Welcome back to our AuSAE Member Chat Series – Half an Hour of Power. This week we are delighted to have sat down with AuSAE member, Joanne Phillips, Membership and Events Manager, AMPLA. AMPLA is the peak body for energy, resources and renewables law. AMPLA’s members are predominantly private practice lawyers in law firms, the membership also includes in house or general counsel in energy companies, academics and other professionals interested in energy and resources law.

In a short 30 minute interview we discussed four key questions with Joanne to reflect on the last four months and look forward to the future post this crisis.

What do the next 6 months look like for your association and your members 

Our members have been impacted financially during this crisis, with budgets striped right back across all levels of their organisations. However the sector they work in will always be here, and there are significant opportunities for the industry to harness to move out of this crisis and into a strong and prosperous future.

From our association’s perspective the next 6 months will be crucial to ensure we are providing the support our members need through thought leadership, high quality education and development opportunities. Like most associations right now, we are having open and honest conversations with our Board in relation to strategic outcomes, risk analysis and investment into the organisation’s future.

Areas of concern 

One of our areas of concern currently is membership renewals, we run a calendar year membership and will be starting the renewal process shortly. With the impact on our members and the “October cliff” coming we are looking at what we can do here to mitigate this risk.

This is something that I’m sure all associations are considering but the return to large face to face events is another concern. What has unfolded this week alone in New Zealand is cause for concern. We are beginning to run smaller hybrid events in South Australia and Western Australia. As a national association it’s difficult to plan with any great confidence as things are changing so rapidly. And when we do return to larger face to face events and gatherings, how do we solve the issue of providing networking opportunities and interactions between members with social distancing rules in place. Our members are social and value the collegiate environment we provide, so how do we as an association provide that opportunity and the same level of value they are used to receiving?

Areas of opportunity 

This disruption has been challenging, stressful and unrelenting, however it has provided our association with opportunities, challenged our thinking, and expanded our member value offering and proposition. From the onset we have looked at this crisis as an opportunity to capitalise on the positives and I don’t think we could have made such rapid progress within the organisation without this disruption.

We pivoted quickly into the digital space, offering our members education, content and information in webinars and online learning events. By doing this we have ignited a new face to our membership and opened the door to a new engaged community. This crisis serves as a great reminder about our forgotten members, those members that you don’t hear from but are there – every member is important and every member is looking for a different and personalised experience with you.

Moving forward as we move out of this crisis, we will keep this digital presence with our members and explore this new area of growth and opportunity in our membership community.

We have also accelerated the development of new programs and offerings that we had in our strategic plan for the next five years which have now moved to next year. This includes the introduction of accreditation for our industry as well as the development of a partnership and sponsorship program.

Celebrated moments in the last four months 

In all of the craziness that 2020 has brought, we also accomplished the following: migrated to a new CRM, designed and launched a new website, and launched a new membership structure. As these projects were rolling out we were hit with COVID-19 and then moved quickly to expand and change our offering for members. As a small team we are proud to have achieved all of this while responding to our members, the crisis and the impacts on our own association.