Association Insight International & European Association Insights Spring 2015 | Page 6

Association Insights | Article

with members by launching a blog and using magazines
to encourage members to become more active in the
organisation.
Membership Expert Sue Froggatt spoke about managing
the member journey: welcoming them, engaging with
them and reviewing the relationship. She stressed how
important it is to differentiate your association in this way
by providing a specific customer/member experience.
She likened it to the experiences the big brands provide
for their customers – Starbucks for instance, with its fresh
coffee aroma feast for the senses.

Business model reinvention
Michael Anderson, CEO Canadian Society of Association
Executives (CSAE) and Jeff De Cagna, Chief Strategist and
Founder Principled Innovation, provided an interesting
membership case study based on the CSAE’s business
model reinvention.
The CSAE had had a big problem with engagement. They
were over represented by baby boomers; Generations
X and Y were not becoming members. The traditional
subscription model was not working and a task force of
senior staff and volunteers was appointed to find the root
of the problems and learn from the stakeholders as well as
the board.
The solutions involved thinking beyond membership,
learning about younger stakeholders and changing the way
the board governed so that it used open, honest and direct
communications. Newsletters, videos and Q&As were used
to add real value for stakeholders.

Global growth and governance
Shakespeare style
Growing and developing an association can only
happen with good governance and a strong, qualified,
representative board.
Andy Burman, CEO of the British Dietetic Association
tackled the governance issue in a presentation with an
attention-grabbing title: The Good the Bad and the Ugly
– What Shakespeare teaches us about Governance. Issues
that associations have to contend with such as power,
management, leadership, relationships, truth and the
process o bV