When was the last time you got together with colleagues for an in-person association meeting or event? For me, it was last month. We had a three-day meeting with a board of directors - a group which hasn’t gotten together in the flesh since before the pandemic. Some association [...]
I don’t fish as I have never had the patience to sit that long but I recently took part in an online training program that made me think of the following phrase: “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and [...]
In the association management profession in Canada, we are now learning to adapt to the new normal and bring back business procedures that we used pre-pandemic. One of the hot topics that was on the back burner for many association leaders was membership recruitment. There was so much uncertainty [...]
One thing all associations have in common is the recording of meeting minutes. Minutes are an official record of actions that the board or committee took at a meeting. Minutes are taken at all meetings whether they are board, committee, or member meetings. These meetings are held in-person, via [...]
Milestone anniversaries are a time to reflect on the past and to think about the future. I’ve recently reached the milestone of 20 years serving as the Chief Executive Officer (originally Executive Director) of my first association management client, the Pedorthic Association of Canada. I am proud to say [...]
There are many exciting ways to engage the members of your association, whether it’s by involving them as volunteers or engaging them at events. Creating an award program for the members of your association - regardless of their professional field or industry - can be very beneficial. Everyone wants [...]
Have you ever taken a step back to consider whether your association membership database is performing at its peak for members? Have you thought about how migration to a new database could help increase workflow and productivity? Most importantly, is it user-friendly for your members? Migration can be simple [...]
In the association world, executive directors/Chief Staff Officers come and go. Sometimes it does not make sense to continue a relationship with an Executive Director for a variety of reasons and other times an association realizes the potential for excellence by making a change. In this article I’ll be [...]
Over the past year we have all adjusted to working in the virtual space. We made refinements to how we collaborated with colleagues, association boards, committees, or task forces. The transition from in person meetings to the virtual space was not easy. Now that the pandemic is winding down, [...]
Membership databases play a crucial role for the success of any association. Keeping track of membership information is important for organization and billing purposes. Most associations utilize some sort of membership system; whether it’s an online website, or the old school file cabinet, the information is kept somewhere. If [...]
