The upside of the shift to virtual platforms in the past several months is that members are interacting more with associations digitally. This is providing a quick roadmap of member preferences. Speakers at the ASAE Technology Exploration Conference explained why that’s key.

Members are engaging now more than ever through online channels like virtual events, online community discussions, social media posts, surveys, and online education platforms—which is creating an abundance of data to mine to improve the member experience.

A session on maximizing fast data at the ASAE TEC Virtual conference last week covered the benefits of collecting fast data and how to implement it to help with member recruitment, retention, and renewal.

“Now more than ever there is an uptick in people using data. We’re in a new, changing environment, and we can’t rely on history because the landscape has changed,” said Julie Sciullo, CEO of Association Analytics. “Fast data is real-time data that allows data to stream together to make rapid business decisions.”

Association-specific information from Acumen shows that since March of this year, there has been a 42 percent increase in overall use of data and a 70 percent increase in executive usage. The rapid shift to an all-virtual environment has amped up the use of data, which is providing an opportunity to engage with members more effectively than ever before.

In other words, the data tells the story.

THE NEXT WAVE OF DATA

Associations have long relied on traditional ways of determining member engagement by longevity, volunteering, meeting attendance, and publishing articles, said session co-presenter Tom Lyons, director of IT at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The increased use of data in recent months has allowed associations to “look outside the sandbox at the next wave of data.”

Social media streams are incredibly fast. “We get a snapshot of people engaging with us in the moment,” Lyons said. But it’s essential to use that data and not just have it, he advised. And applications are maturing to include more data insights, which makes reporting more accessible to all staff members, not just IT professionals.

SERVE MEMBERS BETTER

The ASM team challenged themselves to serve members better by looking at behavioral and demographic data that members share as they interact with the organization through online communities, social media, virtual meetings, and more. This lets ASM staff observe what members are engaging with and what they are specifically interested in, providing better, more relevant information for making business decisions, Lyons said. For example, a member profile is only as up to date as when it was filled out. Priorities and interests change, which is why the behavioral interaction becomes even more important.

Sciullo recommends online communities as a great starting point to gather fast data. “It’s certainly one of the most dynamic and forward-thinking” ways to find out what members are thinking, she said. The chat function in virtual meetings is another way to collect data on what is important to members, as well as voice calls and messages. All that data can be used to drive value back to members, Sciullo said.

Members are providing a customized data trail of what their preferences are through their digital interactions with associations. This is giving associations the chance to respond better—and faster—to their needs.

“We really want to deliver what our members want, when they want it, and on the channels they want it,” Sciullo said. “Now is a better time than ever to move forward in this capacity.”

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Lisa Boylan.

The popularity of podcasting means you might have to double down on the strategy when bringing your message to the world on the way to making an impact. Read on for some podcasting tips.

Podcasting is on the rise in a big way, which is a double-edged sword, if you think about it.

It’s growing really fast among both creators and listeners, which means that not only is the audience getting bigger, but also the competition. So, if you’re getting your start in the field now, you might find it a little tough to get going.

However, you can still succeed. Check out these four tips to see how you can make podcasting work for your association:

Consider the strategy. Simply recording a bunch of audio and hoping for the best is not an effective strategy. Much like the stories you might produce as a part of your content strategy, podcast content needs to be well-considered and properly thought through. National Public Radio, which produces a whole lot of popular podcasts, has a well-organized guide, targeted at students, that helps discuss basic ideas for strategizing, brainstorming, and structuring a podcast. Even if you aren’t a student, you might find the guide handy.

Don’t lead with your brand. Ultimately, people are listening to a good podcast for the same reason they read a good article. They want to be informed. While there may be a lot of reasons you want to put your brand out front, the brand should ultimately come second to creating a piece of content that people want to keep turning back to. “As you develop your series, consider topics you and your audience can be passionate about, even if it’s only tangentially associated with the brand,” Masthead Media cofounder Amanda Pressner Kreuser wrote in a blog post for Inc. “Think about it: Would you want to use your precious commute time listening to one, long-form brand promotion; or would you rather hear compelling, engaging content?”

The vocals really matter. Really. Misstatements or poor phrasings that might be OK in normal speech can drive podcast listeners crazy—and might scare them off from future episodes. So what’s a budding podcaster to do? Per Podcasting Hacks, you might just want to take things slow and embrace a degree of silence. “For me, and some of you out there, speaking quickly is a defense mechanism because we’re afraid of losing someone’s attention,” podcaster Salvador Briggman wrote in his post. “You shouldn’t be spewing out words, like you’re a fervent talk show host. You should be speaking TO the listeners, like they are your friend. That’s how you’ll engage them.” If you’re not a podcast voice, don’t be afraid to use a hired gun, either. In her Inc. piece, Pressner Kreuser notes that hosts with strong followings often have the ability to sell a message.

Promotion matters, too. Technology firm Cision, best known for running PR Newswire, says that simply putting a podcast online isn’t enough to ensure that it will succeed. “As a content producer you have no one to blame [but] yourself if no one consumes your content,” the company’s Oscar Duran explains. “This goes into the planning and research. You could have the best hour of content ever produced, but if you’re not pushing it out across the social platforms where your target audience spends their time, then it doesn’t matter how good it is.” He adds that a poorly produced podcast can even succeed with the right level of promotion.

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Ernie Smith.

The pandemic has created challenges for professionals who wish to maintain their association certifications. What members need will vary across professions, but these five tips can help you assess how to help them.

Of the many things shaken up by the pandemic this year, a specific pain point is emerging for association members: professional credentials.

With in-person meetings on hold and job situations altered, certification renewal is more difficult now. But for associations that want to help members maintain their certifications, “there’s really not going to be one kind of blanket solution,” says consultant Mickie Rops, CAE.

She points out two examples: healthcare employees, who currently have jobs but little time because of the extra work they’re doing to fight this disease, and those who have lost their jobs and have the time to work on certifications but may not be able to financially invest in continuing education.

“I think that the biggest thing would be to find out what the members’ struggles are,” Rops says. “They may be obvious, but for some, I don’t know if they’re obvious.”

She offers a few considerations for associations as they move into 2021:

Explore whether you can change the rules for renewal. Right now, circumstances may cause members to miss renewal deadlines that they otherwise would have hit—particularly if their pandemic workload is unusually heavy, as in the medical and education fields. In such cases, it may be worth considering whether to extend renewal timelines. But Rops urges caution: “If you’re accredited and you have established policies and you’re held to those, you’ve got to be more careful about just changing things,” she says.

Offer a hiatus or grants to those with financial hardships. Rops suggests offering out-of-work members an inactive status for their certifications; once they return to work, they can become active again. Another option is to start a grant program to help cover member expenses. “I do have some clients that are seeking grants and being pretty successful in it,” she says.

Add flexible elements. Certain renewal requirements, such as attendance at in-person meetings, don’t make sense at the moment. Additionally, Rops notes that many people working remotely for the first time may find it difficult to focus, so virtual events may not be the answer for everyone. “Attention span right now is at an all-time low because of all the distractions and all the people that have both two adults in the house, working at home, and then the kids” that may need help with schooling, she says. While virtual learning events might make sense for some learners, others may do better with looser formats that allow them to learn at their own pace.

Look into microcredentialing. One way to reach members who may not have the time to invest in a full certification is microcredentialing. (One example is the National Education Association, which is highlighting microcertifications relevant to the current moment—on technology integration, cultivating socially just environments, and cultural competency.) Rops, a strong advocate for microcredentialing, says that this approach may be particularly effective in this environment. “Right now especially, you can’t be expecting someone to put 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 years into something,” she says. “Break it down, so they can start getting some immediate learning and/or credentialing.”

Consider building or refreshing a program now. Rops says that despite the disruption that many organizations are facing, associations have an opportunity to make lasting changes to an existing credentialing program—or to start a new one. “In a time of recession and things like that, that’s when people need education and credentialing,” she says. “So if associations can afford it, now’s the time, because it really is when your members need to reskill and upskill the most.”

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Ernie Smith.

Many associations are concerned that they can’t provide a pre-COVID-19 experience for the foreseeable future. One association’s recommendation: Get over it.

Joy Davis, CAE, had had it.

This has been a rough year for associations, of course, and a lot of the emotional toll has crept into their marketing. Davis, managing director of member products at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), saw the worst of it in meetings communications. We’re sorry we can’t see you in person. This won’t be our preferred member experience, but…

“All through the year, I saw really terrible messaging coming out of associations,” she says. “I’m like, why are you saying that to your members?”

Davis funneled her exasperation into an essay, “Normal Is Over(rated)—For Now,” published last month at the Velvet Chainsaw blog. The heart of her argument is that COVID-19 has prompted too many associations to engage in wishful thinking about what’ll happen without a pandemic, instead of accepting the situation as it is. That’s led to what she calls the “apology meeting.”

“We are telling our people that no matter what they do, it will never be as good as what we did before, and we cannot wait to get back to doing things that way, without even trying what we could be doing now,” Davis says.

In other words, associations have found another way back into that mindset we all thought we’d banned: But we’ve always done it that way. “It was not just the communication, it was this failure to imagine something different,” says AAPS Executive Director Tina Morris.

AAPS’s most aggressive act of resistance on this front involved its annual meeting. Like just about every association meeting in 2020, it moved its annual conference, PharmSci 360, online. But unlike a lot of associations, it held the line on registration fees. Instead of marketing around interactions that couldn’t happen anyway, it highlighted the amount of content it had to offer and widened the time frame within which attendees could experience it.

“If you were to go back and look at all of our marketing messaging, in every single email there is a sentence that says ‘PharmSci 360 on your schedule,’” says Davis.

This isn’t just a matter of marketing differently, Morris says. An “apology” mindset has a way of creeping into how associations think about their future plans and whether their decisions reflect the current reality or a wished-for one. At AAPS, that’s required some conversations with volunteer leaders about shifting their mindsets.

“Reinforcement was very important because we had different leaders who at different times during the year had challenges,” Morris says. “We were trying to be very deliberate as a leadership team about how we communicated the degree of change that was happening. We do realize that different people have different comfort levels.”

In her article, Davis explains some of the upsides of getting out of the apology mindset: opportunities to better understand a changing market, the new kinds of data that you’re gathering in a virtual environment, and the new ways of communicating that members are discovering and using. “Get a little excited about what you can do right now,” she writes. “Start every conversation from a place that encourages creativity and problem-solving. Ask your members to renew because you’re doing stuff that helps them where they are today.”

Davis recalls that one of the mantras at a previous association where she worked was “don’t get into a conversation about pricing—talk about quality.” That mindset kept AAPS from holding an apology meeting in 2020, but it’s also provided a north star for getting through the pandemic—it trusts that the value of what the association provides is more meaningful than the delivery method. And it trusts that members will pay what those products and services are worth in a challenging economic time.

“Treat your members like you want to have a relationship after this crisis is over—or any crisis,” she says. “If you really think you’re a content organization, you should be willing to say, ‘We’re a content organization and that’s the value here. You should be able to stand up for that.”

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Mark Athitakis.

Melbourne Showgrounds, operated by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, is Melbourne's largest and most versatile venue, offering unique and flexible indoor and outdoor spaces designed to host a variety of events and activities including trade shows, exhibitions, expos, festivals and much, much more. The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, a not-for-profit, member-based organisation, has for over 170 years promoted excellence in Victorian agriculture, showcased food and beverage produce and producers, created vibrant event spaces and presented premier events.

The Melbourne Showgrounds is uniquely placed given the huge outdoor areas and multiple large venue spaces (varying from 1,500 sqm to 10,000 sqm). This means that virtually any event that is approved to proceed from a COVID Safe perspective would be possible at the Melbourne Showgrounds, especially the fantastic conference and dining space we were exhibiting at AuSAE LIVE – The Victoria Pavilion.

In addition, recent AV upgrades by Encore Event Technologies in the venue spaces & the appointment of a new catering partner make Melbourne Showgrounds the perfect location for your 2021 events.

The City of Melbourne recognises the events industry contributes strongly to their bold, innovative and sustainable city. They also recognise the events industry is facing unprecedented challenges during COVID-19. 

As part of their reactivation initiatives, and in partnership with the Victorian Government, they are now providing grants up to $100,000 to help deliver COVID-safe events in 2021. Melbourne Showgrounds have been encompassed in the area covered for event grants.

Apply now for grants:

• up to $25,000 for small events, exhibitions and activations
• up to $100,000 for medium to large events – this requires evidence of funding from other sources.

Special consideration may be given to proposals seeking funding above $100,000.

To apply for the City of Melbourne Reactivation Event Grants to support you host your event, please click here.

Contact: James Gilham | 0403 657 624 | james@melbourneshowgrounds.com

Australia’s premier convention, exhibition and entertainment venue supports major easing of restrictions for corporate and live entertainment events

Donaghy continued, “We still have some way to go with the resurrection of international business which is vital to our full recovery. We remain focused on continuing to work with industry representative bodies to progress a long term recovery strategy for business events to ensure this remains on the agenda with decisions makers.”
 
ICC Sydney is currently open and running a range of in-person and hybrid events in line with the venue’s EventSafe Operating Guide which integrates parent group ASM Global’s rigorous Venue Shield program, while meeting NSW Government regulations.

 https://www.iccsydney.com.au/ 

Knowing how to communicate with members—and when—consumes many hours of discussion even in good times. Add multiple crises in a single year, and things really get complex. A communications expert offers some tips for engaging members in uneasy times.

Finally, Zoom fatigue explained! It’s caused by “lizard brain,” according Sheri Singer, president of Singer Communications. Lizard brain is one operating in survival mode, relying on fight or flight instincts. Understandable. We are experiencing several crises at once—a global pandemic, an unstable economy, racial injustice, political realignment, and more.

Compounding that, many people are sleeping less, working longer, eating and drinking more, and exercising less, all of which contributes to an inability to focus (including on all those Zoom meetings) and other issues. Our brains are not working like they usually do.

So how to better engage members when it’s difficult to make connections with such compromised brains? Singer recommends communicating in a way that doesn’t require as much energy for members to process. For example, research shows shorter emails have a 50 percent higher response rate.

“You can’t continue to communicate with members the ways you have in the past,” she said. Here are some additional insights.

SHIFTING PERSONAS

Now is a great time to look at your messaging. Singer cited a recent study from Ketchum, Brand Reckoning 2020: How Crisis Culture Is Redefining Consumer Behavior, Loyalty, and Values, which shows a marked change in Americans’ openness to reengaging with the outside world. The research identifies four crisis-culture personas:

• Retro re-engagers want to return to the world as it was before.
• Open-minded explorers have new priorities and are ready to embrace new things.
• Worried withholders are not easily influenced and want to stay in their comfort zones.
• Cautious questioners want to keep their distance until they know more.

The largest group of responders (33 percent) are retro re-engagers. Because it’s unlikely that the world will go back to the way it was, Singer said, it’s important to keep those personas in mind as you craft messages. She recommends using words like contribute, connect, navigate, cope, and respond instead of capitalize, offer, advantage, gain, and profit.

SHOW YOU CARE

“We’ve moved to a different playbook being driven by people under 40” who expect marketing and communications to be largely driven by experience, Singer said. That means it’s time to be more empathetic, sympathetic, and compassionate.

For example, it’s not enough to simply ask, “How are you?” Instead, ask, “How are you doing?” or “How are you handling COVID-19?” Eliciting a deeper response shows you care and gives your members—including your volunteer leaders—a safe space where they can expand on what is happening to them right now, she said.

KICK IT OLD SCHOOL

Singer recommends revisiting old-fashioned ways to connect, such as by phone or with handwritten notes, which will provide a welcome break from video calls. Or help members communicate directly with one another by setting up a phone tree and have one member, with a script, call five other members and discuss the value-added aspects of the organization. Then ask questions like: What is giving you value right now? How can the association provide that virtually? How can the organization be an innovator in the industry? And more.

Nothing feels normal right now, and our brains, in their lizard form, are not processing information like they usually do. To stay connected with your members, it’s time to reassess messaging, revisit more personalized—and old-fashioned—ways of communicating, and express compassion.

LISA BOYLAN
Lisa Boylan is a senior editor of Associations Now

2020 taught us a lot about strategic planning—this is what associations can do about it.

If you are an association professional, we don’t have to tell you that you’re working harder than ever before. When the pandemic hit, you scrambled, pivoted, learned new tech on the fly and did whatever needed to be done to keep your members informed and your organization alive.

Without question, associations big and small rose to meet this year’s unimaginable challenges. It was exhausting, at times frustrating, but you’re still standing. And now here’s the thing, a study conducted by Community Brands of over 1,000 association members says now is not the time to take your foot off the gas. If you upped your game in 2020, you’re really going to have to up your game in 2021.

More than 50 percent of our respondents said that they value their membership more than they did before the pandemic, and member engagement rates show that. Associations have always been important to the people they serve, but now members see them as absolutely vital, and with more online and virtual options more members are engaging.

So what can association professionals do in 2021 to meet the needs of current members, grow their membership base, increase revenue streams and not completely collapse from exhaustion? How do you meet big goals in a realistic and sustainable way? Our research has identified three key areas that truly matter to members, and that if executed thoughtfully, will make work for association professionals more impactful and more efficient.

CONCENTRATE YOUR RESOURCES ON GIVING MEMBERS WHAT THEY WANT

Associations do so many things for their members, but our research shows that a whopping 87 percent of those surveyed pointed to virtual meetings and conferences as the most helpful channels for building community and sharing information. Whether attendees are looking for new job opportunities, networking or education, these events are seen as crucial for career advancement. Again and again, we heard that while big splashy events are great, members really want more frequency and intimacy. Every event is an opportunity for growth, so associations would be wise to invest in tech that makes hosting and streaming with add-ons like breakout rooms simple and easy. While 2020 was a scramble where glitches and sometimes lackluster events were forgivable because everyone was learning how to do them in real-time, 2021 will be different. Higher expectations have been set, you need to meet or exceed them to keep people coming back for more.

GET BACK YOUR OWN TIME

Spending more time and energy on projects like these requires, well, more time and energy. While you can’t add more hours to the day, you can use technology to automate repetitive administrative tasks that eat away at your resources (password resets, dues reminders and the like.) Stealing back a few hours a day can make a massive difference to your workflow, and to your members. Assess what’s most valuable to your members’ in today’s environment, and focus there to make the biggest impact.

FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF NETFLIX AND AMAZON

Our research shows that more members are joining as students or within the first five years of employment—these are young people so your technology had better be on point. They want the convenience and ease they get with Netflix, Amazon and all of the other digital platforms they use. There should be no reason a member needs to re-enter a credit card number every time they want to buy something. There should be no reason that they can’t auto-renew a membership, or make monthly payments. Your goal is to remove as much friction as possible. Giving people the seamless tech experience they’re used to will help you retain and recruit more members.

2020 was a year of unprecedented struggle. By taking strategic direction from the insights gleaned from our study, associations can make 2021 a year of unprecedented growth.

This article was brought to you by Community Brands, the leading provider of cloud-based software to associations. To learn more about the association business model of the future, watch Preparing for 2021 and beyond on-demand webinar.

Last week Causeis launched their Digital Academy to resounding success! So much so, they are hosting another one before the year is out. 

The next course is again set over two half days, 9.30am - 12.30pm (AEDT), commencing on Tuesday 8^th December and finishing on Thursday 10^th December. 

Register now complimentary: https://www.causeis.com.au/Digital-Academy

"Fantastic learnings and discussions around the future of tech and digital trends for associations." Jazz Tyrril, participant from the first Digital Academy

This workshop-style course was designed to specifically help association professionals navigate digital transformation while remaining focused on the member experience. Attendees were immersed in learning the tools needed to formulate a comprehensive digital strategy and how to help their association adapt to a changing operating environment with confidence. An exclusive event for association executives and managers, it focused on defining and implementing a Digital and MX Strategy. The training covers:

• Why is a Digital and MX Strategy critical for your association?
• The interrelation of data, process, and experience
• What can the past teach us?
• Creating a culture of innovation
• The role of member experience in your digital strategy
• Framework for Digital and MX Strategy implementation
• Industry leaders give us their predictions for digital strategy and future tech.

*Numbers are limited to 50 seats

17 November 2020

• BECA welcomes the commencement of the $50 million Business Events Grant Program – the Government’s support mechanism for the business events industry.
• Austrade has opened EOIs to event owners to establish a Schedule of Approved Business Events. Owners of Approved Business Events may be eligible for grants under the program and Australian businesses wishing to attend will be able to apply for funding to cover up to 50% of eligible costs.
• Industry continues to advise the Government on the grant guidelines. These will be announced as phase two of the grants program roll-out.
• BECA urged State and Territory leaders to act proportionately in response to new outbreaks to ensure business confidence can be rebuilt.

The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has welcomed the commencement of the Government’s $50 million Business Events Grants Program which was announced by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and portfolio ministers in September 2020.

As a first phase Austrade has opened an EOI process to business event owners to establish a Schedule of Approved Business Events. BECA has urged business event owners across Australia to submit EOIs by 30 November to ensure their events can be considered for the Schedule when phase two of the grants Program opens in mid-December.

“BECA are pleased with the design of this first phase and think it has identified the most important aspects of the contribution the business events industry can make to the recovery of the Australian economy,” Chair of BECA, Dr Vanessa Findlay said.

“The industry looks forward to working with the Government on the finalisation of grant guidelines and subsequent launch and allocation of grants across the business events industry.”

Australia’s $36 billion business events industry was one of the first and hardest hit industries by COVID-19 and may be one of the last to recover, due to the long lead times between booking and holding a major business event. The industry virtually ground to a halt in 2020 with most business events scheduled cancelled or postponed.

In welcoming the program’s commencement BECA noted the Government’s focus on the importance of the industry and the jobs that it supports. In September, Minister Birmingham said, “Our business events sector is doing it incredibly tough at present and getting events put back into the calendar will help this key part of our tourism industry which supports around 230,000 jobs turn the corner.”

Prime Minister Morrison stated ‘’Getting business events up and running again will be a critical part of the recovery of our tourism industry but will also have huge flow-on effects through the entire economy.”

“The industry has its fingers crossed that the design of the grants program will provide the necessary financial boost and confidence to business event owners to book and hold their business event during 2021,” Dr Findlay said.

“Another year of cancelled and postponed events would put the entire Australian business events industry in a questionable recovery position. Without a solid recovery in 2021, the whole logistics and supply chain for the industry could be dislocated to a point where the impacts are felt for years to come. We do not want to see the industry focused on 5 years of rebuilding, before moving to recovery and then rebound.”

“This grants program must first and foremost turn positive sentiment into confidence, and that confidence into event bookings.”

Noting the developing reaction and reimposition of border controls to the recent COVID-19 cluster in South Australia, the business events industry urged Premiers and Chief Ministers to react proportionately.

“As I watch the knee-jerk reaction of some Premiers around the country to the South Australian cluster with no notice, I fear the worst for any business trying to rebuild confidence in this uncertain environment,” Dr Findlay said.

“For business events, this means decision-makers – those that bear 100% of the risk - will favour the continuation of virtual meetings over in-person meetings, which will have serious consequences for the Australian industry and the economy if delegates can’t move around the country with confidence.”

BECA’s most significant priority is to create an environment where business event owners are confident to plan, book and hold a business event. Only then can the benefits of the industry flow across the economy.

BECA will continue to advise the Government on the design and implementation of the Business Events Grants Program to achieve its primary objective – the restart of the business events industry in Australia – as well as other policies that will support the recovery and rebound phase.

<ENDS>

For information contact:
Dr Vanessa Findlay
BECA Chair
vfindlay@businesseventscouncil.org.au