What’s CO-ing On?

Not only are we in the midst of my favorite season, it marks a milestone: I am celebrating 15 years at Associations North. When I reflect on my journey, one word comes to mind - proud. I am proud of the continued evolution of this organization, the incredibly talented members we serve, the difference you all continue to make daily, the relationships and partners that support the mission of this organization and the innovations made to meet the changing needs of members. I am honored, humbled and very grateful to continue serving such an incredible community and profession.

So how do I plan celebrate? By forging ahead! We’re on a mission to Move Professionals Forward and we’re not slowing down.

Before I jump into what’s coming soon, I want to take a moment and say thank you. Recognizing the importance and support of the Associations North Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, sponsors, partners, and YOU, our members -- who make it all possible, thank you.

Associations North is more than a list of benefits. We’re a place to belong, to be inspired, to broaden perspectives, to find solutions to your challenges you thought “no one” would understand, a community of like-minded professionals rooting for each other’s success, and a place to make connections that outlast the meeting you met at. This is Associations North.

Recently at the NFusion Conference, a member said to me, “Today felt like a great big hug. It was so fun to be together.” I couldn’t agree more. The magic of belonging to an association comes through the moments, memories, and connections made. See highlights from NFusion on page 26. I’m grateful for your continued participation and enthusiasm.

So what’s next? Lets keep the momentum going! You can expect even more engagement, education, and connections with:

• Connections Cup at Topgolf on July 21

Make connections and have fun in an environment where the temperature is controlled for your comfort! Did we mention, no golf experience required? It’s not about being the best golfer, it’s about having the most fun. See more on page 1, and we sure hope to see you and your team for fun day! Don’t miss out on the injectable donuts!

• New Knowledge Hub coming this Summer

Take a dive into topics on every association watchlist via Knowledge Hub. As a member, gain access to this curated online library of downloadable educational content ranging from association management white papers, topic-specific webinars, industry product guides, industry analysis and much more.

Plus, get customized data through Associations North new data partner, Association Laboratory. Dive into the the Looking Forward Dashboard, the world’s leading environmental scan of the association strategy environment which provides the most recent, relevant and customizable data to inform your decisions is critical in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Details on page 24.

• Member Engagement Lab: Cultivating Connection

Coming this Fall a NEW three-part membership series facilitated by industry expert Amanda Kaiser, focusing on methods for gently nudging members through the three stages of engagement: Attention, Participation, and Leadership. Learn more on page 3.

• In-Person Events + Engagement

Fall Retreat (October), Meeting Planners Symposium (November), and Winter Celebration (December) still to come in 2022. Interested in volunteering? Let us know!

As part of our strategic plan, we will be in touch to learn more about your individual and organizational needs. We are committed to keeping a keen focus on developing new opportunities for organizational success.

Thank you again for your commitment and participation with Associations North. We know the passion and dedication it takes to make a difference every day, and we thank you. The future is ours to create and at Associations North, we’re motivated, excited and

Cheers and Happy Summer!

As the only association created by and for the professional liability industry, the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) knew that while it was financially strong, it needed to make a change to ensure it would be able to continue to be the primary source of education programs, seminars, networking events, and information regarding professional liability insurance.

“The time to act is when you are strong; look into the future, and act progressively,” said PLUS Chief Executive Officer Robbie Thompson.

After months of financial and predictive modeling, and many discussions, PLUS launched a new membership model in January 2021 that extended membership to everyone in the professional liability industry at no cost. Since then, the association’s membership has grown from 6,500 members to over 35,000.

“PLUS is excited that our new membership model will allow all industry professionals to become PLUS members at no cost,” said Thompson. “Paying a membership fee shouldn’t be a barrier to building connections and making business relationships. And it means more expertise to further develop content and education, which strengthens the value of the PLUS community.”

This greatly expanded PLUS community allows members to more easily share knowledge, enabling the entire industry to benefit from fresh perspectives and additional expertise. It also provides enhanced opportunities for the association to build new product offerings and sponsorship branding packages.

PLUS acknowledged that it’s still early in the process and there’s more to learn about the differences in serving 35,000 members compared to 6,500. Moving to scale has required a greater focus on process, technology, and automation without losing personalization. Many membership models were reviewed and considered before the no-cost model was chosen. The decision process lasted over a year with input from a variety of sources.

To help demonstrate the value of the expanded membership, PLUS launched a marketing campaign called “PLUS is More,” which shows how more members, business connections, knowledge, and expertise can provide powerful benefits for the whole community. The theme of “more” has translated into additional new members experiencing the value of PLUS through event participation. At the recent national in-person Symposia, 43% of attendees had not attended a PLUS event in more than seven years. That compares to just 18% in 2019.

The expanded membership benefits the entire industry and its professionals by providing unmatched access to an extensive network of knowledge and ideas. PLUS will share that knowledge to further its mission of advancing industry professionals.

During its lengthy decision process, lost revenue in dues was something that the association considered. Forecast modeling predicted that the association would recover the lost revenue from dues in three years. After the first four months of this year, however, PLUS is already on track to recover the lost dues in the first year through the growth in participation coming from new members and first-time purchases of other products.

Every association is unique, and PLUS cautioned that this model is not a perfect fit for everyone. With only about 16% of revenue previously coming from dues – and a revenue diversification strategy already in place – dropping membership fees was impactful but recoverable. In some instances, individual dues were already so low that it was a nuisance for PLUS to administer them, or the amount was too small to be meaningful for employees from very large corporations to pay them.

“The key takeaway for other associations looking to revamp their membership structure is to be willing to review and explore different membership models,” Thompson said. “There is a perfect solution out there for every association, but that also means the one you have today may not be perfect either.”

To learn more about PLUS, visit www.plusweb.org. Check out a special video of Thompson introducing the new membership model here: https://vimeo. com/663491549/b0181d8cd8.

Mary Kay Delvo, INspiring SIGHT

Are you growing tired of investing time, energy and resources into challenges after they have become full-blown problems?

This all too common approach is referred to as downstream thinking. There is another way, and it’s called Upstream Thinking. By heading upstream, we create the opportunity to identify gaps, causes, and early warning signs before they lead to crisis, inequities, and injustices. Upstream Thinking is defined as: the quest to solve problems before they happen and it sheds light on early warning signs which inform strategies, activities, and what and how you’ll measure progress. Its power is well documented by Dan Heath in his book, Upstream Thinking, which is chalk full of case studies which demonstrate results.

Organizations and systems tend to get stuck in the tangible and tactical. After all, that’s what our task-oriented, instant gratification-type society rewards. Doing what we know and reporting on what will sound productive to the board has an element of comfort. But tangible and instant results often don’t translate to meaningful or long term change. Because tangible measurements often are reactive, they don’t allow the time and space for those affected by the problem to participate in solving the problem. This is where Upstream Thinking meets equity.

An Upstream Thinking approach begins with the examination of three barriers to utilizing Upstream Thinking in the first place:

1. Problem Blindness - You don’t see the problem because you view it as inevitable 2. Lack of Ownership - People capable of addressing the problem think, “That’s not mine to fix” 3. Tunneling - see only what you are trained to see or are rewarded for. Not asking, “Why does this keep happening?”

Once barriers to Upstream Thinking have been identified, key planning questions assist in determining how to bring the right people together to move action forward. I recently facilitated an Upstream Thinking process with a consortium of educators. Examining barriers to Upstream Thinking alone, opened their eyes to perspectives and warning signs they had never before considered, resulting in the identification of new gaps in the system, gaps in how and to whom information flowed, specific training needs for key groups of people, and specific messaging and communication tactics. “Every new perspective uncovered inequity in the system. Inequities they didn’t see before. As a result, they are asking questions differently, and including people in the process that were formerly left out.”

They are re-energized, see a new role for themselves within the system and there was a complete shift in their approach to activities, what they will measure, who they’ll invite to participate and how they will implement.

Dan Heath’s Upstream Thinking work, has already uncovered that by rewarding every police officer for the ticket they didn’t have to write, we would be preventing a problem before it happened. That when employers and schools support employees or children who stay home when ill, we actually prevent or reduce the spread of disease. By addressing it as an early warning sign instead we can reduce its impact on a system and prevent other problems from happening.

An Upstream Thinking approach is visionary, inclusive, addresses equity and is not for the faint of heart. It requires courage on the part of leaders to help their boards, publiclyelected officials, and community leaders to embrace it and commit. Upstream Thinking requires the move beyond data for compliance and task orientation to data for learning to ignite long term change.

There are very few problems that don’t have early warning signs. Now imagine how Upstream Thinking and a little courage could help us put a dent in the many grand challenges facing our society. Does your organization have the courage to go upstream and search for them?

Celita Summa, Sidecar

Member engagement is the lifeblood of associations everywhere, but sometimes it can be challenging to identify your members’ pain points. When they aren’t engaged, they’re liable to let their memberships lapse. They’re also not likely to go out of their way to recommend association membership to friends, family, or colleagues.

Fortunately, there are several tactics you can use to boost member engagement, one of which is distributing surveys. In this article, we’ll explain the importance of surveys, get you started with some member-oriented survey questions and discuss how to make the best use of survey results.

Surveys give you an overall pulse on member engagement. In today’s dynamic business environment, it’s important your association clearly understands its members and their needs. Taking a datadriven approach toward membership engagement allows your association to collect feedback on satisfaction levels, the number of events attended, and general suggestions for improvement. There are plenty of surveying tools that allow you to easily collect and analyze survey results, meaning it’s never been easier to gather member feedback.

When designing a survey, the questions are hands-down the most important part. It’s also a good idea to keep things brief, so as not to overwhelm your members. Here are some association-related survey question ideas to get you started: • Why did you originally join? • What goals do you have that our membership can help with? • How likely are you to recommend our association to a friend or coworker?

From there, you can gain useful information that can help with planning out new content and planning events that resonate most with your members.

• Please mark all of the events you have attended. • How would you rate the quality of each of the following activities? (e.g. newsletters, events, other benefits? • What suggestions do you have for association improvement? • Are there any areas of interest you’d like to see us cover?

Once your survey results are in, it’s time to use the data to make association membership as beneficial as possible. Also, by taking action in response to survey results, members know you listen to their suggestions.

For starters, don’t expect your first survey to be your last. Pulse surveys are quick, frequent check-ins that keep you in the loop on member engagement. Don’t spam your members with incessant emails, but do be sure to track engagement over time with regular surveys.

You can even ask communications-related questions in your surveys, letting your members determine how often and via what channels they prefer to receive association communications. Once you have that data, you can schedule surveys and other association communications accordingly.

Surveys can help you gauge what exactly it is your members are looking for from association membership. This information helps you ensure your mission is in alignment with member needs.

Surveys can also assist with event planning and coursework additions. What kind of speakers do your members want to hear? What topics do they want to be covered? Which dates work best to maximize attendance? Let your members do the deciding for you, so you’re not left guessing.

All of your association members are industry experts in their own right. In addition to association-related surveys, you can survey members on industry trends and convert that data into whitepapers and recruitment materials (with permission, of course). This practice can help you build authority both within your association and within your industry.

Nearly every touchpoint between associations and members can be tracked. For the things that can’t be, there are surveys. Showing you value and act on member suggestions can improve retention, increase referral rates and boost overall membership engagement — wins in every association’s playbook.

Aaron Wolowiec, Event Garde

While COVID appears to be loosening its reins on the ability of associations to host in-person events again, the ripples have yet to be fully realized. Following are 10 trends we’ve found to be impacting association events right now, including both an overview of the challenges we’ve experienced first-hand and a recommended solution for you and your team to consider.

Challenge: Due to the volume of rebookings caused by the pandemic, hotel and venue availability is generally limited (and hotels/venues are being more choosy about the business they accept). Solution: Flexibility is key, particularly around dates, patterns, and function space.

Challenge: It’s a seller’s market. Hotels and venues no longer have to (and in many cases can’t) meet your standard concession demands and preferred clauses. Solution: Sort out and communicate your must-haves vs. your nice-to-haves. Strive for a mutually beneficial relationship and outcome.

Challenge: Hotels, venues, and third-party service providers are short-staffed and/or have turned over staff during the pandemic. Solution: Communication is key. Seek understanding of the current staffing situation for each of your partners, along with anticipated impact on expectations, timelines, and the like.

Challenge: All costs are steeply rising at or ahead of the rate of inflation, including food and beverage, gas, flights, drapery, equipment, printing, signage, supplies, storage, etc. Solution: Have consultative conversations with your partners to discuss desired outcomes and lean on their expertise/ recommendations. Ensure selected destinations are economical for attendees (e.g., travel and housing).

Challenge: Many of our organizations are defaulting to some version of hybrid without an intentional strategy. Solution: Gather data about your audience and their needs to determine what programs should go in person, virtual, and hybrid. Research the various hybrid options and choose the one that best fits your attendees, organization, and budget.

Challenge: Last year’s budget (or the one from 2019) can’t simply be copied and pasted with a few minor tweaks if we’re going to accurately reflect changes to revenue/expenses. Solution: Consider budgeting for three different scenarios: low attendance, medium attendance, and high attendance. You may also need to rethink your expectations around profitability (e.g., individual events vs. the overall portfolio).

Challenge: Attendees generally aren’t acting in alignment with past behaviors (e.g., registration, housing, and transportation timelines), rendering our event history useless. Solution: Use event history as a reference, combined with more real-time member polling, to predict counts. Maintain open communication with your event partners.

Challenge: In some instances, it remains difficult to purchase and timely receive necessary event supplies/promotional items, or the turnaround time for orders/production is longer. Solution: Assess your purchase needs for the next 6-12 months and try to place fewer orders as early as possible. Also, shop around to determine the best prices/turnaround times.

Challenge: Many professional speakers and entertainers are adding challenging clauses to their contracts that give them onesided decision-making authority in light of COVID-19. Solution: Read the fine print, ask questions, and don’t be afraid to negotiate (or choose a new speaker/entertainer). Rely on speaker/entertainment agencies to help you.

Challenge: Our teams are navigating a lot right now: the ongoing effects of the pandemic, continued COVID exposure, work-life imbalance, stress/anxiety/sleeplessness, oppression (e.g., racism, sexism), and so much more. Solution: Establish an employee wellness program of some sort, even if you start extremely small. Utilize 1:1 and team meetings as an opportunity to check in on one another.

June is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In the early hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City. The patrons of the club fought back in response to police violence, igniting six days of protests against police and government treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community1. This month has become a way to remember these pioneers of the gay rights movement as well as a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community in all its diversity and beauty. Today, Pride marches and protests coincide with connection, resources, and support for the community as a whole.

But for all the queer joy and action this month encapsulates, it also unfortunately involves co-opting by businesses that decide to appeal to the LGBTQIA+ community without any meaningful support. “Rainbow capitalism” is rampant in June, with companies claiming to support the LGBTQIA+ community while only taking advantage of the month to earn profit and improve their appearance without any lasting change. Some companies change their logos to rainbow colors and make “Happy Pride” social media posts while failing to take care of their queer employees. Other companies donate to queer support organizations with one hand while funding antiLGBTQIA+ organizations, politicians, and policies with the other.

Some corporations are listening, however. Target has a history of support for the LGBTQIA+ community, but was criticized by ACT UP New York for using the “Silence = Death” art on its pride merchandise this year. The slogan and accompanying design were created by activists in 1987 and became the symbol of the AIDS crisis, eventually being adopted by established AIDS activist group ACT UP2. The SILENCE = DEATH Project kept the image in the public domain, but as ACT UP New York said, “We have been fighting the commodification of AIDS for years and this is the latest edition.”3 Target listened and responded by pulling the shirts and looking into how it can better support the organizations that have been fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights for decades now4 .

Businesses may change their logos to rainbow colors, but it means nothing without actual action to back it up. It’s important to support LGBTQIA+ employees all year round, not just in June, and certainly not just with a rainbow logo. Below are some questions to ask yourself and your organization this Pride Month.

Katie Campbell, Professional Liability Underwriting Society

Does your organization provide access to a comfortable working environment for employees and guests? Gender neutral restrooms can take pressure off trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, or other employees on the wide spectrum of gender. Nongendered language is easy to implement and can make people feel comfortable in the work environment. Normalizing sharing pronouns with introductions can make sure everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Does your organization have a diversity initiative? Equity, diversity, and inclusion programs are a great way for employees to get involved with change in their industry. If you don’t have an EDI initiative, look into starting one. If you do, make sure that LGBTQIA+ voices are being heard without putting the weight of change solely on their shoulders. This is especially crucial when it comes to queer people of color.

Do your organization have updated workplace harassment policies? LGBTQIA+ employees face a high level of discrimination in the workplace. According to a study by the Williams Institute at the California School of Law in late 2021, one in ten LBGTQIA+ employees report facing discrimination in their workplaces5. There should be a clear, easy way to report harassment, and these reports should be handled in a timely manner and with respect to the victim.

Do you support LGBTQIA+ organizations with time and money? Many companies donate to charitable organizations throughout the year, or hold volunteer events for different organizations. For events in June, look to see what LGBTQIA+ organizations could use your support with volunteer time, monetary donation, or both.

These are just a few of the questions you should ask this month. Corporate statements mean little without the internal and external action to back them up. The LGBTQIA+ community celebrates Pride in June, but we exist all year round, and it’s important to have support from our employers as well as each other.

It can cost your association up to 10 times more to recruit new members than it does to retain current ones. Mitigate that with a solid retention plan.

Engaged members are built through solid recruitment and retention plans that showcase their worth and make them feel valued. These associations have a few things in common: open and timeline communication, a view of member touchpoints from all angles, and content that supports needs. Here’s how you can build your strategy for membership retention.

Always talking about yourself is a great way to turn members off. Create an engaging, open community where your members are comfortable and encouraged to talk about themselves and tell you what they want. Ask members what they need, what they’re going through, what they can use to boost their associations. Use tools such as:

• Surveys • Live Q&A events • Encouraging responses to e-newsletters • Creating a members-only online forum

Content is key and most of your members will want something different at various times in their memberships or career journey. Think omni-channel content development and use member personas to outline which channels and content types will be developed for which member types. Develop content that provides value, choice, and variety. Use a diverse mix to create content that:

• Inspires • Educates • Informs • Encourages participation • Sparks new ideas • Is shareable with others

First impressions matter. Onboarding matters. Develop solid touchpoints for all member types no matter where they are in their journey. Know the systems in place to welcome new members; do a lot of handholding in this stage to make them feel welcome, and follow-up to ensure they are taking advantage of (and know about) the services available to them. Think: how-to videos, welcome letters, onboarding checklists, and surveys.

Members who have been with you for a while deserve strong touchpoints, too. Don’t assume they can figure it out themselves. Develop campaigns to make long-standing members feel just as special as your new members. Provide opportunities for all members to get involved, serve on boards, be a part of contests, receive benefits to serve their specific needs—get to know your members in person and online. Show them how much you value their membership.

The care that you bring to the table can make or break membership renewals. And in an age of instant-gratification, digital communication, and higher customer services expectations than ever before, what your team does (or does not do) in response to your members is of utmost importance. Train your team and set expectations around the types of responses and time it takes to respond to your members. Over-communication is better than missed communication. Whose responsibility will it be to:

• Respond to private social media messages • Respond to public social media messages • Respond to emails that come in through your general membership channels • Monitor website form fills • Monitor mentions or tags on social media

It should not take days to respond to your members’ questions; digital channels especially warrant same-day or next-day responses.

On average, it costs your association up to 10 times more to recruit new members than it does to retain current ones. Building a solid membership retention strategy will not only cost less in the long run, it will also build a community of brand ambassadors (your members) who will, by default, talk up the great things about your association. Need help? Allee Creative partners with associations to review membership onboarding and journey mapping; let’s work together to build a solid retention plan.

CELEBRATING EST 15 YEARS

Membership Marketing | Social Media | Digital Audits | Websites | Design

That’s what makes our agency tick. It’s our job to make your job easier. As a strategic content marketing agency, Allee Creative moves associations into the conversational space, creating customized marketing strategies with your members in mind.

More time, better content, increased membership, professional marketing materials to support sustained organizational growth.

Fresh ideas on time and within budget. A team to manage it all—from marketing strategy to timelines to content creation, design and execution.

Supporting association growth by developing integrated marketing strategies.

@alleecreative

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@alleecreative

Brianna Martin, Mighty Citizen

Redesigning your organization’s website can open new opportunities to improve your brand, audience engagement, and more! So, what exactly can a new website do for your organization? Redesigning your website can:

We say it all the time: Everything you publish is content—and your website is your biggest piece of content! Most of your marketing and communications efforts are spent trying to get the right people to get eyes on your website. But what happens when they arrive? Do they want to stay and engage? Or, does cognitive strain send them running for the hills?

Redesigning your website can present new opportunities to improve user experience. You may be stuck with a Content Management System (CMS) that limits your flexibility. Or, you may have been too afraid to peel back the layers of your website because there’s just so much content, and it’s overwhelming to think about auditing. At any rate, a redesign can be used to dissect your website, and distill it down to clear, purposeful content with the right call to action at every turn. It’s also likely that you’ll find yourself on the other side with an increased ability to customize and optimize your website content.

Ask yourself: How has your organization’s brand changed over time? More specifically, how has your organization’s brand changed since your last website redesign? If your website has been around for a while, it’s likely that the people who manage your website content have cycled and changed. Over time, messaging can become fractured, content can become outdated, and your website can become more of a time capsule than a resource.

Any organization struggling with brand identity can benefit from a website redesign. It creates the rare opportunity to bulldoze through the existing structure, framework, look, and feel of your website and build something that is cohesive across every component.

Good web design is accessible web design. Your website should be able to be used by everyone—from both a moral and legal standpoint. With more than 100 million Americans who have some sort of disability, it’s simply common sense to design and build fully accessible websites. If your website has fallen into disrepair to the point that it becomes inaccessible, you’re ignoring the needs of millions of users. In turn, you’re also preventing millions of people from being able to perceive and understand your most public-facing content.

In addition to accessibility, redesigning your website can give you the opportunity to optimize performance—both on mobile and desktop. If your organization’s website doesn’t function (or doesn’t function well) on mobile, you’re losing a large percentage of your audiences, and consequently, conversions on your website. That’s too many donations, volunteers, membership applicants, etc. lost! Your website should exist on mobile and be just as good, if not better, than your desktop site.

A website redesign can also help you improve your site performance. If your website is noticeably slow, that issue will only compound on itself as time goes on. Your site performance could also be affecting the searchability of your content. In recent years, Google has started weighing site performance as a factor in search ranking.

Your website isn’t only competing against the 8-second attention spans of your audience. It’s competing against every other mission-driven organization that exists in your space. For better or worse, humans are very visual. If your users can find what they’re looking to accomplish on your competitors’ websites in a cleaner, more dynamic, or more interactive way, you’ll lose nearly every time.

If you forgo redesigning your website while all of your competitors are updating theirs, the standard for what is “current” or “modern” will shift—and you’ll be left in the dust.

Ashley Neal, Sidecar Global

To make a lasting impact on your industry, you have to keep up with the latest trends, topics, and ways of doing business. And one of the best ways of keeping track of those changes and getting an inside look at what is important to future generations is to hire young professionals in your organization.

But how do you set your association up for success and give young professionals everything they need?

What is a young professional? “Young professionals are the future of the professional workforce,” wrote the Department for Professional Employees. “They are more likely to be college graduates, work in fastgrowing occupations, and be racially and ethnically diverse.”

For some, the first thing that comes to mind are interns, assistants, brand-new graduates, and Generation Z.

However, the International Association for Energy Economics defines a young professional as “someone who, although he or she may be employed full-time, is within two years of graduation from a full-time Bachelors, Masters or PhD program and is under the age of 35.”

A young professional could be a low-level intern, they could be a C-suite executive, or they could be like me — fresh out of college but hitting the ground running with an already established career.

4 Strategies to attract young professionals While there are plenty of benefits to adding young professionals to your organization, including innovative ideas and diverse perspectives, your culture plays a critical role in attracting and retaining young professionals.

So, what can association leaders do to create a more welcoming environment?

If there’s anything we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic — and the resulting shift in work/life balance — it’s that people prioritize flexibility. Whether that is the ability to work from home, setting your own schedule, unlimited PTO, part-time options or things like maternity/caregiving leave, being flexible and understanding will increase the likelihood that younger professionals will come work with you.

One of the biggest issues with younger professionals is being taken seriously by their colleagues and superiors. Just because someone is young or new to the workforce does not mean that their insight or ideas are any less important than others.

It can be easy to feel like you don’t belong, especially when you are years, if not decades, younger than some of your colleagues and peers. It is increasingly likely that younger professionals deal with this, and exacerbating the issue by dismissing them prematurely will do nothing but drive young professionals away from your organization.

As you may already know, one of the most common themes within association industry chatter is “that’s the way it’s always been done.” Young professionals come to the table with bright ideas, passion, determination, and an ability to think outside the box and experiment at an unprecedented rate.

Stifling that creativity by sticking to outdated or vague rules and regulations will just drive the younger generations away, and impede your association’s efforts at staying relevant.

With all the experimentation young professionals are eager and ready to do, there are bound to be a few missteps and failures along the road. But that’s just part of the process!

Don’t put too much focus on the failures when they do happen, and let your younger employees or members know that it is okay to not be perfect all the time. This will instill confidence in them to keep trying and will lead to bigger and better things for your association.

Creating a supportive environment benefits everyone. While creating a welcoming environment for young professionals can help you attract diverse talent, it has benefits for everyone in your organization. By encouraging flexibility and allowing for experimentation and innovation, your organization can grow exponentially and succeed in its most important goal – serving members.