Association Insight International & European Association Insights Winter 2015 | Page 11
Article | Association Insights
The reactions
of the Congress is being amongst a group of talented people
all of whom are striving to make their organisation the best it
can be. “All give freely of their experiences and demonstrate
and into a learning space they share with folk from a rich
mix of roles across professional bodies and membership
organisations. This is one of the brilliant aspects of
Congress, freeing up CEOs from the day job of representing
the profession or interests of their constituencies to focus
on the strategic issues we face ourselves as organisations in
our own right.”
Lee Davies
Andy Burman, Chief Executive of the British Dietetic
Association brought along several of his own staff and
about current thinking across all of the functional areas of
associations. “We all took away ideas about governance,
education, membership and education. However we also
learned that in some areas of our business we are delivering
best practice and this, in itself, is valuable to learn. It
can sometimes be a lonely life as both a CEO and in an
association, so to meet with others and benchmark yourself
is a very positive thing.”
Congress at a distance. Andrew Corbett, Membership
Services Director at UK IT Association & Skillfair attended
the Congress remotely at short notice and said: “The remote
facility worked very well indeed and I found the whole
atmosphere to be very informative. I could not point to any
one thing in particular but the ability to pick up the mood of
the speakers and delegates and compare them to our own
world-view was very good indeed.”
The running order
First day of congress
The Congress kicked off with a welcome and Chair’s
introduction from Norman Rose, President of the Institute of
Association Management.
needed to reconnect with members. The decision was taken
to embrace digital and freemium models and great online
content to attract the next generation of potential members.
David Kelly and Ben Saunders from the Institute of
Marine Engineering, Science & Technology followed with a
presentation on their research to establish what IMarEst
members want, understand their needs and create an
organisation that provides added value
Conference and Events – Harnessing the full
revenue potential.
This stream focused on driving more revenue from events
through programme development, event sponsorship and
marketing.
Vickie Moss from the Chartered Institute of Payroll
Professionals discussed how to revive events using ‘cute
marketing’. This involves identifying the audience by
segmenting and targeting the membership database. Vickie
recommended creating ‘characters’ that represent member
stereotypes, such as those who just want to keep up with
developments in the payroll industry and those who are
looking to advance their careers through enhanced skills
and knowledge.
Knowing the characters in this way enables the Institute
to engage with members and use their career journeys to
enhance the success of events. Methods of communication
need to match members’ preferences. Younger members
may prefer to be contacted by text rather than email and
are happy to use apps. However, printed marketing material
could still have its place too.
Growth and development
Developing new markets and retaining members locally was
one of the challenges discussed in this stream.
Will Beattie, International Head of Business
Development, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply,
talked about the CIPS global membership strategy and