The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…
DelCor consultant Mike Guerrieri explains how to build a strong business case for a new technology project. He reveals what association execs and IT leaders (having been one himself) consider before giving a project the greenlight.
Just what the association community thought would happen: America’s fastest-growing technology conference is leaving the U.S. for Toronto.
The online learning experience is more effective and enjoyable when an online community is part of the mix. WBT Systems shares 12 ways to increase student participation in online discussions.
Some quick hits before we get to the list of free webinars:
- Beware the scam of the week: phishing attacks using GDPR as bait. (KnowBe4)
- Would your senator or rep fall for a phishing attack? Do they even know what phishing or GDPR is? Dammit, we need technically literate legislators. Yes, throw the bums out! (Om Malik)
- How to develop empathy for someone who annoys you. (Harvard Business Review)
- A breakdown of the elements of an effective tweet, except they forgot the most important one – value to the reader, duh. (Hootsuite)
Way off-topic: Check out my Grabbing the Gusto blog for my weekend post about the list of recipes I’ve made this week or plan to make in the coming week.
Now, the main event: free professional development events for the association community. If your organization has a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link. I’ll be happy to feature it as long as it’s not product-centric.
Tue 5/15 at 12 p.m. – Chapter Roundtable in Washington DC
Meet fellow chapter professionals, collaborate and share insights or ideas, get valuable feedback from your peers on your current project/goal/struggle, discover what your peers are working towards/working on, and have lunch on Billhighway. 1 CAE credit. Location: Washington DC. More info/register.
Host: Billhighway
*All times are Eastern Standard Time unless otherwise noted.
Tue 5/15 at 12 p.m. – The Three Essential Elements of Effective Inbound Strategy
If done right, inbound marketing has the ability to accelerate growth and in turn, drive revenue. But your inbound engine can’t function without the right foundation. Learn what it means to make your website sales-ready, how to use clearly defined buyer personas, and why you need a properly configured marketing automation. More info/register.
Host: New Breed
Presenter: O’Keefe Foster, Inbound Advisor, New Breed
Tue 5/15 at 1 p.m. – Winning Email Strategy for your Events: It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint
Learn proven email marketing strategies for your live and digital events: generating awareness and registration, nurturing for attendance, and helpful follow-up communications that leave attendees wanting more. Hear about a tried and true email campaign timeline to drive maximum registrations and automation hacks to engage at the right time and make your job easier. More info/register.
Host: American Marketing Association
Presenters: Jill Guest, Sr. Customer Growth Marketing Manager, and Ellie Johnson, Marketing Operations Associate, SendGrid
Tue 5/15 at 2 p.m. – What Event Planners Need to Know About GDPR
Does all this noise about GDPR matter to you, the event planner? It does if you are handling the personal data of EU citizens who attend your events or work in an EU company for any of your upcoming events. Get the down low on what exactly GDPR is and what you and your organization should ensure is in place for compliance by May 25, 2018. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.
Host: Pathable
Tue 5/15 at 2 p.m. – Big, Small, and Everything in Between: Tech Trends for All Events
Learn about event technology trends suited for events large or small and on any budget. Walk away with some ideas you can implement right away, along with some long term strategies to begin integrating into your event planning. More info/register.
Host: Smart Meetings
Presenter: Brooke Gracey, Senior Mobile Events App Strategist, CrowdCompass by Cvent
Wed 5/16 at 8:30 a.m. – DC-Area Partnership Professionals Network Idea Exchange (Alexandria VA)
Join a discussion on what, why, when, and how to track corporate partnerships. Location: Alexandria VA. More info/register.
Host/Organizer: Bruce Rosenthal, founder, Bruce Rosenthal Associates, LLC, and Partnership Professionals Network
Wed 5/16 at 12 p.m. – Chapter Roundtable in Alexandria VA
Meet fellow chapter professionals, collaborate and share insights or ideas, get valuable feedback from your peers on your current project/goal/struggle, discover what your peers are working towards/working on, and have lunch on Billhighway. 1 CAE credit. Location: Alexandria VA. More info/register.
Host: Billhighway
Wed 5/16 at 1 p.m. – Ultimate Member Engagement: The Power of Data-Driven Decision Making
If you are like most associations, your AMS contains a seemingly endless amount of historical, financial, social and demographic data on members, former members, prospects and more. But, this data is useless unless it tells a story and enhances your ability to drive desired results. Learn how to analyze and visualize your existing data, execute winning member-facing strategies, improve your member’s experience by mining the right data, and determine a successful ROI on your collection and analysis of member data. More info/register.
Host: Impexium
Wed 5/16 at 2 p.m. – GDPR: Is Your Event Ready?
Learn how GDPR will affect the data you currently store, how event marketing will be impacted by GDPR, and how can you continue to grow your event under GDPR. More info/register.
Host: Bear Analytics
Presenters:
- Joe Colangelo, CEO, Bear Analytics
- Bryan Clark, Associate, Vedder Price
Wed 5/16 at 2 p.m. – Traits of an Effective Board
Hear about the most important traits of an effective volunteer board, based on a study published in early 2017 by AH and Kaiser Insights. Learn how to define an engaged board and ensure effective board outcomes. Learn about the importance of board chair and association staff leader relationships, and the traits of a low-functioning board vs. traits of a high-functioning board. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Association Headquarters
Presenters: Mike Dwyer, CAE and Kelly Mariotti, CAE
Wed 5/16 at 4 p.m. – Nonprofit Development Operations and Technology
Hear about the challenges facing modern development/fundraising operations. More info/register.
Host: Community IT
Thu 5/17 at 11:30 a.m. – Association Video: Trends, Creative Techniques and Rules of Member Engagement (Alexandria VA Brown Bag)
Hear about multiple case studies of association video campaigns that are used for membership, communications and events. Learn about new trends for 2018, how associations are crafting their messages to get better engagement and ROI, and how associations are marketing to their more seasoned members vs. millennials and how that message should differ. 1 CAE credit. Location: Alexandria VA. More info/register.
Host: Alexandria Brown Bag Professional Development & Networking
Presenters: Tom Madden, Executive Producer / President, and Bryan McLamara, Video Production Manager, Visual Impact Productions
Thu 5/17 at 11:30 a.m. – Growing Digital Member Engagement (Washington DC)
How can you cut through the noise and develop a web strategy that grows your digital presence and keeps your members engaged? Learn how to implement long-term digital marketing best practices for web growth, foster an engaging community for current and potential members to interact, and improve visibility of your mission with better website performance. 1 CAE credit. Location: Washington DC. More info/register.
Hosts: Americaneagle.com and Higher Logic
Thu 5/17 at 12 p.m. – Chapter Roundtable in Reston VA
Meet fellow chapter professionals, collaborate and share insights or ideas, get valuable feedback from your peers on your current project/goal/struggle, discover what your peers are working towards/working on, and have lunch on Billhighway. 1 CAE credit. Location: Reston VA. More info/register.
Host: Billhighway
Thu 5/17 at 12 p.m. – Election-Year Opportunities for Nonprofits (Washington DC & webinar)
With the 2018 election cycle underway, now is the perfect time to learn ways that your organization can be more involved in the political process while still complying with tax and campaign finance laws. Learn how to identify meaningful ways to maximize your organization’s impact during this critical election year. Location: online & Washington DC. More info/register.
Host: Venable LLP
Presenters:
- Cindy M. Lewin (moderator), Partner, Nonprofit Organizations Practice, Venable LLP
- Ronald M. Jacobs, Partner and Co-Chair of Venable’s Political Law Practice, Venable LLP
- Lawrence H. Norton, Partner, Chair of Venable’s Government Division, and Co-Chair of Venable’s Political Law Practice, Venable LLP
Thu 5/17 at 1 p.m. – Building Capacity: How to Staff (or Contract) for Online Learning Success
Learn about typical types of roles involved in online learning (e.g., roles to support technology platforms, roles to create content, and roles in business development), tasks and responsibilities those roles typically perform, and key factors in deciding what to handle in house, what to contract for, and what to outsource entirely. Hear ideas for how to make the case for more dollars to support new or additional resources. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Community Brands
Presenters:
- Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele, co-founders, Tagoras
- Michele Windsor, Vice President, Professional Services & Account Management, Learning Solutions, Community Brands
Thu 5/17 at 1 p.m. – The Digital Tipping Point: Online Fundraising and Giving Trends
Join experts as they walk through online fundraising, giving trends and tools for your organization to leverage when optimizing users’ digital experiences. Gain maximum return on donor engagements by accommodating their personalization preferences. More info/register.
Host: Community Brands
Presenters: Brandy Keller, Director of Product Marketing, and Rich Dietz, Fundraising Strategist, Community Brands
Thu 5/17 at 2 p.m. – Your GDPR Questions Answered
Get answers your questions about the implications of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for your organization. More info/register.
Host: rasa.io
Thu 5/17 at 2 p.m. – How to Create Smart Financial Services and Insurance Meetings
Compliance considerations, regulations and business objectives govern financial services and insurance industry meetings. Learn how to use what makes meetings within the financial services and insurance industry unique to enhance your meetings. Review the essentials for successful meetings that support internal client goals and company objectives. Discover resources for best practice sharing and new, innovative ideas and how to use them to engage your attendees. More info/register.
Host: Smart Meetings
Presenters:
- Caryn Taylor Lucia, VP of Corporate Events, SEI Investments
- Koleen Roach, Director of Meetings & Conference Management, Securian Financial Group
- Karyn Evans, Manager, Sponsorships, Meetings & Events, Allianz
Wed 5/23 at 12 p.m. – DC-Area Partnership Professionals Network Idea Exchange (Washington DC)
Join a discussion on tips for corporate partner contracts and ways to engage your corporate partners’ employees. Location: Washington DC. More info/register.
Host/Organizer: Bruce Rosenthal, founder, Bruce Rosenthal Associates, LLC, and Partnership Professionals Network
Wed 5/23 at 1 p.m. – How to Scale Online Learning: B2B Market Strategies for Associations
Learn how to sell online learning content in bulk through your corporate customers/members. Find out how to build a viable business model for bulk sales; develop effective pricing and marketing strategies; compare tradeoffs of selling through sales reps versus online channels; delegate content administration, reporting and user provisioning; integrate core learning systems with CRM platforms and other operational applications; and achieve internal buy-in, drive project momentum and maintain organizational alignment. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.
Host: Talented Learning
Presenters:
- William Hold, Chief Development Officer, The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research
- Linda Bowers, CTO, WBT Systems
Wed 5/23 at 1 p.m. – Are You Getting the Most out of Your Data?
You’ve probably heard the near constant drumbeat in recent years that you should be collecting more data about your membership. But while many associations have heard the call, their approach to collecting and analyzing this data has been unbalanced. They tend to focus on “vanity” metrics, highlighting numbers that tell a compelling story without giving any meaningful insights into member/customer behavior. Learn how you can set your organization apart by digging deeper into the data, enabling you to surface meaningful insights and, most importantly, take action. More info/register.
Host: ReviewMyAMS
Presenters:
- Teri Carden, CEO, ReviewMyAMS
- Chris Capistran, President, Cobalt
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.
Creative Commons licensed photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren on Wikimedia Commons.
Association Brain Food 