The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…
Colleges isn’t the only path to success these days. Many young adults are finding other ways to obtain the skills and knowledge they need to succeed, including credentialing programs. WBT Systems explains why the “education hacking” movement is growing and how your association can attract this new market.
Don’t become Gilligan on a deserted IT island. Mike Guerrieri of DelCor Technology Solutions shares a rescue plan for improving your association’s IT maturity—coconut shell cocktails not included.
Amanda Kaiser (Smooth the Path) encourages you to expand your thinking on the role of an association. You can perhaps transform lives in ways you hadn’t considered up to now.
That transformation can begin on the first day of membership—as long as you have a new member onboarding plan in place. MemberSuite shares six ways to onboard and engage new members.
Some quick hits before we get to next week’s free webinars:
- Five alternatives to the annual performance review. (Lindsey Pollack, Fast Company)
- Being prompted to think about coffee elevates your physiological arousal and focuses your mind, no ingestion required. (Christian, Jarrett, The British Psychological Society Research Digest)
- A network of bee hives—a bee highway—is nearing completion in North Carolina’s Triangle. (Jan Wesner Childs, The Weather Channel)
- My new springtime (and summer) beverage, agua fresca. Here’s a recipe for a strawberry-lime agua fresca since we’re in the strawberry season here. Blueberries just arrived so they’re next. (Tara’s Multicultural Table)
Here are the educational events scheduled for next week. If you have any free webinars or events coming up, please send me the link. I’ll be happy to feature it as long as it’s not product-centric.
Tue 5/21 at 8:30 a.m.* – Association Coffee Talks: Putting Google Analytics to Work (Alexandria VA)
Do you know how to best leverage Google Analytics to better understand and engage your members — and generate more revenue? Learn how to use Google Analytics to meaningfully measure success, improve user experience and increase conversions. 1 CAE credit. Location: Alexandria VA. More info. Register.
Host: Results Direct
*All times are Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.
Tue 5/21 at 12 p.m. – Turn Off the Membership Churn & Keep Members for Life
Since it costs five times more to attract a new member than it does to retain an existing one, how prepared is your organization for winning members for life? Learn membership renewal best practices such as how to nurture relationships with your members year-round, how to convey the value of membership, and how to drive member renewals with your AMS. More info/register.
Host: YourMembership
Tue 5/21 at 2 p.m. – Start Attracting Event Investors: How to Develop a Successful Sponsorship Strategy
Learn about best practices for prospectus development, sponsor acquisition, package development, sponsorship propensity, and expenses vs. price vs. profit margin. Hear about industry trends and fresh ideas to inform your sponsorship strategy. Find out how to demonstrate impact and prove ROI. More info/register.
Host: Smart Meetings
Presenters:
- Meg Fasy, founder, FazeFWD, a sponsorship management company
- Noel McWilliams, Sponsorship Manager for Cvent
Tue 5/21 at 3 p.m. – Solving with ACE: A Design Thinking Experience (Washington DC and virtual)
Imagine the possibilities if you could harness the power of associations to identify pressing challenges for their profession/industry, and create impactful solutions through community. Hear about a pilot where we develop an “active, community-led apprenticeship for problem identification and problem solving.” Learn the principles and practice of design thinking—the process that will be used in the pilot. And then we’ll together define and refine a pressing association challenge we can solve as a community, through the pilot, over the next three months. Location: Washington DC and virtual. More info/register.
Host: Associations Catalyzing Entrepreneurship (ACE)
Presenters:
- Garth Jordan, senior vice president, corporate strategy at the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and CEO of RevvCrew
- Tim Parsons, head of story, brand strategy, and partnerships at 5:00 Films and Media
Wed 5/22 at 10 a.m. – Event Trends 2019 – Live From IMEX
Join our panel of experts to learn about the latest trends influencing key decision makers in the event industry, announcements and tech developments, and a recap of the most interesting sessions happening at IMEX. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.
Host: Event Manager Blog
Presenters:
- Julius Solaris, Founder and Editor in Chief, EventMB.com
- Avner Cohen Solal, Co-founder and President of Evenium
Wed 5/22 at 12 p.m. – Be an AI Superhero: Predict and Optimize the Member Experience
Using your artificial intelligence (AI) superpower, your association can now move faster than a speeding bullet to delight your members. With your x-ray vision, you can easily see through those business intelligence walls. You won’t need mind control to be able to predict what the next step in your member’s journey will be. Learn about the five superpowers your association can leverage with AI to optimize your member’s experience while also increasing the association’s revenue. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Hosts: ReviewMyAMS
Presenters:
- Sigmund VanDamme, Membership Evangelist, Community Brands
- Jeff Golembiewski, Director of Product Enablement, Community Brands
Wed 5/22 at 1 p.m. – Ultimate Member Engagement: The Power of Data-Driven Decision Making
Data is useless unless it tells a story and enhances your ability to drive desired results. Learn how to leverage visualizations and analytics to better understand your data, mine the right data to improve your member’s experience, and determine a successful ROI on your collection and analysis of member data. More info/register.
Host: Impexium
Thu 5/23 at 8:30 a.m. – Association Coffee Talks: Putting Google Analytics to Work (Reston VA)
Do you know how to best leverage Google Analytics to better understand and engage your members — and generate more revenue? Learn how to use Google Analytics to meaningfully measure success, improve user experience and increase conversions. 1 CAE credit. Location: Reston VA. More info. Register.
Host: Results Direct
Thu 5/23 at 1 p.m. – How to Validate Your Market for Educational Products
Learn how to assess your market effectively and launch new educational products with confidence. Hear about the value of traditional assessment approaches like surveys and interviews as well as newer techniques that help you take the pulse of your market on an ongoing basis. Walk away with a clear, templated process for testing the demand for new products before investing significant time and money in full-scale production. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Hosts: Tagoras and CommPartners
Presenters: Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele, founders, Tagoras
Thu 5/23 at 1 p.m. – D.C. Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016 (UPLA)
Learn about UPLA employer and employee eligibility, benefits entitlement and employer obligations. Understand the interplay between the UPLA and DC’s Accrued Safe and Sick Leave Act, the federal and DC Family and Medical Leave Act, and any paid leave and/or benefits provided by your organization, and the actions employers should take to prepare for compliance with the UPLA. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: ASAE Finance & Business Operations Section Council
Presenters:
- Sara Curtis (moderator), MBA, CAE, SPHR, Director of Human Resources, American Society of Anesthesiologists
- Jennifer G. Prozinski, Esq., Venable LLP
- Karl Mazanec, Labor & Employment Law Associate, Venable LLP
Thu 5/30 at 12 p.m. – Three Reasons Why Associations Must Refocus Governing on the Future…and Three Ways to Do It (Washington DC Idea Swap)
During the last decade, we’ve been giving association boards the wrong work. We should’ve insisted that boards devote more of their attention to understanding, anticipating and preparing for the inevitable impact of the societal transformation that was unfolding before our eyes. We should’ve taken steps to ensure they overcame their preference for short-term, orthodox thinking. Learn why it’s so critical to refocus association governing on the future, as well as three next practices to make it happen. 1 CAE credit. Location: Washington DC. More info/register.
Host: ASAE Greater Washington / National Capital Community
Presenter: Jeff De Cagna, executive advisor for Foresight First LLC
Thu 5/30 at 1 p.m. – How to Drive Learning in Hard-to-Reach Places: Strategies from Non-Profit Organizations
What can you learn from some of the planet’s best-known NGOs, such as Habitat for Humanity, World Wildlife Fund and Save The Children, that offer workforce training in tough environments? Discover how to assess and prioritize skills across diverse, decentralized environments; anticipate and avoid common compliance risks at a local, national and international level; source, develop and leverage training content; verify content value and effectiveness; and avoid technical challenges in unpredictable environments. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Talented Learning
Presenters:
- John Leh, Lead Analyst at Talented Learning
- Ross Coxon, Director of Learning Collaborative at Humentum
- Bill Mastin, EVP at PeopleFluent Learning
Fri 5/31 at 11 a.m. – Social Media TNT: How to Use Technology + Trust to Mobilize What Matters
Learn how social media, story, and trust are connected. Discover the opportunities for search and social media success that most executives miss and the ways you can use this information to supercharge your marketing and membership initiatives. Learn how you can build a stronger community by articulating your bigger story, creating and sharing great content, and showing up and responding to the people who connect with it. More info/register.
Host/Presenter: KiKi L’Italien, founder, Amplified Growth
That’s it for now. If you can’t attend a live webinar, go ahead and register if the topic interests you. Most webinar hosts send registrants a link to the recording.
Association Brain Food Weekly is published Friday mornings. If your organization offers free professional development for the association community, please send me the link via email or Twitter.
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