@David Goldsmith
David, I apologize for the late comment. Thanks for adding some provocative thoughts to the conversation. I agree that people join an associaton for higher value. So many association employees are used to reading the membership surveys that list networking, education, government relations, etc. as the main reason people join organizations. Yes, there is much more than just meetings and everyone has meetings. I agree with you that it’s about measurment of the value after the meeting, just as Dave Lutz says. The challenge is that few professionals know how or make the tiime to do that type of long-term evaluations. And, few businesses require that type of measurement as well. Great thoughts though as always. Thanks.

Relevant Background: After serving as education director for a national trade association for several years, I left to pursue a lifetime dream with my husband, and travel the continent full-time in an RV.

Because I’m a learning junkie, and especially tied to association elearning, I continue to stay connected as much as I can to blogs like this one.

I’ve learned a lot out here about social learning because it is the only way I’m now connected to the many professional organizations I’m a member of.

I haven’t attended live events because of cost and travel complications. I attend far fewer Webinars because of uneven Internet connections.

Which Brings Me to My Point: The Web is exactly what its name implies — a way of staying connected and “stuck” (in this case, a good thing) within a particular network.

If anything, I’m more in touch with colleagues than ever before — I read more blogs, comment more often, add entries to my own blog more frequently, exchange more e-mails, and have more professional connections at a closer level than ever before. I’m on top of the newest information and elearning developments because I have more time to read the literature and stay current with trends.

All without attending a live event.

Will I keep my memberships in ASTD, ASAE, and other organizations? That remains to be seen. But I can tell you I’m evaluating each membership every day, based on this key question:

“Could I have gotten this information/insight/connection/knowledge from any source other than through membership in this association?”

So far, the answer is probably.

Bottom line is that if more meetings were able to gather results based feed back 30 – 90 days after to understand changes made as a result of attendance and then again several months later to gauge the business impact (results), all of us meeting profs would be sitting fat and happy.

Fact is, most attendees want tools, tricks and templates. They want the quick fix that’s easy to implement. It’s not till you get to a higher maturity, where they really appreciate the higher level soft skill improvement that sharpens the strategic saw.

Any way, here’s another vendor plug/mention. This is one I have done consulting for, so I am biased. http://www.meetingmetrics.com Meeting Metrics is a survey technology that helps measure meeting effectiveness. It’s got all the ROI and ROE methodology built into it. MPI and PCMA both use Meeting Metrics for their big meetings and if you are a member of either of those associations you get a sweet discount.

Happy assessing!

Dave Lutz – @velchain

Oh my god… it’s not about meetings!! Members don’t join association for meetings, education OR networking. Corporations don’t have meetings to just have meetings.

They join to achieve a HIGHER VALUE.

What’s a higher value?

A higher value is the real reason you attended the meeting. “I attended the meeting to increase my company sales and therefore my own income.” “I joined to get a better job in the organization and I’m hoping your meetings going to help me get there.” “If I know this I can start to get home to my wife at a reasonable time.”

Give the attendee this, and they will return time and time again.

Everything else is a Sub Value and when you measure Sub Values… butts in seats, you miss the mark by enough to cause mistakes in decision making.

Here’s the deal. Instead of looking at cola and wine, or evaluating smiley faces and viewers, measure the results they achieved AFTER the meeting.

Did revenue increase? By how much?
Is there less bickering? What’s the proof?
Is customer acquisition improving? Get stats.

Yeah, a lot of work and tough to measure. It’s moving from tactical from strategic.

Just think…if you focused on measuring results what you’ll find, if you dare.

Let’s not confuse motion with progress…or cola and wine. I’m going to get a glass of water, all this drinking is making me thirsty.

PS. Thanks for the interview!

@Mark
Love that quote by Clay Shirky. He has some great insight. Thanks for adding it to the dialogue.

@elatedca
Thanks for commenting. Fantastic idea to provide Uncola to your attendees. I think your model of the speaker presenting, followed by attendee discussion is one more event organizers should consider. It’s worked for me too.

@Carol
You hit it the nail on the head with one word, “engagement.” In today’s socieity, it is about engaging an audience and giving them the opportunity to engage with the content. The concept of engaging with the content is one many event organizers have not yet figured out how to do. I’d add “contribute” to that as well. Association members and event attendees want an opportunity to contribute and feel as if they belong. When organizations can facilitate opportunities to engage their audience and allow them to contribute, they’ve found a winning formula. Thanks for adding to the conversation!

http://twitter.com/bobnesbitt
http://www.kenes.com

I think the “disruptive innovation” that social media has presented us with is causing us to revisit an age-old problem in the not-for-profit world: How do associations and what they offer (conferences, programs, services) evolve from the cola stage to the wine stage?

In my experience, the difference between ‘good’ associations and ‘great’ ones has been the level of the organization’s ability to get their members excited enough about what is happening to roll up their sleeves and actively work at helping the association achieve its full potential.

‘Engagement’ may be an overused term, but it has and continues to be a huge conundrum for many not-for-profits. Social media holds so much promise as a tool to help associations achieve this elusive key to greatness as it levels the playing field and gives everyone a chance to play a role in creating something amazing.