In my last post, Ben points us to a question derived from Clay Shirky's book (It is tops on my list of books to read right now, I just need to find the time):
Ok, association professionals. Time to defend our salaries. Why are we here? Why are our associations here?
I will post my answers later on, but I want to hear what you have to say!
Now that forming groups is ridiculously easy, what's the point of "professional group organizers" like association professionals?
Ok, association professionals. Time to defend our salaries. Why are we here? Why are our associations here?
I will post my answers later on, but I want to hear what you have to say!
Comments
The question suggests some assumptions, including the fact that everyone has access to the Web, knows where/how to conntect to others via social networking options, and chooses to forge strong bonds through those options in the same way they have forged strong bonds via their association membership.
While this is all true for some, it's not true for others.
In our case, our trade association members retain membership even though the strong bonds have already been forged. Why? Because they can get together with their friends/colleagues at our events, and do so within an established PD budget they have through their employment.
Could they get professional development online or elsewhere? No doubt. Could they meet up with their colleagues outside of our events? Absolutely, and they certainly already do (through membership in other associations, vendor-organized meetings, etc.).
The advantage to membership? We already have the structure in place that provides a way for them to justify the cost for in-person meetings. We have already developed and offer the PD events relevant to them so they don't have to go find them somewhere on the Web.
Are we looking at Web 2.0 anyway? You bet! But we also, every day, make sure our members see us as THE place to get what they can't get anywhere else. As long as we can do that successfully, we will retain our members over time.
Is it too naive to think that associations struggling with membership loss due to social networking are those that can't define what makes them unique and therefore desirable if not necessary?
Then what? When people want to get together to discuss a very specific, urgent problem, will they go to your webinar that takes a minimum of three weeks to plan and promote, or will they self-organize and meet up immediately?
So I believe we need to redefine our value. Rather than seeing ourselves as producers of events, we can see ourselves as enablers of groups. We can be the ultimate resource by being knowledgeable about our industry or profession, in touch with new ideas, and agile enough to take the lead when new groups or initiatives need work.
We have all the building blocks and we hold all the keys...but if we lock down too tightly, someone will come along and change all the locks.