Question Everything: How to Survive in Today’s Highly Competitive Environment
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Mary Byers, CAE | | Association innovation comes from the ability to question everything. Join Mary Byers, author of Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations, as she challenges current thinking and suggests changes you should be considering. From membership dues to governance; from face to face to online, Mary will encourage and inspire you by what she's seeing and hearing from associations as well as daring you to adapt for-profit concepts to strengthen the future of your organization. |
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Association innovation comes from the ability to question everything.
Join us for a lively program featuring Mary Byers, CAE, author of Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations, as she challenges current thinking and suggests changes you should be considering. From membership dues to governance; from face to face to online, Mary will encourage and inspire you by what she's seeing and hearing from associations as well as daring you to adapt for-profit concepts to strengthen the future of your organization.
Mary Byers, CAE
Author
Mary Byers, CAE, is co-author of "Race for Relevance: Five Radical Changes for Associations" and "Road to Relevance: 5 Strategies for Competitive Associations." She’s the former director of communications and member services for the Illinois State Dental Society and served in that capacity for nine years prior to starting her consulting business in 1998. Mary specializes in working with volunteer association leaders and chief staff executives to help define their roles and clarify their vision through leadership conference programming, facilitating strategic planning retreats and coaching. Mary is a certified association executive and a member of the National Speakers Association. She is also the author of seven books.
When we conceived the Elevate Learning Platform a primary objective was to foster the integration of knowledge from thought leaders with peer ideas and experiences to create a strong social learning environment. When you enroll in a webinar, you will immediately have the ability to join a forum discussion around the topic for this program. You have the option of receiving a notice each time someone posts to the forum. We expect our session leaders to support these discussions with their thoughts on their topic. What traditionally has been a 60 to 90 minute session can now evolve into a much more meaningful engagement.
ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT
You will be able to login 15 minutes before the event begins.
Note that this program will be utilizing streaming audio. (through your computer speakers)
What was your "takeaway" from the program today?
Getting ready for "Question Everything" tomorrow and looking forward to a robust discussion. There's still time to post the areas your association is struggling with before the webinar tomorrow. The more you post today, the more specific we can be tomorrow.
Looking forward to a stimulating hour with you!
Without having specifics about your association or what types of non-dues revenue you have, it is not possible to be specific. But one move I'm seeing a lot of associations make is integrating their packages into one (i.e. publication advertising, website advertising, educational sponsorships) so that departments aren't competing against one another and sponsors only have to write one check per year. I'm also seeing national groups combine with regional or chapters, again for the purpose of creating packages so that sponsors aren't hit up repeatedly throughout the year.
Attracting non-dues revenue, particularly from the corporate sector. We offer a number of ways to partner with our association and have numerous discussions revolving around value and return on investment. But money is tight and we often struggle to find a way to engage our corporate partners (and potential partners) beyond our initial offerings.
Great comment Debra! It reminds me of a concept in "Road to Relevance:" Your greatest potential for growth comes from what you are already good at. And Debra's right, most local organizations can do better than a regional or national organization at developing personal relationships. However, this doesn't happen organically. Those who do it well are very intentional, tracking the frequency of contact and making sure no one falls through the cracks.
For a small organization to compete with a larger one, simply do what you do best--and excel at it. The one thing that a small local organization can do better than a regional or national organization is develop personal relationships with your members and help your members build strong professional networks by attending educational and social events that you hold and serving on committees. A national organization simply can't compete on that level.
Members are attracted to excellence. Are you doing all things with a high level of competence in a way that attracts individuals to your organization? If not, what's holding you back?
Are you affiliated with these groups (i.e. you are a federation or tripartite organization) or do you consider them competition? My advice: get a copy of each of their membership brochures. Create a Venn Diagram, placing the services and programs you all offer in the intersecting area. Those that don't intersect go in the outer rings for each group. Notice what you offer that others don't (and if there isn't anything, this represents an opportunity for you to create something) and ask how you can improve, develop and strengthen these areas. They represent your greatest potential for growth.
Competition for membership dollars! How does a small local organization compete with regional and national groups?
What are the biggest challenges facing your association today? Please post--your comments will help me make this webinar as helpful as possible.