This week has been a very exciting one at AuSAE, hosting our first ever All Stars Panel Event yesterday (Wednesday 10 June). We were delighted to welcome our U.S. Membership All Stars to the AuSAE screen – Mary Byers, Sarah Sladek and Sheri Jacobs! It was a fantastic morning speaking with these ladies, hearing their perspective, insights and reflections on membership and association management generally. I would like to summarise my key take aways and what I will look to implement moving forward in our own organisation:

Trends Around the World:

Collectively our panel of thought leaders agreed with what they were seeing from associations around the world at this current time.

• Growth in membership, non-member interest and event attendance online
• Collaboration is the new currency – this is something we have seen for many years but has accelerated in the wake of the crisis
• Associations have been given permission to experiment and innovate like we haven’t before
• From the panel, direct research and a quick temperature check from attendees online yesterday, we can observe that the majority of associations have taken a hit financially but are managing. Financial concern lies across the next three years 2020, 2021 and 2022. We can see that the impact of this crisis is still yet to be truly felt.

Membership Models:

The panel discussed what membership models might look like in a post COVID-19 world, if they would change significantly or if it really is about going back to basics.

• At the core, associations need to go back to basics – what is your major value proposition and are you delivering on that. What is the job to be done? This would be the time to conduct a full portfolio assessment, and the opportunity to drop services or offerings that don’t contribute to your core value proposition. Ensure you are defining your markets both core and adjacent and define what makes you different.
• The panel delved into a number of changes and adaptations to membership models in our new world such as; Buy one give one, Tiered membership models – choose your own adventure, the concept of annual membership needing to be assessed and revamped – looking at shorter volunteer engagement and shorter membership packages with more flexibility, subscription membership models and the offer of trial memberships.
• Associations generally will see changes and shifts in the way they operate. They have already started but will continue to become flatter, with leadership that represents our entire community. A greater emphasis will be placed on thought leadership particularly with younger consumers. Members want to see the leaders of associations leading in all areas including societal issues. They want to hear an authentic voice whether or not they agree with your view point on the issue.

From Models to Engagement:

How do we maintain the level of engagement we are seeing from our members currently and moving forward into the future.

• An important point that was raised by all panellists and something we all need to consider- what does engagement mean for your association? Is it a member reading your e-newsletter, attendance at an event, only attending your annual conference every year, responding to emails or all of the above. It’s important to define what successful member engagement looks like in your association.
• People will always be more engaged with you if the options are flexible, it’s easy to do so and the cost is considered.
• Engagement extends past the tangible benefits and into the emotional ties and sense of belonging that individuals have towards an organisation.

Quick Decisions with Imperfect Information:

This crisis has highlighted the ability of associations and boards to make quick decisions with imperfect information. Do we think shorter decision making processes will stay past this crisis?

• If we want this to stay we need to build, articulate and document our innovation process and ensure this is a process employees and management practice.
• To move your association forward you should always be experimenting with something – a way to operationalise this is with 90 Day Sprints. Pick a project and put a team against this project, give your team 90 days and see how far they get. Try and do this four times a year, this will ensure you are constantly moving forward.
• Plan for mistakes and mishaps – when you are innovating and making quick decisions you need to empower yourself and your employees to plan for mistakes, there will always be hits and misses.

Parting Advice – The Greatest Opportunity for Associations Now:

This question was answered by all three panellists, each giving a unique take on what we can do moving forward as associations of the future:

• Sheri: Pandemics are the mother of invention and innovation. You have a blank slate – try and test your market.
• Sarah: Amazon use a day one mentality – treat every day like it’s the first day of your association. It’s a great way to stay relevant and on your toes, you begin each day providing a solution to a problem or need for your members.
• Mary:
• • The new normal is what happened to us, the next normal is what we create – seize the opportunity.
  • North Star: Have one north star that guides you through this, one guiding principle that you have in each element of your business that helps your decision making and thought process.
  • What does this make possible?

A big thank you to our panellists and AuSAE friends – Mary Byers, Sarah Sladek and Sheri Jacobs. The recording for this webinar event is available, if you missed out on attending and would like to access the recording please email info@ausae.org.au.