July 2017 by Associations North

FOCUS

July 2017

NORTH

PREPARING

The Power of Governance Vision pg 7

The Secrets to Hiring for Culture Fit pg 12

Published by

www.associationsnorth.com

TODAY’S LEADERS FOR TOMORROW’S CHALLENGES pg 5

The Minnesota State Bar Association Provides Valuable Services to Minnesota Attorneys and the Public

Focus North is published 10 times a year by Associations North, 1970 Oakcrest Avenue, Suite 100, Roseville, MN 55113. Phone: 651.647.6388 Fax: 651.647.6416 Website: www.associationsnorth.com Email: info@associationsnorth.com The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of Associations North. The subscription rate for members is $25, which is included in membership dues. Editorial contributors in any area of association management are welcome. Articles accepted for publication are subject to editing by Associations North. Advertising is accepted on a space availability basis. Contact angela@associationsnorth.com for further advertising information.

Staff Angela Kisskeys, Co-Director VP of Operations & Communications Sarah Ruzek, Co-Director VP of Finance & Education

CONTENTS July 2017

Chris Villeneuve Membership & Office Manager

FEATURES

Mission

To advance and serve the association management profession in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

5 Preparing Today’s Leaders

Diversity & Inclusion

Advertisements and listings in this publication are provided as a public service to readers. Associations North is not responsible for errors or omissions, and inclusion does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. All information is subject to change.

Board of Directors

Thinking

The Power of Governance Vision

The Minnesota State Bar Association Provides Valuable Services to Minnesota Attorneys and the Public

Associations North, our members and their associations will thrive and grow.

For advertising information, call 651.647.6388.

Leaders: 7 Advancing Fuel For Forward-

for Tomorrow’s Challenges

Vision

In principle and in practice, Associations North values and seeks diversity and inclusiveness within the association management industry. Associations North advocates for and promotes involvement, innovation, and expanded access to leadership opportunities that maximize engagement across underrepresented groups in the Associations North membership.

DEPARTMENTS

Advancing Engagement + Recruitment: Moving Membership

Moving Forward Together

The Association Life

14 Conversations 15 Calendar of Events 16 Brain Power 18 Signature Event

19 The North Experience Advancing Meetings + Events: In The Details

20 Et Cetera 21 Spotlight

Better Conference Capture

Membership Meets Engagement in Today’s Modern World

Advancing 11 Advancing Communications: 12 The Essentials: Stay Connected

Invaluable Insights

How Social Media Influencers + Micro-Influencers Can Grow Your Brand

The Secrets to Hiring for Culture Fit

What keeps you up at night? The neighbors

Cassie Larson, CAE (Chair) Diesel Truck… MN Nursery & Landscape Association ugh ;-)

Angela Kisskeys Associations North

Ann Kvaal, CAE (Past-Chair) AK Communications

Justin Bieganek Mercury Creative Group

Everything!

Tara Owens (Secretary/Treasurer) MN Academy of Family Physicians Sarah Ruzek Associations North

My bucket list.

Two little ones.

Amanda Friedrich, CMP Visit Saint Paul

Preparing to sell our house.

My toddler.

Cody Nuernberg Northwestern Lumber Association

Crickets – buzzing mosquitoes.

Dave Renner, CAE Minnesota Medical Association

Deadlines.

Donnie Brown Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®

Mark Salter, CAE, ABC (Chair-Elect) CFA Society Minnesota

Dave Radziej, CAE Printing Industry Midwest

My to-do list.

Not much. An extra early alarm, then I’m up every hour.

David Siegel, CAE, IOM Builders Association of the Twin Cities Robbie Thompson Professional Liability Underwriting Society

Wanting to do a great job for my industry, board and staff. Sleeping in hotel rooms.

An almost 5 year old.

Moving Forward Together: Associations North Partners

Featured Sponsor: Olsen

Thielen

Memorable moment with Associations North...

Why we partner with Associations North…

We’ve got THREE! Winning Best Supporting Company at the Leadership Conference in 2013, our own Linda Nelson, CPA, being named Allied Volunteer of the Year in 2015, and our own Daniel Owens, met and married current board member of Associations North, Tara Loftus! Tremendous honors, all of those.

The people we get to meet on a daily basis. With an association for every profession, and the diversity and growth of associations in the Midwest specifically, every day presents learning, challenge and opportunity. It’s interesting, rewarding work for all of us! And it is FUN!

PREMIER PARTNERS

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSORS 3

Global Experience Specialists | Fargo-Moorhead CVB | Visit Duluth | Visit Saint Paul

The Association Life

Featured Industry: Technology Whoever you are, whatever you do, there is an association working on your behalf.

Minnesota High Tech Association MHTA, or the Minnesota High Tech Association, is an innovation and technology association united in fueling Minnesota’s prosperity. We help bring together the people of Minnesota’s technology ecosystem and lead the charge in directing technology issues to Minnesota’s state capitol and the local affiliate for our global partner, TECNA.

Power-Motion Technology Representatives Association The Power-Motion Technology Representatives Association (PTRA) is an Association of independent manufacturers’ representatives and manufacturers dedicated to promoting the

Fibre Channel Industry Association The Fibre Channel Industry Association

sales representation (rep) function in the power transmission and motion control industries.

(FCIA) is a mutual benefit nonprofit international organization of manufacturers, system integrators, developers, vendors, industry professionals and end users.

Preparing Today’s Leaders for Tomorrow’s Challenges The Minnesota State Bar Association Provides Valuable Services to Minnesota Attorneys and the Public.

As Minnesota’s oldest voluntary professional association for attorneys, the Minnesota State Bar Association prides itself on providing a number of services to help lawyers deliver quality work to their clients.

With its membership comprised of more than 60% of licensed attorneys in the state, the MSBA tasks itself each day to build bridges among those lawyers, who even in today’s digital age still work fairly independently from each other. “Our core mission is to connect lawyers with one another,” Executive Director Tim Groshens explained. “I try not to lose sight of that. It’s very important.” The members of the MSBA voluntarily join the organization in pursuit of networking opportunities, access to the organization’s case research service, an assembly service, continuing education options, and a variety of other resources. Approximately 90% of the MSBA’s members are attorneys, while the rest includes law students, paralegals, and law management associates. Once an attorney joins the ranks of the MSBA, they are given the chance to join one of 37 sections that represent substantive areas of law or types of practice. Together, the sections put on 200 programs a year, which are typically one hour long and focus on current topics with knowledgeable industry speakers. “We have something to offer to every attorney,” Groshens said. “There are sections based on the type of law an attorney specializes in, sections aimed at new lawyers, out-of-state practitioners, solo practitioners, and small firms. Each section has discussion lists where information is constantly shared.”

“It’s our job to help lawyers adjust to changes and stay ahead of the curve. We provide them with the resources they need to meet today’s high demands.”

In addition to offering services to its member attorneys, the MSBA also provides legal resources to the public. Their “Find a Lawyer” referral program helps Minnesotans across the state search for an attorney, because an ordinary person often doesn’t know what type of attorney they may need. MSBA members also participate in community events, such as the High School Mock Trial program, where students are introduced to the legal field and given the opportunity to learn and compete as they strengthen their critical thinking and teamwork skills. The Wills for Heroes program helps connect emergency first responders with

MSBA with Senator Al Franken

a volunteer attorney. Since its inception in 2007, the Wills for Heroes program has, without charge, written over 12,000 wills for Minnesota’s first responders. The MSBA operates a nonprofit foundation designed to increase access to the justice system for some of the most at-risk groups in Minnesota. Through the Minnesota State Bar Foundation, the MSBA distributes grants three or four times a year that help improve access to legal services. The foundation provides support to battered women’s shelters and other legal aid agencies, so many of those people who most need assistance are able to find it. While Groshens wears many hats, he is not the only person who keeps the MSBA running and providing so many benefits for its members and the public. “I rely on a staff of about 30,” he said. “They do all kinds of work such as finding speakers, networking, managing the sections, certification, online services, and accounting. We share some staff with the district bar associations as well.” The reach of the MSBA is not strictly limited to Minnesota. A month ago, MSBA members conducted a joint program – the first ever – with the North Dakota Bar Association. Staff and volunteer officers met to discuss common objectives and ways they could share resources to better serve their members. At the legislative level, the MSBA’s policy work takes it not only to the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, but also to the halls of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. MSBA attorney members testify before state and national legislative panels, arguing for adequate funding for the justice system, public defenders, and the courts. They also work to ensure that court rules are kept up-to-date. Since the MSBA was established in 1883, the legal landscape has changed dramatically, especially over the past decade. Some of these changes are the result of the introduction of new technology, continuing cost pressures, and increased expectations from clients. “It’s our job to help lawyers adjust to these changes and stay ahead of the curve,” Groshens said. “We provide them with the resources they need to meet today’s high demands.” To learn more about MSBA, visit www.mnbar.org.

Advancing Leaders: Fuel for Forward-Thinking

The Power of Governance Vision The nature of meeting agendas often mean that boards rarely have the time to consider and answer some key questions that can make the difference when it comes to governing well. Not only do most boards not have the time to move away from pro forma agendas, these boards would have difficulty identifying topics outside the rather narrow boundaries of governance best practices. After all, boards are primarily focused on making decisions and the discussions that lead to these decisions. To ask questions outside of the board’s formal accountabilities – which are challenging enough - means finding the time, motivation, the mind space and collective director interest for pondering broader but equally pressing questions. The time to consider questions of a more philosophical nature is at best a luxury in light of these other pressing obligations. Pondering doesn’t exactly seem to fit with monitoring, directing, supervising, overseeing and other governance-related gerunds. There are, however, some key questions Directors should consider as a group with their board colleagues and staff leaders. These questions have the ability to proactively address common governance and board effectiveness risks. These questions appear simple to answer. Of course, there are simple but rather ineffectual answers.

Take the following question, for example: What does our Board aspire to become? Without some forethought, without full Board and staff engagement and absent thoughtful consideration of a broader set of possibilities, the effort may stall at the first governance cliché. The result will likely lack depth, shared understanding and the needed commitment for it to amount to anything more than a hapless slogan. Wrestling with this question produces what I refer to as a governance vision. I’ve seen the power that can come from crafting a governance vision. A governance vision is not a technical term. It’s simply a description of how the board envisions itself some years hence. Your board, perhaps. A governance vision is a marker anchored in the future, a destination that is different and, ideally, better than the current state. A governance vision provides a filter against which all decisions relating to how the board functions are considered: those decisions that move the board forward to its vision are pursued wholeheartedly and with excellence; those opportunities that don’t move the board explicitly towards that envisioned destination are abandoned before they become a distraction and waste of resources. A governance vision builds unity, momentum, commitment, focus and, as already stated, transformational power…if constructed to do so.

But does a governance vision really work, you may be asking. My best proof is a client board that was severely divided. This representative board had a win/lose mindset: when one stakeholder benefited from a board decision, the other must lose. Oversight of the organization was subsumed by a highly politicized, adversarial posture. The best interests of the organization were lost in the almost constant boardroom dust-up.

“A governance vision is a marker anchored in the future, a destination that is different and, ideally, better than the current state.” The process of crafting a governance vision delivered a near miraculous commitment to “becoming nationally recognized as one of the best boards” in the country -- a bold vision for any board, let alone one that was fraught with political infighting, backroom deals and other trust destroying activities. This vision served several functions: it united the Board around a collective goal to achieve governance excellence; it provided focus for Board decisions; it left no room for stakeholder infighting; it provided something tangible and, as it turned out, proved transformational for the Board to work towards. John Dinner is President of John T Dinner Board Governance Services. For the past 20 years, he has partnered with clients across sectors to help them improve their board’s value and contribution to their organization’s success. He can be reached by email at john@ boardgovernance.ca

Advancing Engagement + Recruitment: Moving Membership

Membership Meets Engagement in Today’s Modern World. Staying competitive and relevant in today’s digital world requires innovative ways to engage your members. And, to operate efficiently, you need to implement an easyto-use, safe and secure technology through a connected platform. By doing so, it saves you and your staff time, leverages your membership data for better engagement, and reduces your costs by not having to work with multiple vendors. Here are several strategies which leverage modern technology to help you connect with your membership. Modern website design. You’re challenged with attracting and engaging members with a compelling experience. Adding to it, reportedly, the human attention span averages eight seconds. Is your website design keeping your members’ attention for more than eight seconds? To best accomplish your goals, adopt a rule where simplicity meets design. • Deliver a modern visual design branded to your association. • Utilize a user design to create an intuitive member experience. • Implement a site navigation to make it easy to explore. • Display strong calls to action to keep them engaged. Mobile responsive website. Think about how your members engage with websites like Amazon and Netflix. How often do they use mobile devices? A lot. According to Hostingfacts.com, 75% of U.S.-based website users are arriving to your site through a mobile device. Your members have developed expectations from this browsing experience. For you to deliver on this, your association site must be mobile responsive. A mobile responsive website automatically and intuitively changes how your site is displayed on any device your members view it. The content and layout adapt to the screen on which it’s shown, whether a mobile phone or

tablet. If you build your website on a platform to support mobile browsing, your association automatically supports your members. Social community. Today’s modern members engage using many social media platforms in all aspects of their daily life. To strengthen your organization’s connection with its members, consider building a social community within your member portal. Not only does it make it easier for your members to engage with each other and your association, it later serves as a revenue opportunity, if you choose to offer online advertising and job posting services to vendor partners. Mobile social app. How often do you check your smart phone for the latest news? Connecting your members with each other and to your organization through a mobile app keeps your organization top of mind. And, it delivers the modern experience members expect. With the touch of a button on their mobile device, members are notified of upcoming events, hot job opportunities and connect with committees and groups within your organization. It’s an interconnected world. If a legacy website and disconnected solutions represent your association today, know it’s time to move forward as your members explore daily life through mobile applications and smart devices. They crave timely, exceptional digital experiences. And, they expect your organization to offer them a connected experience across all of your applications and all of their devices. It’s time to make the move toward a mobile-responsive, modern-designed website and deliver all of your value to members on all of their digital devices. Isn’t it time you modernize your association? By: JP Guilbault, President & CEO, yourmembership.com. JP can be reached at 727.827.0046 or jpguilbault@yourmembership.com.

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Advancing Meetings + Events: In The Details

Better Conference Capture Using Video to Promote & Extend Conference Content

By 2020, video is expected to account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic. Live video is projected to grow 15-fold from 2016-2021 (Cisco). Given the demand for video content, it seems like a no-brainer that we should video capture conference sessions. Not necessarily. When you think about what’s in your video cue and the types of video content you’re compelled to sample throughout the day, chances are none of them are 60-90 minute lectures. Even when seeking educational content, search studies show professionals prefer short digestible video content paired with downloadables.

“By 2020, video is expected to account for

Promote Capture video that can be leveraged year-round to promote your event experience and the value of membership. • Facebook-Live vlog conference happenings featuring what’s exciting and new to generate the kind of FOMO that will drive members to register for your next event. • Assemble a convention news team to capture video reports on industry news breaking at your conference. Schedule quick interviews with keynoters, award winners, and researchers presenting exciting new work at your event. • Set up an onsite video booth to capture attendee take-aways and testimonials. Invite your Board members and Committee leadership to contribute.

82% of all consumer

Extend

internet traffic.”

Learning is not an event – it’s an ongoing cycle. Support the learning process by offering content extensions from your conference.

Where does that leave conference capture? The concentration of experts and excellent content make our conferences ripe with video capture opportunity – but we have to shift our thinking to excite our members. Consider these options.

• Offer a hybrid experience, extending the reach of your event to new audiences. Connect your hybrid attendees to a selection of onsite content while producing hybrid-only content as well. Consider speaker chats, vendor showcase spots, and keynote debriefs.

• Set aside a room onsite to serve as your event video studio. Invite speakers to prep a salient point from their conference presentation or a next step learning nugget that can be offered post-conference. Develop micro learning pathways connecting this content with other learning opportunities, live or online. • Capture faculty delivering commentary on their session or a topic track at your event. Pair the recording with an article or use it to stimulate a webinar conversation. • Use the couch set up on your plenary stage while everyone is in breakouts to capture a point-counterpoint discussion with two industry experts on a hot topic in your industry. In postproduction, develop a series of video drops featuring one question and the experts’ responses. • Capture “The Best Idea” videos from attendees, leadership, speakers, and vendors. Host them in a video library and use them to drive content development that supports applying those great ideas in practice. Maximize opportunities to link them to existing content on your website (white papers, templates, webinar recordings) and loop back later with curated blog posts. Example: Interested in this hot topic? Check out our three Best Idea videos, two articles, a podcast and register for our upcoming event to learn more! That’s a Wrap If you want to create eLearning from capture content, you have to design it as eLearning. Posting captured lecture is simply not designed to engage online learners. Instead, maximize live streaming and recorded video to excite, promote and extend learning to your members. Tracy King, MA, CAE, CVEP is the Chief Learning Strategist for InspirEd, a full service continuing education company. Learn more at www.inspired-ed.com and www.tracy-king.com

Advancing Communications: Stay Connected

How Social Media Influencers + Micro-Influencers Can Grow Your Brand By: Hubbard Interactive Group

Imagine this: you want to try a new product that you’ve heard about. You want to learn more about it, see what other people think about it, and get a bigger picture of the brand itself. Where do you turn? If you’re aged 18-34, you’re most likely to go online. Users are increasingly turning to social media to find product reviews, testimonials, and discover new brands of products they love. On Instagram specifically, people are most likely to follow a brand than on any other social media channel. Top brands on Instagram have an engagement rate 58 times higher than Facebook, according to Hootsuite, a social media managing tool. Instagram users also love to follow “influencers.” According to Pixlee, a software to optimize content curation and analysis, a social media influencer is defined as “a user on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry.” Influencers can be categorized into two sizes: macro and micro. Micro-influencers have a following around 10,000 to 90,000 users and macro-influencers have a larger following, typically 100,000 and above. Macro-influencer partnerships tend to cost more, and may risk appearing disingenuous if they oversaturate their audience with sponsored posts. Micro-influencers tend to cost less, are catered to a smaller audience, and can seem more “organic” or “genuine” to the user. Depending on your business goals, either option could work for you. Similar to word-of-mouth marketing, users on Instagram tend to trust these influencers to provide them with helpful and quality information. When users see their favorite influencers talking about a product or service, they feel like they’re hearing about it from a friend. The best part about each influencer’s audience is they’re already brand advocates. They trust what the influencer is telling them, and are more likely to buy a product if the influencer endorses it. Therefore, placing your brand into the right influencer’s hands is key.

Top brands on Instagram have an engagement rate of 58 times higher than Facebook.

When compiling an influencer marketing strategy, you first need to asses your target audience and community. What social network are they using most frequently? What brands, influencers, or trends do they follow and care about the most? If you are looking to target young female girls with a beauty product, it might be helpful to know what other brands, foods, and influencers these users are engaging with online, besides just makeup. By using a holistic approach to your research, you can uncover your perfect influencer partnership. Next, be sure to identify what measurable tactics you will have in place for your return on investment (ROI) of your influencer campaign. Will the influencer be giving away a promo code for consumers to purchase your product online? Are they simply talking about your product for brand awareness? Defining your measures of success will help you determine the value of your influencer marketing, and optimize your strategy for the future. Once you’ve found your top influencers and assembled your campaign strategy, you can reach out to them for contact information. Typically, the larger the following, the more expensive the influencer content. If your business is working with a lower budget, try sending your product for free to a few different influencers for some initial brand awareness. Influencer Marketing is gaining on social media users, and it’s important to approach it correctly to ensure your marketing objectives stay on track with your business. With a cohesive goal and strategy, your approach to influencer marketing will be off to a great start.

Advancing The Essentials: Invaluable Insights

The Secret to Hiring for Culture Fit According to the 2016 McQuaig Global Talent Recruitment Survey, nearly two thirds of respondents say its hard to find a cultural fit when hiring. And when there isn’t a good fit, we often end up losing people fairly quickly, and that’s expensive and inefficient. So given what’s at stake here, why are we finding it so hard to align who we’re hiring with what our culture truly is? In short, because the hiring process is fundamentally dishonest. I don’t mean recruiters and candidates are lying outright (though that does happen too). I mean that the entire system is built on the premise that neither side in the process is going to be speaking the whole truth. On the employee side, candidates obviously want the job, so it is in their interest to present a picture of themselves that best matches what the employer wants to see. The truth is, they are not presenting the picture that reflects their own greatest strengths, potential, or aspirations in an authentic way—instead, they are telling the employer what they want to hear. It is in their interest to do so. And on the employer side, organizations are in the middle of a

“It starts with knowing what it is, and then connecting that to what drives your success.”

“war” for talent, so we’re not about to tell the whole truth of what it’s like to work here. We’ll stress how great our culture is, and share our cool core values (Integrity! Excellence! Fun! Work-life-balance!). To get the best talent to say yes, we’re going to present an attractive picture, even if that means not sharing the whole truth of what it’s really like here. It is in our interest to do so. It is in all of our interests to NOT speak the truth. Hmmm, and we’re finding culture fit hard to do? Imagine that. So how do we break this pattern? On the employee side, organizations have been making efforts. There are more holistic assessments of candidates to get a more complete picture—for example several of the companies we found in our research are including short-term work assignments as part of their interviewing process. There’s a lot more to assess when watching people getting their hand dirty trying out doing the job and interacting with others, compared to just asking them questions about doing the job. But what’s happening on the employer side? Why are we not working harder to present a more holistic and authentic picture of what it’s like to work at our organizations? The candidates should be able to see that information, just like we employers want to see the whole picture of who they are. The only way you get true culture fit is if the honest picture is painted on both sides of the equation.

But here’s the rub. Most employers don’t even know what their culture is. They know what their recruiting and marketing collateral SAYS their culture is, and they know about all of their efforts to create a culture that the business literature says you SHOULD have, but they don’t know what it’s really like to work there. They don’t know the actual genetic code that determines what employees will experience when they work there. Let’s say you discover that you are a fairly hierarchical place. You may think that you should perhaps hide that trait in your hiring process, given today’s “culture cool kids” emphasis on flattening hierarchies and the growth of emerging systems of selfmanagement, like Holacracy. But here’s the catch: what if the way you emphasize hierarchy actually drives your success in your unique environment? If you got clear on that, you’d be smart to advertise the hierarchical nature of your culture. Because then you could attract the people want that, people who know they will thrive in that environment. Suddenly you’re hiring people who naturally connect to what you already know drives your success. That’s cultural fit. It starts with knowing what is, and then connecting that to what drives your success—two steps that most organizations today are ignoring. The ones who figure this out are winning the war for talent. By: Maddie Grant, Founding Partner, WorkXO Learn more at: workxo.com.

Helping 200+ Organizations Achieve Their Mission.

Depend on Our People. Count on Our Advice. To learn more, call 651.483.4521 or visit us online at otcpas.com.

Conversations: In Focus

Different view points. Different solutions.

What is your best advice for building relationships in the association community

Attend all the association events you possibly can. Be active and introduce yourself to strangers. Make it a goal to sit next to people you don’t already know at each event and make a new connection. That one connection will eventually lead you to many more. Gabe Clendenen Senior Sales Manager Saint Paul RiverCentre

Terri Schalesky

Trust, honesty, integrity and credibility are very important elements for success in any business practice. I have always let my clients know that I am a true partner for them and I care about the success of their program as much as they do. I make sure to listen, know the goals and objectives of their event, and do my part to help meet those goals and objectives. I love my job, and hope it shows!

Director of Sales Brede Exposition Services

Chris Wagner

I have some basic principles that I feel are essential for building & keeping relationships. Always be honest, be a good listener and communicate how you & your business can be a useful resource for your clients! If you promise to deliver a project or deadline stick to it…this will lead to a great foundation for building relationships “TRUST”!

Director of Sales Rochester Convention & Visitors Bureau

For more details and to register, visit: www.associationsnorth.com/calendar

Calendar Of Events: Mark It + Make It

THURSDAY JULY

VIP Reception DoubleTree by Hilton Minneapolis University Area 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm As a special thank you to Associations North’s Year Long Partners & Sponsors, Meetup Group Chairs, Committee Members and Board of Directors, we are hosting an exclusive reception to honor these individuals and organizations for their support. Invite only.

THURSDAY JULY

Webinar: 5 Trends Associations Can’t Ignore At Your Desk! 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm The biggest distinction between a trend and a fad is time. Fads fade over time whereas trends tend to solve problems or provide better solutions and often improve over time. Learn consumer trends associations shouldn’t ignore and raise questions to consider as you plan for the future.

FRIDAY JULY

Headshots Day Lexington Park Bldg, Roseville 9 am - 4 pm Say cheese! Associations North is partnering with Terra Sera Photography to bring out your best headshot and make your portfolio shine. 10-minute photo sessions will be available for sign up. Space is limited to the first 36 members.

Upcoming Events August

July

Associations North Board Meeting

Webinar: Talent Generation: How Associations Will Solve

VIP & Volunteer Appreciation Reception

the Nation’s Workforce Crisis

Webinar: 5 Trends Associations Can’t Ignore

Membership Meetup Group

Webinar: Getting It All Done: Time Management in a Chaotic

Communications Meetup Group

Workplace

Webinar: The Easiest Way to Let Go, Say No

Financial Meetup Group

and Have it All!

Meeting Management Meetup Group

Headshots Day

September

October

Allied Meetup Group

8-10

Leadership Conference, Duluth

CEO Strategies - Tentative

Communications Meetup Group

Webinar: Inside Out Marketing for Your Association

Webinar: Getting Beyond “We’ve Always Done It This Way!”

Meeting Management Meetup Group

Young Professionals Meetup Group

Brain Power

How to Get the Most Out of Your Speaker By Angela Cox, Midwest Speakers Bureau Having a speaker at an event is a worthwhile investment: a good speaker can boost attendance, among other things. You want to engage someone who attracts the right target audience and creates buzz. You can maximize the return on investment for your speaker, by ensuring that they do more than talk for an hour. Your speaker can help promote your event Unless itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a closed / private event, a good speaker likely has an impressive audience already that they can promote your event to, through social media and their own site. In addition, you can leverage their participation in your own internal and external promotion. For example, do a short Facebook live event with the speaker prior to the event and use it for promotion; share it with the speaker so that they too can re-share it with their own audience.

Use them more than once If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re paying for them to travel to the meeting, and accommodations too, you should try and include in the contract a few other things that bring value to your event. For example: moderating a breakout panel discussion, requesting that they host a seminar on their particular area of expertise, during the meeting / conference / event, ask them to act as emcee for an evening social that is tied to the meeting / event. Follow up materials If the speaker is willing to provide branded copies of their presentation to the attendees, it will up the value the audience receives, which is good for your event. Find out what take aways, if any, they will provide. When all is said and done, the days of a speaker swooping in, making their speech and sneaking out the side door, having had no contact with their audience and no follow up, are more or less over. Look for ways to maximize their value and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get a return on your investment that will be felt for a long time to come.

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The North Experience: 32nd Golf Classic

Another fabulous golf tournament in the books! We had a great day at The Wilds Golf Club in Prior Lake with fashionable foursomes, new and exciting games, Mega Putt Contest, fabulous prizes and winners to note. Thank you to all who participated!

To see more photos, visit the Associations North Flickr page: www.flickr.c om/photos/ associations live