March 2017 Education 7
Tipping point for the small operator
' We need to start thinking a bit differently about who we ' re serving and how we ' re serving them '
have little interest in membership but are eager for training opportunities.( one theme of MCI Group’ s recently released Global Engagement Index, a document I had an editorial hand in.)
The White Paper suggests that many associations already have a grasp of the employment environment and career paths in their industries, what’ s left is to build a strategy and delivery system around it. And also, Alcorn and Engel told me, a will among association leaders to adapt their mindset enough to make education as much a tentpole of their model as membership and the big annual conference.
The clock is ticking: for-profit organisations will happily take over the kind of niche education that associations specialise in if associations themselves don’ t pursue it, Alcorn says.( As an example, recently I received a PR email from Amazon trumpeting its nursing training for employees in its fulfillment centres.)
“ I think associations are the best secret going,” Alcorn says.“ You can have an impact, and it’ s time to embrace some optimism. The kind of member loyalty that you have always said you wanted to create? I don’ t know of any better loyalty than‘ They helped me get a job, keep a job, and get a better job’.”
Reprinted with permission. Copyright, ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership( September 2016), Washington, DC.
In the pharmaceutical industry events can be supported by generous budgets, but not all organisers are able to shell out on the latest intuitive app technology. Network Pharma is a one-man business that organises small medical meetings and is run by Peter Llewellyn. He says he was finally persuaded to plump for Lumi’ s Meetoo app when he saw that 70 % of delegates in one market he witnessed were able to engage and interact with the technology. The app also allows attendees to continue engaging and asking questions after the events were over. It also met Llewellyn ' s criteria for a simple and inexpensive solution. Llewellyn admits he had been sceptical of the practicality of some apps on the market.“ I’ ve seen quite a number of instances where they don’ t work in practice because people can’ t be bothered to download them or they don’ t know how their smartphone works.” He adds that organisers end up giving out iPads with the app preloaded, an option that costs. At a NetworkPharma event of 65 people, Llewellyn says 45 guests used the Meetoo app to interact with the polls and more subsequently arrived with the app already installed on their phones, reducing the amount of time he now spends giving a tutorial at the beginning of his events.