Australia’s premier convention, exhibition and entertainment venue supports major easing of restrictions for corporate and live entertainment events

Donaghy continued, “We still have some way to go with the resurrection of international business which is vital to our full recovery. We remain focused on continuing to work with industry representative bodies to progress a long term recovery strategy for business events to ensure this remains on the agenda with decisions makers.”
 
ICC Sydney is currently open and running a range of in-person and hybrid events in line with the venue’s EventSafe Operating Guide which integrates parent group ASM Global’s rigorous Venue Shield program, while meeting NSW Government regulations.

 https://www.iccsydney.com.au/ 

Knowing how to communicate with members—and when—consumes many hours of discussion even in good times. Add multiple crises in a single year, and things really get complex. A communications expert offers some tips for engaging members in uneasy times.

Finally, Zoom fatigue explained! It’s caused by “lizard brain,” according Sheri Singer, president of Singer Communications. Lizard brain is one operating in survival mode, relying on fight or flight instincts. Understandable. We are experiencing several crises at once—a global pandemic, an unstable economy, racial injustice, political realignment, and more.

Compounding that, many people are sleeping less, working longer, eating and drinking more, and exercising less, all of which contributes to an inability to focus (including on all those Zoom meetings) and other issues. Our brains are not working like they usually do.

So how to better engage members when it’s difficult to make connections with such compromised brains? Singer recommends communicating in a way that doesn’t require as much energy for members to process. For example, research shows shorter emails have a 50 percent higher response rate.

“You can’t continue to communicate with members the ways you have in the past,” she said. Here are some additional insights.

SHIFTING PERSONAS

Now is a great time to look at your messaging. Singer cited a recent study from Ketchum, Brand Reckoning 2020: How Crisis Culture Is Redefining Consumer Behavior, Loyalty, and Values, which shows a marked change in Americans’ openness to reengaging with the outside world. The research identifies four crisis-culture personas:

• Retro re-engagers want to return to the world as it was before.
• Open-minded explorers have new priorities and are ready to embrace new things.
• Worried withholders are not easily influenced and want to stay in their comfort zones.
• Cautious questioners want to keep their distance until they know more.

The largest group of responders (33 percent) are retro re-engagers. Because it’s unlikely that the world will go back to the way it was, Singer said, it’s important to keep those personas in mind as you craft messages. She recommends using words like contribute, connect, navigate, cope, and respond instead of capitalize, offer, advantage, gain, and profit.

SHOW YOU CARE

“We’ve moved to a different playbook being driven by people under 40” who expect marketing and communications to be largely driven by experience, Singer said. That means it’s time to be more empathetic, sympathetic, and compassionate.

For example, it’s not enough to simply ask, “How are you?” Instead, ask, “How are you doing?” or “How are you handling COVID-19?” Eliciting a deeper response shows you care and gives your members—including your volunteer leaders—a safe space where they can expand on what is happening to them right now, she said.

KICK IT OLD SCHOOL

Singer recommends revisiting old-fashioned ways to connect, such as by phone or with handwritten notes, which will provide a welcome break from video calls. Or help members communicate directly with one another by setting up a phone tree and have one member, with a script, call five other members and discuss the value-added aspects of the organization. Then ask questions like: What is giving you value right now? How can the association provide that virtually? How can the organization be an innovator in the industry? And more.

Nothing feels normal right now, and our brains, in their lizard form, are not processing information like they usually do. To stay connected with your members, it’s time to reassess messaging, revisit more personalized—and old-fashioned—ways of communicating, and express compassion.

LISA BOYLAN
Lisa Boylan is a senior editor of Associations Now

2020 taught us a lot about strategic planning—this is what associations can do about it.

If you are an association professional, we don’t have to tell you that you’re working harder than ever before. When the pandemic hit, you scrambled, pivoted, learned new tech on the fly and did whatever needed to be done to keep your members informed and your organization alive.

Without question, associations big and small rose to meet this year’s unimaginable challenges. It was exhausting, at times frustrating, but you’re still standing. And now here’s the thing, a study conducted by Community Brands of over 1,000 association members says now is not the time to take your foot off the gas. If you upped your game in 2020, you’re really going to have to up your game in 2021.

More than 50 percent of our respondents said that they value their membership more than they did before the pandemic, and member engagement rates show that. Associations have always been important to the people they serve, but now members see them as absolutely vital, and with more online and virtual options more members are engaging.

So what can association professionals do in 2021 to meet the needs of current members, grow their membership base, increase revenue streams and not completely collapse from exhaustion? How do you meet big goals in a realistic and sustainable way? Our research has identified three key areas that truly matter to members, and that if executed thoughtfully, will make work for association professionals more impactful and more efficient.

CONCENTRATE YOUR RESOURCES ON GIVING MEMBERS WHAT THEY WANT

Associations do so many things for their members, but our research shows that a whopping 87 percent of those surveyed pointed to virtual meetings and conferences as the most helpful channels for building community and sharing information. Whether attendees are looking for new job opportunities, networking or education, these events are seen as crucial for career advancement. Again and again, we heard that while big splashy events are great, members really want more frequency and intimacy. Every event is an opportunity for growth, so associations would be wise to invest in tech that makes hosting and streaming with add-ons like breakout rooms simple and easy. While 2020 was a scramble where glitches and sometimes lackluster events were forgivable because everyone was learning how to do them in real-time, 2021 will be different. Higher expectations have been set, you need to meet or exceed them to keep people coming back for more.

GET BACK YOUR OWN TIME

Spending more time and energy on projects like these requires, well, more time and energy. While you can’t add more hours to the day, you can use technology to automate repetitive administrative tasks that eat away at your resources (password resets, dues reminders and the like.) Stealing back a few hours a day can make a massive difference to your workflow, and to your members. Assess what’s most valuable to your members’ in today’s environment, and focus there to make the biggest impact.

FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF NETFLIX AND AMAZON

Our research shows that more members are joining as students or within the first five years of employment—these are young people so your technology had better be on point. They want the convenience and ease they get with Netflix, Amazon and all of the other digital platforms they use. There should be no reason a member needs to re-enter a credit card number every time they want to buy something. There should be no reason that they can’t auto-renew a membership, or make monthly payments. Your goal is to remove as much friction as possible. Giving people the seamless tech experience they’re used to will help you retain and recruit more members.

2020 was a year of unprecedented struggle. By taking strategic direction from the insights gleaned from our study, associations can make 2021 a year of unprecedented growth.

This article was brought to you by Community Brands, the leading provider of cloud-based software to associations. To learn more about the association business model of the future, watch Preparing for 2021 and beyond on-demand webinar.

Last week Causeis launched their Digital Academy to resounding success! So much so, they are hosting another one before the year is out. 

The next course is again set over two half days, 9.30am - 12.30pm (AEDT), commencing on Tuesday 8^th December and finishing on Thursday 10^th December. 

Register now complimentary: https://www.causeis.com.au/Digital-Academy

"Fantastic learnings and discussions around the future of tech and digital trends for associations." Jazz Tyrril, participant from the first Digital Academy

This workshop-style course was designed to specifically help association professionals navigate digital transformation while remaining focused on the member experience. Attendees were immersed in learning the tools needed to formulate a comprehensive digital strategy and how to help their association adapt to a changing operating environment with confidence. An exclusive event for association executives and managers, it focused on defining and implementing a Digital and MX Strategy. The training covers:

• Why is a Digital and MX Strategy critical for your association?
• The interrelation of data, process, and experience
• What can the past teach us?
• Creating a culture of innovation
• The role of member experience in your digital strategy
• Framework for Digital and MX Strategy implementation
• Industry leaders give us their predictions for digital strategy and future tech.

*Numbers are limited to 50 seats

17 November 2020

• BECA welcomes the commencement of the $50 million Business Events Grant Program – the Government’s support mechanism for the business events industry.
• Austrade has opened EOIs to event owners to establish a Schedule of Approved Business Events. Owners of Approved Business Events may be eligible for grants under the program and Australian businesses wishing to attend will be able to apply for funding to cover up to 50% of eligible costs.
• Industry continues to advise the Government on the grant guidelines. These will be announced as phase two of the grants program roll-out.
• BECA urged State and Territory leaders to act proportionately in response to new outbreaks to ensure business confidence can be rebuilt.

The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has welcomed the commencement of the Government’s $50 million Business Events Grants Program which was announced by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and portfolio ministers in September 2020.

As a first phase Austrade has opened an EOI process to business event owners to establish a Schedule of Approved Business Events. BECA has urged business event owners across Australia to submit EOIs by 30 November to ensure their events can be considered for the Schedule when phase two of the grants Program opens in mid-December.

“BECA are pleased with the design of this first phase and think it has identified the most important aspects of the contribution the business events industry can make to the recovery of the Australian economy,” Chair of BECA, Dr Vanessa Findlay said.

“The industry looks forward to working with the Government on the finalisation of grant guidelines and subsequent launch and allocation of grants across the business events industry.”

Australia’s $36 billion business events industry was one of the first and hardest hit industries by COVID-19 and may be one of the last to recover, due to the long lead times between booking and holding a major business event. The industry virtually ground to a halt in 2020 with most business events scheduled cancelled or postponed.

In welcoming the program’s commencement BECA noted the Government’s focus on the importance of the industry and the jobs that it supports. In September, Minister Birmingham said, “Our business events sector is doing it incredibly tough at present and getting events put back into the calendar will help this key part of our tourism industry which supports around 230,000 jobs turn the corner.”

Prime Minister Morrison stated ‘’Getting business events up and running again will be a critical part of the recovery of our tourism industry but will also have huge flow-on effects through the entire economy.”

“The industry has its fingers crossed that the design of the grants program will provide the necessary financial boost and confidence to business event owners to book and hold their business event during 2021,” Dr Findlay said.

“Another year of cancelled and postponed events would put the entire Australian business events industry in a questionable recovery position. Without a solid recovery in 2021, the whole logistics and supply chain for the industry could be dislocated to a point where the impacts are felt for years to come. We do not want to see the industry focused on 5 years of rebuilding, before moving to recovery and then rebound.”

“This grants program must first and foremost turn positive sentiment into confidence, and that confidence into event bookings.”

Noting the developing reaction and reimposition of border controls to the recent COVID-19 cluster in South Australia, the business events industry urged Premiers and Chief Ministers to react proportionately.

“As I watch the knee-jerk reaction of some Premiers around the country to the South Australian cluster with no notice, I fear the worst for any business trying to rebuild confidence in this uncertain environment,” Dr Findlay said.

“For business events, this means decision-makers – those that bear 100% of the risk - will favour the continuation of virtual meetings over in-person meetings, which will have serious consequences for the Australian industry and the economy if delegates can’t move around the country with confidence.”

BECA’s most significant priority is to create an environment where business event owners are confident to plan, book and hold a business event. Only then can the benefits of the industry flow across the economy.

BECA will continue to advise the Government on the design and implementation of the Business Events Grants Program to achieve its primary objective – the restart of the business events industry in Australia – as well as other policies that will support the recovery and rebound phase.

<ENDS>

For information contact:
Dr Vanessa Findlay
BECA Chair
vfindlay@businesseventscouncil.org.au

As the internet continuously evolves and changes, organizations that regularly fine-tune, tweak and adapt their content strategies are more likely to stay ahead of the competition.

If you keep your content strategy the same year after year, your organization might not suffer in any obvious ways. But in the long run, this stasis can undermine your organization’s overall success. 

There are many ways to experiment with content, but three tactics can help ##: Monitoring engagement, making adjustments and setting goals for improvement. 

Monitor how people engage with your content

Every once in a while, a blog post will unexpectedly take off. Traffic will flood your website, engagement will skyrocket on social media and your newsletter sign-ups will suddenly spike. It’s a wonderful feeling — and one you’ll aim to replicate.

There are many variables at play when this happens. Maybe the news cycle made your content especially timely. Or perhaps an influencer sparked a wave of engagement. But often, many factors are actually within your control. 

If certain topics are consistently engaging your audience, lean into making them a focus of your content strategy. Understanding exactly what your audience responds to will help you craft content that meets their interests and needs.

Similarly, if certain types of posts rarely receive engagement, it may be best to discontinue them. Doing so will allow you to devote more energy to content that drives the best results.

• MORE: 7 ideas for creating engaging content

Experiment with adjustments

At a certain point, you may accumulate a backlog of content that doesn’t attract much traffic or engagement. Rather than quietly removing it or charging ahead with more content, your organization should experiment to see whether simple tweaks can produce better results.

For example, a past blog post might offer helpful content in an SEO-unfriendly format. In this situation, you might identify the most important keyword, then edit the post so this keyword appears in the headers and body copy. Next, look for opportunities to break long blocks of text into scannable lists or bullet points. 

Simple changes like this may help you recover the time and resources you already invested, while informing your approach to future content.

Set goals for improvement

As you begin to refine what content your audience craves and best practices for formatting it, you can establish new goals and metrics. 

Initial content goals should be simple and attainable, such as maintaining a regular production schedule for an entire quarter. Once your content strategy has a sustainable workflow, the possibilities are truly endless. 

Common content strategy goals include:

• Growing your list of newsletter subscribers by adding calls to action
• Improving engagement on social media by posting more often
• Launching a contributed content program to increase the frequency of posting
• Experimenting with new forms of multimedia
• Creating partnership or syndication agreements with like-minded organizations

As you reach and set increasingly ambitious goals, focus your energy on tactics that will grow your audience over time. 

BY ASSOCIATIONSUCCESS.ORG STAFF | NOVEMBER 16, 2020

New Zealand's largest gathering of association executive professionals is underway in Wellington. The two-and-a-half-day Australasian Society of Association Executives LINC Conference is being held at Shed 6 on the city's waterfront and kicked off on Sunday evening with a welcome function at Flamingo Joes.

As well as providing networking opportunities, the conference is connecting delegates with thought leaders who are shifting the way we approach leadership, the economy and change.

Further coverage of the conference will be in the November/December edition of Meeting Newz out later this month.

Before immediately jumping to a survey to assess member needs, take the time to get to know their preferences so you can create a responsive tool to find out what they actually want. Here are five tips to guide you.

Whenever association professionals start thinking about conducting a member needs assessment, they tend to leap immediately to a survey. Surveys usually include the usual prompts: “Rate our programs on importance and performance,” “On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with the association?” and “How likely are you to recommend membership to a colleague?” In my experience—at both small and large associations—jumping straight into planning a survey is not a great place to start.
Instead, take time to do some preliminary work that will lay the groundwork for an effective member needs assessment. Here are five important steps.

Review what you already know about the relationship between your association and your members. 

Interviewing the frontline employees who answer the phones and emails and who monitor social media can give you a lot of insight. Find out what members are reaching out about, what they’re angry about, what needs are not being met, and more. If you have the time, consider tracking member communications for a month or longer. This is easy to do on a shared spreadsheet, in your association management system, or in a Google form.

Gather all the data you have on members. 

In a perfect world, this should all be in your AMS, but many associations use different systems for events, education, certifications, and research. You may not be able to collate the data collected in those systems with the information in your AMS, but it is still worth looking at what events members attend, which webinars they register for and actually view, who is certified, how many serve on committees or in other volunteer roles, and what past surveys have revealed. This will help clarify which members are highly involved with the association and what member involvement looks like.

Understand the competitive environment. 

Look on LinkedIn and Facebook to see if there are groups that are meeting some of your members’ networking needs. Determine what other events members are attending. Review similar associations or for-profit companies that overlap your value proposition.

Review your membership situation. 

Look at renewal trends over the past decade. Is your retention steady, declining, or growing? Are first-year members renewing for a second year? Are your new-member rates steady, declining, or growing? Are your new members similar to your long-term members? Membership data has many nuances that can be analyzed, but you need to identify he purpose of the member needs assessment.

Membership data has many nuances that can be analyzed, but you need to identify he purpose of the member needs assessment.

Interview select members on the phone, virtually, or, ideally, at events in the future. 

It would also be insightful to interview former members and nonmembers who interact with your association without joining. Use the information you have gathered in steps one through four to put together five key questions for the interviews. Don’t ask too many questions; give them time to talk about anything related to the association. You can learn a lot when you allow the interviewee to guide the conversation.After collating and analyzing what you have learned in these five steps, then you are ready to develop a member needs survey. First, clearly define the purpose of the assessment. Identify what is most important to know and how the data will be used. If you cannot determine how the information will be used, then drop that question. If something will not change, such as the location of your conference, don’t ask about it.

The key is to keep the survey short and only ask questions that bring new insights or are needed for comparison with previous surveys. If possible, design the survey to use the information that you can collate for each member and non-member, such as events you know they have attended for example. It would mean you do not have to ask them first if they attended the event when asking about event value. The more the survey questions reflect what you know about each respondent the better the completion rate.

Fully understanding the membership environment is valuable for many reasons. And it is essential for developing an effective member needs survey.

Melissa Teates, CAE

Melissa Teates, CAE, is the principal and chief research officer at Worthwhile Research

Members continue to engage with their associations, even in crisis, according to a new report, which reveals a surprise top member benefit and one that is rapidly emerging. Here are some insights to light the way forward.

A new report from software provider Community Brands, Association Trends 2020: From Disruption to Opportunity [PDF], finds that despite the many challenges this year has brought, member engagement continues to grow and loyalty to associations is strong.

Fifty-one percent of members surveyed said their association is more important to them today than before the pandemic. And they’re willing to pay for it: 74 percent of members whose employers pay for all or part of their membership dues said they would still renew their membership even if their employers stopped contributing.

Good news.

I reported on similar findings from Marketing General Incorporated’s (MGI) recent Association Economic Outlook Report, which also affirms growing member engagement in the face of adversity this year. It notes that 69 percent of association professionals who responded said they had seen a marked increase in the level of member activity and engagement in their organization.

VIRTUAL ENGAGEMENT A main reason members are engaging more, the Community Brands report states, is all the virtual opportunities associations have rolled out during the pandemic. Virtual conferences have made it possible for members stay involved from a distance, but the report shows that they increasingly value other ways to connect and learn virtually year-round. Offering more personalized options like online networking, continuing education, and social networks—in addition to large virtual events and webcasts—will be key to keeping members engaged, the report states.

A SURPRISING TOP MEMBER BENEFIT The recent presidential election highlighted the importance of understanding demographics and the role they play in influencing outcomes, and these are just as relevant in analyzing membership nuances. Black and Hispanic members, who tend to be younger, are more engaged than their white counterparts, the Community Brands report shows, and they are more inclined to value their association now than before the pandemic.

Black and Hispanic members also value certain benefits at significantly higher levels than white members. For example, they rank code of ethics information among the top five benefits they value most. (If you need any tips for updating your code of ethics, a recent Associations Now post has some helpful suggestions).

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES ARE KEY Members continue to value the job and career advancement opportunities associations offer. Interestingly, the association professionals surveyed in the study rated these less valuable than members did. With the unemployment and career challenges this year has brought, it is critical for associations to focus on these benefits when members need them most, the report states.

MGI’s recent report shows that many associations are already on the bandwagon. Eighty-four percent of respondents said their association plans to increase virtual professional development opportunities for members.

As I reported in the current issue of Associations Now magazine, the Council for Exceptional Children surveyed 26,000 prospective members it attracted with a free membership promotion to find out what was most valuable to them during the trial period. Eighty-five percent of respondents said online training and webinars were most beneficial. Sheri Jacobs, FASAE, CAE, president and CEO of Avenue M Group, told me that retraining and access to processes or standards will remain highly valuable, and associations are well positioned to meet those needs.

Challenges create opportunities, as we have learned many times over this year. These recent findings show that associations have incredible staying power and that members need them now more than ever. It’s time to really understand what members want and need—and give it to them.

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Lisa Boylan.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 09 November 2020 –– The EventsAIR 6th Generation Event Management Platform won Best Event Management Platform at the 2020 Event Technology Awards (ETA). ETA recognizes the best in event technology.

Trevor Gardiner, CEO of EventsAIR, says the award affirms their commitment to continuous improvement and innovative business processes, and recognizes the achievements of EventsAIR in the research and development of event management software.

“We are very honored and humbled to win this prestigious award and congratulate all the nominees. I would like to dedicate this award to our hardworking team who work tirelessly to design, develop, and deliver great software so that event planners can add value for their attendees and delegates,” says CEO Trevor Gardiner.

The EventsAIR 6th Generation event management software is built on the latest web architecture and delivers a comprehensive suite of event management tools that is trusted by event planners around the globe. Its recent addition to the platform is OnAIR, allowing event organizers to run virtual events with ease.

“In a changing event climate, having the ability to deliver a great event experience is still at the heart of every professional event organizer and although in person events remain top of mind, it’s time to look at ways to deliver great content while keeping your audience engaged in new and exciting ways whether it be virtual or hybrid,” said EventsAIR Global Sales and Marketing Director Joe Ciliberto.

The EventsAIR platform has been designed by event planners for event planners and has evolved thanks to the feedback and support from our loyal customers plus our dedicated EventsAIR team who makes it happen every day.

About EventsAIR

EventsAIR has been at the forefront of Event Technology and Innovation for over 30 years, continually pushing the boundaries of what an event management platform can do. Built by event planners for event planners, EventsAIR is a secure, scalable, cloud-based solution that can manage everything from in-person, virtual to hybrid conferences, meetings and events in a single online platform – anywhere, anytime and on any device. In use in over 50 countries by multi-national corporations, professional conference organizers, government departments and tertiary education institutions, EventsAIR is also used in global congresses such as G20, APEC, CHOGM and ASEAN, as well as sporting events like The Olympic Games, World Rugby, Commonwealth Games and Pan Am Games. EventsAIR is trusted by event professionals around the globe. For further information, visit www.eventsair.com