Do you assess your events after they’re over?

Yes, planning and executing a successful event can take a lot out of a small staff association professional. But! After it’s all said and done, how do you know your event was really successful?

So, why should you assess your events?

Here are some thoughts from John S. Parke, facilitator of the “Business of Meetings: Meeting, Event and Tradeshow Assessments” session at ASAE’s Annual Meeting:

• Meetings are business assets – like any asset the relative health should be checked every few years.
• Outside objective opinions offer insights and innovations.
• Market turbulence has lasting negative affects – you can’t cut your way to health.
• Competitive advantage – for profit and non-profit competitors are fighting for a smaller pie of members and revenues.

So, how do you assess your meeting?

• Staff interviews: Conduct interviews with staff members and the sales team. Through confidential, one-on-one interviews, solicit buy-in for recommendations and identify the most culturally friendly approach to achieving ABC’s goals and objectives. Interview questions will be approved in advance.
• Stakeholder interviews: Conduct interviews with stakeholders to gather information for the components of the evaluation. Interview questions will be approved in advance.
• Member interviews: Conduct interviews with ABC’s largest customers to gather information for the components of the evaluation. Interview questions will be approved in advance.
• E-surveys: Conduct e-surveys of staff members (entire association) for full organizational buy-in, stakeholders and members (those not interviewed) to further validate interview findings and gather enough data to be statistically valid to support
  recommendations for improvement.
• Benchmarking assessment of other associations with like-size and larger event
  departments.
• Sales team effectiveness assessment

Based on interviews, analysis and research, you’ll know how successful your event was and what factors to change while planning the next one.

Happy Friday and happy ASAE 2011! The Annual Conference and Expo kicks off today with a golf tournament, which our president, Mark Sedgley, will be attending. Good luck to everyone!

We’ll be out in full force at the conference, although this year will be the first year in the past three that I personally won’t be attending. Don’t worry, though, we’ll still be blogging and tweeting away!

To kick off the conference, I thought I’d do a (mostly) ASAE-focused Friday Top Five!

1. Kathi Edwards shares what she’s looking forward to at this year’s conference, including Ignite sessions and the Innovation Exchange. Also on her list? The opening night concert under the famed St. Louis arch. How fun!

2. Although not specifically geared toward ASAE, Jeffrey Cufaude posted 12 questions association executives should ask to ensure better meetings. My favorite? How do we want to capture the insights and decisions from our discussion?

3. Is your conference truly providing education? Jeff Hurt doesn’t think so, and he gives a good explanation why. Just giving out information is not necessarily education, and Jeff wants to make sure everyone knows the difference.

4. Lindy Dreyer is taking advantage of the ASAE iPad application, and, while useful, she’s got a few suggestions for improvement to go along with her raves. Unsurprisingly, they’re all very constructive.

5. Jamie Notter ran down a full preview of ASAE11, including where he’ll be presenting and which parties are the must-attend. His love for the association community is obvious, and he reminds attendees to introduce themselves to as many people as possible!

Whatever you’re doing this weekend, have fun! And if you’re in St. Louis, be sure to keep an eye out for the MemberClicks crew!

Happy Friday! I’m headed to the beach bright and early Saturday morning, so I’m extra-psyched and ready for today to fly by. Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Before I load up on sunscreen and escape to the beach for a long weekend, though, I wanted to share five blog posts that really stood out to me this week. Please share your own in the comments!

1. At the Engage365 blog, Elizabeth Henderson shared part 2 of What Sustainability Can Learn From Quality. One notable point? Break down interdepartmental barriers and work as a team. I think small staff associations have an advantage here, as their (duh!) small size inherently lends itself to working as a team rather than funneling everything through silos.

2. Jeffrey Cufaude advocates getting back to good old-fashioned brainstorms with white boards, etc. Encouraging people to interact with one another while brainstorming can really help the ideas flow – more so than sharing a document over email. How does your small staff foster brainstorms?

3. Who does your organization belong to? David M. Patt reminds association professionals everywhere that the association belongs to the members, not the founder. Without the members, there wouldn’t even be an association.

4. How are conferences going to evolve over the next few years? Jeff Hurt share four things that will help shape meetings and conferences, including curation, social objects and game dynamics. He advocates that association professionals should start accepting them and adapting sooner rather than later.

5. Eric Lanke shares why it’s crucial to have both courage and clarity to solve problems: if you want clarity, the clarity that comes from the intersection, you’re better served by turning your headlights off and looking at the problem from different perspectives.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! I’m currently on a much-deserved (at least, I think it’s deserved) vacation, but I couldn’t leave you guys hanging for weekend material on this fine Friday. As always, feel free to share your own personal favorite links in the comments!

1. Wes Trochlil wrote about profound change rather than incremental change (similar to his post about taking bold risks). Although it can be difficult for small staff association professionals to focus on bigger changes when they’re caught up in the day-to-day activities, it’s crucial to think about things that will push your association further in a big way.

2. In what is sure to be a classic post, Jeff Hurt discussed the signs of healthy and unhealthy associations. “Unhealthy associations avoid change as long as possible,” he writes. While every association has a lifecycle, the healthy ones routinely perform “self-examinations” and evaluate what they can be doing better. Where does your association fall in the spectrum?

3. At the Engage 365 blog, Samuel Smith asked association professionals if they are multiplying the value of their meetings. How could you give your meeting attendees three or four times the value they’re used to at meetings and conferences? How could you measure it? There’s some good food for thought here.

4. Eric Lanke wrote a great post about really listening to your members when it comes to innovating. Although innovation essentially means creating a whole new set of rules that can be hard to imagine, it’s important to listen to your members so you can empower them within the organization.

5. What are your professional learning habits? Elizabeth Engel answered that question this week at her blog. Her answers? Read voraciously, TED Talks, participate and unplug. I think the final one is often the most important, especially given how constantly plugged-in so many of us are. What are your own professional learning habits?

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! What a stressful week it’s been – but it’s the good kind of stress, which I far prefer over the bad kind of stress. (Who doesn’t?) I’m ready for a relaxing weekend (well, not that relaxing … I have a 5K on Sunday). Who’s got fun weekend plans with their families and friends?

And just in case you haven’t had quite enough association management reading material this week, let’s kick off the weekend with a few of the posts from the blogosphere that really stuck with me this week.

1. Tony Rossell had a great post about innovation through collaboration and why collaboration is so important for associations. He cites two great articles that support that point, and I think it’s something every association should be cognizant of. Of course, at small staff associations it may be easier to have the whole staff collaborate, but don’t forget how important it is!

2. Midcourse Corrections’ Dave Lutz shared a few great ways to make your conference irresistible. My favorite? “Solutions are the new location.” Conference attendees participate because they’re looking for something, whether they know what that something is or not. Often, they find a whole host of solutions that will help them streamline their business practices.

3. Have you seen the Young Association Professionals’ takeover of ASAE’s Acronym blog? If not, it’s definitely worth checking out those posts. Want to achieve something great? Fail! is my personal favorite. I fully believe that if you really want to be awesome and get stuff done, you’ve gotta try a few ways that don’t work first.

4. At the Hourglass Blog, Eric Lanke shared an insightful post about the sad paradox of board governance. The kicker: When the shareholders need the directors least, they get them most. And when they need them most, they get them least. Does this ring true for your small staff association? Why or why not?

5. They’re a necessary aspect of association management, and this week, the Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology had a great post about the good, the bad and the ugly of RFPs. The section on what makes a great RFP is my personal favorite. Tips include “do your homework” and “understand that implementation differs across software platforms.” So true!

From everyone at MemberCilcks, have a fantastic weekend!