Association Brain Food

Association Brain Food: 8.11.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…

Association community. I’ve always been an advocate of well-designed, interactive virtual events because many people don’t have the time or money to attend in-person events. But there’s no replacement for conferences. At ASAE Annual, I met new people and hung out with friends and acquaintances. On the expo floor, at industry partner parties, and in restaurants, what a joy it was to be amidst my community. No education sessions for me this time—too expensive!—which is why I’m already looking forward to seeing many of you again at Non-Dues-A-Palooza (NDAP) in Denver next month.

Community as a feeling. Higher Logic reminded me why Annual and NDAP are such a big deal for many of us. They shared a definition of “community” on LinkedIn: a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals. They chose this definition because “it reminds us that community isn’t just a place, it’s a feeling.” Yes, our conferences are places, but they’re also where we double-down on this feeling.

Leadership pipeline. In some industries, employers have trouble cultivating and keeping talented professionals. Cutting back or eliminating management training programs certainly doesn’t help. TopClass LMS suggests your association offer management training programs for industry professionals. By educating the next generation of company and industry leaders, you’ll fill your association leadership pipeline too.

Change management. Impexium recommends five strategies for a change management framework. A few of them might surprise you, but they’re essential for technology project success.

Generational stereotypes. Cloey Callahan at WorkLife says, “While there are natural differences due to the environments in which each generation is raised, there are actually far more commonalities.” She points out six harmful myths about quiet quitters, snowflakes and other generational stereotypes deserving of debunking.

The SHEconomy. Meagan Loyst gives the Gen Z perspective on how brands “are tapping into the collective feminine experience vs. just slapping pink on something and saying it’s for women.” She says Taylor Swift and Barbie are quite literally saving the U.S. economy because they take the interests and experiences of women seriously.

Scientific society events. ExOrdo shares key findings from interviews with 27 scholarly societies about their event goals, activities, issues and challenges. Read what they learned about the growth of international audiences thanks to online events—and challenges with online networking and engagement—as well as on-demand online content libraries and problems caused by the lack of integrations.

Procrastination. Hal Hershfield at Behavioral Scientist says you need to have empathy for your future self or you’ll end up traveling to a different future than the one you wanted. If you avoid this time traveling mistake, you can reduce your tendency to procrastinate.

Quick hits

There is no happiness dial. You’re the one responsible for tuning into a good mood. (Nick Wignall)

A moving article about women artists, with a focus on Emily Dickinson and Sinead O’Connor. Please also read the article she links to in Rolling Stone by Shirley Manson about Sinead. (Freya Rohn)

Good eats

Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout.

One of my favorite quick fish dishes: tilefish (or any fish) fillets with spiced breadcrumbs. I added poblano to the mix this time because the deck harvest is coming in.

A day after getting back from Atlanta, I didn’t feel like going to the store, so I turned to the refrigerator and pantry to see what I could throw together for dinner. Voilà: summer linguiça and vegetable pasta. Ingredients, in order, are: linguiça sausage, red onion, red bell pepper, poblano pepper, jalapeño pepper, broccoli stems, garlic, tomatoes, white wine, corn, spinach, arugula, basil, lemon thyme, canned clams and their juice, fettuccine, pasta water, butter and parmesan cheese. There’s enough left over for tonight, yay!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 8/11 at 12:30 p.m.* – Conversations with Champions

Each conversation features an AWTC leader or AWTC Award winner, followed by breakout rooms with changing topics (selected by our featured guest). These intimate, virtual conversations are a chance to form meaningful connections with other women and allies in the association technology community. More info/register.

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Guest: Sarah Lewis, Senior WordPress Developer at Yoko Co.

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Fri 8/11 at 4 p.m. – Diversity Discussion Series: Diversity Beyond Heritage and History Months (Panel Discussion)

Hear how diversity presents itself in the workplace beyond months of recognition, how next-genners want to show up and how organizations can be intentionally inclusive through strategic plans. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Speakers:

Carlos Cardenas, CAE, co-founder of Association Latinos and Senior Director of Information Technology at the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists
Heba Mahmoud, Senior Manager of Inclusion & Diversity at MITRE Corporation
Richard Yep, CAE, FASAE, founder of Ocean Vista Advisors
Laura R. Caputo, J.D. (moderator), La Roca Consulting and AMC Source

Mon 8/14 at 8 a.m. – Community Marketing Supports Growth (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Every week Rogue Tulips brings the nonprofit community intriguing guests discussing vital topics affecting nonprofit organizations around the world—and we have fun doing it! Episodes are published Monday mornings in both audio and video format, available on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Apple Podcast, and Google Podcast (to name a few!).

Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting

Guest: Dana Freker Doody, Inktide Solutions

Tue 8/15 at 11 a.m. – How to Get Useable Results from AI: An Introduction to Prompt Engineering for Association Professionals

Much like you would provide an employee or team member with guidance on a specific project, generative AI needs prompting and feedback before it can be expected to give you the product you’re asking for. Learn about the background of AI, what it’s capable of, and how it works (on an introductory level); how to identify use cases for generative AI; and the fundamentals of prompt engineering, specifically for association applications, including prompt chaining, role prompting, think-reason-plan-act prompts and more. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Sidecar

Speakers: Thomas Altman and Dray Thomas, Co-Founders, Tasio

Tue 8/15 at 11 a.m. – Societies and E-Learning: Lessons from Experience (Fireside Chat)

Panelists with extensive experience creating and supporting e-learning products and platforms for societies talk about what they wished they had known as they embarked on this journey, what they learned, and what advice they have for others starting down this road. One of the panelists is about to launch their new product; another oversaw the launch of an e-learning program from scratch and now works with a more mature established one, and the other has seen many societies grapple with the challenges raised by this endeavor. More info/register.

Host: Society Street

Speakers:

Sophia Anderton, Cheif Executive, BJU International
Helen Davies, Head of Membership and Professional Development, Healthcare Infection Society
Melissa Seserko, Chief Operating Officer, Cadmore Media

Tue 8/15 at 12 p.m. – CRVM August Crunch and Munch

What did you learn from #ASAE23? Biggest takeaways? Do’s and don’ts? Ah-ha moments? Hopes/expectations for next year? Join Crunch and Munch where we’ll dissect the good, the bad, and the CRVM-specific elements of this year’s ASAE Annual Meeting. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Council

Facilitators: Elisa Pratt, MA, CAE and Marty Tatman

Tue 8/15 at 12 p.m. – Onboarding Strategies for All Stages of Membership

Does your onboarding strategy include new members and renewing members? Learn how to implement innovation into your onboarding process to encourage all members to be committed, engaged and value-driven. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: GrowthZone

Speaker: membership expert Shari Pash

Tue 8/15 at 2 p.m. – Event Budget Magic: How to Hit KPIs in Any Economy

Learn how to use a 19-tab spreadsheet template to link expenses to key performance indicator goals. Hear about a five-step process for creating and managing a budget, how to make budgets easy and fun, tips and tricks to save thousands of dollars, and how to communicate your vision to decisionmakers. More info/register.

Host: Smart Meetings

Speaker: Melissa “Mel” Park, founder and CEO, Melissa Park Events

Wed 8/16 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. CDT – Chicago Roundtable Event (Chicago IL)

CNG is bringing together industry experts to discuss topics pertinent to your work with certification programs. Topics include: Accreditation, Workforce Development, SME Management, Psychometrics, AI, Candidate Experience, and Employer/Employee Considerations. You will have the opportunity to move from table to table and learn from the table host and your peers while participating in lively discussions. Location: Chicago IL. More info/register.

Host: Certification Network Group (CNG)

Wed 8/16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Destination Experience Summit

Learn about the approach meeting destinations take to innovation, sustainability, diversity, and inclusion; the transformative power of destinations in hosting extraordinary experiences and unforgettable meetings; and the latest trends, best practices, and success stories. 2 CMP credits. More info/register.

Host: Skift

Wed 8/16 at 1 p.m. – Get Sponsored: How to Make 6-Figures in Digital Sponsorship for Your Association

Hear insights on how to make the most out of your association’s digital sponsorship opportunities. Learn how to price your content marketing offerings for success, structure digital sponsorship that works for sponsors AND members, and create the behavior in your sponsors that helps improve your digital content calendar. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Fonteva

Speakers:

Dan Stevens, President of WorkerBee.TV
Erin Lemons, Vice President, Marketing, Fonteva & Protech

Wed 8/16 at 2 p.m. – Design Think Your Way to More Engaged Stakeholders

Hear about a strategic methodology—with real world examples and practical tools—that can guide your association to think differently about your meeting stakeholders. Learn how to analyze your event stakeholders and discuss the value of applying empathy in design, articulate the unique purpose and value of your event for each stakeholder, and understand the scalability of the Event Design Process and how to apply the methodology to your own events. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Professionals for Association Revenue

Speakers:

Emilie Perkins, CMP, CAE, CMM, PMP, CED, Director Client & Conference Services, Raybourn Group International
Katie Riggs, CMP, CAE, CMM, HMCC, CED, Chief Event Strategist, Riggs & Co

Wed 8/16 at 2 p.m. – The Future of the Attendee Experience

As the line between in-person and digital events continues to blur, attendee expectations have shifted due to the integration of technology into daily life. Learn how people are consuming content and how to blend physical and digital experiences for your events, trending ways to use events to engage and build community, best practices for extending event engagement, and strategies to deliver amazing attendee experiences. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: MeetingsNet

Speaker: Alyssa Peltier, Senior Manager, Market Insights, Cvent

Wed 8/16 at 3 p.m. – Next-Level Governance™: Leading with Strategic Agility

Hear the latest data-driven insights on how to get the strategic agility your association governance needs to meet the challenges of the moment. Learn about board success factors, key risks and disruptors boards face in 2023, and characteristics needed to build a board with strategic agility. More info/register.

Host: McKinley Advisors

Speakers: Patrick Glaser, Jon Hockman, Tim Hopkins, CAE, and Suzanna Kelley, FAIA, McKinley Advisors

Thu 8/17 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 8/17 at 12:30 p.m. – Enforcing Association Codes of Ethics Effectively While Minimizing Legal Risks

Nonprofit membership organizations have been increasingly active when it comes to regulating conduct and ethics of members, both in their professional roles and in connection with association activities. When done properly, this effort can serve to enhance the value of membership and the public impression of the association’s industry or profession. However, this practice can carry legal risk if the proper procedures are not followed. Learn how to develop and enhance an enforceable code, create and follow a procedural framework that is both workable and legally defensible, and identify the different considerations that can arise when enforcing a code that applies to members, certification holders, and association leaders. More info/register.

Host: Venable LLP

Speakers: George E. Constantine, Partner, Co-chair, Nonprofit Organizations Group, and Andrew L. Steinberg, Counsel, Nonprofit Organizations Group, Venable LLP

Thu 8/17 at 1 p.m. – Accessibility and Event Technology: A Beginner’s Guide

As an event organizer, you can expand your attendee base, create richer customer connections, and drive your business goals further if you create an accessibility-friendly experience for your events. Get a deeper understanding of accessibility: facts, figures and definitions. Hear about specific types of disabilities and how these can influence your event planning, and the surprising consequences of not incorporating accessibility concepts for your attendees. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: Meetings Today

Speaker: Stephen Cutchins, Product Manager and Accessibility Expert, Cvent

Thu 8/17 at 2 p.m. – Mission Possible: Mapping Your Path to More Effective Marketing

Your organization’s marketing ecosystem lives on a maturity spectrum—the more mature, the more impactful, the less mature, the less effective. Hear the results from the 2023 Marketing Benchmarks for Mission-Driven Organizations report and learn how to leverage data and insights to better understand how you stack up to your peers. Take away tools to develop more impactful strategies that lead to higher marketing effectiveness. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Mighty Citizen

Speakers: Jarrett Way, Content and Digital Marketing Manager, and Brianna Martin, Director of Brand Marketing, Mighty Citizen

Tue 8/22 at 11 a.m. – Unusual Collaborations: Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Unusual partnerships and collaborations can be found in music, art, movies, business, athletics, and in other disciplines and industries. Where are associations with partnerships and collaborations? Learn about the basic principles for these engagements, what makes some successful, and what to avoid; when and where your association should be taking chances, when is crazy borderline genius, and when is crazy just plain crazy; and how to get out of a rut, start placing small bets, and build on what works now. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Jay S. Daughtry, M.Ed., Chief Communications Officer/Owner, CQbd

Wed 8/23 at 1 p.m. – Marketing Artificial Intelligence in Action

Gain an overview of the current marketing artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. Learn about marketing AI tools you can begin using right now to optimize your marketing strategy, how to embark upon easy marketing AI experiments, and use marketing AI to enhance your processes and make workflows less time consuming. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Erica Salm Rench, MBA, COO, Rasa.io

Wed 8/23 at 2 p.m. – Expert Series: Get Sponsored: How to Make 6-Figures in Digital Sponsorship for Your Association

Learn how to optimize digital sponsorship and capitalize on the huge opportunities to grow digital revenues to 6-figures or more. Find out how to consolidate and price your content marketing offerings for success, structure digital sponsorship that works for sponsors and members, and create the behavior in your sponsors that helps improve your digital content calendar. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Hosts: WorkerBee.TV and Non-Dues-A-Palooza

Speaker: Dan Stevens, president, WorkerBee.TV

Wed 8/23 at 3 p.m. – The Dating Playbook: Applying the Rules of Love to Your Membership Campaign

Whether you’re looking for marriage or membership, techniques to build interest and commitment are the same. Learn how your association can stop making common membership marketing mistakes and start to reinvigorate your membership campaigns using lessons from dating coaches and matchmakers; help prospects get to know your association better before pushing them to join; and use skills and tools to help you nurture your relationships including SEO, marketing automation and analytics. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Analytics

Speakers:

Chris Gloede, Chief Consultant, Ricochet Advice
Bill Conforti, SVP of Strategy & Solutions, Association Analytics
Greg Pollack, SVP of Sales, Association Analytics

Thu 8/24 at 12 p.m. – Smooth Sailing: Association Operations Best Practices

Explore the key strategies, systems, and processes that can enhance efficiency, member engagement, and overall organizational performance. More info/register.

Host: Nexus Marketing Agency

Speakers:

Neeraj Garg, Chief Operating Officer at Aplusify
Thorben Grosser, Vice President of Product Marketing at EventMobi
Brian Lacy, CEO & Data Consultant at NPOInfo
Thomas McClintock, Senior Client Services Manager at Empowered Margins

Fri 8/25 at 12:30 p.m. – How to Create an AI Usage Policy AMA

Join this discussion on approaches to consider as you develop your AI guidelines and policies. Explore topics such as ethics, copyright, security, and data privacy. More info/register.

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Speaker: Juan Sanchez, Chief Information Officer, Inteleos

Association Brain Food Weekly is published Friday mornings. If your organization offers free professional development for the association community, please send me the link via email by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Creative Commons licensed photo by Collin via Unsplash

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Association Brain Food: 8.4.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” —Dale Carnegie

Non-dues revenue. It’s not so easy to remember to practice the presence and gratitude it takes to enjoy those roses, but I will give it my best shot at ASAE Annual this weekend—as much as my adrenalined mind will allow. I hope to greet and meet many of you there and also at Non-Dues-a-Palooza (NDAP) in Denver in early September. There’s a better chance we’ll have time to sit and smell the roses together at NDAP. Seriously consider attending if non-dues revenue is a concern for your association.

Introverts. Here’s a post by Aaron Wolowiec of Event Garde to share with your introvert friends. I didn’t know I was an introvert until I heard Susan Cain do a keynote at an ASAE Annual long ago. I thought introversion was related to shyness, not a problem for social me. But when I read her book, Quiet, my entire striving life up to that point made sense. I wanted to push it into the hands of every parent. Aaron shares advice to help introverts manage their energy and mind at a hectic event like Annual. He’s my hero of the week!

Mobile apps. Results Direct and .orgCommunity invite your participation in the State of Mobile in Associations 2023 Benchmark Survey, the first and most comprehensive survey of its kind for the association community. Your input will help associations benchmark the use of event, member, and other mobile apps in associations.

Membership pricing. Your association’s recruitment and retention success depend on your membership model pricing. But that’s not all—mission success and financial sustainability ride on it too. Impexium dives deep into membership pricing models to explain when to make a change, how to do the requisite research, what type of models are commonly used, and how to figure out pricing.

Member engagement. TopClass LMS explains how online education programs can help increase member engagement. They describe the essential elements of education programs that resonate with members.

Non-dues revenue partners. Navigate CES describes how your association can improve the customer journey for sponsors, exhibitors and advertisers. They share tactics for the six stages of the business development journey and offer advice for dealing with revenue partner churn and expansion.

AI tools. At the Wall Street Journal <gift link>, Isabelle Bousquette says companies are drowning in too much AI. Employees are confused and overwhelmed by the options, while IT and executives worry about privacy, plagiarism, value and other issues. I imagine associations are going through the same thing right now.

Inspiring purpose. Futurist Peter Diamandis is a proponent for individuals and organizations crafting a Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP). WBT Systems explains how an MTP helps you build a community and create a movement by connecting what your association does to a greater sense of meaning and purpose. Diamandis says an MTP can do wonders for individuals too.

Mission statements. If you’re not ready to grapple with an MTP but need to write a traditional mission statement, GrowthZone has you covered. Their tip sheet goes through the steps of defining your purpose, identifying your target audience, getting input and developing the copy.

Online experiences. The Endocrine Society and Matchbox Virtual Media announced a joint venture to design and deliver online experiences that will drive innovation in the medical, healthcare and scientific industries. I’m interested in seeing what this creative partnership comes up with. They’re starting with a research study to learn what’s working (or not) for associations hosting online experiences. Stop by Matchbox’s booth at ASAE Annual if you want to learn more.

Quick hits

Five things to do to heat up your content marketing game during the summer lull. (Ann Gynn, Content Marketing Institute)

No, you don’t need to learn golf to advance in your career. Per a new study, women leaders can successfully network off the course. (Courtney Connley, Chief)

Good eats

Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout.

Oh my, I do love these smoked Gouda- and chorizo-stuffed jalapeño peppers from Sunny Anderson at the Food Network and everyone else does too. Expect the plate to be cleared.

My Portuguese fish skillet was adapted from these UK and US recipes. I make mine with linguiça, kale, poblano peppers plus all the other ingredients, including catfish, this time. Very robust!

When at the beach, I always have to buy local shrimp and make my shrimp beach pasta with onion, red bell pepper, garlic, diced tomatoes, white wine, shrimp broth (save the shells!), basil and lots of butter. For dessert, key lime pie bought at the seafood market and made by a local baker, yum.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 8/4 at 10 a.m.* – Association Learning Strategy | Coffee with Innovators: Association Design Circle

Every month, an association leader leads a conversation on an association innovation topic. Our topic this month is designing a high-impact learning strategy for associations and nonprofits. How can we design an executable learning strategy? How can we use learning to engage or reengage our constituents? More info/register.

Host: Product Design Community

Facilitator: Nancy Bacon, founder, Nancy Bacon Consulting

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Fri 8/4 at 4 p.m. – Career Management Toolkit: How to Maximize Your Conference Attendance Investment

Join a practical, how-to conversation designed to help you make the most of your ASAE Annual Meeting and other professional conference experiences. Learn what to do in advance of a meeting; what to do while onsite, and what to do once you’re back home to make your learning and connections stick. Whether you’re heading to Atlanta for this year’s ASAE Annual Meeting and need last-minute help navigating your way, or not, you’ll walk away with valuable tips, tactics, and ideas for using meeting attendance to advance your career. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Facilitator: Jennifer Baker, MSW, CAE

Sat 8/5 at 4 p.m. – AWTC Happy Hour at ASAE Annual (Atlanta GA)

Connect with old and new friends before heading to the ASAE Opening Reception, a short walk away. Location: Atlanta GA. More info/register.

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Mon 8/7 at 8 a.m. – Your AMS Is Not the Center of the Universe (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting

Guest: Michael Getter, 501evolved

Mon 8/7 at 5:30 p.m. – CRVM Happy Hour @ Annual Meeting (Atlanta GA)

Past council chairs, current council leadership and members, CRPs & VMers and all our association colleagues are welcome. Happy Hour is self-sponsored. Location: Atlanta GA. More info/register.

Mon 8/7 at 6 p.m. – Fridays@4 Meet and Greet at ASAE (Atlanta GA)

This will be a “Dutch-treat” dinner at a restaurant within walking distance of the conference center. Location: Atlanta GA. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Tue 8/8 at 12 p.m. – LGBTQIA2+ Community Call

Join association professionals (of all career levels) on the second Tuesday of every month to share lunch time and discuss topics that are relevant and timely. Come prepared to join this judgment-free group with questions and issues that are top of mind for you in the LGBTQIA2+ association community. More info/register.

Host: ASAE LGBTQ Association Executives and Supporters

Wed 8/9 at 9 a.m. – Creating Year-Round Opportunities from Your Association Event

Event attendees are looking for new ways to learn, connect and experience what your association has to offer. But the event itself is just the beginning! Successfully engaging the event attendees you had and the event attendees you want takes a year-round approach. Join this PAR Member Meet-Up to share how your association creates opportunities before, during and after your annual event. 0.5 CAE credit. More info/register (PAR members only).

Host: Professionals for Association Revenue

Wed 8/9 at 12 p.m. – What’s Changed (and What Hasn’t) About In-Person Gatherings

Hear about the state of in-person events today based on responses from more than 4,000 organizers and attendees who participated in Bizzabo’s in-person B2B conference survey in June 2023. Learn about conference trends, organizer challenges, attendee priorities, why in-person events are the most valuable marketing channel and networking ecosystem today, and tips on how to overcome and solve current challenges. More info/register.

Host: Bizzabo

Speakers:

Carina Bauer, CEO, IMEX
Kathryn Frankson, Global Director of Marketing, Money 20/20
Huong Nguyen, Head of Client Services, Shiloh Events
Oren Berkovich, Head of Experience Lab, Bizzabo

Thu 8/10 at 9:30 a.m. – Small Staff Percolator

A new interactive online coffee break format designed for you to discover more peers in our dispersed community, bring up a topic that’s brewing in the daily grind, and have a casual chat with others who know your lingo. More info/register.

Host: Qiqo

Thu 8/10 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 8/10 at 2 p.m. – Evolving Event Apps: Customization, Engagement, and Marketing

Hear about the landscape of event apps and their importance for enhancing meeting experiences, specific event app features that drive creativity and customization, and best practices for ensuring successful technology integration and adoption in event planning and execution. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: MeetingsNet

Speaker: Justin Maddox, Director of Digital Strategy, LEO Events

Fri 8/11 at 12:30 p.m. – Conversations with Champions

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Guest: Sarah Lewis, Senior WordPress Developer at Yoko Co.

Tue 8/15 at 11 a.m. – How to Get Useable Results from AI: An Introduction to Prompt Engineering for Association Professionals

Host: Sidecar

Speakers: Thomas Altman and Dray Thomas, Co-Founders, Tasio

Tue 8/15 at 12 p.m. – CRVM August Crunch and Munch

Crunch and Munch is a chance to come together once a month with peers for a casual conversation on hot topics relevant to the component relations and volunteer management community. Come prepared to share your successes, challenges and ideas. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Council

Wed 8/16 at 2 p.m. – Design Think Your Way to More Engaged Stakeholders

Host: Professionals for Association Revenue

Speakers:

Emilie Perkins, CMP, CAE, CMM, PMP, CED, Director Client & Conference Services, Raybourn Group International
Katie Riggs, CMP, CAE, CMM, HMCC, CED, Chief Event Strategist, Riggs & Co

Wed 8/16 at 3 p.m. – Next-Level Governance™: Leading with Strategic Agility

Host: McKinley Advisors

Speakers: Patrick Glaser, Jon Hockman, Tim Hopkins, CAE, and Suzanna Kelley, FAIA, McKinley Advisors

Thu 8/17 at 2 p.m. – Mission Possible: Mapping Your Path to More Effective Marketing

Host: Mighty Citizen

Speakers: Jarrett Way, Content and Digital Marketing Manager, and Brianna Martin, Director of Brand Marketing, Mighty Citizen

Association Brain Food Weekly is published Friday mornings. If your organization offers free professional development for the association community, please send me the link via email by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Creative Commons licensed photo by Chantal Garnier via Unsplash

Amazon and AssociationBrainFood.com links allow me to earn a royalty on any sales or leads that result from clicking. Thank you!

Association Brain Food: 7.21.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…

Association Brain Food is taking off next Friday, July 28 because I’m away all week at my state SAE conference and a family beach vacation. The next edition will go live on Friday, August 4.

Member education. It’s impossible to predict the skills we’ll rely on in ten years. Some of them don’t even exist now. But TopClass LMS/WBT Systems describes ten skills your members need to learn right now. See how you measure up!

Governance. McKinley Advisors surveyed association executives to understand the characteristics and behaviors that drive next-level board performance and strategic agility. In their report, Next-Level Governance™: Leading with Strategic Agility, they describe the critical elements for reinventing governance so you can position your association to deliver value to your members and industry amidst any disruption.

Workplace culture. You surely understand the extent to which your organization’s culture influences its success. But where and how do you even begin to improve that culture? Propel explains how a culture assessment can reveal your organization’s change readiness and its place on the cultural spectrum from traditional to contemporary to futurist.

Food as fuel for attendees. As someone who’s always thinking about my next meal, Jeffrey Cufaude speaks to my heart (yes, my stomach too) when he encourages facilitators not to overlook food when planning a program. He explains how food is fuel for enhanced attendee energy, attention and community.

AI, inventions and work. I like Benedict Evans’ historical approach to AI and the automation of work. He reminds us that “every time we go through a wave of automation, whole classes of jobs go away, but new classes of jobs get created.” These are good times, folks!

Online community. Online communities are extremely popular with younger audiences. Nimble AMS explains how an online community can help you attract, engage and retain members. They also provide a useful plan for launching and managing a community.

Threads. Twitter lost its magic when celebrities and partisan journalists arrived years ago, and then everyone, including me, started scheduling tweets. But I still enjoy seeing what flows through my home stream because the tweets are from people I actually follow. Unlike on Threads, which, Kate Lindsay at Embedded says, is “a mecca of Millennial brain rot.” Yeah, it sucks.

Just the facts. “The fact is a recent invention,” says Jon Askonas at The New Atlantis. I’d add “relatively” since he traces them back to the 17^th century. “The rise of facts was the triumph of a certain kind of shared empirical evidence over personal experience, deduction from preconceived ideas, and authoritative diktat.” He describes the rise of facts—a wonderful trip through history—and their replacement in our age by manipulable data points.

Good eats

Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout.

Shrimp scampi with tomatoes and corn is summer in a bowl. But please only buy American shrimp and not that nasty frozen slave-labor Asian crap—google it. Shrimp should be a luxury.

You don’t see boldly flavored ribbonfish that often. When I do, I like giving it the puttanesca treatment. On the side, summer veggie pesto with zucchini, carrot, broccoli stem, red bell, poblano and onion.

A new party dish: sheet pan quesadillas. I added poblano, jalapeno and garlic to the mix. It’d be smashing with ground chorizo or venison (instead of beef) or filled with Korean-style gochujang pulled pork.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 7/21 at 1 p.m.* – Cracking the Value Code: Uncovering Strategies for Pricing Your Learning Programs

When you start taking a hard look at your learning product landscape, common conundrums around “value” and “pricing” often surface. Learn about a 5-step method for pricing your learning programs and selling the value to get buy-in from your board. This 5-step process can even be applied to sponsorship, membership, certification, education, in-person events, virtual events, or the next big thing your team creates. 0.75 CAE credit. More info/register

Host: Blue Sky eLearn

Speaker: Dr. Michael Tatonetti, Founder and CEO, Pricing for Associations

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Fri 7/21 at 4 p.m. – Nonprofit Management Series: Finance and Budgeting

Many professionals in the association and nonprofit space have never been fully exposed to financial statements, budgeting, and how to be a proper steward of your organization’s resources. Learn the basics of nonprofit finance, including how to read your budget to actual monthly financial statements, as well as understanding the foundations to a budget, trends in association finances, and how to generally feel more comfortable talking about numbers. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Speaker: Rob Batarla, MBA, CPA, Chief Financial Officer of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Mon 7/24 at 8 a.m. – Post-Lockdown Membership Recruitment (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting

Guest: Mark Sterne

Tue 7/25 at 11 a.m. – The Future of Digital Communication Management

Explore ways your association can leverage new technologies like AI to enhance overall member experience, optimize communications across multiple platforms, and ultimately increase revenue. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers: Brian Miller, VP, Strategic Partnerships, and Bill Sheehan, VP, Strategic Partnerships, Multiview

Tue 7/25 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Tech Tuesdays: Technology Strategy

Join us as we consider these three questions: What is IT’s role/accountability in developing an enterprise-wide technology strategy for their organization? What is IT’s accountability/role in developing overall strategy for their organization? What are the barriers in developing a formal technology strategy in your organization? More info/register.

Host: ASAE

Facilitators:

Dave Coriale, CAE, President, DelCor Technology Solutions
Reggie Henry, CAE, Chief Information and Performance Excellence Officer, ASAE

Tue 7/25 at 1 p.m. – AWTC Salon: The Art of Saying No

Saying no at the right times is essential for professional success (and personal fulfillment) and knowing when and how to say no can be challenging. Join an interactive conversation about saying no. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Speakers:

Tori Miller Liu, MBA, FASAE, CAE, President & CEO of the Association for Intelligent Information Management
Alex Mouw, CAE, Principal Strategic Advisor for Amazon Web Services

Tue 7/25 at 2 p.m. – Best Practices for Engaging Your Board Throughout the Executive Search Process

Learn about board and search committee roles and responsibilities, effective communication strategies to keep board members and staff informed and engaged throughout the search process, techniques to ensure the board’s priorities are reflected in the candidate selection criteria, involving board members in engaging with executive finalists to provide additional input, harnessing the board’s unique perspectives and diverse skill sets to make informed decisions, strategies for fostering a positive and collaborative relationship between the board and the newly appointed executive, and challenges and obstacles that may arise during the executive search process and how to address them proactively. More info/register.

Host: Nonprofit HR

Speakers:

Hakimu Davidson, MBA, Senior Consultant, Search, Impact Search Advisors by Nonprofit HR
Danisha Martin, MBA, CSC, Team Leader & Senior, Consultant, Search, Impact Search Advisors by Nonprofit HR
Salima Moolji, Senior Consultant, Search, Impact Search Advisors by Nonprofit HR
Bert Ruiz, MS, Managing Director, Impact Search Advisors by Nonprofit HR

Wed 7/26 at 11 a.m. – Generative AI and Chat GPT: Uses, Pros, and Cons for Associations

Get up to speed on the current and future uses of generative AI and ChatGPT for associations. Learn how to efficiently assess business value across all association processes, what advantages are associated with applying generative AI technology to streamline workflows, and how to keep your association ahead of the curve by learning about potential risks and challenges. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Lisa Rau, PhD, Founder, Chief Growth Officer, Fíonta

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – Expert Series: Your Non-Dues Revenue Initiatives are Only as Good as Your User Journeys

Nine times out of ten, when a launch falls flat, it’s not your offering that’s the problem, it’s the user journey to get there: to find, to purchase, to register. Learn how simply focusing on your member journeys can increase conversions and drive serious revenue for your organization. Hear how to audit your current customer and member journeys, how to determine where the pain points are, ways to use design to make an experience intuitive and smooth, how crossing systems (e.g., from CMS to CRM or AMS to LMS) is often where user experiences go south and what to do about it, and recent examples of user experiences optimized for clients and what we learned as a result. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Non Due$-A-Palooza

Speaker: Joanna Pineda, CEO & Chief Troublemaker, Matrix Group

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – Crystal Ball Predictions for the Future of Associations

Find out what the panelists are seeing in their professions and with their memberships and what this means for associations moving forward. Hear about the impact of the current value of time and how this relates to associations; what AI means for associations and how it will impact staffing for association professionals; where associations should focus their attention on data; and how associations can better support their members and attendees with opportunities for learning in a new era of expectations. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Fonteva

Speakers:

Lowell Aplebaum, FASAE, CAE, CPF, Chief Executive Officer, Vista Cova
Bailey Kasten, CAE, ICE-CPP, Chief Data Officer, Design-Build Institute of America
Kimberly Mosley, Executive Director, Digital Analytics Association
Pete Pomilio, Chief Executive Officer, American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nurses & Society of Urologic Nurses

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – Unveiling the Dark Side: Navigating the Risks and Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

For each of these issues—sensitive data breaches, incomplete/compromised answers, and legal compliance objectives—we will establish the risk and discuss how we can operate in this rapidly evolving technology space, while applying controls to keep your organization and users safe. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: James Nicholas, VP of IT, Tigunia

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – UnPAC’d: Navigating Government Affairs Without or With a Small PAC

1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Government Relations and Advocacy Professionals Advisory Council

Speakers:

John Boling, Director Of Government Relations, International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants
James A. Kahl, Partner, Co-Chair of Associations, Nonprofits and Political Organizations Section, Whiteford
Michelle Ly (moderator), Director of Advocacy, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – Contract Strategies for the Evolving Marketplace

Learn about our current marketplace and how it affects a planners’ strategy during negotiations, key contract clauses and how to defend them to benefit your organization’s bottom line, and variables that the hotels consider when reviewing your overall business value. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: Meetings Today

Speaker: Robyn Mietkiewicz, strategic partner at INNOV8 Meetings + Events

Wed 7/26 at 2 p.m. – “Spilling the Tea” on Gen Z as Your Future Members & Employees

Look beyond sweeping generalizations and instead focus on truly understanding how current world events are shaping the views, behaviors, and expectations of young professionals today. Get a better understanding of what they need and want, and how you can best “meet them in the middle.” You don’t need to ditch your entire strategic playbook, but you may need to make some adjustments to reach and engage them, while being prepared to mentor them through an era of unprecedented uncertainty. More info/register.

Host: Omnipress

Speaker: Tracy Grzybowski, Director of Marketing, Omnipress

Thu 7/27 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Fri 7/28 at 4 p.m. – Diversity Discussion: 4-Gen Leadership: Thriving in a Multi-gen Workforce

Learn about the characteristics of the four generations, how the generations formed, and the new generation gaps that have emerged with the advent of the internet-based society. Hear tips to recruit and retain these generations. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Speakers:

Sami Scarpitti, multigenerational workplace consultant
Mark White, author, 5-Gen Leadership: Leading 5 Generations in Schools in the 2020s, and adjunct instructor at Muskingum University and Ashland University

Mon 7/31 at 8 a.m. – Quarterly Wellness Topic (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting

Guest: Fern Carbonell

Tue 8/1 at 12 p.m. – Using Data to Evaluate Product Performance (Association Analytics Network)

Join association professionals for peer-led discussions on topics related to data and analytics. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Analytics

Tue 8/1 at 2 p.m. – What Associations Need to Know About Generative AI

Whether you feel excitement or trepidation about generative AI, the fact is, you can’t ignore it. Learn about AI tools, ideas for how generative AI can be useful for your association, the risks of using generative AI, including accuracy, data privacy, legal considerations, and more. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Higher Logic

Speakers:

Mitch Eisen, CTO and Co-Founder, Contentware
Carrie Mahon, Chief Marketing Officer, Unanet
Dave Rahmoeller, Director of Digital Campaigns at The American Speech Language Hearing Association
Kelly Whelan (moderator), Content Marketing Manager, Higher Logic

Wed 8/2 at 11 a.m. – Shifting Paradigms: Driving Association Growth Through a Content-Led Marketing Approach

Learn about the inherent potential of a strategic, content-first approach to marketing, focusing on practical methods of implementation and the impressive results this strategy can deliver. With live examples, case studies, and expert insights, explore the role of compelling, resonant content in fostering member engagement, bolstering growth, and enhancing the overall impact of your association. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Bill Mcglade, President, Community Leaders Institute & epIQ Creative Group

Wed 8/2 at 12 p.m. – Attract and Retain Millennials and Gen Z Using Mobile Technologies

The greatest opportunity for attracting new members and member retention is Millennials and Generation Z. Associations not offering mobile technologies to reach these generations will miss the opportunity to engage and recruit them. Learn about the next steps for implementing mobile as a must-have technology. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Insights in Old Town

Speaker: Mark Wallach, Director, Mobile Business Development for Results Direct

Wed 8/2 at 12 p.m. – Associated and Engaged: Member Engagement Strategies for Associations

Engaging and retaining members is crucial for associations to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Cultivating a vibrant and active membership requires careful strategizing and execution. Discover innovative approaches to enhance member engagement. More info/register.

Host: Nexus Marketing Agency

Speakers:

Traci King, VP of Sales, Event Tech at Cadmium
Thomas McClintock, Senior Client Services Manager at Empowered Margins, Inc.
Benjamin Muscolino, Founder & CEO at Breezio
Erica Salm Rench, COO at Rasa.io
Chris Vaughan, Chief Strategy Officer at Sequence Consulting

Thu 8/3 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 8/3 at 2 p.m. – Privacy 101: Understanding the Landscape

As cyber threats continue to grow, five states—Virginia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah—have or will implement new state privacy laws in 2023. Hear how these new laws may impact your association’s ability to collect and manage personal data for members, prospects, and stakeholders. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: 501C Works

Fri 8/4 at 10 a.m. – Association Learning Strategy | Coffee with Innovators: Association Design Circle

Every month, an association leader leads a conversation on an association innovation topic. Our topic this month is association learning strategy. More info/register.

Host: Product Design Community

Facilitator: Nancy Bacon, founder, Nancy Bacon Consulting

Sat 8/5 at 4 p.m. – AWTC Happy Hour at ASAE Annual (Atlanta GA)

connect with old and new friends before heading to the ASAE Opening Reception, a short walk away. Location: Atlanta GA. More info/register.

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Mon 8/7 at 6 p.m. – Fridays@4 Meet and Greet at ASAE (Atlanta GA)

This will be a “Dutch-treat” dinner at a restaurant within walking distance of the conference center. Location: Atlanta GA. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Wed 8/9 at 9 a.m. – Creating Year-Round Opportunities from Your Association Event

Host: Professionals for Association Revenue

Thu 8/10 at 9:30 a.m. – Small Staff Percolator

Host: Qiqo

Fri 8/11 at 12:30 p.m. – Conversations with Champions

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Guest: Sarah Lewis, Senior WordPress Developer at Yoko Co.

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Association Brain Food: 7.14.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…

Professional development. You’re more likely to go to the gym if you’re following a workout plan designed by a trainer, right? Likewise, members and customers are more likely to attend education programs when they’re following a professional learning plan. WBT Systems explains how professional learning plans benefit both your association and members and how to get them going.

Sunsetting programs. Avenue M writes about “the complex journey of phasing out obsolete programs in associations,” especially in the face of resistance. They suggest questions to ask before terminating a program and offer advice for the sunsetting process.

Board management. In an article at the Institute of Corporate Directors, Jeff De Cagna of Foresight First says intentional learning is a non-negotiable requirement for board members. One overlooked source of intentional learning is boardroom dissent. I agree. Healthy human dissent—“sharing contrarian or divergent perspectives”—should be normalized again. Too many people, perhaps following the poor example of politicians and media, have forgotten how to do this respectfully.

Change readiness. Nine times out of ten, humans deserve the blame for technology that doesn’t live up to expectations. Starkweather Association Services’ shares best practices for change readiness that will help you understand and minimize the complications your people might bring to technology or any other change project. Change management chops can make a tremendous difference for projects and for your career.

Event data. PCMA Convene recaps a Convening Leaders 2023 session led by Joe Colangelo of Bear Analytics: “From Stats to Stories—Making Event Data Work for You.” It’s interesting to see how two organizations rely differently on data to market their event to attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors.

Gen Z, AI and marketing. Bill Sheehan at Multiview shares his top takeaways from ASAE’s 2023 MM&C conference related to Gen Z, AI and marketing—fun topics. Differentiate yourself and don’t be afraid to try new things.

Customer/member personas. Mercury Creative Group explains why you should have an ideal buyer in mind when crafting marketing content. They guide you through the steps for creating a persona or avatar who represents a segment of your target audience.

Good eats

Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout.

My sister-in-law gave us a dozen fresh figs, so I made Ina Garten’s fresh fig and ricotta cake, a quick and easy recipe. I whipped heavy cream with a little maple syrup for a topping. But I guess that wasn’t good enough because the next night Jim came home with a pint of vanilla bean ice cream.

A big hit around here is salmon collard curry. You can use any fish (or shrimp) and red or green Indian or Thai curry paste. This time, I added red and orange bell pepper, poblano pepper, garlic, a mix of collards, spinach and arugula, basil, mint and cilantro to the recipe.

A simple spiced breadcrumb topping is always good on fish fillets, especially speckled sea trout. I added fresh basil to the recipe because I had to prune my plants and didn’t have enough for a batch of pesto. On the side, roasted broccoli with parmesan, garlic powder and New Mexican ground chile.

After my periodontal surgery a few months ago, my seafood share included soft shell crabs. But since I was on a liquid diet, I stashed them in the freezer. Defrosted, dried, dusted with flour and sautéed with butter, nothing is better. We enjoyed another favorite for our main dish: creamy piccata swordfish. I added shallots at the start and basil (instead of parsley) and parmesan cheese at the end.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 7/14 at 12:30 p.m.* – Conversations with Champions

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Guest: Wendy Sahli, Director of Technology, Regulatory Affairs Professional Society

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Fri 7/14 at 4 p.m. – CEO’s First 90 Days: Breathing Tips for the Other End of the Fire Hose (Book Discussion)

Whether you’re considering applying for your first CEO job or have already signed a contract, preparing for your arrival is one of the most important things you can do. You only get one shot at doing it well and being perceived as masterful. Leading a new business, moving from a company CEO to a non-profit CEO, or vice versa, will call into demand differing skill sets and understanding nuances of how work gets done. Join a discussion of this free e-book (CEO’s First 90 Days) from Cynthia Mills. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Mon 7/17 at 8 a.m. – Promoting Your Consultant Practice (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting

Guest: Michael Wyland, Owner/Partner, Sumption & Wyland

Mon 7/17 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Membership Monday

A poll will be sent to determine this month’s topic. More info/register.

Host: ASAE

Tue 7/18 at 12 p.m. – Component Relations and Volunteer Management Crunch and Munch

Come prepared to engage, participate and listen as we discuss current topics. Anyone is welcome to participate. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Professionals Community

Tue 7/18 at 12 p.m. – Marketing Artificial Intelligence in Action

Learn about low-lift, low-cost AI tools you can begin experimenting with right away at your organization, which are specific to the marketing, membership, and communications functions. Hear about AI marketing tools, such as SEO/search optimization tools that use NLP for semantic-powered inline optimization as well as search volume recommendations; email tools that leverage AI for content recommendation and send time optimization; content generation and inline editing tools; image and other content generation tools; and AI-powered audio editing tools. More info/register.

Host: American Marketing Association

Speaker: Erica Salm Rench, Chief Operating Officer, rasa.io

Tue 7/18 at 1 p.m. – Fireside Chat: Getting Ready to Be Data Driven

Learn about NCARB’s journey to become a data-driven organization. Hear about organizational culture, getting comfortable with your data, ways to leverage data in your association, and the positive impacts of data-driven decision making. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers:

Katherine Matthews, CAE, Assistant Vice President, Data & Analytics, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards
Alex Mouw, Principal Strategic Advisor, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Tue 7/18 at 3 p.m. – Preparing Your Association for AI

AI has been around for years. It’s the new generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard that have captured the attention—and imagination—of industry and associations alike. Hear about the importance of prompt engineering and creating successful prompts, how to use AI to increase member value and revenue streams, and what to do with your data for AI to work most effectively. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers:

Conor Sibley, Chief Technology Officer, Association Analytics

Wed 7/19 from 9 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. – Engagement & Mobile Platforms Demo Day

Watch presentations from a limited number of industry partners that offer engagement and mobile platforms. More info/register.

Host: ASAE

Wed 7/19 at 12 p.m. – Drive Member Engagement through Revitalized Chapter Events

Delve into the art of planning chapter events that drive participation and cultivate a thriving community. Hear insights, best practices, and actionable tips to breathe new life into your chapter events. Learn strategies for engaging members and designing relevant events, techniques for crafting compelling event themes and agendas, how technology can enhance experiences and boost participation, tips for effective promotion and communication, and methods for measuring event success and continuous improvement. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Hosts: Billhighway and Mariner Management

Speaker: Peggy Hoffman, president and executive director, Mariner Management

Wed 7/19 at 12 p.m. – Are You in Touch with Your Data?

We’ve hit the halfway mark of the year, so measuring KPIs is key, but what is your data really saying? Should you continue as planned or course correct? Are you seeing any performance gains or does it all just look the same? Your data is always telling you something, but you might need to read between the lines to act on it. Learn how your data sets should be organized to support your goals, as well as how best to cross connect different sources to build a narrative that you can rely upon. More info/register.

Host: HighRoad Solutions

Speaker: Maneesha Manges, CXO, HighRoad Solutions

Wed 7/19 at 12 p.m. – Alexandria Association Execs w/ AIOT Leaders’ Lunch Discussion (Alexandria VA)

Today’s association execs are stewarding their investment portfolios and operating reserves while making sense of new retirement plan rules—all while continuing to advance their members’ priorities. Join a small group discussion for association leaders on these topics and more. Location: Alexandria VA. More info/register.

Hosts: Alexandria Association Execs and AIOT

Speaker: Justin Wasfy Kaufman, Senior Financial Advisor, Kast & Wasfy | Merrill Lynch Wealth Management

Wed 7/19 at 12 p.m. – AI: The Untapped Potential for Associations

Hear about various AI-driven advancements, their impact on associations and the untapped potential they bring. From AI-powered data analytics and predictive modeling to intelligent automation and personalized member engagement, learn about the wide-ranging applications of AI that are reshaping the association landscape. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Ewald Consulting

Speakers:

Shawn Petersen, Account Executive, Maple Lane
Erica Salm Rench, COO, Rasa.io
Emily Youngblood, Client Services Director, Mercury Creative Group

Wed 7/19 at 1 p.m. – The Executive’s Guide to Financial Fraud & Cybersecurity

Hear the cybersecurity information that association executives need to know without any fluff or scare-tactics. Get up to speed on the threats that are actively impacting your industry and learn how to prioritize critical action items. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers:

Paul Hudson, CIO Consultant, Optimal Networks, Inc.
Heinan Landa, Founder, Optimal Networks

Wed 7/19 at 1 p.m. – Next-Step Career Advice for Meeting Planners

Join a frank discussion with a long-time recruitment and placement pro about how the employment landscape has changed for meeting planners since COVID. Find out what she’s seeing in meeting planning job placement, and learn more about the contract and part-time opportunities that exist for planners. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: Prevue Meetings

Speaker: Dawn Penfold, President of Meetingjobs

Wed 7/19 at 2 p.m. – Effective Advocacy in Restricted Industries: Ideas for Campaign Success

Working in a restricted industry presents a unique set of challenges for advocacy groups, requiring them to think outside the box to advocate for their issues and effect change. Even if your industry doesn’t have many restrictions, there are still lessons to be learned from professionals in stricter sectors that can help you get out of a rut and solve problems more creatively. More info/register.

Host: VoterVoice

Speakers:

Patrick Anderson, Principal, ProVenture Consultants
Alyssa Erickson, Public Affairs and Marketing Coordinator, U.S. Hemp Roundtable
Joshua Habursky, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Lobbyist, Premium Cigar Association
Sherry Whitworth (moderator), Managing Director, Public Affairs and Advocacy, FiscalNote

Wed 7/19 at 2 p.m. – How to Scale Your Email Efforts by Leveraging AI and Automation

Learn about scaling up the production and effectiveness of your email marketing efforts. AI and automation aren’t just the buzz words of 2023, they’re the tools you need to use to lift your marketing efforts today. Hear how to use automation to create better, smoother journeys for your audiences and how to keep the human at the center while leveraging new technologies. More info/register.

Host: Feathr

Wed 7/19 at 3 p.m. – Executive Dashboarding: Compelling Data Stories for Senior Leadership

Staying ahead of the curve for your members nowadays demands a data-driven approach that enables you to measure key performance indicators (KPIs), identify trends, and make informed decisions that drive retention, engagement, and growth. Learn how AAPA defines and shares strategic goals across the entire organization; uses a KPI dashboard to track and measure non-dues revenue, member retention and more; and drives dashboard adoption through gamification with staff. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Analytics

Speakers:

Kristin Sanders, Director of Data Analytics for the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA)
Bill Conforti, SVP of Strategy & Solutions, Association Analytics
Greg Pollack, SVP, Sales, Association Analytics

Thu 7/20 at 11 a.m. – Leadership & Learning Series: Culture Change Made Easy: Part 3, Incomplete Innovation

Culture change is easier than you think and can result in meaningful improvement in both engagement and bottom-line results. The secret lies in uncovering your hidden culture patterns and then fixing the ones that are holding you back. In Part 3, we’ll dig into innovation, something most cultures say they need, yet few are fully implementing. Hear about concrete actions you can take that will improve your ability to unlock new value using sound innovation practices, and details from a case study organization that has turned this pattern around. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers: Maddie Grant, CAE, Culture Designer and Digital Strategist, and Jamie Notter, Co-Founder and Culture Strategist, PROPEL

Thu 7/20 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 7/20 at 1 p.m. – Sales Enablement for Associations

Associations need marketing, membership and sales working as one unit with a drive towards shared goals. While this sounds like a no-brainer statement, it’s often not the reality at many organizations. Why? Because legacy strategies and mindsets have aligned sales teams with traditional sponsorship and advertising goals, leaving membership acquisition and other programs out of the sales function altogether. Learn how to use the right marketing technology to collect insights and develop strategies to power up your sales capabilities, all while aligning your membership, marketing and sales to work together. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Maneesha Manges, Director of Services, HighRoad Solutions

Thu 7/20 at 1 p.m. – What’s the Difference Between a “Good” Website and a “Great One?

Are you looking for new ways to increase member engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty? Are you effectively leveraging your website to attract younger and more diverse audiences? Hear award-winning association website success stories that will empower your team to take your website from good to great, including actionable strategies that increase member engagement and retention, innovative solutions—such as AI—that deliver value, and opportunities to pivot quickly without a full redesign. More info/register.

Host: Sitefinity

Speaker: Results Direct

Thu 7/20 at 1 p.m. – CME Resilience: Reflections on our CME Operations Post COVID

Hear a panel of CME colleagues reflect on their CME program operations post COVID and discuss how they adapted to survive, lessons learned, and unexpected outcomes, as well as ongoing opportunities for improvement. Topics will include: staffing, budgets, committee meetings, RSS activities, conferences and vendors, activity evaluation, and reaccreditation. More info/register.

Host: Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Continuing Medical Education

Thu 7/20 at 2 p.m. – Navigating Event Registration Challenges and Opportunities

Hear about the findings of extensive research into the common challenges faced by over 300 organizations managing event registration, key trends and common challenges faced by event professionals throughout the registration process, and best practices to help you deliver a successful registration experience for your attendees. More info/register.

Host: Personify

Thu 7/20 at 3 p.m. – Checking All the Boxes: What to Consider When Planning Your Association’s Next Big Event

No description available. More info/register.

Host: Nexus Marketing Agency

Speaker: Vinnu Deshetty, Event Tech Advocate/CEO & Founder at EVA

Fri 7/21 at 1 p.m. – Cracking the Value Code: Uncovering Strategies for Pricing Your Learning Programs

Host: Blue Sky eLearn

Speaker: Dr. Michael Tatonetti, Founder and CEO, Pricing for Associations

Fri 7/21 at 4 p.m. – Nonprofit Management Series: Finance and Budgeting

Host: Fridays@4

Speaker: Rob Batarla, MBA, CPA, Chief Financial Officer of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Tue 7/25 at 11 a.m. – The Future of Digital Communication Management

Host: UST Education

Speakers: Brian Miller, VP, Strategic Partnerships, and Bill Sheehan, VP, Strategic Partnerships, Multiview

Tue 7/25 at 1 p.m. – AWTC Salon: The Art of Saying No

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Speakers:

Tori Miller Liu, MBA, FASAE, CAE, President & CEO of the Association for Intelligent Information Management
Alex Mouw, CAE, Principal Strategic Advisor for Amazon Web Services

Wed 7/26 at 11 a.m. – Generative AI and Chat GPT: Uses, Pros, and Cons for Associations

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Lisa Rau, PhD, Founder, Chief Growth Officer, Fíonta

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – Expert Series: Your Non-Dues Revenue Initiatives are Only as Good as Your User Journeys

Host: Non Due$-A-Palooza

Speaker: Joanna Pineda, CEO & Chief Troublemaker, Matrix Group

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – Unveiling the Dark Side: Navigating the Risks and Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

Host: UST Education

Speaker: James Nicholas, VP of IT, Tigunia

Wed 7/26 at 1 p.m. – UnPAC’d: Navigating Government Affairs Without or With a Small PAC

1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Government Relations and Advocacy Professionals Advisory Council

Speakers:

John Boling, Director Of Government Relations, International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants
James A. Kahl, Partner, Co-Chair of Associations, Nonprofits and Political Organizations Section, Whiteford
Michelle Ly (moderator), Director of Advocacy, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association

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Association Brain Food: 7.7.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…

A month from now, many of us will be at ASAE Annual in Atlanta. Two months from now, I hope to see some of you at Non-Dues-a-Palooza in Denver too. Check out the content lineup if you haven’t already. Teri Carden—the mastermind behind AMS Fest before selling it to Association Trends—and her team are known for creating enjoyable educational experiences.

Self-paced online courses. Creating effective, engaging live instruction is challenging enough. Designing asynchronous (self-paced, on-demand) online courses is even tougher, but WBT Systems gives you a head start. They share 19 activities to build into your asynchronous courses that will make them more effective and enjoyable.

Association leadership. At ASAE, Jeff De Cagna of Foresight First describes three critical considerations for boards and CEOs to keep in mind when leading during a polycrisis. A polycrisis is the increasing entanglement of multiple simultaneous crises that further deepens and exacerbates their collective negative impact on humanity. Fascinating times, right?

CMS/website RFP. If your association has a website redesign project on the horizon, there’s no need to ask ASAE Collaborate about RFP samples. Get everything you need in this RFP template for CMS and website redesign projects from Brightfind. You can also use parts of the template for other technology selection projects since prospective vendors will need much of the same information.

Humans and AI. Make every effort to remain human in a world of AI, says David Meerman Scott. Because “people will continue to crave true and honest connection with actual living and breathing people,” you should resolve to keep the human aspects of your marketing intact. Offer what AI cannot: “curiosity, creativity, empathy, emotion, intuition, and maybe most of all, imagination.”

AI and event planning. Michelle Bruno at DAHLIA+ Agency gathers advice from several event and association consultants on how AI can help event planners. The list is long but includes competitive intelligence gathering and data analytics, collating information in different formats from content-heavy websites, session topic ideation, attendee engagement and personalization, and networking and matchmaking. She also shares guidance on how event planners can start using AI.

Mentoring in healthcare associations. Art of Mentoring explains why mentoring is so critical for the healthcare workforce. They describe the benefits of a mentoring program for participants and healthcare associations. For example, researchers found that people with mentors achieve more, are better equipped to handle the stress of their position and are prepared to mentor others.

Quick hits

40 life lessons from 90-year-olds: If you could speak to your 32-year-old self, what advice would you give? (Sahil Bloom)

4 surprising ways to maintain a youthful brain. (Scott C. Anderson, Psychology Today)

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If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 7/7 at 10 a.m.* – Association Products | Coffee with Innovators: Association Design Circle

Every month, an association leader leads a conversation on an association innovation topic. Our topic this month is product development. More info/register.

Host: Product Design Community

Facilitator: James Young, founder of the Product Community

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Fri 7/7 at 4 p.m. – Diversity Discussion Series: The Future of Leadership

Join a conversation on the future of leadership in associations with discussion of trends, challenges, and personal experiences of association leaders on the rise. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Speakers:

Michael Pereira, Associate Director of Learning and Development, NAFSA: Association for International Educators
Eboni Russell
Kristen Truong, Director of Public Affairs, Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions
Cammela Teel (moderator), Sr. Director, Organizational Development & Training, World Wildlife Fund

Mon 7/10 at 8 a.m. – Association Product Maturity Model (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting

Guest: Jim Young, founder of the Product Community

Tue 7/11 at 11:30 a.m. – Ascend Author Talk: A Conversation with Amith Nagarajan (Washington DC)

Let’s get together to talk about AI for Associations specifically through the lens of Amith Nagarajan’s new book, Ascend: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations? Join us for lunch to discuss concepts from the book with the author himself and connect with other AI enthusiasts. Location: Washington DC. More info/register.

Host: Sidecar

Speaker: Amith Nagarajan, CEO, Blue Cypress

Tue 7/11 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Tech Tuesday

The description and registration link aren’t on the Collaborate Events webpage yet, but it’s usually scheduled for this day/time.

Host: ASAE

Tue 7/11 at 12 p.m. – Mastering the Event App: Power Up Your Engagement and User Experience

Learn about powerful strategies and game-changing features that boost the adoption and usage of event mobile apps, common challenges and pitfalls that stand in the way of widespread mobile app adoption at events, and best practices to optimize the user experience of event mobile apps. More info/register.

Host: Grip

Speakers:

Ruben Onderdelinden, Founder, Lively
James Tucker, Chief Executive Officer, GovNet
Abi Cannons, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Grip

Tue 7/11 at 12 p.m. – LGBTQIA2+ Community Call

Please join us for this opportunity for association professionals (of all career levels) to come together to share lunch time and discuss topics that are relevant and timely. Come prepared to join this judgment-free group with questions and issues that are top of mind for you in the LGBTQIA2+ association community. More info/register.

Host: ASAE LGBTQ Association Executives and Supporters

Tue 7/11 at 1 p.m. – 15 Ways To Take Your Email Newsletter To The Next Level: Marketing Artificial Intelligence in Action

Learn how to use email newsletter marketing to engage your members about current topics and industry trends. Hear about newsletter best practices to increase engagement and curate outside content. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Erica Salm Rench, MBA, COO, Rasa.io

Tue 7/11 at 2 p.m. – Discover What Your Members Truly Value

Get ready for an insightful journey into the world of ‘Belonging’ with bestselling author David Allison. Hear about the core values your community cherishes, paving the way for genuine engagement and lasting connections. Join us for a fresh perspective on membership value that can transform your understanding of what it truly means to ‘Belong’. More info/register.

Host: KiKi L’Italien, senior consultant, Tecker International

Wed 7/12 at 9 a.m. – PAR Member Meet-Up: Sales Tactics that Association Teams Use to Win

Email subject lines, purposeful outreach and unique follow-ups: join this PAR Member Meet-Up to learn and share how association revenue producers are managing customer engagement and guiding their clients to great investment choices. 0.5 CAE credit. More info/register (PAR members only).

Host: Professionals for Association Revenue

Wed 7/12 at 1 p.m. – Functional Expense Reporting

Functional expense reporting is one of the more complicated areas of nonprofit U.S. GAAP. Learn about the elements of the statement of functional expense, how to make it meaningful to your audience, and the difference between program services, supporting activities, and what expenses get allocated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Mark Robins, CPA, Partner, Aprio LLP

Wed 7/12 at 1 p.m. – Unlocking Business Intelligence through Effective Data Management

Learn about the importance of data governance in a data-driven world, the range of business intelligence options from low effort/low-cost efforts to building major and dashboards, common challenges faced by organizations when implementing best practices for data governance, tips to kickstart your data governance journey, and affordable tools to help you get started on the right foot. More info/register.

Host: Aplusify

Speakers:

Daniel Elacqua, PMP, MBA, Founding Partner and ClO Consultant, Strategico Consultants
Gwen E. Garrison, Founder & Principal Data Strategist, High Sierra Insights
Neeraj Garg, Chief Operating Officer, Aplusify

Wed 7/12 at 2 p.m. – How to Build Audience-First Marketing Goals with Reliable, Actionable Data

Learn how nonprofit and association executives gather the central data points that help them steer their marketing ships straight toward the North Star of success. More info/register.

Host: Feathr

Wed 7/12 at 2 p.m. – Guide to Innovative Event Tech with Guest ChatGPT

Learn about the latest event technology trends and how to leverage them to create more engaging and impactful event experiences for your attendees; digital do’s and don’ts for each trend that will help you avoid common pitfalls and maximize the potential of each technology; finding the perfect balance between technology and human connection; and choosing the right tech to help you achieve your goals without driving you crazy. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: MeetingsNet

Speaker: Brooke Gracey, Marketing Director, Cvent

Wed 7/12 at 5 p.m. CDT – Ascend Author Talk: A Conversation with Amith Nagarajan (Chicago IL)

Host: Sidecar

Speaker: Amith Nagarajan, CEO, Blue Cypress

Thu 7/13 at 9:30 a.m. – Small Staff Percolator

Host: Qiqo

Thu 7/13 at 11 a.m. – Next Generation, Networked-Based Marketing

With so many tools for email marketing, social media, CRM, graphic design and generative AI, marketing efforts are often frantic and scattered. That’s why marketing often falls prey to the classic spray and pray model. How can you begin to think holistically about taking your marketing strategies and focus on one marketplace in which to target your audience? Learn how an online, association-specific marketplace can allow you to stay relevant, target your audience, and continue to build awareness about your brand while deepening relationships over time. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers: Lucas Cioffi, CTO and Co-Founder, and Sandra Nam, CEO and Co-Founder, QiqoChat

Thu 7/13 at 11 a.m. – 2023 Appropriations: What You Need to Know & Top Issues to Watch

Between funding for disaster relief, Ukraine aid, cuts to DOJ funds, energy and climate, controversial policy riders, and more, all eyes are on the House and Senate Appropriations committees in this tumultuous political climate. Hear about potential appropriations decisions, what they could mean for your organization, and how to stay on top of the appropriations cycle. More info/register.

Host: CQ

Speakers:

Paul M. Krawza, senior writer, budget, appropriations and taxes, CQ and Roll Call
David Lerman, senior writer, CQ and Roll Call
Aidan Quigley, budget and appropriations reporter, CQ and Roll Call

Thu 7/13 at 12 p.m. – Get Sponsored: How to Make 6-Figures in Digital Sponsorship for Your Association

Learn how to capitalize on the huge opportunities to grow digital revenues to 6-figures or more. Hear about strategies for consolidating your content, orchestrating packages to meet buyers’ needs, providing education and product/service information, bundling solutions, and controlling content for member experience. 0.5 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: .orgCommunity

Thu 7/13 at 12 p.m. – The AI Factor: Charting the Future of the Event Industry

AI is the most disruptive trend to impact the event industry over the past two decades. Learn about the key trends in AI, the crucial role of events in the AI landscape, the AI tools that matter, job security in the event industry, and leveraging AI to save money and time. Walk away with hands-on experience crafting effective prompts, a critical skill for maximizing AI’s potential in customizing and enhancing attendee engagement. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: Boldpush

Speakers:

Jeremiah Owyang, entrepreneur and investor
Chase Curtis, viral marketer and AI thought-leader

Thu 7/13 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 7/13 at 1 p.m. – A Walk Through Form 990

Get a high-level overview of Form 990, with a focus on the most common parts and sections, including compensation reporting, financial information, lobbying political activity, and more. Learn about common errors and misunderstandings surrounding Form 990. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers:

Andrew Hassler, Senior Tax Associate, Johnson Lambert LLP
Calvin Marks, CPA, Principal, Johnson Lambert LLP

Thu 7/13 at 1 p.m. – Brand Matters: How to Build a Personal Brand with Professional Impact

Learn how to establish a personal brand that increases your visibility and opportunities for professional growth; select ideal communication channels to reach your target audience; use your personal brand to help deliver positive, impactful results for your organization, and other useful considerations including maintaining personal privacy and handling controversy. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: ASAE

Speakers:

Scott Conley, Vice President, Naylor Association Solutions
Natasha Bethea Goodwin, MS, CAE, Senior Director, Marketing and Membership, Information Technology Industry Council
Carol Vernon, Principal, Communication Matters: Executive Coaching and Training
Camille Sanders (moderator), CAE, PCM, Senior Director, Career and Workforce Solutions, ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership

Thu 7/13 at 6 p.m. – Black Association Executives Monthly DMV Dinner

This exclusive gathering is designed to bring together accomplished Black association executives, aspiring executives, and those who serve the association industry to foster meaningful relationships and drive collective success. The Black Association Executives Dinner Networking Event offers a family-style atmosphere where like-minded individuals can engage in dynamic conversations, exchange ideas, and forge powerful alliances. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Black Association Executives

Fri 7/14 at 12:30 p.m. – Conversations with Champions

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Guest: Cecilia Sepp, Rogue Tulips

Fri 7/14 at 4 p.m. – CEO’s First 90 Days: Breathing Tips for the Other End of the Fire Hose (Book Discussion)

Host: Fridays@4

Mon 7/17 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Membership Monday

A poll will be sent to determine this month’s topic. More info/register.

Host: ASAE

Tue 7/18 at 12 p.m. – Component Relations and Volunteer Management Crunch and Munch

Come prepared to engage, participate and listen as we discuss current topics. Anyone is welcome to participate. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Professionals Community

Tue 7/18 at 12 p.m. – Marketing Artificial Intelligence in Action

Host: American Marketing Association

Speaker: Rasa.io

Tue 7/18 at 1 p.m. – Fireside Chat: Getting Ready to Be Data Driven

Host: UST Education

Speakers:

Katherine Matthews, CAE, Assistant Vice President, Data & Analytics, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards
Alex Mouw, Principal Strategic Advisor, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Tue 7/18 at 3 p.m. – Preparing Your Association for AI

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Conor Sibley, Chief Technology Officer, Association Analytics

Wed 7/19 from 9 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. – Engagement & Mobile Platforms Demo Day

Watch presentations from a limited number of industry partners that offer engagement and mobile platforms. More info/register.

Host: ASAE

Wed 7/19 at 12 p.m. – Drive Member Engagement through Revitalized Chapter Events

Hosts: Billhighway and Mariner Management

Speaker: Peggy Hoffman, president and executive director, Mariner Management

Wed 7/19 at 12 p.m. – Are You in Touch with Your Data?

Host: HighRoad Solutions

Speaker: Maneesha Manges, CXO, HighRoad Solutions

Wed 7/19 at 1 p.m. – The Executive’s Guide to Financial Fraud & Cybersecurity

Host: UST Education

Speakers:

Paul Hudson, CIO Consultant, Optimal Networks, Inc.
Heinan Landa, Founder, Optimal Networks

Thu 7/20 at 11 a.m. – Leadership & Learning Series: Culture Change Made Easy: Part 3, Incomplete Innovation

Host: UST Education

Speakers: Maddie Grant, CAE, Culture Designer and Digital Strategist, and Jamie Notter, Co-Founder and Culture Strategist, PROPEL

Thu 7/20 at 1 p.m. – Sales Enablement for Associations

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Maneesha Manges, Director of Services, HighRoad Solutions

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Association Brain Food: 6.30.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…

Gen Z membership. MemberSuite explores why new membership communities are so popular with Gen Z. They describe what associations need to offer to compete with these new membership groups.

Employee retention. Professional development is a highly valued employee benefit, according to dozens of research reports, especially by early-career professionals. WBT Systems provides strategies for offering professional development as an employee retention tool.

Non-dues revenue partners. Navigate CES describes how your association can improve the customer journey for sponsors, exhibitors and advertisers. They share tactics for the six stages of that journey and for dealing with churn (boo!) and expansion (yay!).

Tool implementation. What do you do when employees are begging for new timesaving tools or want to adopt modern systems to replace under-performing ones? Achurch Consulting describes how to take an intentional approach to tool implementation.

Sponsorships. Bruce Rosenthal shares his findings from interviews with 100 corporate sponsors and Lori Zoss Kraska provides commentary on those findings. What they share might go against the assumptions you have about sponsors and sponsorships.

Conference/abstract management. Ex Ordo explains how to implement conference and abstract management software for medical, technical, scientific and academic events. Their guide covers configuring software for abstract submission and peer review, issuing the call for papers, designing the conference program and more.

Change and culture. When change is a constant, it’s easy to use it as an excuse to avoid working on your association’s culture. But Jamie Notter at Propel says, “Your culture is already having a direct impact on every other project [you] are doing, and in many cases, the culture is making it harder for [you] to achieve success in those projects.”

Good listens

If, like me, Patti Smith is one of your heroes, check out her conversation on The Active Voice, a podcast featuring Substack writers.

Quick hits

How to make your event habit-forming. (Michelle Bruno, DAHLIA+ Agency)

We’re all bored with culture. Anglo-Calvinist moralism has turned the American arts into something strenuously polite and deadly dull. (William Deresiewicz, Tablet)

Good eats

Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout.

Comfort food recommendation: braised chicken thighs with prosciutto, olives, lemon and a vermouth-infused sauce. I increased the amount of olives, prosciutto and chicken broth suggested in the recipe. On the side, mashed potatoes and green beans with caramelized red onions, mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes and chicken broth.

In the fish department, blackened mahi mahi with cheesy grits and roasted broccoli with red onion, garlic powder and cayenne. The next night, Mummy Lorraine triggerfish with a topping of crushed Ritz crackers, lemon zest, garlic powder and melted butter.

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If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 6/30 at 4 p.m.* – Culture in Chaos: Nurturing Workplace Culture During Turbulent Times

Learn about strategies and practical approaches to maintain a positive and cohesive culture, even amid chaos, and engage employees and promote collaboration. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Speaker: Rodneikka Scott, MSC, CAE

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Wed 7/5 at 12 p.m. – Financial Sustainability for Associations: 10 Simple Metrics

Find out how to assess your short and long-term financial health with ten simple KPIs your board and management can easily follow. More info/register.

Host: Zzeem

Thu 7/6 at 12 p.m. – Corporate Partner Engagement for Nonprofits: Getting Started

Corporate partnerships offer a significant source of funding and other resources, but they require careful planning, consistent communication, and a willingness to collaborate to achieve shared outcomes. Hear about the benefits of corporate partnerships, how to identify potential partners, and strategies for building and maintaining successful partnerships. Learn how to establish valuable and mutually beneficial relationships with corporate partners. More info/register.

Host: Nexus Marketing Agency

Speakers:

Mackenzie Burckbuchler, Partnership Success Specialist at Double the Donation
Jessica King, Business Lead at Getting Attention
Patrick Larkin, Nonprofit & Business Consultant at CSR – Consulting. Solutions. Results.
Bruce Rosenthal, Consultant at Bruce Rosenthal Associates
Patrick Sampson, CEO at Cogeo
Colleen Carroll (moderator), Content Publishing Coordinator at Nexus Marketing Agency

Thu 7/6 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 7/6 at 1 p.m. – Whiplash: Communication Changes in a Post-COVID World

Like whiplash, COVID-19 changed the way we work, live, and play—on hyperdrive. Our dependence on technology increased, resulting in a need to develop communication techniques that work by Zoom. The lack of in-person meetings created a need to connect with our internal and external audiences in new ways. Learn about these post-COVID communication changes, the myths of post-pandemic communications, the next generation of videoconferencing etiquette, what’s new with social media, and how these changes open the door for you to tell your story. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Sheri Singer, Owner, Singer Communications

Thu 7/6 at 2 p.m. – Hired Guns: Using Fractional C-Suite Executives

Learn from three C-Suite fractional experts how fractional or part-time experts can help transform finance, IT, and cyber security within your organization. Hear how to harness the potential of outsourced resources to ensure maximum value for your organization; the best tasks and responsibilities to outsource to a fractional CIO, CFO or CISO; how to select an outsourced resource tailored for your association needs; and how to integrate and manage these resources seamlessly within your staff and organization. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: 501 Works

Speakers:

Rick Bawcum, CEO, Cimatri
Brian Scott, Founder, ClearTone Consulting
Nadine Witchel, Founder & CEO, Zen Zero

Fri 7/7 at 10 a.m. – Association Products | Coffee with Innovators: Association Design Circle

Every month, an association leader leads a conversation on an association innovation topic. Our topic this month is product development. More info/register.

Host: Product Design Community

Facilitator: James Young, founder of the Product Community

Mon 7/10 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Membership Monday

Per the ASAE Collaborate web page, a poll will be sent to determine this month’s topic. No other description available. More info/register.

Host: ASAE

Tue 7/11 at 11:30 a.m. – Ascend Author Talk: A Conversation with Amith Nagarajan (Washington DC)

Host: Sidecar

Speaker: Amith Nagarajan, CEO, Blue Cypress

Tue 7/11 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Tech Tuesday

The description and registration link aren’t on the Collaborate Events webpage yet, but it’s usually scheduled for this day/time.

Host: ASAE

Tue 7/11 at 1 p.m. – 15 Ways To Take Your Email Newsletter To The Next Level: Marketing Artificial Intelligence in Action

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Erica Salm Rench, MBA, COO, Rasa.io

Tue 7/11 at 2 p.m. – Discover What Your Members Truly Value

Host: KiKi L’Italien, senior consultant, Tecker International

Wed 7/12 at 9 a.m. – PAR Member Meet-Up: Sales Tactics that Association Teams Use to Win

Host: Professionals for Association Revenue

Wed 7/12 at 1 p.m. – Functional Expense Reporting

Host: UST Education

Speaker: Mark Robins, CPA, Partner, Aprio LLP

Wed 7/12 at 5 p.m. CDT – Ascend Author Talk: A Conversation with Amith Nagarajan (Chicago IL)

Host: Sidecar

Speaker: Amith Nagarajan, CEO, Blue Cypress

Thu 7/13 at 9:30 a.m. – Small Staff Percolator

Host: QiqoChat

Thu 7/13 at 11 a.m. – Next Generation, Networked-Based Marketing

Host: UST Education

Speakers: Lucas Cioffi, CTO and Co-Founder, and Sandra Nam, CEO and Co-Founder, QiqoChat

Thu 7/13 at 12 p.m. – Get Sponsored: How to Make 6-Figures in Digital Sponsorship for Your Association

Host: .orgCommunity

Thu 7/13 at 1 p.m. – A Walk Through Form 990

Host: UST Education

Speakers:

Andrew Hassler, Senior Tax Associate, Johnson Lambert LLP
Calvin Marks, CPA, Principal, Johnson Lambert LLP

Thu 7/13 at 1 p.m. – Brand Matters: How to Build a Personal Brand with Professional Impact

Host: ASAE

Speakers:

Scott Conley, Vice President, Naylor Association Solutions
Natasha Bethea Goodwin, MS, CAE, Senior Director, Marketing and Membership, Information Technology Industry Council
Carol Vernon, Principal, Communication Matters: Executive Coaching and Training
Camille Sanders (moderator), CAE, PCM, Senior Director, Career and Workforce Solutions, ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership

Fri 7/14 at 12:30 p.m. – Conversations with Champions

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Guest: Cecilia Sepp, Rogue Tulips

Association Brain Food Weekly is published Friday mornings. If your organization offers free professional development for the association community, please send me the link via email, Twitter or LinkedIn by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled.

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Creative Commons licensed photo by Ries Bosch via Unsplash

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Association Brain Food: 6.23.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…

“It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.” ―F. Scott Fitzgerald

ChatGPT. Nearly seven months ago, ChatGPT entered our world. WBT Systems goes over some ChatGPT basics, brings up some concerns—like why you shouldn’t rely upon it to do all your work, and explains how association professionals, including education teams, are using ChatGPT to save time and jump-start the creative process.

Our AI future. Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and founder of the original web browsers, says AI will not destroy the world and, in fact, may save it. Amidst the prevalent doom and gloom about everything these days, I appreciate his hopeful (anti-Skynet) vision for the future, although I know we’ll encounter challenges along the way.

Culture. Impexium says culture frays under the stress of subpar working conditions. If you want to attract and retain exceptional talent, you must provide a supportive environment where people achieve both personal and professional fulfillment. They describe how technology can help your association do this by strengthening your organization’s culture.

AI usage policy. Avenue M and ASAE polled associations about their AI usage policy for staff. Only 54% have a policy or plan to develop one. And this kills me: 40% say they have no plans for developing one. What the heck? Head in the sand? As Sheri Jacobs and Lisa Boylan say, AI policies “serve as essential guardrails, guiding associations on how to manage and harness the power of AI technology effectively.”

Marketing benchmarks. Mighty Citizen assessed the marketing maturity of 450 mission-driven organizations. The resulting benchmark report shares key trends, benchmarks within six marketing categories (research/analytics, branding/strategy, marketing/SEO, UX design/content, technology and team dynamics)—with breakout benchmarks for associations, and recommendations for increasing your association’s marketing effectiveness.

Event apps. You’d think every attendee would use your event app, but that’s not always the case. However, their event experience—and your sponsors’ satisfaction—would improve if they did. EventMobi explains how to increase event app usage, including a plan for roll-out, understanding attendee personas, value-focused messaging, and engagement. Good stuff.

Next gen and traditional institutions. “To understand why we are in this moment with religion is to recognize that younger generations feel traditional institutions have been full of judgment, exclusivity, rigidity, and uninspiring contradictions. It’s why they’re seeking alternatives offering the exact opposite: tolerance, flexibility, remix, choice, and a bit of levity,” said Matt Klein at Lens. Do they feel the same way about traditional associations? Are associations too rigid, uninspiring and serious? I hope not.

Quick hits

Treat your to-read pile like a river from which you pluck items here and there, not like a bucket you must empty. I treat my inbox like this too. (Oliver Burkeman)

Every self-help book boiled down to 11 simple rules. (Chris Taylor, Mashable)

Good eats

Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout.

We never tire of this southwest skillet—shorthand for a mix of ground chorizo and chicken, sweet potato, spinach and chard, onion, poblano, red bell, jalapeño, garlic, black beans, corn, chipotle en adobo, spicy spices and cheese.

Simple fish dish: pan-fry fillets of blueline tilefish (or whatever your local fishing community is serving up), when done, add white wine, butter, parmesan, fresh basil and let it reduce/bubble a bit. On the side, sauté asparagus with lemon zest and parmesan. Done.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 6/23 at 12 p.m. – Exam Development Session-III*

Learn how to design and administer exams that are valid and reliable while incorporating best practices in assessment design. Gain an understanding of the principles of good test construction, explore the different types of exams, and get hands on experience in constructing exams. Hear about the importance of item analysis, the role of feedback in exam development, and the need for test security. More info/register.

Host: Leverage Assessments, Inc.

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Fri 6/2 at 2 p.m. – Decoding Belonging: The Global Belonging Index Transforming Events (Association Chat)

If the value of belonging is so important to association members, why don’t we understand it better? The Belonging Index identifies what Belonging means to people based on 750,000+ surveys in 152 languages across 180 countries. For now, it is a tool to help planners around the world to make inclusive events that resonate deeply with participants. Learn more about the Belonging Index, what it means for associations, and why association executives should care about it. More info/register.

Host: KiKi L’Italien, senior consultant, Tecker International

Guests:

Naomi Clare Crellin, Founder and CEO of Storycraft Lab
Megan Henshall, Global Events Strategic Solutions Lead at Google

Fri 6/23 at 4 p.m. – Nonprofit Management Series: Fundraising Fundamentals

This course designed for new fundraisers or those interested in learning about fundraising will will include an overview of the development process for securing private contributions (including individual giving, major gifts, events, foundations, and corporate giving) and where your best opportunities come from to raise money. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Speaker: Carolyn Nopar, former Chief Development Officer for the YWCA Metro Chicago and Director of Development & Communications for Family Focus

Mon 6/26 at 8 a.m. – Implementing the Idea (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Host: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting

Guest: Joy Duling, Founder & CEO, The Joy of Membership

Tue 6/27 at 9 a.m. – Events + Community Best Practice

The Covid-19 pandemic changed events forever. One legacy of the transformation has been the rise of community. Everybody’s talking about it and how great event communities are. But who is actually doing it and, more importantly, who is doing it well? What’s the secret of aligning events to community? Should you opt for a pop-up event community or a 365, year-round community to support your event? More info/register.

Host: Guild

Speakers:

Carolyn Morgan, Founder, Speciall Media
Ashley Friedlein, Founder, Guild

Tue 6/27 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management (CRVM) Book Club

The Q2 CRVM Book Club selection is The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker. Whether you’ve finished, are just a couple of chapters in, or want to hear what the book is about and how it applies to associations, we’d love for you to join us. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Council

Facilitators: Elisa Pratt and Brian Calvary

Tue 6/27 at 3 p.m. – From Raw Data to Real Insights: Preparing Your Association for AI

Learn about the importance of prompt engineering and creating successful prompts, how to use AI to increase member value and revenue streams, and what to do with your data for AI to work most effectively. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Analytics

Speaker: Conor Sibley, CTO (and AI expert), Association Analytics

Wed 6/28 at 12 p.m. – Accessibility and Event Technology: A Beginner’s Guide

16% of people worldwide and 26% in the US have some type of disability. As an event organizer, you can expand your attendee base, create richer customer connections, and drive your business goals further by creating an accessibility-friendly experience for your events. Learn about accessibility facts, figures and definitions; specific types of disabilities and how these can influence your event planning; and the surprising consequences of not incorporating accessibility concepts for your attendees. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: MPI

Speaker: Stephen Cutchins, Sr. Product Manager – Accessibility, Cvent

Wed 6/28 at 1 p.m. – Renew: Is Your Member Renewal Journey Magical or Miserable?

Learn how to draw insights from your data, use personalization and automation to create a compelling, cohesive and frictionless member experience through the renewal process. Hear how to unlock a deeper understanding of the journey members go through to engage with your association and renew. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: iMIS by ASI

Wed 6/28 at 1 p.m. – Design Win-Win Virtual Experiences by Putting Member Needs First

Hear examples of the inventive ways associations and their industry partners are designing virtual experiences to help solve challenges, dive deeper into conversations and learning, and create unexpected value for both members and industry partners. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Fonteva

Speakers:

Michelle Brien, Vice President, Marketing, Matchbox Virtual Media
Arianna Rehak, CEO, Matchbox Virtual Media

Wed 6/28 at 1 p.m. – The Strategy & ROI of Supplier Diversity

While DEI best practices are improving the way we do business, supplier diversity is an untapped strategy that not only impacts the bottom line but ensures a more sustainable commitment to the purpose of diversity which is economic equity. Learn how to synthesize supplier diversity history, terminology and purpose; examine the demographics of current supplier network to help make informed decisions to increase diversity of businesses; explore collaborative opportunities to strengthen capacity and communication with suppliers, vendors and service providers; and develop a supplier diversity strategy to strengthen ROI and improve innovation. 1 CMP credit. More info/register.

Host: Meetings Today

Speaker: Zoe Moore, president, Grow With Zomo

Wed 6/28 at 2 p.m. – Mission-Driven Leadership with a Former NASA Astronaut

Learn how taking an “orbital perspective” can illuminate the path toward true servant leadership and a holistic systems approach can lead to effective problem solving. Hear how to successfully engage with disruptive change and uncertainty, foster unity in business strategy and cohesive growth, and leverage the power of awe and wonder for action and progress. More info/register.

Host: Big Think+ Book Club

Speaker: Ron Garan, former NASA astronaut, keynote speaker, and author of The Orbital Perspective, Floating in Darkness and the children’s book, Railroad to the Moon

Thu 6/29 at 12 p.m. – The Diversity Lens

Hear about the importance of diverse representation in media and advertising, across companies and teams, and how it impacts the perceptions and actions across various communities. Learn what to do…and what not to do…when choosing the right images for your association’s marketing and branding materials. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Exchange (AXC)

Speaker: Steve Jones, Founder and CEO, pocstock.com

Thu 6/29 at 12 p.m. – Summer House Social

Join us for our quarterly Open House. Meet the community, hear what is happening and how you can be involved. This is a great opportunity for prospective community members to explore our platform, meet with peers, and experience our vibrant community. We are excited to celebrate three of our Q2 Community Spotlight members who will be recognized for their contributions and support of the Black in Events Network Community. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 6/29 at 1 p.m. – June Think Tank

It’s been a busy month for us all! Let’s take this opportunity to get together to discuss our wins, challenges and questions. During this meetup, we’ll get together as a group to workshop each other’s questions and situations. More info/register.

Host: Sidecar

Thu 6/29 at 2 p.m. – Accreditation Checklists for Dummies: How to Complete Them Effectively

Learn best practices for completing checklists with a focus on the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard, although the concepts and tips can be applied to any type of requirements checklist. Hear about the various uses of checklists, documenting objective evidence and comments on conformance, and common pitfalls in using checklists. More info/register.

Host: ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB)

Speakers:

Paul Matera, leads the Inspection Body program, ANAB
David Feist, Lead Accreditation Assessor, ANAB Accreditation Manager, and manages the ANAB Training Business

Thu 6/29 at 2 p.m. – Winning the Race for Relevance Through Innovation

Learn how to approach technology planning, how technology can be a revenue driver, the importance of considering the user experience as part of the plan, how to implement innovation at your association, and how to stay relevant in a competitive environment. More info/register.

Host: Grype

Speaker: Mary Byers, CEO coach, MasterMind facilitator, founder and host of The Successful Associations Today Podcast, and author, Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations and Road to Relevance: 5 Strategies for Competitive Associations

Thu 6/29 at 3 p.m. – Online and On Trend: The Hybrid or Virtual Association Conference in 2023

Hear about emerging association conference trends, tools and strategies associations can use when running events, and challenges in running hybrid and virtual events, and how to overcome them. More info/register.

Host: NXUnite/Nexus Marketing Agency

Speakers:

Heather Hughes, Event Marketing Manager at Fonteva & Protech

Patti Schutte, CEO/Founder & Principal Coach at Be Brilliant Presentation Group

Fri 6/30 at 4 p.m. – Culture in Chaos: Nurturing Workplace Culture During Turbulent Times

Learn about strategies and practical approaches to maintain a positive and cohesive culture, even amid chaos, and engage employees and promote collaboration. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

Speaker: Rodneikka Scott, MSC, CAE

Thu 7/6 at 2 p.m. – Hired Guns: Using Fractional C-Suite Executives

Host: 501 Works

Speakers:

Rick Bawcum, CEO, Cimatri
Brian Scott, Founder, ClearTone Consulting
Nadine Witchel, Founder & CEO, Zen Zero

Association Brain Food Weekly is published Friday mornings. If your organization offers free professional development for the association community, please send me the link via email, Twitter or LinkedIn by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled.

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Creative Commons licensed photo by Lynne via Unsplash

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Association Brain Food: 6.16.23

The weekly list of free educational events and resources for the association community…“The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth.” —Erasmus

Podcasts. In the past few editions of Association Brain Food, I included a Good Listens section featuring association-focused podcasts. I left it out this week because I didn’t think you’d care about freelance writing, 18^th century British writers, medieval nuns or creativity—but maybe I’m wrong!

I’d bet every industry has seen a growing number of podcasts like ours has, maybe even the industry your association serves. WBT Systems explains what associations need to know about launching a podcast and how a podcast can contribute to the success of your professional development programs.

Event planning. Is your event planning to-do list still up to snuff? Whether you’re new to the business or have been planning events forever, take a look at the post-pandemic event checklist put together by Impexium.

Workplace culture. We all know how much an organization’s culture influences its success. But where and how do you even begin to improve your culture? Propel explains how a culture assessment can reveal your organization’s change readiness and its place on the cultural spectrum from traditional to contemporary to futurist.

Team dynamics. Don’t let your team get consumed by an obsession with productivity. They should spend time developing the relationships and space for knowledge sharing, reflection and constructive conflict. Otherwise, says Sebastian Kowalski at Post*Shift, they have no chance of continuously improving.

Changing attendee profile. Surveys conducted by Freeman have uncovered the most dramatic shift in B2B event attendee demographics in three decades: attendees are getting younger. Barbara Palmer at PCMA Convene says these Next Gen Event Goers won’t settle for the standard event experience—they expect to be captivated.

Event marketing. Another finding from the Freeman survey: people are registering much later for events. Your marketing plan must work extra hard to convince your audience they should make the trip. GrowthZone explains what to do before, during and after an event to help increase registrations and attendance.

AI watch

With the release of generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, it’s an exciting time to be a writer—a human one. ChatGPT can definitely help professionals with tasks, but its output still requires a human touch. AI conversations continue to bubble up in our community as we grapple with its potential and risks. AI was the focus of ASAE’s Tech Tuesday discussion this week hosted by Reggie Henry (ASAE) and Tobin Conley (DelCor). You should also check out Sidecar’s online community dedicated to AI and Amith Nagarajan’s (Blue Cypress/Sidecar) new book, Ascend: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations—I’m reading it now.

Thanks to subscribing to god-knows-how-many newsletters, my inbox is full of AI articles. This first one by Hailey Mensik at WorkLife raises an interesting and serious question: Will AI spur a loss of craft among Gen Z and early career professionals? We develop expertise from researching, thinking and writing. Don’t give that up!

PCMA is partnering with Gevme on the AI-based Project Spark for the events industry, which is free now, but I can see revenue potential. Think about ways AI can help your association monetize its knowledge base.

Quick hits

Good news! Much of America’s political divide is an illusion. Reducing fear between America’s tribal factions is the first step to alleviating the destructive effects of our polarization. (Michael Baharaeen, Persuasion)

Bad news! The “Nation’s Report Card” shows the sharpest ever decline in history and civics knowledge for 4th, 8th and 12th grade students. Ignorant kids becoming ignorant adults doesn’t bode well for our country’s future. (Paul du Quenoy, City Journal)

Pathetic news! Eat, pray, cringe: Elizabeth Gilbert cancels herself. She no longer has the courage of her convictions to write imaginatively, wildly and unapologetically, as she exhorted us to do in her book, Big Magic. (Kat Rosenfield, The Free Press)

Turn off the news! The “Tribe of One” mentality is spiritually and psychologically destructive. “Embrace what makes us different without losing sight of what binds us together.” (Julian Adorney and Mark Johnson, Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism/FAIR)

Good eats

Skip down to the list of free educational events if you prefer takeout or can’t stand fish.

Lots of fish on the menu this past week, starting with spiced southern fried flounder and bluefish with a veggie pesto on the side. Always satisfying.

Next, pan-seared almaco jack with avocado, soy, ginger and lime served alongside a cauliflower rice and veggie (red bell, red onion, broccoli floret/stems, jalapeño, carrot) stir fry with ginger, garlic, chile paste, Thai basil, mint and Vietnamese coriander. Yum.

I had two pounds of yellowfin tuna in the freezer and an extra container of olives in the frig so I created a one-skillet Mediterranean-style dish with onion, herbes de Provence, hot red pepper flakes, garlic, olives, roasted red bell, sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoncini, chickpeas, white wine, Ouzo and feta cheese. On the side, frozen asparagus sautéed with garlic powder, fennel pollen and Parmesan cheese. What a meal!

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If you have a free webinar or event coming up, please send me the link by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled. I’m happy to feature it as long as it’s not too product-centric.

Fri 6/16 at 4 p.m.* – Smart Brevity in the Association World (Book Discussion)

The power of saying more with less. Is it a system, a process, a style, a tool, or software? In Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less, Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz teach readers how to say more with less in virtually any format. They also share communications lessons learned from their decades of experience in media, business and communications. More info/register.

Host: Fridays@4

*All events are online at Eastern Daylight Time unless otherwise noted.

Mon 6/19 at 8 a.m. – The 200th Episode (Radio Free 501c, the podcast of Rogue Tulips Consulting)

Host: On this special 200^th episode, Michael Butera, president and CEO, Association ActiVision, interviews Cecilia

Guest: Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNP, principal and founder, Rogue Tulips Consulting, gives up her hosting chair to Michael

Tue 6/20 at 12 p.m. – CRVM June Crunch and Munch

This month we’ll be focusing on affinity groups—how your organization manages these relationships, the challenges and the opportunities. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Council (CRVM)

Tue 6/20 at 12 p.m. – Do You Run Successful Postmortems?

Whenever you end a project or a client engagement, you probably do a retrospective analysis. You meet, examine and assess how it went. In many of these meetings, however, people spend most time assessing what worked well and what didn’t. They’re looking in the rear view, leaving little room to focus on what they will do differently. Learn about the most important aspect of any postmortem—and how, if you don’t seek to gain wisdom for future projects, the meeting might as well not even happen. More info/register.

Host/speaker: Charlene Li, Chief Research Officer, PA Consulting

Tue 6/20 at 3 p.m. – Leveraging AI in Government Affairs

It’s time to demystify Artificial Intelligence (AI) and unlock the power of AI in government affairs. Get a crash course on how AI functions and practical tips for integrating AI into your government affairs work. More info/register.

Host: Quorum

Speaker: Jonathan Marks, Co-Founder & CTO, Quorum

Tue 6/20 at 3 p.m. – Knowledge Transfer and Succession Planning Strategies for Your Event Tech

Don’t wait until people start resigning to implement a knowledge transfer strategy. A panel of former event technology clients, who are now members of the Cadmium staff, share insights on how knowledge transfers were implemented within their organizations. Learn how to prevent knowledge loss and equip your team with the necessary skills to leverage new event tech effectively. More info/register.

Host: Cadmium

Speakers: Alee Navarro, CMP, DES, Project Manager, EventTech, and Jennifer Vitek, Project Manager, EventTech, Cadmium

Wed 6/21 from 9:30 to 11:45 a.m. – Generative AI (Silver Spring MD)

What is generative AI and how can it disrupt and transform credentialing and credentialing testing? What is the current state and the future outlook for content ownership and intellectual property for AI-generated content? What issues in psychometrics and measurement should we be exploring now with respect to generative AI in high stakes assessment? Hear how these new technologies might change our ways of working. Location: Silver Spring MD. More info/register.

Host: Certification Network Group

Speakers:

Ken Alba, Director of Product, Trivie
Kirk Becker, Senior Research Scientist, Pearson VUE
Jennifer Semko, Chair of Washington DC Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice, Baker & McKenzie LLP
Eric D’Astolfo (moderator), Vice President of Professional Business Development, Pearson VUE

Wed 6/21 at 12 p.m. – Financial Straight Talk: Answers to Top Association Questions in Uncertain Times. (Alexandria VA)

Hear how today’s financial uncertainty affects your financial strategies, bank failures and the risk of potential reserve loss, emerging risks that should be on every association executive’s radar, federal grants, financial governance and more. Location: Alexandria VA. More info/register.

Hosts: Alexandria Association Senior Executive Session and AIOT

Speaker: Julie Jones, CPA, Marcum LLP

Wed 6/21 at 12 p.m. – Engage Your Audience Everywhere: Onsite, Online, On Demand

Everyone’s busy. So busy, in fact, that they’re registering later than ever for events. Learn how to make events more engaging so your audience can’t afford to miss them onsite, online, or on demand. Hear how to maximize your event ROI and deliver great results for your sponsors. More info/register.

Host: PCMA

Speakers:

Joshua Butler, co-founder, Falcon Events
Brian Monahan, vice president of business development, Prestige AV & Creative Services

Wed 6/21 at 2 p.m. – How to Sell More by Saying Less With the ABT Agile Narrative Framework

Your association and its membership are the source of amazing stories for your content marketing. But storytelling is hard to get right. Learn the proven ABT (And, But, Therefore) agile narrative framework that makes storytelling easy. Hear how to hack through the noise and hook the hearts of your prospects, members, colleagues and the communities you serve using the “The DNA of story,” the ABT… three words that will rock your world. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Professionals for Association Revenue

Speaker: Park Howell, founder, Business of Story

Wed 6/21 at 2 p.m. – How to Protect Your Organization from Cyber Threats

Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated, frequent, and destructive than ever before. No organization, regardless of size or industry, is immune. Learn about the most popular cyber attacks and threats in today’s world, the areas that are most vulnerable to hacks and attacks, top 5 ways to keep your organization safe from cyber threats, top 5 things that you can do as an individual to keep you and your family cyber safe, and our favorite tools to help protect against hacks. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Matrix Group

Speakers: Dave Hoernig, Director of Software Engineering; Jessica Parsley, Associate Director; and Joanna Pineda, CEO, Matrix Group

Wed 6/21 at 2 p.m. – Crisis Averted: How Advocacy Organizations Can Respond to Sudden Policy Shifts & News Events

Learn how to create a proactive strategy for managing uncertainty, seizing opportunities and effectively responding to unforeseen developments. Find out how to rally supporters and mobilize resources during a crisis, and hear timely examples from recent headlines about navigating the current landscape. More info/register.

Host: VoterVoice

Speakers:

Jenna DiPaolo, Chief Communications Officer, Greenpeace USA
Susan Lagana, Principal, Invariant
Kate Tremont, Director of Community Advocacy, Razom For Ukraine
Sue Zoldak, Founder & Owner, The Zoldak Agency
Sherry Whitworth (moderator), Managing Director, Public Affairs and Advocacy, FiscalNote

Wed 6/21 at 3 p.m. – How AI will Impact Digital Marketing in 2023

Description not on website at publication time. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: UST Education

Speakers: Mitch Eisen, Owner, CTO, and Tom Pines, CEO, Contentware

Thu 6/22 at 8 a.m. – Associations & Artificial intelligence (AI): Part 2

At our webinar on Associations & AI in April, we promised we would provide the opportunity for associations to continue the discussion and keep sharing best practices on the fast development of AI and how associations learn to use it. Let’s keep learning about how we can best utilize AI in our organizations and how we get on with using tools and platforms. More info/register.

Host: Association World

Thu 6/22 at 11 a.m. – Harness the Power of AI in Community Management

Recalibrate your understanding of AI in community management. Learn how to elevate your productivity levels as a community manager with AI, enhance member experiences and foster deeper engagement, make smarter, data-driven decisions with AI insights, streamline your operations with efficient AI-powered tools, and understand why AI won’t take your job, but someone using AI might. More info/register.

Host: Hivebrite

Speakers:

Todd Nilson, Community Strategist, Clocktower Advisors
Morgan Wood, Head of Community, Hivebrite

Thu 6/22 at 12 p.m. – The Power of Tiers: Maximizing Growth and Member Engagement

Hear from chamber executives who have successfully implemented a tiered membership model. Learn about the process they followed, challenges they encountered during the rollout, outcomes achieved, and the valuable advice they have for other organizations considering a similar journey. More info/register.

Host: Hight Performance Group

Speakers:

Margie Donnell, Operations Manager, Lancaster/Fairfield County (OH) Chamber of Commerce
Missy Evans, President and CEO, Hartselle (AL) Area Chamber of Commerce
Rich Millard, Executive Director, Royal Gorge (CO) Chamber Alliance
Dawn Mushill, Executive Director, Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob/Marine (IL) Chamber of Commerce
Barbara Rivera-Holmes, President and CEO, Albany (GA) Area Chamber of Commerce
Cathi Hight (moderator), President, Hight Performance Group

Thu 6/22 at 12 p.m. – The Community Check-In

A weekly community chat on Slack for black professionals working in the events industry. More info/register.

Host: Black In Events Network

Thu 6/22 at 12:30 p.m. – Managing Nonprofit Affiliated Entities

Managing and working with affiliated entities—with different tax statuses and different missions—is seldom easy. Executives and counsel must grapple with maintaining the requisite separateness among the related entities while maximizing the efficiencies that should go along with having multiple entities under one umbrella. Hear important tips on managing tax exemption, legal, and operational risks through appropriate policies, agreements, and training. More info/register.

Host: Venable LLP

Speakers: Lindsay Nathan, Partner, and Ryan Kasdin, Counsel, Venable LLP

Thu 6/22 at 2 p.m. – Why Member Benefits Matter as Much as Punctuation

When’s the last time you double-checked your member benefit programs and how they align with your membership and the non-dues revenue needs of your organization? In this Expert Series, we will discuss how to create the right mix of member benefit options that keep your members coming back, and which ones provide your organization substantial non-dues revenue year over year. More info/register.

Host: Teri Carden, founder, Non Dues-a-Palooza

Guest: Tim McNichols, executive director, Partnerships at LIG Solutions

Thu 6/22 at 2 p.m. – Event Contract Negotiation Secrets from a Sourcing Pro

When space availability is compressed and the economy is uncertain, negotiating a contract that accounts for the risks of all parties requires a pro. Learn how the current marketplace affects a planner’s strategy during negotiations, specific clauses to help better protect your organization, ways to reduce your overall risk, and strategies to enhance your overall contracts and experience. More info/register.

Host: Smart Meetings

Speaker: Cheryl M. Payne, CMP, CMM, Strategic Partner at INNOV8 Meetings + Events

Thu 6/22 at 2 p.m. – Building a More Diverse Board

A diverse board brings a variety of perspectives and experiences to the table, which can lead to better decision-making and innovation. Learn about traditional blockers that keep boards from reaching diversity goals, best-practice actions boards can take to increase diversity, and building better board talent development pipelines. More info/register.

Host: OnBoard

Speakers: Breen Sullivan and Kat de Haën, co-founders of the Fourth Floor

Fri 6/23 at 12 p.m. – Exam Development Session-III

Host: Leverage Assessments, Inc.

Fri 6/2 at 2 p.m. – Decoding Belonging: The Global Belonging Index Transforming Events (Association Chat)

Host: KiKi L’Italien, senior consultant, Tecker International

Guests:

Naomi Clare Crellin, Founder and CEO of Storycraft Lab
Megan Henshall, Global Events Strategic Solutions Lead at Google

Fri 6/23 at 4 p.m. – Nonprofit Management Series: Fundraising Fundamentals

Host: Fridays@4

Speaker: Carolyn Nopar, former Chief Development Officer for the YWCA Metro Chicago and Director of Development & Communications for Family Focus

Tue 6/27 at 12 p.m. – DEI of Non-Parents in the Workplace

How does pronatalism—the promotion of the reproduction of human life—Influence our workplace? How do we create welcoming workplaces for non-parents? Learn about pronatalism and its impact. Take away tools you can use to address pronatalism in the workplace. 1 CAE credit. More info/register.

Host: Association Women Technology Champions

Speaker: Ruth Berkowitz MA, Well-being Coach, Meditation Teacher and Group Facilitator

Tue 6/27 at 12 p.m. – ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management (CRVM) Book Club

The Q2 CRVM Book Club selection is The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker. Whether you’ve finished, are just a couple of chapters in, or want to hear what the book is about and how it applies to associations, we’d love for you to join us. More info/register.

Host: ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Council

Facilitators: Elisa Pratt and Brian Calvary

Wed 6/28 at 1 p.m. – Renew: Is Your Member Renewal Journey Magical or Miserable?

Host: iMIS by ASI

Thu 6/29 at 1 p.m. – June Think Tank

Host: Sidecar

Association Brain Food Weekly is published Friday mornings. If your organization offers free professional development for the association community, please send me the link via email, Twitter or LinkedIn by Wednesday afternoon the week before it’s scheduled.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Creative Commons licensed photo of Moki Dugway (now that’s a fun drive!) in UT by Emily Campbell via Unsplash

Amazon and AssociationBrainFood.com links allow me to earn a royalty on any sales or leads that result from clicking. Thank you!

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