‘C’ of Opportunities

IT was a pleasant surprise reading an interview article of Mathijs Vleeming in the recent e-newsletter of Association Meetings International. Mathijs, a consultant for associations at Yard Digital Agency, is a familiar figure with the association community here, having conducted a webinar on online communities last year.

The article, “Membership: Seven Challenges Facing Associations,” includes Mathijs’s insights on keeping members engaged during this increasingly uncertain times. The seventh challenge he mentioned in the article is about dealing with uncertainty.

Due to the uncertain and complex conditions prevailing in today’s world, association boards and management teams that traditionally execute a top-down strategic planning process are having a tough time adapting to the situation. Essentially, these plans are often based on predictions of future developments and trends. However, in a rapidly changing environment, it is increasingly difficult to predict what will happen next.

Uncertainty diminishes the value of these plans, making collaboration with members crucial to remaining relevant. Here are ways and good examples of collaboration between the association and its members:

• 1. Collecting feedback. Doing surveys, interviews, online discussions and focus groups, among others, with members helping identify problems and opportunities. Listening and getting the pulse of members on current issues can help improve member engagement and, ultimately, member retention.
• 2. Co-creation. Partnering and working with members on developing new services and offerings and other programmatic activities can enhance how associations can better respond to the needs of their key stakeholders.
• 3. Crowdsourcing. Soliciting ideas, information, or content through broad-based contributions from members is a great way to gather inputs in coming up with products, programs, and projects that are useful and relevant to the target audience.
• 4. Content curation. Gathering information from and for members related to a particular topic or area of interest, usually with the aim of adding value through the process of selecting and organizing them into a collection or body of knowledge, is another excellent means to provide pertinent content to members.
• 5. Connection sourcing. Tapping the network of members and making members as ambassadors can support in the marketing of the association, recruiting new members, and expanding its reach.
• 6. Community buildup. Setting up an online community as a complementary venue to in-person meetings where members interact with each other virtually by, sharing common interests, learning from each other, and doing business networking can enhance the member experience with the association.

Members want to be involved in the activities of their association and, most often than not, appreciate being able to contribute to the success of their organization. By simply asking them can create a sea of opportunities for the association.