all know that change happens; staff leave, volunteers turnover, member interests and expectations evolve and technology will always bring new advances to the industry. Associations, and almost any membership organization, continue to be challenged by change management. Books are written about it and a lot of time and effort has been spent talking about how to deal with it.

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The Lean Startup Changes Everthing

Spark Consulting

I’m excited to share the launch of the seventh whitepaper in the ongoing Spark whitepaper series, Innovate the Lean Way: Applying Lean Startup Methodology in the Association Environment. The whitepaper addresses a simple (but not necessarily easy) concept. To quote my co-author, Guillermo Ortiz de Zarate , Director of Information Services for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards : “There’s no bigger waste than investing resources working on the wrong thing.

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Crack the Social Code: Turn Members Into Contributors

Higher Logic

Ever wonder how to get inside your members’ heads and motivate them to participate? Richard Millington can help, an expert with over 12 years of experience in community building. How does he do it? He uses basic, yet powerful, psychological forces -- tapping into what makes us human and what motivates us -- to excite and engage members in a deep, meaningful way.

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2024 Association Survey Results Report

2024 Association Survey Results Report For the 10th year, association professionals across the U.S. and Canada provided a look at the inner workings of their organizations when they replied to GrowthZone’s annual survey. Read the 2024 survey results report to see how your association compares: Top Challenges Retention Rates Non-Renewal Reasons Automatic Renewals Reinstatement Strategies Member Engagement Changes & Strategies Why Members Join Non-Dues Revenue Sources Dues Increases, and more

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The Portgage Group's, Alan Ward Presents at #CSAE2015

Portage Group

See us at the CSAE Conference this week in Calgary! . The Portage Group Senior Associate, Alan Ward, has been asked to be a presenter at the upcoming Canadian Society of Association Executives Conference #CSAE2015 in Calgary on October 28th. Alan will be presenting on Succeeding at Succession Planning. . What is Succession Planning? Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing internal people with the potential to fill key leadership positions in the organization.

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Apps that Excite Association Professionals

KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup

Today on Association Chat we are talking about the apps that are rocking association professionals' worlds. What are the apps that make a difference in your day-to-day life? We'll explore apps that impact your business, personal, spiritual, and physical lives. Here are some questions we'll discuss: Which apps are you using to improve what you do at work?

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Wild Apricot Podcast Episode 7: Understanding Online Payments for Nonprofits

Wild Apricot

Learn how to safely and quickly process online payments; find out why non-profits and charities need protection against fraud; tips and tricks for saving money on transaction fees, setting up online donation forms and more!

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Becoming a 24/7 On-Demand Service Provider: Your Questions Answered

YourMembership

Associations and member organizations must develop a robust virtual presence in order to succeed in our “on-demand” economy, and utilize technology to help serve their members more efficiently as the market continues to shift. Our September YourMembership (YM) CAE Thought Leadership Webinar, Becoming an 24/7 On-Demand Service Provider to Meet Member Expectations presented by JP Guilbault – CEO of YM, identified and broke down five shifts that currently drive the On Demand men

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The Retention Ripple Effect: Nonprofit Staff and Donor Dynamics

Speaker: Andrew Olsen, CFRE - EVP, Fundraising Solutions at DickersonBakker | Kat Landa, CFRE, CSD - SVP, Talent Solutions at DickersonBakker

Across the nonprofit sector, organizations invest heavily in donor retention efforts, yet the struggle of cultivating lasting relationships remains. While attracting new donors is crucial, the lack of repeat donors poses significant financial risks. Through a comprehensive analysis of industry data, experts argue that there is a direct correlation between donor burnout, donor retention, and the talent retention crisis.

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Innovate the Lean Way

Spark Consulting

“There’s no bigger waste than investing resources working on the wrong thing.” Guillermo Ortiz de Zarate, Director, Information Systems, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Given associations’ tight resources, we can’t afford to waste time pursuing the wrong thing. Lean startup methodology (as opposed to lean six-sigma) has taken the business world by storm in the last several years, with businesses of all sizes and life stages experiencing success followin

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The Top 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Launching an Online Community

Higher Logic

As I mentioned in my previous post , I am coming from a previous online community launch from which I learned a great many lessons. My only hope is maybe others in a similar position can possibly learn from my “shoulda coulda woulda’s”. I'm getting settled into my new job and my main task for these first few weeks has been to study the online community field.

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Your Association in Three Slides?

Eric Lanke

My association organized a conference a few weeks ago in which one of the highlights was a series of commercialization "pitch" presentations. Graduate students working on research relevant to our industry were given the opportunity to pitch an idea to our industry members--an idea based on their research which could possibly be turned into a real product and commercialized.

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4 Elements of a High-Engagement Association Website

Socious

In the grand scheme of the digital age, thank goodness the 90’s and early 2000’s are behind us. Don’t get me wrong, we wouldn’t be where we are today without GeoCities, America Online, and MySpace. However, I’m very glad that we have moved away from the notion that every organization needs a website, just to have a website. Today, your website is your number one marketing asset.

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SME Relationships: Proven Solutions for Seamless Collaboration and Success

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!

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Version 5.6 Brings New Themes, Features and Functionality

Wild Apricot

Version 5.6 has been released! It brings in some significant improvements to the process of inserting files and images, resulting in a better user experience. We’ve also included yet another feature to our events module. Plus we’re proud to introduce two new fully responsive theme sets: Terra and Firma.

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Association Execs - What Keeps You Up at Night?

KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup

What a fabulous conversation with great people! Next week's chat is all about apps that are perfect for association executives and industry folks. You can join in the fun next Tuesday at 2 pm EDT here: https://blab.im/kiki-l-italien-association-chat-awesome-apps-for-association-execs-assnchat. You can also join the Association Chat Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/AssociationChat.

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Training truths be told

Aaron Wolowiec

Can the color of a marker really make a difference in how we learn? Yes, according to research. But it’s not necessarily the color. Instead, it’s choosing the color. “Research shows that giving learners choices – even seemingly trivial ones – can improve performance,” said Stephen Meyer, president and CEO of Rapid Learning Institute. “Bottom line: Embed choices into the learning process, even if they don’t seem meaningful.

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Creating Value in an Era of Exponential Change

Higher Logic

Brian Vellmure, Principal/Founder of Innovantage, LLC, joined us for September’s Higher Logic Learning Series webinar. He discussed how organizations can compete to win in a world where access is available, automatic and constantly affected by new technology. Check out some of Brian’s key takeaways. Higher Logic: You talked about upcoming and interesting technology, like virtual reality headsets and platforms that use brain waves to compose music.

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5 Habits of Growth-Oriented Associations

We’ve identified the five defining characteristics of future-focused associations. Adopting these traits allows your organization to chart a course for long-term growth and success. Find out: Why some organizations are more adept at navigating and overcoming challenges facing all associations. The success formula for thriving associations, including a behind-the-scenes peek at some flourishing organizations.

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A Board That Governs Itself

Eric Lanke

A few days ago we wrapped up one of our Board's three in-person meetings each year. It was a great event, with a lot of discussion about our industry's and our association's future, and a lot of decisions about how we should be directing our resources to bring about the vision we have described for both. I know I have peers who dread going to their Board meetings and who inwardly grimace when confronted with the level of dysfunction and micromanagement that occurs there.

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The Next Gen Wants in the Door

Mariner

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend with a group of great “early career” PTs. What sticks with me though is the. confirmation that our associations will be well-cared for and nurtured – and yes, changed – by our newest professionals.

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Making a Day of It

Virtual

Last week I saw the coolest Facebook post from my sister-in-law, who works at EMC in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. It was pretty neat—Patriot tight end (and part time Superhero) Rob Gronkowski had come to EMC as part of a company celebration. She was pumped to see Gronk live and in person. Watch the clip! Turns out, that celebration was part of CX Day —an initiative of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).

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Association Chat On Camera! What's Happening to #assnchat?

KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup

For the past few weeks Association Chat has been quietly testing a new platform for the weekly Tuesday chats. Blab is a livestreaming platform that enables a public video chat among four participants at a time. Viewers come in to watch the livestream and they can participate by leaving comments on the desktop application or below on the mobile version.

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How to Design a Seamless & Personalized Digital Donor Journey

Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio

The average nonprofit uses five or more different software platforms to create their donor’s journey, making the experience clunky and disjointed. If you want to design a magical online giving experience for donors, making their journey as seamless as possible is key. In this webinar with expert Tim Sarrantonio, you’ll learn the fundamental steps to create an immersive and personalized online giving experience for your donors.