• Why the pressure to hone a clear value proposition is increasing
• Recognizing Members as consumers, with expectations influenced by their experience outside the association
• People aren't joining professional associations by default
• Ways associations can use product marketing principles to refine and define their value proposition
• Talking about outcomes, not just what you offer
• The importance of mapping value at different career stages
• The difference between professional and trade association value propositions
• The importance of knowing your members and knowing when their needs change
• Communicating the value proposition continuously, not just at sign-up
• Aligning internal stakeholders around the value proposition

Some helpful links:

Higher Logic 2026 Association Trends and Predictions webinar

MGI Membership Marketing Benchmark Report

Higher Logic Association Member Experience Report

• What's changed in terms of how people prefer to consume video content?
• Who should "own" and be making video content in organizations?
• Leveraging existing association content for video.
• The value of getting information from human beings.
• Video as a strategy, not a one-off project.
• Video is a relationship, not a marketing, tool.
• The many ways associations can use video.
• Producing video using the resources you have available to you.
• The amazing things today's video tools can do.
• Myths and misconceptions about video.
• How to measure the performance of your videos.
• Does one video channel work any better for associations than another?

Learn how you can make video easy for your association:

Record, collect, and polish videos from staff or members and share them directly in your community or emails with Higher Logic Thrive Video, powered by VideoRequest.

• The generational changes in association membership
• Global trends for associations
• Customized educational pathways
• The sub cohort of Gen Z called Gen Q
• Association-specific uses of AI more organizations can embrace
• Changes to events, continuing education, and credentialing
• How successful associations think about  non-dues revenue
• How associations can expand into global markets
• Why associations should move from membership as a status to membership as a service

Helpful Links

MCI Association Engagement Index (Updated Data & 10-Year Retrospective Coming Soon!)

Higher Logic Association Member Experience Report

• Have events fully bounced back post-Covid?
• Event timelines and planning for an event.
• Learning from attendee feedback.
• Distinguishing between a blip and a real trend in sentiment.
• Handling the awareness and communication process.
• Getting event ideas by listening to the community.
• Using community to find and foster speakers.
• Using video to communicate event information.
• The pain points faced in today’s event planning.
• The balance: making a live event a can’t-miss while not excluding virtual attendees.

Helpful Links

Christin Berry podcast episode on data

Super Forum 2026

• How community is the engine that drives alignment between organizations and members.
• Tips for growing online communities, based on Georgina's experience taking a community she managed from 0 to 50,000 members.
• Key metrics for measuring the success of a community.
• How to get leadership buy-in for community
• Busy vs. meaningful engagement.
• Engagement myths…busted!
• Tips to drive the member journey, from onboarding to advocacy
• Selling the importance of community internally.
• Community and member engagement trends for the year ahead.
• A sneak peek from Kelly at some insights from the upcoming Member Engagement Report.

Helpful Links

Peggy Hoffman episode on community volunteering

Community Manager Toolkit

• Highlights from the report
• Strategies for increasing engagement in your online community
• Average community size, logins, and discussions
• The most common types of engagements
• What kinds of engagements are lagging
• Community digest open rates
• How many users make use of resource libraries
• If AI is pulling people away from online communities
• Login trends based on months of the year
• The inverse trend between size and participation
• The relationship between community age and engagement
• How automation rules impact engagement
• How gamification impacts engagement
• How volunteering, mentoring, and job boards impact engagement
• Tactics for growing communities
• Ways to increase discussion and contribution activity
• How much, if any, of your content should be gated
• Tips for avoiding over-emailing

Some Helpful Links:

Webinar Recording

2025 Association Community Benchmark Report

Podcast episode with Christin Berry of ASAE

Podcast episode with Karen Saverino of Smithbucklin

• Why cybercrime is worse than it’s ever been.
• The global industrialization of cybercrime.
• How AI is helping cybercriminals be more effective.
• Why nonprofits and associations are becoming a bigger target.
• Are Managed Service Providers (MSPs) always reliable protection?
• Tips for hiring and using MSPs.
• The impact of being the target of cybercrime.
• Key things associations should do to protect their security and data.
• The '501 CISO Big Six' essential protections to implement.
• Why cybersecurity is not just an “IT problem.”

Some Helpful Links:

Episode on AI use and data privacy with guest Amanda DeLuke.

Explore more resources from Brian Scott & 501CISO: cleartoneconsulting.com/publications/

• The ways data can be most helpful to associations.
• Gaps in the way we approach data.
• Getting beyond just numbers to help foster faster decision-making.
• Using different formats to get information out to constituents.
• How offering fast answers can lead to broader content discovery.
• Organizing information infrastructures to facilitate fast answers.
• Data setup for internal use.
• Data mining to combat low survey response rates.
• Why data, in isolation, isn’t enough for good decision-making.
• The importance of knowing why you’re gathering data.
• Why it’s okay if your data just helps you ask better questions.
• Why watching the pattern can be more powerful than watching the numbers.
• The need for curious people.
• How to not get overwhelmed with data.
• Building automations off your data.

Some Helpful Links

ASAE

Higher Logic's 2025 Association Community Benchmark Report

• Fundamental copyright considerations and how they that relate to AI use.
• The embedded principles of copyright law - human authorship and fair use.
• Does writing AI prompts afford you ownership of the AI output?
• Why you’re on (a little) safer ground if your prompt includes pre-existing human created copyrighted material.
• Why those “This material was AI generated” labels might prevent you from having a copyright claim.
• Does the percentage of human vs. AI involvement in a work matter to the copyright office?
• How to protect yourself from unwittingly infringing on other people’s copyrights.
• How associations should keep copyright in mind when using AI.
• The licensing opportunities for associations as LLMs seek higher quality data.

Some Helpful Links:

The U.S. Copyright Office’s Report on AI

• The importance of having diverse sources of revenue.
• Sponsorship and advertising strategies and tactics.
• Non-dues revenue from newsletters, emails, events, job boards and more.
• The right way to use your community to benefit sponsors, partners, and the association.
• Exploring all of your association content assets as sponsorship opportunities.
• The importance of keeping sponsorships aligned with your association’s tone and mission and protecting the integrity of the content assets.

Helpful Links:

For more revenue generation ideas...

• Join us on September 10, 2025 for our free webinar: From Engagement to Non-Dues Revenue: Monetizing Your Online Community
• Check out our Non-Dues Revenue Success Kit

• Top things to check regularly and make sure you didn’t miss in your platform setup.
• Tools and strategies associations can easily use to improve member engagement.
• The features in your platform that you might not even know about or might be underutilized.
• Are you maximizing AI functionalities in your community management?
• All the reasons not to fear upgrades to your platform.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic customers can access the full Super Forum session recording in the Higher Logic User Group (HUG).

• What Higher Logic AI tools are available now and what’s on the horizon.
• What AI search assistants are and what they can do when connected to online communities.
• A primer on RAG (Resource Augmented Generation) LLMs vs. the global LLMs that power general AI tools like ChatGPT.
• How associations can deploy AI while keeping their data safe.
• Associations as the bastions of specific expertise and knowledge.
• The importance of aggregating and categorizing your association’s knowledge base - and how to make that easier.

Some Helpful Links:

Learn About Higher Logic's AI Search Assistant (and Turn it On in Your Community!)

Higher Logic's AI Toolkit

ASAE Webinar: Embracing AI Safely (with Higher Logic's Amanda DeLuke)

Topics covered include:

• What are members' most valuable benefits from their association?
• Do members currently trust their association?
• The importance of education and professional development.
• Is AI a threat to online community participation?
• What prevents people from becoming members?
• Four fundamentals you should focus on based on the report’s data.
• Some pointers on doing your own member research.

Helpful Links:

Smithbucklin’s Perceptions and Evolving Role of Associations Report

Learning management and trends podcast episode with Bluesky

• A primer on what SEO is (and isn’t).
• How search engines work.
• The importance of keyword research and wording things correctly.
• The steps to incorporate into your day-to-day work to optimize content for search engines.
• Recommendations for one-person marketing teams juggling multiple hats.
• The three types of SEO you need to know.
• The importance of alt text in images, page titles, and working links.
• Tips for page design and backlinks.
• The power of data and numbers in your web content.
• Suggestions for long-term SEO wins.
• How AI and voice searches are changing SEO

Helpful Links

On-Demand webinar with Alec Cole, Founder of Salt Rock SEO, on AI’s Impact on SEO

SEO Checklist: 41 Tips to Optimize Your Website

Higher Logic Thrive

In this episode, we discuss the current state of association volunteer systems, with topics covered including:

• What research tells us about the current landscape of association volunteer programs.
• What are the reoccurring challenges?
• What adjustments to volunteer systems make a difference?
• The demand for shorter-term volunteering.
• What keeps volunteers engaged?
• What kind of information do volunteers really want when it comes to a program’s goals and achievements?
• What draws in and engages the next generation of volunteers?
• Why you should ask volunteers to “get milk on their way home, not go out of their way.”
• Determining when to sunset a volunteer program that's not performing.
• The critical role of the staff liaison.
• Just how important is it to have a volunteer program?

Peggy will be presenting a session at Higher Logic's Super Forum Conference, March 26-28 in Nashville, TN, on "Igniting Engagement: Empowering Members to Lead." Join this interactive session to learn how to shift your perspective and your strategy around volunteering to ignite engagement.

Helpful Links & Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Article: Why Volunteering Needs a Transformation

Article: Create Better Volunteer Experiences Through Feedback

Report: A Holistic Approach to Association Volunteer Management

Executive Summary: A Holistic Approach to Association Volunteer Management

Report: Mutually Beneficial Volunteerism

Guide: The Decision to Volunteer - Why People Give Their Time and How You Can Engage Them

Simplified Engagement Loop from MCI's Engagement Index

Report: Chapter Performance and Benchmarking Report

• What the ASAE Research Foundation and ForesightWorks does - including their list of "Drivers of Change".
• The newest Drivers of Change: AI, emerging Gen Z, and the talent drought.
• The ways the world of work is changing and why every association leader needs to understand it.
• The importance of a systems-based approach.
• Six key thematic areas of change explored in the ForesightWorks list of Drivers of Change.
• Advice for association leaders on how to apply drivers of change to strategy.

Some Helpful Links

ASAE ForesightWorks  

Why Associations Need Foresight

The CDC’s Future of Work

Higher Logic Thrive

• Why members leave their associations.
• How often do members interact with their association?
• What are the top member benefits?
• Member education needs and trends.
• How associations can participate in targeted initiatives members look for.
• Member communication preferences.
• How important is personalization and segmentation to members?

Helpful Links

Watch the Webinar: What Do Members Want? Tips and Trends From the 2024 Association Member Experience Report

2024 Association Member Experience Report

Association Community Benchmark Report

Higher Logic Thrive Learn

Higher Logic Post on Engagement Scoring

Super Forum 2025 Registration

• What a Learning Management System (LMS) is.
• Education as a huge driver for Non-Dues Revenue.
• Education for membership expansion.
• Bringing data management and technologies like AI into association education.
• How to diversify your educational experiences.
• How the right platform can create a coherent and efficient learning ecosystem.
• Why a learning program doesn’t need to be a heavy administrative lift.
• Tips for adopting and launching learning programs and an LMS.
• The biggest gap in most association learning programs.

Higher Logic partnered with Momentive (formerly Blue Sky) eLearn to launch our LMS offering, Higher Logic Thrive Learn.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic Thrive Learn.

Blog post with Blue Sky on AI-powered learning.

The 2024 Association Member Experience Report.

• Creating an environment where members, content, and sponsors can come together in mutually beneficial ways.
• Strategizing to drive traffic to your community: "If you build it they won’t necessarily come."
• Ways to monetize your platform.
• How to effectively use gated content.
• The importance of keeping fresh content in your community.
• Sponsorable newsletters as revenue and traffic drivers.
• Using editorial calendars to avoid “random acts of marketing.”
• Leveraging sponsors for thought-leadership content that helps your community users.
• The importance of having a dialogue and sharing tips with your sponsors.
• Being patient and testing things out.

TD SYNNEX is a leader in IT solutions orchestration and global technology distribution. They connect the technology ecosystem and manage relationships with major technology partners for organizations.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic's Community Content Calendar Template

Higher Logic's Community Manager Toolkit

The TD Synnex Level Up Community

• What is ISO and SOC2, and why are they important security standards?
• The latest AI and privacy trends.
• How to approach AI at your organization with your eyes wide open.
• Considerations when approaching different use cases for AI in associations.
• Free resources on privacy and security.
• How to not be overwhelmed by the AI revolution.
• How data classification factors into privacy and security.
• What the legislators are doing (or not) to help.

Some Helpful Links:

Podcast on AI with Conor Sibley, Higher Logic's CTO

Higher Logic Blog Posts on AI (including tips for prompts, things associations should know, and Higher Logic's partnership with IBM to harness the power of community and AI)

Messaging, Malware, and Mobile Antiabuse Working Group (M3AAWG)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

• Current tech and engagement challenges facing associations.
• Learnings from The State of Mobile in Associations Benchmark Report.
• How mobile apps help associations address some of their biggest priorities.
• The three places associations interface most with their members.
• How overall mobile use is trending across all demographics.
• How mobile opens a new communication channel for going beyond email.
• Why a mobile responsive website doesn’t tap the full advantages of a mobile app.
• How to get members to download your app.
• Tips for making your association app a success.

Helpful links:

Higher Logic Thrive Mobile 365

Results Direct

Not only do we discuss key metrics from the report, but expert community advisors Tiffany Moule and Kimmie Harrington share tips for improving your community performance and member engagement. Topics include:

• What the report is and how associations can best use it.
• Highlights from the report including:
  • Which months have the highest community engagement.
  • Average open rates for community digests.
  • Average discussion activity.
  • The impact of size and age on community engagement.
• How to engage different types of community users.
• The positive impact of tying mentoring, volunteering, and job board opportunities to your online community to increase engagement with your programs and community.
• Just how big a difference personalization makes.
• Why onboarding is a critical time for community engagement.
• The percentage of community members you can expect to contribute content.
• The impact of having resource libraries in a community.

Helpful Links:

Register and join us for our free upcoming webinar on the 2024 Association Community Benchmark Report, taking place September 25 at 2 PM ET.

Download the 2024 Community Benchmark Report

Explore the Community Manager Toolkit

More Higher Logic podcast episodes and resources

During the episode, we share tips for how associations can manage and engage groups, chapters, and events by using dedicated microsites. 

• Hear about some common association use-cases for microsites. 
• Learn why microsites are great for offering personalized branding and experiences for different member segments or events.
• Learn how chapter and other microsites can be used to empower volunteers and chapter leaders.
• Understand the best practices for setting up microsites, including the benefits of testing and starting small.
• Learn what Higher Logic's Component Management add-on is and how it can help.

Helpful Links:

Kristen Parody on LinkedIn Cate Sauer on LinkedIn

• FloridaMakes Webinar on how they use microsites.
• Microsite Resources in the HUG Education Library
• Info on Higher Logic's Component Management Add-On

Higher Logic Success Team Contacts: successteam@higherlogic.com realmagnetsuccessteam@higherlogic.com informzsuccessteam@higherlogic.com

Throughout the episode, we discuss:

• The different types of credentialing programs: certifications, certificates, micro-credentials, and stacked credentials.
• How Higher Logic Thrive Credentialing makes managing complex certification programs.
• Opportunities associations are missing when it comes to certification and credentialing.
• How to ensure members understand the importance of certification, the process of getting their credentials, and how to approach re-certification.
• Strategies for nurturing members toward certification.
• How to revitalize a certification program that may be stalling out.
• Repurposing existing content for certification programs.
• Using technology to scale and improve certification programs.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic Thrive Credentialing

Heather McNair on LinkedIn

higherlogic.com/podcasts

We talk about the ways AI applications for associations are evolving, and Conor highlights Higher Logic's new AI tools. Topics covered include:

• The types of AI that go way beyond just generative AI.
• How associations can use AI for highly personalized experiences.
• The power of AI in automated marketing.
• Definitions for Multi-Modal Large Language Model, AI hallucinations, and results augmented generation (RAG).
• AI applications that can help associations externally and internally.
• The ways AI can be applied to improve translation and multi-lingual experiences

Helpful Links: June 11 Webinar: Available Now - See Higher Logic's New AI Tools In Action Additional resources at higherlogic.com/podcasts.

• Building and maintaining special interest groups in communities.
• Nurturing volunteers as leaders.
• Tips for communities keeping long-time communities fresh and engaged.
• How members’ perception and use of communities changes over time.
• Learning what YOUR members want and how to tap into that for success.
• Teaching members how to use and get the most out of the community.
• Recognition for your most valuable contributors.

Helpful Links

Visit higherlogic.com/podcasts for resources.

Learn more about ASA's Women in Leadership program (video).

Diana Mertz on LinkedIn

American Staffing Association

• How to accomplish a lot with a small email marketing team.
• How to effectively introduce automation into the email marketing picture.
• Why email benchmarks are important and how they can help associations.
• What kind of email metrics you should be tracking.
• How to provide a better, more targeted experience for your members through automation. 
• How to spot helpful vs. unhelpful email data.
• The most underestimated Higher Logic email tool: web tracking.
• Emerging trends in email marketing

Links:

• Visit higherlogic.com/podcasts to download the Association Email Benchmark Report and check out other resources referenced on the show.
• Register for our April 30 webinar, Benchmarks for Success, to learn more about association marketing, community, and experience benchmarks.
• Learn more about Email Maven.

• Job Boards reinforce your association as the “professional home” for members.
• A job board’s role in member recruitment, engagement, and retention.
• A job board's role in generating non-dues revenue.
• Using job boards to spot skills demands and gaps, and education opportunities.
• How job boards add value to your community and drive logins.
• How job boards can keep the industry healthy.
• Effective job board tech tools and management tips.

Useful Links:

Visit higherlogic.com/podcasts to learn more about Higher Logic Thrive Jobs and explore our guide to the ideal association tech stack.

• Trends in automation for associations
• Some ideas for using automation to better your member experience
• Automation opportunities in marketing and online communities
• How Higher Logic's Advanced Starter Kits can help you get started
• Responses to some common concerns about automating

Devin will explore automation in more depth during her session at Super Forum 2024, April 10-12 in National Harbor, MD. Hope to see you there!

And check out other episodes of the show, and association resources at higherlogic.com/podcasts/.

Listen to the episode for more:

• Digital Transformation doesn't have to be a giant structural change; it can be one person deciding to improve a process (and you can iterate on that improvement).
• Member needs and day-to-day efficiency is what drives digital transformation. Associations should ask "what are our daily roadblocks?" and then consider "is there a simple way to fix this?"
• Associations should explore ways to use the tools they already have for digital transformation - avoiding additional budget approval. 

Kunal will also be joining us for Super Forum 2024, April 10-12 - don't miss out!

Learn more about Higher Logic Thrive Submissions and Review, and check out other resources we've referenced on The Member Engagement Show at higherlogic.com/podcasts.

• How mentorship programs benefit both seasoned experts and younger members.
• Why you should establish volunteer programs in your association.
• What makes for great volunteer opportunities.
• How to spot and foster the best potential volunteers.
• How use community to create member engagement in volunteer and mentoring programs.
• Showcasing volunteer efforts, programs, and results.
• Ways to show your appreciation for your volunteers.

Check out the resources and events mentioned during this episode at higherlogic.com/podcasts, including:

• Super Forum 2024, which takes place, April 10-12 - Emily Stamm will be teaching a session to help you improve your mentoring and volunteering programs!
• Our guide, Path to Renewal: Mentoring & Volunteering

• Creating synergy between websites and communities.
• Why community design is so important for helping members stay engaged and find the information they need
• Creating sustainable communities with automation that saves staff time.
• Why your community homepage doesn't need to have everything, everywhere, all at once.
• How to create ongoing interest by launching new community features over time.
• Important design considerations that are unique to association websites.
• Website and community design trends.
• Why you should never consider your community “finished.”

Find links to our Higher Logic Thrive Community Lookbook, and more information about Higher Logic Design Services at higherlogic.com/podcasts.

Martha will also be teaching a session at Higher Logic's Super Forum 2024, April 10-12, on web accessibility to help you learn how to make your community better for everyone. Register to learn more from Martha and others!

Shaine has also held roles at the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the US Indoor Soccer Association, and the American Composites Manufacturers Association. Over the years, Shaine has just about seen it all in the association space. In this episode, she shares tips for those starting a job with an association and for others thinking through their career growth in the association industry. She also explores trends in the field. Topics covered include:

• Working in an association is, first and foremost, a people-centered job. Those who succeed cultivate emotional intelligence and love to work with others.
• Working in the association world means being curious and having a thirst for learning. Get to know multiple areas of associations for more context around your particular role.
• For your association to succeed, members must feel they can't miss out on what you offer.
• When your association is doing advocacy work, share the behind-the-scenes work with your members.
• Test different tools and technologies, but once you choose, maintain consistency.

Check out the resources and events mentioned during this episode, including:

• Super Forum, April 10-12 - The early-bird discount is still in effect!
• Higher Logic's on-demand webinar, Future-Proof Your Association.
• Higher Logic's 2023 Association Member Experience Report.

Kelly chats with Lucas about association affinity programs, covering topics such as:

• What does an affinity program for an association look like?
• Common misperceptions about affinity programs.
• The dangers of not properly resourcing affinity programs.
• Common mistakes made in running affinity programs.
• The near-magical powers of member feedback.
• The near-magical powers of making experiences easy.
• The steps to starting or reviving an affinity program.
• The importance of data and reporting.
• Trends and innovations in affinity programs.

Learn more about Core Affinity.

Listen to the 6 Degrees of Association podcast.

Check out Higher Logic's recent 2023 Association Member Experience Report.

Register for Super Forum 2024 by February 2, 2024 to save $200 on your registration!

• Why NDR so important and impactful for associations.
• Today’s typical dues/NDR split for association revenue.
• Examples of non-dues revenue streams.
• Key takeaways from this year’s Non Dues-A-Palooza event and what to expect from Non Dues-A-Palooza popups coming to a city near you.
• Three things your sponsors are looking for.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Learn more about Non-Dues-a-Palooza: https://www.nonduesapalooza.com/
• Contact Teri Carden: teri@nonduesapalooza.com
• Higher Logic's upcoming webinar, with CEO Rob Wenger, The Future Is Now: AI and Automation in Association Software (choose the time that works for you)
  • November 16: http://www.higherlogic.com/w/november-2023-rob-product-ai-webinar-rsvp/
  • November 20: http://www.higherlogic.com/w/november-2023-apac-rob-product-ai-webinar-rsvp/
• Register for Super Forum 2024, where Teri and others will share tips and ideas for helping your association thrive: https://superforum.higherlogic.com/

• Why associations should review benchmarks and how they can use them.
• Using benchmarks to inform discussions with your leadership team.
• The trends in engagement pre-, during, and post-pandemic.
• Using benchmarks for reasonable goal setting.
• The percentage of users that actually engage.
• Why email digest open rate is important.
• Tips for collecting and analyzing your own community data.
• Strategies for improving engagement with your community.
• Adopting a personal voice in your community.

There are several resources mentioned in this episode that are useful as you review community benchmarks and work on increasing your association’s member engagement.

• Download the 2023 Association Community Benchmark Report.
• Read Kristen’s checklist of things community managers can do to ensure online community health.
• Higher Logic customers can log into the Higher Logic User Group (HUG) and join us for monthly Hug Connects to learn from their peers.

We're also currently soliciting speaker proposals for Super Forum 2024 - share your insights, your successes, and even your failures through a workshop, panel, or speaker session. The deadline for submissions is October 13, 2023.

Sarah will be presenting a deeper dive on this subject at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition August 5-8, 2023 in Atlanta, GA.  

Topics include:

• The effect of Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection on getting accurate open rate metrics and other recipient data and how to cope with it
  • Why desktop opens shot up after MPP, but mobile email opens went down.
  • Why you should look at actual number of clicks and not click through percentage
  • Why it’s no longer smart to build strategy around open rates you can’t be 100% confident in
• Trends in email volumes, open rates, and click rates
• Tactics that impact email metrics
• A/B testing tips
• Tips for what metrics and email data you collect

Download Higher Logic’s 2022 Email Benchmark Report. 

Read more about how to adapt to Mail Privacy Protection in our blog post, The Impact of Email Privacy Rules and Tips for Adapting.

Our guest this episode is Hanna Holman, a 2021 graduate with a BA in strategic communication journalism. She was a project manager with Mountain Tennessee Outreach Project, a group working to alleviate substandard housing in rural Appalachia, and is now the membership assistant at Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research, a non-profit dedicated to advancing ethical research. There, she handles member recruitment and retention, produces member content, and serves as a primary point of contact for PRIM&R’s members.

The episode covers:

• Ideas for associations looking to engage the next generation of members and staff, and to adapt to a changing world.
• Gen Z’s key considerations when looking for professional roles and employment?
• Why Gen Z might be less likely to make work their passion and focus of their life than previous generations.
• Accounting for changes in work and learning expectations.
• Thinking beyond email and appearing in Gen Z’s lives more creatively.
• Reducing the barriers to information and engagement.
• Avoiding the damage outdated systems can do when you’re trying to appeal to Gen Z.
• Listening to younger staff members for a strategic advantage.
• Are younger generations even interested in joining associations? Do they even know about them?
• Leveraging FOMO.
• The power of candid, casual conversations (and not being afraid of them)

Keep exploring this topic during Higher Logic's free webinar on March 21, Attracting and Retaining the Next Generation of Association Members and Staff. During the webinar, a panel of association professionals will discuss:

• Considerations for your technological infrastructure
• Ideas for cultivating a flexible work and learning environment 
• Strategies for supporting members’ and staff’s professional growth 
• And more!

Alexey is Co-founder and CEO at Web Scribble while Higher Logic alumni Josh is the company’s Director of Product Strategy.

In this episode, we cover:

• Higher Logic's newest association solution, Higher Logic Thrive Jobs
• A review of the labor markets for last year and 2023
• What kind of talent is currently in demand
• The value of career centers and job boards for associations in this environment
• How boards can help introduce members to careers they never before considered
• How vital it is for associations to stay aware of career development needs
• Job boards as a driver of content that engages and retains
• Job boards as a source of NDR
• Job boards attracting employers as eventual partners and sponsors
• Job boards as a source of informative data for the association and partners
• The Community + Job Board + Marketing + LMS ecosystem
• Why “if you found a member a job, you found a member for life”

Josh Slyman will also lead a session at Super Forum 2023 about how strategically connecting careers and community to protect your member’s careers drives membership, revenue, engagement, and forwards your mission. Register to gain more tips and tactics - April 10-12 in Washington, DC!

• Are we planning too much based on last year’s data and technology?
• Why you can't go back to how things were pre-pandemic.
• The importance of continuing to support the new and diverse people brought into the fold via virtual meetings.
• Preparing to attract and retain the next generation of members and staff.
• The importance of having listening posts in communities.
• How communities become critical in both pandemics and recessions. 
• The new contract needed with members to get to personalization.
• Being mindful of the RONI, Return on NOT Investing.
• The importance of technology infrastructure and a smooth user experience.
• Best of Need vs. Best of Breed.
• The dangers of chasing the wrong metrics.
• Meeting people based on their interests, not on what we have to sell.

Learn more about ASAE and their upcoming events at ASAEcenter.org

Registration is now open for the 13th annual Super Forum, April 10-12 in Washington DC! You won’t want to miss this comprehensive conference for association professionals. There will be a whole host of sessions dedicated to helping you enhance your member experience, and you’ll have the opportunity to share ideas, strategies, and challenges with your peers in the field.  

In a challenging economy, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of trends and tactics to keep your members renewing and to help your association thrive - and that's easier to do with a community of colleagues beside you. We hope to see you there! 

Topics covered include:

• Who Higher Logic surveyed and why
• How members prefer to get information (it may surprise you)
• What benefits members value most
• How often members tend to interact with their associations
• Are associations giving the level of personalization members want
• What the survey revealed about events, both in-person and virtual
• Top reasons members consider leaving their associations
• How associations can use this valuable information

Download Higher Logic's 2022 Association Member Experience Report to learn more!

The Topics:

• The importance of associations incorporating social initiatives
• How associations can choose initiatives and issues that align with their values
• Making social initiatives part of the strategy vs. an add-on or afterthought
• The concrete steps leadership can take to “bake in” social initiatives
• How connecting to the social issues members care about leads to retention
• Social issues as another way of connecting members to each other, including at events
• What makes a social initiative sustainable
• Why associations are in an especially strong position to improve the world

Handy Links: You Me We Organization

Higher Logic's 2022 Association Member Experience Report

With a 30+ year career inspiring diverse teams to do more together than they could alone to strengthen communities, Marianne has stablished two successful cross company industry communities that drive business innovation in the project management and life sciences industries. She has advised F100 companies on diversity and inclusion practices and is a founding member of a 501c6 non-profit organization called Women of Color in the Pharmaceutical Industry.

This episode explores:

• The meaning of being a servant leader
• The power of asking people what they need
• The need to check our assumptions and recognize how misperceptions can put people into reductive boxes and cause missed opportunities
• The importance of looking out for individual and systemic bias so that we can be prepared to examine and sometimes dismantle the conscious and unconscious judgments that shape and define our world
• What it means to truly represent your constituents
• The magic question that can kick off any relationship positively

To learn more about Marianne Fray and about black maternal mortality and morbidity, check out her article in Women's Way.

To learn more about Maternity Care Coalition's work, check out their 2022 Annual Report: Advocating for Parental Autonomy.

You can also download Higher Logic's 2022 Association Member Experience Report to learn more about what members value most from their associations.

• Why you should consider volunteering at an association
• What is “micro-volunteering”?
• Keeping a volunteer base engaged and energetic
• The many ways people come to work for associations
• The challenges associations are facing and ways to deal with them
• Preparing your association for the future of member engagement
• The benefits of having regional chapters
• How to convince leadership of the benefits of attending gatherings beyond the big annual conference
• The kind of experiences that keep members really happy
• The power of personally asking prospects to attend get-togethers
• How to decide whether to volunteer at the local/regional level or national level

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

By listening to this show, you'll learn:

• Is podcasting right for your association?
• The strategy that goes into successful podcasts
• Lessons learned from the association podcasting front lines
• How to approach the critical role of show host
• The role podcasts can play in non-dues revenue
• How to find and manage great guests
• How to cover the most compelling topics possible
• How to promote and drive traffic to your podcast
• Is podcasting a fad or a permanent media content channel?

Be sure to check out Colby and Frank's podcast, Engaging in the Next - especially Beth's episode with them.

And don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

Bruce is a longtime strategic advisor and consultant to associations, helping them advance corporate sponsorship and partnership programs, identify strategies to increase revenue and member value, create added value for corporate partners, and develop corporate sponsorship and partnership implementation plans.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• How sponsorships changed since the pandemic and what was learned about sponsors’ needs
• The new needs of corporate sponsors
• The best way associations can meet those needs now
• What doesn’t work anymore when pitching sponsorships
• The internal culture change needed inside associations for new approaches to corporate partnerships
• How to make corporate sponsors feel like a true part of the membership
• What makes an association a necessity for members and partners
• The right way for associations to partner with corporate partners
• Results of a sponsorship engagement study
• What mistakes associations are making in servicing their sponsors
• How to get corporations to return your calls

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

In the episode, we cover:

• How we’ve moved beyond running member experiences manually and physically
• The costs and lost opportunities of doing so 
• The paradigm shifts of email and dynamic web 
• How tech allows for personalized, on demand member content
• How associations are like Netflix (hint: is your association a content or technology company?)
• How associations are NOT like Amazon (hint: are your member driven by search?)
• How the pandemic changed member experience expectations
• How soon VR and AR will or won't become part of the member experience
• What’s the right way for associations to start using machine learning and AI?
• How newer generations are changing the member experience
• The tactical steps to take with your technology right now

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

KiKi has honed her approach to communications and strategy for many organizations – nonprofits and corporate alike – including Optica, American Red Cross National Headquarters, QVC, and the American Institute of Architects. Now a senior consultant with Tecker International, she speaks regularly about management strategy and cultivating communities of trust. KiKi is also creator and host of Association Chat, an online community, blog, and podcast reaching 72k individuals monthly. 

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why trust is a commodity that’s hard to come by
• What associations are doing to both win and lose trust
• The dangers of conflict of interest and how it hurts trust
• Why who you have running partnerships is key to maintaining trust
• How to build trust at scale
• The need to be an effective trust-builder both digitally and in person
• How overcomplicating things in order to sound smart can lose trust
• The key to authenticity – genuine curiosity
• The right communication channels for the right group
• Why you should commit to delivering what you say you’re going to deliver
• Why it pays to be mindful of your digital body language
• Why you should create environments where members aren’t afraid to participate because they aren’t “perfect” enough
• Character and competency, a winning combination

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

• What's the difference between an "idea monkey" and "ringleaders"?
• Email tips that radically improve marketing performance, as well as some email myth-busting
• Creative integrations and providing journeys for members
• Distinguishing your mission and vision through storytelling
• Reaching members with omnichannel strategies
• The importance of member experience and personalization
• Cool ways the conference was able to get back to doing an in-person event

We always invite you to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any tips on how to get better member engagement for your association. And also don't forget to subscribe to Beth's AMP newsletter. 

Hear three association marketing professionals discuss these topics and more with Beth Arritt. You’ll come away with marketing plays you can adapt for your own association.

• Andrea Huggins, Senior Marketing Manager at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
• Annie Henderson, Corporate Marketing Manager at ASBO International
• Debbie Segor, Marketing & Communications Manager at the American Society for Nondestructive Testing

See how our fantastic panel of association marketing professionals solves these challenges, and more.

You'll hear from:

• Ashley Baker, Executive Events Director at NiUG
• Brad Hon, Digital Content Coordinator at the Australian College of Nursing
• Amanda Dollman, Marketing and Communications Manager at the Resolution Institute

Along with Beth Arritt, your host and former marketing association VP. 

Today, Nancy shares with us all things we need to know about the ADA and the process of becoming an ADA coordinator. She dives into the importance of web accessibility, including insights into how you can approach it with your organization. Listen now and find the AMP newsletter at bit.ly/AmpSubscribe.

Slides from this session are available here: https://go.higherlogic.com/rs/016-CFB-719/images/2021%20SuperForum_Texas%20Medical%20Association_Final.pdf

Is it time to rethink your association’s newsletter?

This week's episode is from our third and most popular session of The Association Marketers Guide to 2022. This session features community experts Beth Arritt and Annie Henderson. Listen now to elevate your newsletter!

Check out this on-demand webinar with Higher Logic's resident online community experts, along with Cory Elford, Manager of Communities and Membership Marketing at Meeting Professionals International.

They share key findings from this year's report, with insights on some of the most effective tactics you can implement to boost member engagement at your association (and how to sustain it).

Email inboxes are overflowing now more than ever, and the competition is stiff. So how do you cut through the noise?

Higher Logic’s resident email marketing experts Beth Arritt and Vivian Swertinski share a fast-paced walkthrough of our top 30 email tips. They cover things you might know about (but don’t always do) and items you may not know about at all.

In this session, you’ll learn common email mistakes to avoid, content strategy and targeting tactics, and best practices for copywriting and copy placement.

According to 2021 data, nearly half of associations think their value proposition is only somewhat compelling, not very compelling, or not at all compelling to members.

Offering your members what they want and communicating that clearly is essential to member recruitment and retention. In this session, you’ll learn how to start an ongoing conversation with members to understand what they want and need sooner, defining how you meet those needs succinctly and effectively, and developing a strategy for revising your value proposition

The results of not performing community member research? Mediocre, copycat brand communities that fail to deliver on employee or customer expectations.

But, brands can avoid this. They can use insights, advice, and qualitative data about community members to build successful, promising communities.

In today's episode, Carrie Melissa Jones shares the importance of undertaking research whether you are preparing to launch your community or are planning a strategic pivot, and how it can impact cross-organizational value.

The Building Brand Communities Book

Follow Carrie on Twitter

In today's episode, you'll hear a panel discussion from our three-part webinar series about member data. Joshua Slyman, Sr Consultant Strategic Services, moderates this discussion with data experts who take you through how you can make data a part of your team culture.

Innovation. Culture change. Customer retention. These business goals are simple to explain but much more complex to actualize. Luckily, your organizations’ community is the ideal connector between these types of complex business goals and your customers’ needs. In this session, you will learn how to develop, plan, implement, and measure community programs that are an integral part of your organization’s success.

Tune into a panel discussion with three community experts. We’ll discuss how they tackle this challenge and share ideas you can use to measure and communicate your community’s value to stakeholders and leadership.