03/31/2017

Innovation. Disruption. Revolution.

What this means for associations

by OSAE Member Tracy L. Vanneman, Partnerships and Programs Manager at Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)

These concepts and more were explored at the ASAE Great Ideas Conference, March 4-7, 2017 in Orlando, Fla., sending its more than 500 attendees home with thoughts provoked and, perhaps even, minds blown.

The conference opened with an engaging keynote entitled “Why Only is Better Than Best” from Srini Rao, whose challenge was to not pursue becoming the best at something, but rather to identify that which you can produce that is unmistakably yours. His most provocative statement, “Best practices are the enemy of innovation,” reminded attendees that although benchmarking has value, replication of successful practices in expectation of attaining identical outcomes is fruitless and limits innovative thinking.

A slew of educational sessions followed during the three-day event, covering expected topics like membership, volunteerism and advocacy along with concepts only recently gaining traction at association meetings, including co-creation, storifying data and futuristic thinking.

ASAE demonstrated its continued investment in and attention to innovation through sharing its plans and methods for program development in a presentation by Mariah Burton Nelson, MPH, CAE, ASAE’s vice president of innovation and planning. A catchy takeaway, “What is? What if? What wows? What works?” serves as a guide when assessing potential new or existing association programs through the lens of innovation.

Unsurprisingly, micro-everything persists, with associations building unique, custom member experiences as the means to improve recruitment, retention and engagement. Particularly in the volunteer space, ideas were shared to increase participation and satisfaction by deconstructing volunteer experiences, moving away from multi-year standing committee term lengths towards chunked activities with brief commitments of time and targeted, project-based tasks – all to the mutual benefit and effectiveness of association staffs and their volunteers.

Like any ASAE event, it’s not only about the education within session rooms but the many takeaways for meeting planners, with association management professionals, accustomed to putting on events of their own, having the chance to play the role of conference attendee. Observations include the strength of the conference’s mobile app, making possible a paperless conference that even digital laggards could manage, along with strong ASAE staff presence, Partner Pop-Ups delivering treats like complimentary make-your-own-Old Fashioneds and Brain Dates, a spot-on facilitated networking experience that should become a staple at any association meeting of similar size.

In so many ways, the 2017 Great Ideas Conference did not disappoint. Pencil March 11-13, 2018, in on your calendar now to attend next year’s event at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Got a great idea of your own? The call for proposals opens in May.