Sydney 2 February 2018 - The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA), part of the Australian Alliance for Data Leadership (AADL), has announced that Steve Sinha has been appointed Chief Operating Officer for the network of associations which includes ADMA, IAPA, DGA and Digital + Technology Collective.

Steve brings to the Associations more than 30 years’ experience in media, operations and business transformation including seven years as Melbourne Managing Director at OMD Australia. During this time at OMD Australia, Steve delivered a programme of digital, data, content and strategy transformation that saw the Melbourne agency treble in size. He continued his passion for digital & data transformation and organisational change with the successful launch of the consultancy Media Operations Transparency in 2016.

Steve’s experience also encompasses a passion for industry representation, spending 7 years as Melbourne Chairman & member of the National Awards Committee at the MFA as well as sitting on the Australian Chapter Board of the IAA for 2 years.

In his new role, Steve will report to CEO Jodie Sangster and have responsibility for driving operational efficiency for the network of associations under the new Australian Alliance for Data Leadership structure.

“We are delighted to welcome Steve to the team. His knowledge of the industry and experience in business transformation will be invaluable to ADMA and the AADL associations as we go through our next period of growth and expansion. We are planning to continue our exciting growth phase in 2018 in order to drive the future of our industry and increase the benefits we bring to members. Bringing Steve on board will ensure we continue to lead the charge and deliver to the high standards expected by our members”.

Steve says “ADMA and the entire AADL network deliver experiences on the cutting edge of data and digital transformation. My new role will be a fantastic vantage point to ensure that ADMA and the network effectively help businesses, marketers and all in the industry navigate an increasingly complex landscape and deliver best practice.”

This article was originally sourced from ADMA.

Within the span of a decade, social media has overtaken others forms of advertising. For a brand to be noticed, it must have a social media presence. Cue the social media marketing manager. This individual brings the benefits of social media marketing to their brand or company. From LinkedIn to Twitter, from Facebook to Instagram, and every other social media platform; this unique individual creates a social media marketing strategy that drives customers to engage with and become loyal followers of their brand.

But how does a social media marketing manager deal with the entire gamut of operations to build their brands reach and expand their influence? Apart from the keen eye for design and flair for writing, what are the critical skills needed by a social media manager?

Here are 7 critical skills of the best social media managers:

1. Project Management

No, not the certification; but the ability to manage multiple audiences across multiple channels using multiple reporting tools without going non-compos mentis. This has the ability to drive anyone crazy. Call it what you may, project management, time management, strategy planning, calendar scheduling; the term doesn’t matter, the skill does. A good social media marketing manager takes the time to plan, to schedule, to engage with customers, to evaluate analytics, to assign or reduce resources, and where necessary revise unproductive strategies.

2. Being socially active

A social media manager may not be the face of a brand to the consumer, but they are the face of the brand to everyone they interact with, from other media managers to PR agencies. A media manager that isn’t themselves active on social media reads very poorly.

Would anyone trust someone with no Instagram or Twitter account to grow theirs?

An individual that is active on social media channels naturally has more clout. To be active means to be in touch and engaged. Being personally active on social media gains you the confidence of both your brand and your audience.

3. Reading between the Lines on Analytics to understand your audience

A social media manager doesn’t just take a brand to market. They know when to market and how to market. Social media managers analyze the effectiveness of the brand using Google Analytics, SemRush, Ahrefs, and other reporting tools, including platform-specific ones.

Take the simple example of analyzing your Twitter audience based on their interests and customizing future tweets to target them better. It’s not just numbers, the analysis is important. Read more about this here.

Clicks, impressions, likes, they all matter. But what matters more is how this information or data is interpreted and manipulated to produce better results.

4. Using multiple platforms and tools with a mixed approach

Social media managers cannot stick to a single platform for marketing anymore. Multi-facetious and multi-pronged strategies are key. Using different social media marketing tools and taking a mixed media approach to marketing is what ups the game.

Knowing how to effectively use tools such as Hootsuite, CoSchedule, Buffer, etc. for scheduling and drawing out data from platforms is important. Fine tuning and developing new strategies based on the extrapolated data is more valuable. Correctly understanding consumer demographics, locations, interests, and choices will help shape marketing decisions and target consumers that convert.

5. Staying updated with the latest trends

Social media marketing trends, tools, and technology change rapidly. What’s hot today is redundant tomorrow. Take the extreme example of Orkut. It lost out in competition to Facebook and MySpace and was dissolved in 2014.

Or for that matter television. It’s still used for advertising but does not have as much of a social impact as Facebook or YouTube.

Instagram’s doing better after starting Stories. Facebook videos are the in thing. Tweets now have 280 characters.

Of course, these are examples of platforms. But the same applies to brands.

6. ‘Getting’ the context

Understanding the context, the pop culture, the reference points relevant to your brand’s prospects and customers is crucial to being able to create posts that people want to read and share or engage with in any way. It’s equally important to understand the brand and industry in which your brand operates. This helps maintain a consistent tonality of the brand voice, while also being able to reference stuff that’s happening ‘out there’ that your audiences may care about.

7. Know the tool

To survive in the social media jungle, media managers must adopt social media marketing platforms as quickly as night is the day. Adapting to new trends and technologies is essential but knowing the ins and outs of the tools that are at hand your workplace to manage social media is critical. Learning new tools and platforms as soon as they are available and becoming early adopters of a technology ensures you Have the upper hand when you are looking to expand your professional horizons.

These are just a few of the skills that social media marketing managers need, but they are the critical ones.

This article was originally sourced by Martech Advisor. 

Artificial Intelligence: What Association Decision-Makers Need to Know

Thursday, 15th February 2018
10:00am - 11:00am Sydney Time
Online - via webinar
Presented by Jeff De Cagna
Free for members and non-members

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping our world, and we are only just beginning to fully appreciate its far-reaching impact. AI raises many complex questions and creates many difficult choices for individuals and organizations alike. Boards, chief staff executives and other senior decision-makers need to get past the hype, separate AI fact from fiction and take actions to build their associations to thrive in what is rapidly becoming an "AI first" world.

This high-impact learning session will present three thought-provoking perspectives on the present and future of AI, and propose three questions for association decision-makers to explore as they consider how AI can help them reinvent their organizations in the years ahead.

This webinar is presented by Jeff De Cagna FRSA FASAE is executive advisor for Foresight First LLC and a respected contrarian thinker on the future of associating and associations. He is an author, speaker and advisor for associations and non-profit organizations across North America and around the world. Jeff is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK) and a Fellow of ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership. Jeff served on the ASAE Board of Directors from 2007-2010.

A graduate of the Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities, Jeff has pursued executive education at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Oxford University and Harvard Business School. He holds the Leadership Certificate for Nonprofit Board Chairs and the Certificate of Nonprofit Board Consulting from BoardSource, the US-based organization for non-profit boards, the Design Thinking and Innovation Specialization from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and has completed Foresight Practitioner training at the Institute for the Future.

REGISTER NOW

AuSAE are delighted to officially open registrations for the annual AuSAE Conference and Exhibition (ACE) 2018. Under the theme “Ignite your thinking”, ACE will leverage lessons from innovators, corporate sector leaders and leading association professionals to challenge traditional ways of thinking. What is being done differently and how can we change our current business models to adapt, shift and position our businesses for the future?

To celebrate this news we are pleased to announce our first keynote addresses for ACE 2018. Matthew Michalewicz and Gill Hicks will headline our speaker line up for 2018 thanks to the generous support of ACE 2018 Keynote Partner Saxton Speakers Bureau.

Introducing Matthew Michalewicz

Matthew is currently the CEO of Complexica, a provider of Artificial Intelligence software that helps large organisations increase revenue, margin, and customer engagement through automated analytics.

Previously Matthew was the co-founder and CEO of SolveIT Software, growing the company from zero to almost 180 employees and $20 million in revenue before selling the business to Schneider Electric. He was named the Pearcey Foundation's Entrepreneur of the Year, among Business Journal's '40 under 40' list of accomplished business leaders, University of North Carolina Alumnus of the Year, and an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.

Introducing Gill Hicks

Gill is globally known as an Advocate for Sustainable Peace and a valuable resource in Countering Violent Extremism. Her devotion to making a personal greater contribution and positive difference to the urgency of building peace was realised when she was made permanently injured in the London terrorist Bombings on July 7th, 2005.

We look forward to welcoming Matthew and Gill to the stage in Adelaide on 28-30 May and hope you can join us at the largest sector gathering for association professionals.

To find out more about ACE 2018 please visit www.ausae.org.au/ace.

To register, click here.

We look forward to seeing you all at ACE2018 !!!

Innovation is key to ensuring your organisation continues to solve the problems your customers face in a meaningful way. Your ongoing vitality relies on you keeping pace with how the world of your customer is changing otherwise your once happy customers will become disillusioned with your product and service solutions and a competitor will step in and offer something more to their liking. It’s inevitable.

How do you innovate, or more importantly, how can you accelerate innovation within your organisation? Guild Insurance realised several years ago that we didn’t have good answers to these questions so we enlisted the help of Inventium, Australia’s leading innovation consultancy. Our journey with Inventium continued last week when we toured Silicon Valley together with a small delegation of Australian business leaders to speak to 10 of the most innovative companies in the world and hear how they do it. This is what we learned.

1. Culture is king

It sounds obvious, but workplace culture is the key to who wants to work with you, how they will work with you and whether they want to stay working with you. This begins with a bold vision that inspires staff to pursue a higher purpose and feel empowered to step out of their comfort zones to try something new. Bring this to life through values that prioritise innovation and ensure you never compromise these values. Know the behaviours that you won’t accept, and ensure all staff hold true to these, regardless of whatever superpower an individual staff member may possess. Last but not least, empower all staff to be involved in innovation. Involving all staff will identify the select few with the drive to help you achieve disruptive innovation.

2. Innovate or die

Creating change that adds value takes focus. Provide your teams with a pathway to follow and grease the wheels of motion by putting someone in charge of that process who is unfamiliar with the problems to be solved. At a minimum your process should include:

a. Use customer feedback to find the intersection between the job they want to do but can’t get done and your strategic priorities. That’s the problem you need to solve.

b. Hold idea generation and prioritisation sessions where ideas can flow without judgement.

c. Prioritise, but don’t judge the ideas – it’s futile. Use lean methodology to rapidly experiment and test out solutions, and keep iterating to evolve the solution until you get evidence from your customers that it is solving their problem. Only then put your solution into widespread production.

3. The need for speed

The pace of change has never been this fast and will never be this slow again.

The value of your greatest ideas may be as short-lived as a Snapchat video. Your ultimate success will not be defined by the ideas you generate but by your speed of execution. Don’t be afraid to make the occasional mistake along the way - as long as you rapidly iterate them any failures will be small. Have faith that ultimately the lessons learned will be more valuable than the cost of any failure. Never allow your desire to push forward as hard as you can to become an excuse for sloppy work. Lastly, don’t try to do it all by yourself. Collaborate with anybody who’ll listen, even if it’s a competitor – the insights you’ll get in return may just provide the paradigm shift you’re looking for.

Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes – it’s not all grandios or daringly disruptive but you need a dose of that too. As long as you focus on delivering change that adds value, no matter the size, you can change somebody’s world for the better which ultimately makes us all better off.

Developing association professionals in current and future CEO roles

The AuSAE Mentoring and Leadership Program helps develop experienced association professionals in their current roles and prepare aspiring association leaders for future CEO roles. Applications are open until 19 February 2018

Would you like:

• Guidance for your personal and professional development in the association profession, from someone with a wealth of experience?
• An opportunity to learn from guest speakers on a range of association leadership topics?
• Satisfaction from helping others and contributing to the future success of the association profession?
• A chance to develop your mentoring and leadership skills?

WHY IS THIS PROGRAM IMPORTANT?

For associations to thrive, they need great leadership. This program is designed to build leadership capacity in the profession by pairing association professionals with experienced mentors and by giving them an opportunity to develop and fine-tune leadership skills along with a like-minded peer group. Participants in mentoring programs report a number of benefits from their participation: improved confidence, self-awareness, clearer career direction, better communication skills, listening skills, feedback skills, more assertive communication, and enhanced management skills.

WHO CAN APPLY?

To join as a mentee, you must be an association professional aspiring to a more senior leadership role, a CEO role or a current CEO looking to develop their skills and leadership in the Association Sector.

To join as a mentor, you must be an association CEO, former CEO or a very experienced association Senior Manager.

Both mentees and mentors must also be willing to attend program events, webinars and complete the training provided.

The program is open to participants in all states.

The Program Launch and Progress Review meetings will be held in Sydney, Melbourne and possibly other locations depending on the location of successful applicants. The final meeting is by webinar.

FEE

The fee for mentees for the entire program is $995 plus GST (members) and $1395 (non-members). Payment is due once the mentee has been matched and has a place in the program. Payment plans are available on request.

Mentors are volunteers - they are not paid and there is no fee for their participation.

WHAT'S INVOLVED?

The AuSAE Mentoring and Leadership Mentoring Program is an 8month program, from March to November 2018. Mentors and mentees will be matched according to application details and are required to attend three events - Program Launch, Mid-Program Review and Program Close – some of which will be face-to-face meetings while others will be delivered via Webinars. There will be 3 guest speaker webinars for mentees (mentors may choose to attend as well).

During the program, mentors and mentees will be expected to be in contact monthly.

Mentees and mentors will also be asked to complete Art of Mentoring online program training to prepare them for their mentoring relationship. Acceptance into the program is conditional upon your commitment to completion of the training.

During the program, you will receive frequent communications from the Program Facilitators, giving you helpful tips and information about mentoring and access to other relevant materials available for supporting mentees.

During and at the end of the month program you will be invited to provide feedback to AuSAE about your experience.

WHAT IF I'M NOT SELECTED?

We will endeavour to match all mentees that apply, provided that we have a suitable mentor. Some mentors may not be matched if their expertise/ experience is not suitable for any applicants. If we don’t have a suitable match for a mentee or mentor, we won’t pair you for the sake of putting you in the program.

WHAT DO I DO NEXT?

Apply NOW as applications will close by 19th February 2018. Please give as much information as you reasonably can in your profile as it will assist the matching process. You will be advised in early March if there a suitable match for you.

Investing in the Next Generation makes good Family Business sense. 

A unique, world-leading, transformational program for Emerging Leaders working within Family Businesses who are committed to developing their careers and helping the business thrive.

Download the Application Pack

Who is it for?

The program is open to Emerging Leaders (both family and non-family members) who are working their way up through the business, but do not yet hold CEO/MD roles.

Maximise your family business potential

You have the drive. You have the foundation. Now is the time to shine! This 4–month program brings together talented Emerging Leaders who are committed to their own professional development as a cornerstone of furthering their career within the family business.

At the same time, your business will benefit from the additional skills, experiences and tools that you will obtain to further drive the organisation, its management, the owners and ultimately the family to the next level of success.

An experience to make a difference

Your family business will benefit through the additional skills, experiences and tools that you will obtain to further drive the organisation, its management, the owners and ultimately the family to the next level of success.

This 4 month program brings together talented Emerging Leaders who are committed to their own professional development as a cornerstone of furthering their career within their family business.

Through a combination of 3 x 2-day residential workshops, peer learning, work-based projects and coaching this community of learners will be challenged and supported to demonstrate their ability to make a significant contribution to their family business.

At the workshops you will expand your professional network of ‘family business friends’ and be lead through thought-provoking sessions on leadership and strategic business planning by our team of experts. You will learn from the experience of current family business CEOs who will share their journeys through the family business.

To view the dates, location, facilitators, costs and for any other information, please click here. 

To view the flyer, click here. 

The Lord Mayor of Brisbane is proud to introduce the Lord Mayor's Convention Trailblazer Grant. The grant aims to enlist the city’s early-career professionals and researchers to make their mark by attracting valuable industry conferences to Brisbane.

Under the Brisbane 2022 New World City Action Plan, we have committed to winning more conventions and business events. Luring major conferences to Brisbane puts a spotlight on our industries and areas of expertise while attracting the world’s brightest minds and creating significant economic impact.

Trailblazer Grant recipients can make a significant contribution to their industry and to our city by attending an international association conference in their field and paving the way for Brisbane as an ideal future host destination. We want to continue to grow this reputation while supporting and developing our city’s talent and skills.

Do you want to make a real change in our city? Ignite your passion and grow your industry.

Become a Trailblazer. Apply Now. 

For more information, click here. 

Ralph PENNING, passed away on 2 November 2017 in Auckland, aged 80.

Father of Joelle and Nolan, father-in-law of Tina, husband of Rosemarie.

Ralph has been in the involved in the not-for-profit sector in New Zealand for over 40 years. Running his own associate and professional services business, as well as being an advisory trustee to the New Zealand Association Resource Trust Centre. He has continued to be an independent voice and resource for small to medium not-for-profit’s organisations in New Zealand. Ralph has been an exceptional mentor and advocate for many not-for-profit executives over his business career.

Our deepest respects go out to his family as he has been a true statesman and will be fondly remembered by AuSAE and the not-for-profit community.

Let Stamford Plaza Melbourne take the hassle out of event planning. Our dedicated and flexible events and sales team are your ‘one-stop-shop’ for all your event needs. PLUS, enjoy the natural daylight within all our function spaces and the inclusion of basic Audio-Visual Equipment managed by our own in-house manager. Book by 31 January 2018 and save over $1,500 on your next conference or meeting at Stamford Plaza Melbourne. Enjoy our Executive Day Delegate Package at $79 per person!*

Package includes:

• Complimentary 2 x valet car parking for the event duration
• Complimentary ½ hour cocktail package post event in Harry’s Bar or Alfred Place laneway
• Complimentary data projector and projection screen hire
• Complimentary Wi-Fi (social streaming only)
• Exclusive rate of $235.00 per room, per night* inclusive of Wi-Fi in a Superior Queen Room

For more information, call 03 9659 1000 or email events@spm.stamford.com.au.

*Terms and conditions: Offer valid for new bookings only and subject to availability. Event must be held between 1 January – 31 March 2018. Minimum of 20 guests on the day delegate package. Cocktail package is chef’s selection nibbles and house wine, sparkling and beer. Accommodation offer based on Superior Queen Room and valid for group bookings with a minimum of 10 rooms per night. Accommodation rate may vary based on date of stay and room type available.

Christmas is approaching - make sure you book early for Christmas and end of year celebrations at Stamford Plaza Melbourne! We are offering a great range of festive celebrations including sumptuous Pre-Christmas lunch buffets (1 – 22 December 2017) to Christmas Day lunch and dinner buffets or casual festive bar platters in Harry's. Group bookings are welcome and we are happy to discuss private function room options for larger group bookings.

Special offer:

For group bookings of 10 persons and more, each guest will receive a complimentary glass of wine, pot of beer or soft drink! Book now at harrys@spm.stamford.com.au or 03 9659 1592. For more information, click here.