Answer honestly: Are you being a hypocrite?
“DO YOU READ ASSOCIATION TRENDS…" Association Management, Executive Update, Association Meetings, The Forum, Associations Now, etc.? I have asked association professionals this question for many years. Far too often, I get a response similar to “I am too busy.” Or I hear, “I have to read all the trades that my members read. I don’t have time to read about association issues.” Or, “That’s why I belong to my local SAE – so they can tell me what’s important.”
I suspect you tell your members how important it is that they continue to keep informed about changes in their profession or industry. And that your association provides continuing education programs, in person and on the Web, to keep them up-to-date. So why do you ignore your own profession? Why do you think association management is different? You and your staff need to keep up, too!
OUR PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION, ASAE, and many state and local SAEs, have ongoing programs for people who work in the nonprofit community. There are many opportunities, including the US Chamber’s excellent, 90-year-young Institute for Organization Management, Independent Sector’s conference, Association Forum’s annual meeting and Association Week, the CESSE Community annual meeting and leadership forum, and AAMSE’s New Medical Executives Institute.
Wherever you are in your association career, there is something for you to gain from participating in a face-to-face meeting, an online forum, or a town hall meeting.
DON’T TELL YOUR MEMBERS that they should continue to learn if you aren’t going to do likewise.
Now, are you going to St. Louis for ASAE’s annual meeting next month?
