12/16/2024

How to Build a Global Presence

Understand how people want to belong

Too often, association conversations around going global begin around uncertainty. The economic picture is cloudy; the market is untested; it requires investment. But in that regard, going global isn’t much different than any other innovation effort you might undertake. So, perhaps it's worth framing internationalization in a different way—it’s about the community you've created, and how you might bring more people into it.

That's the main theme of Crossing Borders, an article I wrote for the most recent batch of Associations Now Deep Dives. There, the experts I spoke with noted that associations might do well to worry less about membership than they do about creating a sense of belonging.

"Belonging to a group is still a very popular value to people who are based in other countries," said As Jakub Konysz, MBA, IOM, CAE, founder and CEO of the consulting firm Global Navigators. "There may be a handful of countries that are very popular for associations where membership does not translate—China and a handful of other ones. But in general, people want to affiliate. They want to be a part of something bigger, something greater."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.