March 2016
Congress Session Reviews
The 9th Associations Congress
The 9th Associations
Congress UK, in
London, provided
much food for thought
Anne Francke’s presentation
on successful membership
engagement, industry partnerships
and sales and marketing for
achieving growth, was direct and
to the point, with many hometruths challenging delegates.
Francke is CEO of the
Chartered Management Institute,
with a track record of developing
people and innovative strategies
that result in sustainable growth.
Streams throughout each day
at the Congress covered topics of
Event Development, Marketing,
Membership, Strategy and
Volunteer Management.
Expert briefings
The first morning offered an
opportunity for delegates to hear
from the experts and discuss
issues including digital, event and
content marketing, technology
and member engagement in small
groups. A briefing on ‘Calculating
the real cost of the membership
fee’ coincided with the launch
of a new cost and performance
benchmarking initiative to
enable associations to compare
themselves directly with other
membership bodies.
Success stories
A selection of associations
shortlisted for the Association
Awards shared some of the secrets
of their success at a forum. They
included:
• The Royal Society of
Chemistry’s online and physical
CN_02.16_AEM.indd 13
Recognising and learning from success during the awards night
community of young people
• How the Association of
Accounting Technicians
increased attendance by 10%
and award submissions by
48% at its Training Provider
conference.
• Women in Engineering Day
by the Women’s Engineering
Society.
Awards winners:
• Chief Executive of the Year
- Lesley Batchelor, Institute of
Export
• Young Association Executive of
the Year - Alex Lambeth, British
Expertise International
Effective Voice - The UK
Association for Risk Managers
and Insurance Buyers - Legal
reform of the commercial
insurance market
• Best Social Media Campaign
- Women’s Engineering Society
- #nwed
• Conference Development Scottish Bakers - Scottish Bakers
Annual Conference and Awards
• Best eLearning/Online
Education - Royal Society of
Chemistry - ChemNet
• Best Association Website Chartered Association of Business
Schools
• Best Event Webcasting Association of Independent
Professionals and the Self
Employed - National Freelancers
Day 2014
• Best Use of Event Technology
- Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants - ACCA
Advantage 2015
13
Partners join the
association party
at St Paul’s
More than 360 people
attended the Associations
Congress UK 15-16
December 2015.
Held at etc.venues’ St Paul’s
in London, the Congress was
an opportunity for association
executives to share best
practice and ideas and listen
to top speakers.
A new feature from
organisers the Associations
Network was bringing in
suppliers as ‘Partners’ for
discussions with the
Association executives in the
business lounge.
Damian Hutt, executive
director of Associations
Network and Congress chair,
said the approach recognised
the importance of suppliers to
the strategic development of
associations and their events.
“We created an environment
for engagement and
partnership – not just ‘buysell’ – it was highly successful
with excellent feedback from
associations and suppliers. All
conference organisers ought
to review the relationship.”
Scottish Bakers Chief Executive,
Alan Clarke described his
team’s award as: “an amazing
achievement” and highlighted
his Association’s own Scottish
Baker of the Year and the World
Scotch Pie Championships as
comparable initiatives.
The Associations World Congress
opens in Berlin, 10-12 April. 2016
18/02/2016 09:58