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Professional Development
  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 04/15/2013 • 0 Comments

    How Associations Can Help Your Career

    A co-worker passed along an article the other day titled “10 ‘Sit Up Straight’ Exercises to De-slump Your Career.” It included tips such as “make learning a priority,” “adopt an attitude of gratitude” and “pay attention when people make suggestions.”

    Once suggestion, though, really stood out to us: “Join an industry association.” The article says that the “payoff in terms of networking opportunities, early insights on industry developments and heads-up on emerging opportunities will be invaluable.”

    Of course we agree with that statement, and it’s not just individuals who benefit from joining industry associations. 

    “Membership in trade associations not only benefits employees of your company, but it also projects a positive image of your firm to your customers,” said Betsy Demitropoulos, senior editor of American Business Magazine. “Membership in associations shows a business’ initiative, its engagement in a particular trade and its commitment to staying abreast of current developments in the market.”

    Staying abreast of current trends is one of the many valuable benefits of joining (or retaining) MPI membership.

    “The value of joining an association, especially MPI, allows you access to 24/7/365 learning from more than 190 education sessions that can count toward clock hours for your CMP,” said Brad C. Shanklin, IOM, MPI senior director of chapters and member services. “MPI also provides you with access to a 20,000-member global community comprised of powerful decision makers representing 67 percent of Fortune 100 companies. Through your membership, you can make crucial connections to people, ideas and marketplaces that can take your career and your business to the next level.”

    So, help take your career and business to the next level and please join or renew your MPI membership. And while you’re at it, consider volunteering with your chapter. Applications close this Friday, April 19.



  • Posted by Jessie States at
    12:00AM 05/21/2012 • 1 Comments

    IMEX: Are Memberships Obsolete?

    Our models certainly are. 

    Associations desperately need to change the ways they view and engage with members, according to Nikki Walker, vice president of global association management and consulting for MCI Group, because the current model used by most organizations is no longer sustainable. Global association execs discussed why during Walker’s session on the subject today at the Messe Frankfurt Conference Center during IMEX’s Association Day. Their concerns:

    • Attrition, retention and recruitment
    • Differentiation among membership levels
    • Country/corporate memberships with individual benefits
    • Relevant member value with fewer resources
    • Member/volunteer participation
    • Valuable networking experiences

    These issues (many of them relatively new) are being caused by a number of changes in the global marketplace, including:

    • Great availability of information
    • Economics (the inability to pay dues, mainly from developing countries)
    • Increased competition
    • Social media/technology
    • Politics/policy
    • Demographics (and Gen Y and Z)
    • Time depletion

    And because of these, the traditional bundling of services for a set membership fee may be an outdated model—especially in parts of Asia (China) where the membership standard is incompatible with corporate culture.

    “We’re restricting our sense of building a community,” Walker cautioned. Associations represent a broader community than their memberships suggest, and they need to engage on multiple levels to survive. In associations that have long survived as essential to a given industry, de facto membership is failing.

    Walker suggests that many associations should begin focusing less on membership and more on communities that reflect “service users” of all types—members being one, because many professionals just don’t have the time/drive/vision to participate at that level. Future membership models may include (according to conversations during the session):

    • Corporate/institutional packages
    • Bulk corporate payments, but individual members
    • Internet-only memberships
    • Memberships that cover several associations at once
    • Youth memberships (35-and-under)
    • Product-based memberships at a lower cost (and with fewer benefits)
    • Multi-year memberships

    But, then maybe the whole idea of membership-as-an-elite-paying-few itself is obsolete. Thoughts?



  • Posted by Marj Atkinson at
    12:00AM 12/14/2011 • 0 Comments

    Association Members' Tech Needs

    In a recent study conducted by Rockbridge, it was discovered many associations are not necessarily meeting member expectations regarding content and communication delivery.  Email, face-to-face meetings and phone are shown as the most common forms of communication.  Social networking is gaining, but still not used as much compared to these other forms of communication. Not surprising that the majority of associations' younger members are the ones who use social networking.

    Delivery methods for education and networking, for example, "include traditional (e.g., in-person), online/web-based, social media, and smart phones. The most popular engagement method across activities continues to be traditional methods, but technology-driven channels are commonly used as well."  Yet association members prefer more online opportunities for learning and less for networking than associations are providing.

    Bottom line:  associations need to find ways of communicating and delivering content to their members that meet the member needs and preferences. Technology adoption can be a big part of this, including more online opportunities, use of social media and smart devices.



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 05/25/2011 • 0 Comments

    Are Associations Necessary?

    NPR is throwing it down today.

    "In this age of teleconferencing and social networking, the game has changed," Linton Weeks wrote. "Through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other websites, professionals stay in touch with each other—and with advances in their fields—around the clock. If they have a special problem, they no longer need to call the association and be connected to someone else with a similar problem—they can just go to the Internet for a solution. And who has the time or money for an annual convention anymore? Which brings up an inevitable question: Are associations still necessary?"

    Well now, what's your answer? 



  • Posted by Blair Potter at
    12:00AM 01/28/2011 • 0 Comments

    Associations Embrace Virtual Events

    Use of virtual conferences by associations is set to triple, according to consultancy Tagoras, as reported by Conworld.

    They report that out of a survey of 349 nonprofit membership organizations, about 8.59 percent have offered a virtual conference. However, of 257 organizations using some form of computer-based education, 11.7 percent have offered a virtual conference and another 23.7 percent plan to within 12 months, which would bring virtual conference adoption to more than one third.

    Further, they report that more than 70 percent of organizations that have held a virtual conference found that registrations either met of exceeded expectations.

    “As is often the case, associations have been somewhat more cautious than their corporate counterparts in embracing and implementing the new technologies, but meetings and education are too fundamental a component of what associations provide for virtual options not to have a big impact," said Jeff Cobb, Tagoras managing director. "Every organization that reported already holding a virtual conference says it will do so again."

    The full downloadable report, Association Virtual Conferences: State of the Sector, is available here for $99.