April, 2015

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Are Great Leaders Lean?

Association Leaders

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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Observations from the Launch Pad

YourMembership

I’m back in the office following an amazing week in St. Petersburg for Xperience 2015 , YM’s annual customer conference (you can view a recap video on our home page ). For three days we had the opportunity to meet with over 300 association professionals focusing our discussions on YM’s vision for the industry and where we expect to take our Member Engagement Platform in the months and years ahead.

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Supercharge Member Loyalty & Power Community Engagement

Spark Consulting

'“Those who can, do. Those who can do more, volunteer.”. During our April 16 Higher Logic Learning Series webinar on volunteerism in honor of National Volunteer Week (#NVW2015), Peggy Hoffman and I were unable to get to all the questions in our allotted hour. So we’re hitting the rest now: How do you find out what rewards the volunteers like/want?

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Finding the Right Language (and Mindset) for Dealing with Our Stuff

Reid All About it

'While organizing my notes for my book on small home living, I kept running up against a word that bothered me—downsizing. I have pages of notes about downsizing. 13 pages—and I haven’t even explored the topic as much as I would like. It’s an important chapter because if you’re moving from a large home into a smaller one, you can’t take all your stuff with you.

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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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Wild Apricot 5.3 Released

Wild Apricot

'Wild Apricot version 5.3 has been released! Here is an overview of what is included in this release – from access to Knowledge and Community in the admin view, to a new responsive theme and resolution of 60 issues.

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Sharing is a Critical Leadership Trait

Association Leaders

'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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Associations and the Vision Thing

YourMembership

I am writing from Xperience2015 , YM’s second annual customer conference, where we’re spending three days with more than 300 association leaders and staff. It is an extremely rewarding event for our customers and for YM’s staff and leaders. A big highlight of day one of the conference was the presentation of YM’s roadmap and vision for the future. People want to know where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

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Turning Good Ideas Into Action

Spark Consulting

'Looking to increase your association’s revenue? Growth can come about either through acquiring new customers/members or increasing sales to existing customers/members. And you can sell either existing programs, products, and services or new programs, products, and services. In short, Ansoff’s matrix. The thing is, associations often struggle with this.

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Association Chat: Thanking Volunteers

KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup

Thank You Charm by Beth on Flickr https://flic.kr/p/7vybea How do we show our volunteers that we appreciate them throughout the year? Certainly there are the reminders on our calendars. In April we celebrate National Volunteer Month (with National Volunteer Week taking the spotlight) and in November we celebrate Thanksgiving, which is a natural time to show our gratitude for all sorts of things including volunteers.

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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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Eve Layman 1-On-1: Connecting Community Partners

Wild Apricot

'Here are highlights of our 1-On-1 interview with Eve Layman of the CATCH Coalition, in which she offers insight on creating connections between community partners; building a subscription base through online event registrations; social media strategies; and more.

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Good news foodies: Conference venues are listening

Aaron Wolowiec

At a conference dinner earlier this month, a bunch of us, hungry and tired, sat at the table joking that chicken was most likely on the menu. And it was. But we had salmon, too. And vegetables, rolls, rice, salad and dessert. Sounds about right for a conference, yes? So imagine our surprise when the rest of the meals didn’t consist of the typical conference grub, but instead included fancy finger foods, fresh vegetables, flavorfully spiced meats and beautiful presentation.

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Go ahead. split that infinitive

Mariner

To split or not to split infinitives … it’s a serious controversy! Not really, but there are people that are adamant that you should never split an infinitive. Say thanks to the grammar gods that the creators of Star Trek ignored the rule – because To Go Boldly just doesn’t have the same zing!

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March Madness Turns to April Gladness – It’s Time for Xperience 2015

YourMembership

March Madness is almost over, major league baseball starts next week, and the NFL draft is quickly approaching. Excited? You bet! But not for those reasons. I’m excited because Xperience 2015 is just a week away! Once again 300 association leaders and staff from around the country and as far away as South Africa, will converge on St. Petersburg for YM’s annual customer conference.

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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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A Strategy Agenda Is Not a Strategic Plan

Eric Lanke

I introduced a new term in my association last year. Our Strategy Agenda. What is it? Well, as the title of this blog post suggests, it is not another pseudonym for our strategic plan. It is something distinct. Unlike too many strategic plans in the association world, our Strategy Agenda doesn't deal at all with what we intend to do. It deals only with what we intend to achieve, and how we will know when we achieved it.

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Association Chat: Associations and Globalization

KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup

'https://flic.kr/p/4rXRZh As the world seems to get smaller with the aid of technology, many associations have already expanded internationally or are looking to grow overseas in the future. But what makes an association a "global" organization versus a national organization with international ties? How do associations balance growth in their home countries while investing in growth internationally?

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Your Volunteers Rock! Be Sure to Tell Them How During National Volunteer Week

Wild Apricot

'April 12 to 18th is National Volunteer Week in Canada and the U.S. Here are some resources to help you recognize and celebrate with your volunteers - including our Expert Webinar on "Converting Joiners to Stayers", tips and tools from Volunteer Canada and Points of Light.

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Advancing association meetings via brain science

Aaron Wolowiec

'Whether you’re a planner, a CEO, a supplier or whether you fill some other role, think back to the very first conference for which you selected/hired a speaker. Maybe it was for an association event, a church event, a community event or some other program altogether. In my role as education director for a state trade association, I remember early in my career my priorities for hiring a speaker: cost, availability and topic (often in that order).

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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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Accelerating Member Engagement

Potomac Core

Accelerating Member Engagement. According to a recent CNBC post “earnings are expected to be down by some 4 percent year over year, that is an 8-percent reduction from previous estimates.” How does this or any financial news connect to Association member engagement? What happens today influences how executives make decisions about where to invest their precious time.

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#NVW2015 Keep the thanks coming

Mariner

'This week to mark #NVW2015 , we have enjoyed pointing out the reasons we appreciate and thank our volunteers. I also had the wonderful opportunity to present with Elizabeth Engel a webinar on volunteer appreciation for the Higher Logic Learning Series this week. You can check out the webinar here.

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There is No Them

Eric Lanke

'We are all marketers. We are all in membership. We are all meeting planners and facilitators. These are the skill sets that we all must possess if we are going to achieve the things we need to achieve. Turfing things to the marketing, membership, or meeting planning department is abdicating our primary responsibilities. We know who are members are, we know the value of the products we offer them, we know what we want to achieve from each meeting.

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Eye Chart

Virtual

'One of the best things about having a great staff is that I find that I’m wrong more than I’m right. Often I have a belief about something, but my team has better information. One great example of that was recently when we were working on a client web site. I saw the design and thought that too much material was “below the fold” of the first screen.

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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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3 Key Insights On E-newsletters

Wild Apricot

'In past conversations, we''ve learned that many associations, clubs and non-profits use e-newsletters to communicate with their members with varying degrees of success. So we revisited the subject in a recent Advisory session. Here are 3 key insights.

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Can associations keep pace in the tech race?

Aaron Wolowiec

'This month’s guest blog post is adapted from an original by Hank Berkowitz , moderator in chief of Association Adviser eNews. He wears many hats, however, and to see those, visit his LinkedIn profile. Hank Berkowitz, moderator in chief of Association Adviser eNews. About 60 percent of respondents to our latest unscientific reader poll said they’ve encountered more surprises in technology over the past 12 months than in any other area of association management.

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Association Chat: Mobile Apps for Your Association Events

KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup

'This week, I''ll be moderating a panel of experts on the subject of event apps for the Potomac Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (PMPI). To go along with that theme, event apps will be the focus of this week''s Association Chat.and there''s a lot to talk about! Julius Solaris, author of the eBook, The Event App Bible , shares some staggering statistics from his research that indicate a wide, but narrowing, gap between what meeting planners want from an event app and what the mobile

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#NVW2015 - Volunteers Share Their Talents

Mariner

'DAY FOUR of our #NVW2015 celebration ! Today, we thank our volunteers for their talents. And for sharing those talents with their chapters. Whether it’s through making that all-important connection, sharing an expertise with the group, or taking the lead on issues important to the association, these volunteers help everyone succeeds.

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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.