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IMEX: Are Memberships Obsolete?

By Jessie States May 21, 2012

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And because of these, the traditional bundling of services for a set membership fee may be an outdated model—especially in parts of Asia (China) where the membership standard is incompatible with corporate culture.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But, then maybe the whole idea of membership-as-an-elite-paying-few itself is obsolete.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?

Conversation (1)

  • Jeff De Cagna May 21, 2012

    Rather than find new ways to sell membership, associations should make significant investments to increase their capacity to create, deliver and capture radical new value. The economics of the traditional membership value proposition continue to shift in an unfavorable direction for associations, and the stakeholders of the future (who are already beginning to arrive) have revealed their sky-high expectations for new value creation.

    What associations need is not new membership models, but novel business models without any form of strategic, operational or financial dependence on membership. Instead of trying to capitalize on scarcity, however, the new sensibility of 21st century business models must be to help stakeholders maximize their ability to capitalize personally and professionally on resources that are increasingly abundant.

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