Quick Hits

Barkan was a consultant for International Coach Federation (ICF), and he and ICF Executive Director Magadelana Mook walked the audience through a case study of how ICF finally got its risk-averse board to go along with dues increase. According to Barkan, by understanding what’s really most valuable to members, you can calculate and quantify a true membership value. For example, they found that if they could help members increase the number of billable fees annually by just one hour a year, that’s would be worth at least $250. 

"Associations notoriously underprice their products and services and are way too hesitant to raise their dues," he said. As an example, many associations are competing with for-profit publishers and even their own vendors who put on conferences. Both groups tend to charge far more than the association, even though it’s the same speakers and same topics. "As associations, we all want to say we’re the best, but you don’t get to be the best for the cheapest." 

Both Barkan and Mook said they found a higher membership price connoted more prestige and, therefore, had more perceived value.

Mook said if you’re planning a dues increase, make sure you give members plenty of advance warning and make sure your board – including the initial naysayers – not only support the increase, but champion it publicly and serve as ambassadors. 

"The term ‘status quo’ is an oxymoron," Weidner said. "The time you should be tossing and turning the most at night are the times when you think everything’s going well. That’s when your most likely to be disrupted." He continued by saying that associations have to challenge conventional thinking and anticipate future disruptions. We get paid by our members to do this. They’re busy running the day to day and don’t have time to do this on their own.

Boards tend to be risk-averse by nature, but things are changing so fast today, that it’s more risky NOT to change, Jacobs said. "We get so involved in tweaking our member benefits, but you’ve got to constantly think about what’s going to come in and disrupt." 

She went on to describe how associations can learn by all the ways that Netflix not only disrupted Blockbuster, but kept disrupting itself, from CDs to streaming to original content creation. She also used as examples Rent the Runway, a high-end fashion rental service, and pay-as-you-go classes rather than fixed memberships at her gym, Orange Theory.

 

 

 

Stephens started his Game Changer session by sharing the history of the tech support giant he created, The Geek Squad. "I fell into a boring business that I fell in love with," he said. His passion for the company shined through as he talked about its early days when all he had was a bicycle and a phone to take calls from clients. Roberts explained how in the early days, he approached every decision as a marketing activity, from the design of the company's logo to the car he bought to go on house calls to the uniform he had his employees wear. All details matter, he said. Pay attention to the unexpected details that most people miss, and you'll be memorable in the eyes of your audience – whether that's a customer or a member.

 

After sharing the lessons he learned building a successful company, Stephens shifted direction and, like the name of his session suggested, talked about what he sees as the "next big thing" in technology: business messaging. He shared his outlook of how messaging can be used for everything, from communicating much like we already do today to ordering food, buying movie tickets and scheduling your next flight. In the future, Stephens sees most of those interactions taking place with a bot (a form of artificial intelligence) that will help customers by giving them exactly what they need.