Are you looking for a quiet spot to connect with a colleague, stop by the CEO Lounge on Level 1M in the Davidson Ballroom A1. The Lounge will be open the following days and times:

TODAY, 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tuesday, 7 a.m.-12 p.m. 

The CEO Lounge is sponsored by Naylor Association Solutions.

"What if the disruption that we have experienced is our opportunity."

- Michelle Mason, FASAE, CAE, ASAE President and CEO

After the accelerating pace of change of the last couple years, most associations are asking not only how they can keep up with the change, but how they can stay ahead of the disruption curve to serve their members and meet their missions.

Truly innovative associations are looking at how they can be initiators of disruption – not victims of it, said Safi Bahcall, physicist, biotech entrepreneur, former CEO and opening keynote for the 2022 ASAE Annual Meeting.

Too often, when an innovative idea arises, the response is: “That will never work.” But how do you know? That’s when your association needs to experiment. Experiments allow associations to gather real feedback and data on the effectiveness of an idea, but they also allow you to test new ideas at a faster pace and scale without disrupting your core services.

Safi, whose book Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries combines physics, business, and history to highlight new way of thinking about innovation, shared five rules for elevating ideas in your association.

1. Celebrate good fails – Encourage your people to come up with a hypothesis, test it and learn from it.

2. Be a gardener, not a Moses – Reduce the tension your teams feel when balancing idea generation and day-to-day operations that keep the business going.

3. Love your artists and soldiers equally – Most associations aren’t short on supply when it comes to new ideas, but the dynamic between your teams who create and operate need to be handled with care.

4. Measure your speedboats and helicopters – Budget and then measure the time, resources and investment you make in your core business vs. low- and high-risk innovations.

5. Get quickly to boats in the water – Know who your allies and blockers are on your board; identify which stakeholders will support innovation and which will hold you back.

Innovation fails in most organizations because of three reasons: fear, friction and framework (or lack thereof). Avoid these pitfalls that can breed a culture of “safe bets” and crush new ideas under rules.

That way, instead of saying “That will never work” to new ideas based on gut instincts or potentially incorrect beliefs, your association will instead ask, “What experiment can we run?” to get us the answers and evidence we need.

Veronica Diaz, PhD, CAE, of EDUCAUSE and Tracy Petrillo, EdD, CAE, of California Association of School Business Officials shared their experiences on how to design an association-wide, community-centric learning strategy through a range of programs and services based on career competencies and workforce needs that also bring in needed revenue.

They encouraged associations to become more business savvy in their learning offerings. Events and education must make money, they said - they can’t all be a cost center. Associations need to think like a business as well as an educator.

One way to do this is to replicate a framework to develop modular content that can be reconfigured, personalized, monetized and marketed to various professional levels, audiences and delivery modes.

Learning leaders must create business models for their events that generate non-dues revenue, enhance member value through career-focused products, recognize all learning styles, develop your industry’s professional workforce, and expand partnerships with educational institutions like colleges and universities.

Above all, it can’t be about filling a room - it must provide value and applicable learning that can be taken back to the job. A few of the new ways to explore doing just that include:

• Short, focused learning
• Audience- or role-specific education
• Competency-based content
• Cohort driven sessions
• Timed, sequenced offerings
• Bundled products and services
• Face-to-face social networking

Through these re-envisioned programs, you’ll create relevant education today that helps your profession tomorrow.

Despite the challenges with attracting attendees, associations still value their traditional conferences and events more than any other engagement channel. Webinars, training and certification events, and networking events also fell in the Top 10 engagement channels, as associations strive to meet the needs of members who value education and connection. A range of digital engagement channels also ranked highly for associations on the value scale, with email blasts, websites and e-newsletters rounding out the top half of this year's list.

To read more about the evolving trends to associations' approach to member engagement, download the 2022 Association Benchmarking Report when it launches later this month! Visit naylor.com/associationadviser to learn more.

The 2022 edition of Association Adviser magazine is available now in print and online. Pick up a copy today in the Expo Hall at the Naylor booth (1049) or read it online in our mobile-friendly format. Inside, you'll find articles and advice from Naylor Association Solutions experts and industry leaders on how your association can achieve more in the years to come, including:

• 7 Practical Ways to Design a Better Association Strategy
• What's Ethics Got to Do with It? Responsible Content Curation
• Tip of the Iceberg: Your Guide to Finding More Non-Dues Revenue
• Unlocking Doors to Keep Members Happy and Wanting to Renew
• The Power of Integration - Creating a Technological Ecosystem

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Naylor is proud to be a strategic partner of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).