The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…
“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” –Oprah Winfrey
Online programs. Matchbox Virtual Media asks for your participation in a survey that explores how the use of online experiences by associations for membership engagement, education, revenue growth, and other purposes has evolved in recent times. Please take three to five minutes of your time to help with this research.
Membership trends. TopClass LMS highlights findings from MGI’s 2023 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report that they think will interest association education teams. They pull out a few good ideas from survey comments too.
Gen Z and millennials. Another report to add to your reading list is Deloitte’s 2023 Gen Z and Millennial survey. One of its sad findings: 46% of Gen Zs and 39% of millennials feel stressed or anxious at work all or most of the time. Another one: Gen Zs and millennials report increasingly high levels of burnout due to work-related pressures. Managers, check in with your people!
Marketing to younger generations. While we’re on the topic, Mercury Creative Group explains how to build a brand that attracts and retains younger members.
Conference planning. Julius Solaris of Boldpush says don’t even think about planning a conference like last year’s. Too much has changed, including what you’re really selling, attention spans, the need for keynotes, and new abnormal patterns. You should get on his mailing list.
AI prompts. Ethan Mollick thinks the ultimate winners on the AI playing field are organizations that create grimoires. What is this witchcraft he speaks of? He’s referring to “spellbooks” full of generative AI prompts that encode human expertise and unlock AI’s positive potential.
Change readiness. Starkweather Association Services explains how to prepare your team for any project involving change, which is most projects these days. With their guidance, you can better understand and minimize the complications your people might bring to a project—a valuable competency for any career.
Middle managers. At Reworked, Stowe Boyd says it’s time we rethink middle management, especially since 46% of them plan to quit in the next year because of work-related stress. Training in the right soft skills might help.
R/evolution. You are not destined to live in quiet times, says Walter Russell Mead at Tablet. Humanity’s third major technological revolution is leading us into a future more promising and dangerous than any since the dawn of history—and it’s coming faster than you think. Let’s focus on “promising,” huh?
Also worth your time
It’s time to end the toxic U.S.-Saudi relationship—a perspective well worth reading and considering. I swear I’m not becoming an isolationist, but enough is enough sometimes. (Daniel Larison, Eunomia)
The female pickup artists: a new group of influencers is peddling an old strategy, the art of entrapping a man. This is so sad. I hope no one I know is a victim of these power games. Just keep it real, people. (Kat Rosenfield, The Free Press)
15 ways to get back to sleep when you wake at 3 a.m. (Emine Saner, The Guardian)
The cynical personality—the one who constantly complains about “living in hell”—is so tiresome, plus that line of thought is patently untrue. (Haley Nahman, Maybe Baby)
You never grow old at the table
Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout.
What a treat: shrimp scampi pizza on a Friday night. Get yourself a bag of dough from the market. Sauté garlic and lemon zest in butter and oil. Add white wine, basil pesto and shrimp (made in the USA only, please). Remove the shrimp when they’re pink. Spread the right amount of sauce on the dough. Top with slow-roasted or sun-dried tomatoes, shrimp, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake on high heat for maybe ten minutes. Sprinkle with Italian parsley and red pepper flakes when it comes out of the oven. Eat way too much.
A lighter yet tasty dish: pan-seared tuna with avocado, soy, ginger and lime. Save the leftover sauce and heat it up with brown rice, canned salmon or tuna and any greens you have hanging around for a mighty good lunch.
On the side at dinner, Asian-style eggplant. Sauté eggplant with onion, shiitake, orange bell, red jalapeño, garlic and ginger. Mix sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown/palm sugar and cornstarch (all 2 tbsp except 6 tbsp soy), then add to the veggies with half a cup of chicken broth and cilantro.
An old stand-by you’ve seen here before: southwestern sweet potato skillet. It’s a mix of ground chorizo and turkey, sweet potato, spinach and arugula, onion, poblano, red bell, jalapeño, garlic, black beans, corn, chipotle en adobo, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, chile powder and cheddar/pepperjack cheese.
If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.
Fri 8/25 at 12 p.m.* – How To Implement a Successful Accessibility Program
Learn about the key components and frameworks for establishing a robust accessibility program, effective strategies for managing various stakeholders and their unique needs, and the critical role of persistence in achieving long-term success in accessibility. More info/register.
Host: Accelerated Accessibility
Speakers: Jonathan Thurston and Cam Beaudoin
*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.
Fri 8/25 at 12:30 p.m. – How to Create an AI Usage Policy AMA
Join this discussion on approaches to consider as you develop your AI guidelines and policies. Explore topics such as ethics, copyright, security, and data privacy. More info/register.
Host: Association Women Technology Champions
Speaker: Juan Sanchez, Chief Information Officer, Inteleos
Fri 8/25 at 1 p.m. – Certification Administration
Learn how to develop and implement a successful certification program, and how to assess and monitor the performance of certified individuals. Explore the legal implications of certification programs and how to ensure that they are compliant with relevant regulations. More info/register.
Host: Leverage Assessments, Inc.
Speaker: Kyana Beckles
Fri 8/25 at 4 p.m. – Association Management Series: Key Concepts Every Association Professional Should Know – Membership
Just because you work for a membership association doesn’t mean you work *in* membership. But there are key membership concepts every association professional should know. Learn about the membership lifecycle, from prospecting and lead generation, through the welcome cycle and ladders of engagement, to good practices in renewal cycles, and what happens after that. More info/register.
Host: Fridays@4
Speaker: Elizabeth Weaver Engel, M.A., CAE, Chief Strategist at Spark Consulting
Mon 8/28 at 8 a.m. – The 4 Fs of Legislative Engagement (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)
Every week Rogue Tulips brings the nonprofit community intriguing guests discussing vital topics affecting nonprofit organizations around the world—and we have fun doing it! Episodes are published Monday mornings in both audio and video format, available on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Apple Podcast, and Google Podcast (to name a few!).
Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting
Guest: Mike Bober, CEO, Pet Advocacy Network
Tue 8/29 at 11 a.m. – Leadership & Learning: The Best Leaders Ask the Best Questions: Because Who Needs All the Answers Anyway?
We’re in a world where people want more from their leaders than ever, yet loyalty and satisfaction are on a bit of a hiatus. To navigate the choppy waters, one skill stands out: the ancient art of asking questions. Using insights from research across industries and over a decade’s experience in education leadership, learn why asking questions is a leadership superpower and the keys to using powerful questions to make better choices, find and keep the right team members, and grow into even better leaders in the future. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: UST Education
Speaker: Ryan MacTaggart, PhD, Associate Director, Professional Learning, EDUCAUSE
Tue 8/29 at 12 p.m. – Tech Tuesdays
At a session at the ASAE Annual Meeting, Dave Coriale asked a panel of CIOs the following questions: What keeps your organization from achieving its technology-dependent goals? What does the IT leader see but is afraid to say? What cultural leadership characteristics keep an organization from reaching its potential? Let’s explore what IT leaders need from their CSO, leadership team, and organization to be good strategic partners to the organization. More info/register.
Host: ASAE Technology Professionals Community
Tue 8/29 at 1 p.m. – Everything You Want to Know About Engagement Scoring (But Didn’t Know to Ask)
Dive deep into the nuances of creating an engagement scoring model that truly reflects what you value most in your members, and what they value most about your association. Learn the do’s and don’ts of building the right model for your association and walk away with tips on how to get started. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: UST Education
Speaker: Greg Pollack, SVP of Sales, Association Analytics
Tue 8/29 at 2 p.m. – Small Team, Big Impact: How to Overcome Challenges and Prove ROI
Learn the secrets to thriving as a small team (or even a team of one). Hear about best practices to overcome time constraints and budget limitations, streamline your processes and maximize impact, consolidate resources, expand your coverage, cultivate strategic relationships to prove the value of your work, and track and showcase the tangible returns on your team’s efforts. More info/register.
Host: FiscalNote
Speakers:
- Toni Johnson, Civic Engagement Director, Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable
- Adjoa Kyerematen, Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, National Minority Quality Forum
- Michaela Martin, Policy and Government Affairs Manager, First 5 Orange County
- Colleen Terry, Director of Grassroots Advocacy, Distilled Spirits Council
Wed 8/30 at 12 p.m. – Financial Sustainability for Associations: 10 Simple Metrics
Learn how to assess your short and long-term financial health with 10 simple KPIs that your board and management can easily follow. More info/register.
Host: Zzeem
Wed 8/30 at 1 p.m. – Meeting and Event Risk and Contingency Planning: Recalculating What We Thought We Knew
Because of COVID, our duty of care concerns increased, but planners may still believe it’s the responsibility of venues to provide for risk anticipation and management of emergencies. Learn what RFP questions to include when selecting destinations and sites, get a thorough comprehension of responsibilities, and strengthen your ability to write a risk and contingency plan coordinated with venues and vendors. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.
Host: Meetings Today
Speaker: Joan Eisenstodt, Principal, Eisenstodt Associates, LLC
Wed 8/30 at 3 p.m. – The Importance and Effects of Creating a Culture of Inclusivity Regarding Accessibility in Your Organization
Explore the importance of accessibility in the workplace and how it can benefit employees and the organization as a whole. Hear about the moral and ethical obligations surrounding accessibility, the business advantages of an accessible workplace (such as increased productivity, better employee retention, and improved customer satisfaction), and strategies for promoting accessibility in the workplace including training, resources, and technology. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: UST Education
Speaker: Taylor Dorward, Life Hacks365
Thu 8/31 at 10:30 a.m. – Event Tech In Memorium
Event technology has come and gone over the years. Yesterday’s shiny new object is in today’s digital scrap heap. Join us to cut the sh*t on companies and technologies that are no longer with us, the impact they had on the industry and what we can learn from their untimely demise. More info/register.
Host: Dahlia El Gazzar
Thu 8/31 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In
A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.
Host: Black In Events Network
Thu 8/31 at 1 p.m. – The Path to Learning Business Maturity
In a world where competition, learner expectations, and the need to deliver real impact have increased dramatically, learning businesses must take their operations to a new level of maturity in order to thrive. Learn about the Tagoras Learning Business Maturity Model, its components, and how learning businesses can—and do—implement the model in a way that puts them on a clear, measurable path to greater maturity and, by extension, greater reach, revenue, and impact. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Tagoras/Leading Learning
Speakers: Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele, co-founders of Tagoras
Thu 8/31 at 1 p.m. – What You Don’t Know About Payments
Learn about four important payment trends which emerged from the pandemic and are here to stay, two key changes you should make with your payment and credit card collection practices, what you are not being told about credit card fees and why that is costing your organization money, alternatives to credit card collections that the ecosystem supporting Visa/MasterCard and AMEX don’t want you to know about, PCI compliance and security issues, and how to do an RFP for Merchant Services. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: UST Education
Speakers: Julie Duncan, Association Practice Leader, and Jenni Glaze, COO, U.S. Transactions Corporation
Fri 9/1 at 10 a.m. – Association Bridge Networks| Coffee with Innovators: Association Design Circle
Our topic this month is Association Bridge Networks. Calvin will lead us in conversation on creating authentic growth with diverse communities: How can we build bridge networks and systems of inclusion? How can we use story to create equity and common connection? More info/register.
Host: Product Design Community
Facilitator: Calvin Haney, Associate Director of Multicultural and Affinity Engagement at the American University Alumni Association
Tue 9/5 at 12 p.m. – Analytics for International Business Development (Association Analytics Network)
Learn how associations can use data to expand their reach and impact beyond their domestic borders. Hear about strategies for collecting, analyzing, and leveraging data to identify potential international markets, understand nuances, and tailor membership offerings to effectively engage with global audiences. Gain insights into best practices for using data to inform decision-making and develop successful international expansion strategies for their associations. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Association Analytics
Speakers:
- Kerry Cosby, Associate Director, Global Affairs and Analytics Initiatives, Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (formerly AACC)
- Pietro Macchiarella, Data and Insights COE Director, Young Presidents’ Organization
Wed 9/6 at 9 a.m. – PAR Member Meet-Up: Ideas to Solve Tough Customer Objections, Complaints or Feedback
Association teams must find successful ways to approach dissatisfaction from members, customers and potential partners. Hear association colleagues share tips and tactics they use to respond to negative feedback and objections. 0.5 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Professionals for Association Revenue
Wed 9/6 at 11 a.m. – Technology Alignment: Connecting Diagnostics, Strategy, and Execution
Learn the importance of diagnosing your tech problems and why it’s not enough to know you have problems, but to understand why and how to fix them. Hear about the importance of aligning your business goals to your technology strategy so you can accommodate needs today and anticipate needs down the road. Learn how to engage your leadership team and staff as allies and active participants so the whole organization works together to move IT initiatives forward and achieve measurable results. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: UST Education
Speaker: Christopher Kasmark, Sr. Strategic Consultant, Technology Consulting, DelCor Technology Solutions
Wed 9/6 at 12 p.m. – Change Management Lessons From The Hitman’s Bodyguard
How do you keep people safe in chaotic, ambiguous situations? Preparation and planning. Boring is good. Meticulous planning is essential. Hear about proven tactics to plan your change, motivate, and educate your team to get the change you want. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Association Insights in Old Town
Speakers: Joe Plasterer and Mel Starkweather of Starkweather Association Services
Thu 9/7 at 2 p.m. – Beyond the First Look: More Insights into AMS Projects
In 2021, 501Works and Branching knowledge conducted the first ever AMS/CRM System Selection Survey Report to help understand our industry’s friction-ridden and fractured processes for selecting, implementing and using AMS/CRM solutions. We’re revisiting the juicy pieces of data as we prepare to conduct the next survey, digging into survey selection and implementation data not covered in the original report and giving additional perspectives two years later. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: 501Works
Speakers:
- Olivia Wilkins, Business Analyst/Project Manager, PerByte
- James Marquis, CIO, 501Works
Fri 9/8 at 12:30 p.m. – Conversations with Champions
Each conversation features an AWTC leader or AWTC Award winner, followed by breakout rooms with changing topics (selected by our featured guest). These intimate, virtual conversations are a chance to form meaningful connections with other women and allies in the association technology community. More info/register.
Host: Association Women Technology Champions
Guests: Lindsay Currie and Heather Wakefield, Council on Undergraduate Research
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 by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled.
Creative Commons licensed photo by Clément Rémond via Unsplash
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