In recent months, our team has met with many industry partners and association clients who were in the midst of finalizing their strategic plans for this year, and here are a few trends and insights that emerged: 

1. Practical AI Tools to Better Manage Your Association 

You would have to be living under a rock to not have heard about the hype with generative AI technology. Since launching in late 2022, one of the bigger players, ChatGPT has grown considerably with 1.7 billion monthly visits in October. While there is a lot of interest in leveraging generative AI to create efficiency and automate work, you may be wondering—okay, but how do I use it and what practical applications of AI make sense for my association or nonprofit? 

To avoid getting swept up in the hype, think about the strategic ways you can leverage AI systems to support member engagement and retention. Here are a few ideas: 

• Content creation- In sending out your annual member renewals notices, you can use an AI tool to craft a communication that is tailored to an individual member and highlights their tenure with your organization, programs they have engaged with recently and future opportunities for the upcoming year. You could also have the tool review member data and provide tailored recommendations for events, programs and other resources that may be relevant based on their membership data. 

• Streamline data and visualization- Your organization maintains a wealth of information on members including their demographics, preferences, interests, and program and event history. While an AMS solution like ThreeSixty comes with powerful reporting and data visualization, you can augment this by using AI tools to summarize board meeting documents, identify key insights or generate visualizations and charts based on membership data or a recent survey sent out to your members. You can also create clusters or themes of data, which is helpful for understanding emerging trends in presentations at your annual conference or meeting.  

2. Thoughtful Event Planning in the Face of Rising Costs 

In conversations with industry partners, we’ve heard that many associations approved smaller and sometimes negative budgets year-over-year for 2024, and a primary driver of this is due to increasing costs for AV and food and beverage expenses at events.  

In fact, a report by CWT Meetings & Events and the Global Business Travel Association found that the cost per attendee was 25 percent higher year over year in 2023 and is expected to grow an additional 7 percent this year. While inflation has driven up most of these costs, there are options available to help you stay within your budget. 

Negotiating event contracts are an important way for event professionals to maximize their ROI, while still delivering an exceptional event. Here are a few tips to get the most of your negotiations: 

• Share a comprehensive RFP with all potential vendors, including a detailed event budget. 
• Obtain multiple quotes and see if your preferred partner or vendor can match pricing from the quotes you receive. 
• Consider long-term partnership options with suppliers that can lower your cost per event because you are committing to a multi-event contract. 
• Going back to trend #2, use an AI tool to help you generate initial drafts of event contracts, which may help save time and money during the process of legal review with your law firm or general counsel. 

There are also options to limit food and beverage costs at an event, including: 

• Providing a more limited menu to keep food costs low, such as providing a plated meal instead of a broader buffet where food may end up going to waste. 
• Explore timing options, such as hosting your event during “off-hours” where you can provide snacks instead of a full meal. 

In 2024, we predict that event professionals will make strategic decisions around event management and negotiate with vendors to plan and execute events that delight their audiences but stay within their (likely smaller) budgets. 

3. Selectivity with Technology Selection Consultants 

As a leading provider in the market, we regularly connect with association leaders who have used a consultant to guide their technology strategy. We’ve recently heard feedback and concerns about the overall experience, particularly with the larger, established firms, for two reasons.  

First, their vendor and product knowledge are out of date. Several associations leaders have noted that consultants haven’t done their homework or taken the necessary steps to broaden their product knowledge, understanding and expertise. Their “advice” was based upon the same dated, inaccurate product and industry knowledge that they’ve scripted for years. And unfortunately, this is consistent with our experience as a technology provider in recent years.  

As an example, Personify made two acquisitions that impacted the association technology market – MemberClicks in 2020 and GTR Event Technology in 2022. None of the established association technology consultants reached out to learn more about our acquisition rationale or planned strategy for either product. And our attempts to engage them were met with limited or no response.  

The concern is that these firms are not knowledgeable enough to objectively help their clients make informed decisions about our solutions, and we suspect this is true with competitors as well. This lack of intellectual curiosity and engagement should give any association pause before hiring a consultant and ensure that they choose one with a broad and up-to-date understanding of the market landscape – this is, after all, the expertise an association is paying for. 

The second issue is that, as firms have expanded into managed services, CIO services, IT support services, etc., they have lost the appearance of objectivity by becoming technology resellers or steering clients toward tech that their staff are trained to use. To be clear, this may be more of an “optics” problem than a true indication of bias, but objectivity is crucial to the consultant-client relationship, and many associations are questioning whether that’s truly the case. 

We’d be remiss if we didn’t say that there are exceptions to this trend and there are several consulting firms that have deep industry experience and a reputation for impartiality. But the larger point remains that the industry needs a re-set or risks losing relevance. This year, we predict that associations will carefully consider the consultants they use to guide their technology purchases. 

4. Increased Focus on Data Security and Cyber Attacks 

With data breaches becoming increasingly common across industries, associations, and their IT teams in particular, are thinking carefully about efforts to strengthen data security and prevent attacks. In 2024, cybercrime is expected to cost organizations $9.5 trillion and grow 15 percent annually in the coming years. 

In creating your 2024 data security plan, be sure to understand your technology provider’s policies including access control, encryption standards, password policies, backup and recovery plans and more. Your AMS provider should be a partner on this journey and help you continuously monitor networks, logs and security events to detect and respond to any potential breaches within the system. All of the software and applications used in your organization should be patched on a regular basis to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.   

In 2024, we predict that association professionals will: 

• Execute stricter access controls, including multi-factor authentication, to serve as the first line of defense against potential threats. 
• Implement annual PCI audits and regular penetration tests with internal and external stakeholders to proactively identify and resolve vulnerabilities within your system. 
• Develop new education campaigns for staff and share how members can protect themselves against attacks, which will instill confidence that you’ve got the right team and processes in place to manage the threat landscape. 

If you’re looking for a robust AMS solution that can give your team peace of mind about data security, we would be happy to share more about ThreeSixty. 

5. Workforce and Professional Development as a Key Value Driver 

While the labor market cooled in the last quarter of 2023 and unemployment remained steady at 3.8 percent, many economists are predicting growth in 2024 and a labor force participation return to pre-pandemic levels. In the near term, as competition remains high for open positions, associations can play a unique role in ensuring that members take advantage of workforce training and professional development opportunities to help them stand out as a candidate. 

80 percent of professionals said that growing their skillsets and expertise is an important way to stand out in the job market. In 2024, you can ensure that your organization supports a journey of continuous learning and skill development for your members by: 

• Move to a mindset of “resources not courses”- What we mean by this is that your goal should be to deliver content focused on a member’s need in a given moment, as opposed to pushing them to a full course. You can conduct an audit of your professional development offerings and learning management library and consider breaking courses into bite-sized pieces that can be easily consumed and targeted to a specific topic or need. 

• Create lasting connections – Extend the connections made at your annual conference or events by creating groups in your online community for members with a shared interest, profession or skillset to network and stay in touch. 

• Teach your members how to use a generative AI tool – You know how we discussed in trend #2 that a lot of folks are hearing about AI tools but aren’t quite sure how to use them? Host educational sessions with an expert in your industry on practical ways your members can automate their daily activities and free up their workday. 

We would love to hear your thoughts on these and other trends and predictions for association professionals in 2024. Send us your thoughts via marketing@personifycorp.com or in our client community. 

The post 5 Key Trends for Association Professionals in 2024  appeared first on Personify.

The beauty of the Indiana Jones franchise is that there is always another mysterious artifact to be discovered, people with bad intentions to thwart and joy experienced in seeing these events play out on screen again and again. But, it’s worth stating that our joy as the audience is due in part to the fact that each of these adventures is successfully resolved by the end of the movie. The adventure simply can’t continue in perpetuity. If it did, it would no longer be thrilling and satisfying but instead meandering and tedious. 

The Quest for an Association Management Software Solution 

How is this relevant to the world of Association Management Software (AMS)? Many large associations, which I’m defining as ones with $10 million or more in annual revenue, are, like Indiana Jones, on a similar type of quest. Their quest is to craft a modern technology ecosystem that can survive and thrive in an environment increasingly characterized by changing member demographics ⁱand expectations across different generationsⁱⁱ.   

And of course, as the foundation of this ecosystem, the AMS solution deservedly gets much attention in this quest. Unfortunately, many of the largest associations have been led astray by promises of a modern member experience that simply must include supposedly flashy tools such as “AI” or “machine learning” without much thought given to the actual use-case and strategic outcomes. Additionally, association professionals hear that the path to nirvana is through a “best of breed” technology model, although it is unclear which products are truly best of breed and very little mention is made of the true cost of ownership for all these best of breed tools. Many association professionals are also told that their AMS must be built-upon Salesforce or Dynamics even though those platforms come with costly licensing fees and were never designed for the association market in the first place. 

The result is that this quest, no matter how well-intentioned, often doesn’t end successfully (if it ever truly ends). Instead, an association could invest hundreds of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars only to realize, after the fact, that at best, they are right back where they started. And, in many cases, the changes they have enacted have disrupted the experiences their members have with the organization and their operational performance. 

None of this is to say that associations should simply keep their current technology, particularly if using an outdated solution. Living with antiquated tech is not a strategy for long-term success for any organization that cares about their customer experience (just ask Southwest Airlines).   

Instead, association leaders should consider a measured approach that is less about chasing shiny new tools and more about balancing technological evolution with the practical needs of all relevant stakeholders, including IT staff, internal power users and, of course, members.   

With that in mind, here are three questions that association professionals should consider when on a quest to modernize their AMS. 

Question 1: Does your AMS Have a Strong Financial Backbone? 

Most associations operate under the premise that member management features are most critical to one’s evaluation of an AMS. And, while those features are certainly important, the reality is that many large associations have a highly diverse revenue model, including membership dues, donations, event registration and sponsorships, trade show booth sales, online career centers, certifications, educational content and possibly even the sale of third-party partner products and services. For this reason, the robustness and sophistication of the financial management features is often the most important characteristic of a modern AMS. 

The need for an AMS to provide advanced financial management features is not casual, but critical and is a common shortfall in most CRM-based AMS solutions. Those platforms are not designed to manage the complex revenue management workflows of a large association, which usually requires the association to look elsewhere for more sophisticated financial management.   

Platform-based AMS providers will try to spin this feature gap as somehow furthering the “best of breed” technology model, but it’s really an attempt to hide that their product has significant limitations that require writing a large check and undertaking a major integration to resolve, thus inflating the cost and complexity of the association’s technology stack.   

Question 2: Who’s Your Identity Provider (IDP)? 

It’s not particularly profound to proclaim that identity management and single sign on (SSO) is critical to crafting a seamless member experience. No member wants to recall more than one account password or authenticate multiple times to navigate their association’s website. And, in many cases, it’s assumed that the AMS provider has the tools necessary to implement SSO.   

However, it’s important to read the fine print because, if an AMS can’t be the Identity Provider (IDP) for the entire technology stack, then the association will be left with no choice but to purchase a separate third-party identity solution such as OKTA or OneLogin, which will increase their annual cost by tens of thousands, or in some, cases hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.  If evaluating a CRM-based product, it’s critical to understand whether the identity management tool is incorporated into the AMS subscription fee or (more likely) is licensed separately and, if the latter, the impact on total cost of ownership. 

If an AMS provider claims that they can be the IDP, then, it’s crucial to determine whether their solution uses industry standard SSO authentication protocols, such as SAML, OATH and OIDC. If not, then there will almost certainly be substantial costs incurred to integrate with other technologies and maintain those integrations over time. 

Question 3: How Much Control Over Your Data Do You Require? 

In our experience working with some of the largest, most sophisticated associations in North America, we’ve found that virtually all have unique integration, reporting or data management needs that necessitate access that is safe, secure and compliant. However, because of the way some have designed the infrastructure around their product, many AMS providers are fundamentally unable to meet this requirement.   

To address this limitation, providers will make bold claims about their supposed world-class managed services organization that will ensure the IT team’s needs are met.  Unfortunately, too often, the managed services organization doesn’t deliver on those claims, leaving the IT staff feeling frustrated by their inability to access and manage their associations data in the best manner possible. 

The three key criteria for any AMS provider to successfully meet this requirement are:  

1. A dedicated, single tenant database 

2. Hosting through a world-class cloud provider 

3. A cloud operations team with deep experience to work collaboratively with the client using industry best practices 

Looking for Guidance on Choosing an AMS? 

Finding the most effective association management software is: “Not as easy as it used to be” — Indiana Jones. 
 
While this is not a conclusive list in covering all relevant criteria for selecting a modern AMS, our goal is to underscore the importance of evaluating an AMS solution as the foundation for any large association’s technology ecosystem and understanding the AMS through the lenses of cost of ownership, feature robustness and practicality.   

ThreeSixty by Personify is the only purpose-built AMS for large associations that delivers a modern member experience while also anchoring the broader technology ecosystem that aligns to your organization’s overall goals and objectives.  

ThreeSixty can empower your organization by providing: 

• A robust and flexible technology infrastructure that supports your unique processes and complex workflows 
• A powerful foundation that can be customized to meet your needs today and tomorrow with a modern and extendable, browser-based interface  
• An in-house professional services team with extensive platform knowledge and industry expertise  

This combination delivers a uniquely-tailored and purpose-built system with a team that is committed to supporting your staff on every step of the journey. 

The post 3 Questions Every Large Association Should Ask in Crafting their Technology Ecosystem  appeared first on Personify.

Last week, we set aside our Christmas shopping and cookie baking, and Erin Sullivan, VP of Marketing at Personify, and Ashly Stewart, Marketing Manager at Personify led a fun, forward-looking discussion about the top association tech trends the experts and data are saying will make a major impact in 2023.

During the webinar, we dove into the seven association tech trends that members will benefit from and association staff will find useful. But these trends and conversations stood out as tech tools and strategies that are already on association and nonprofit professionals’ minds.

Here are the highlights & most talked-about trends for 2023

1. Recession predictions & preparations

Even though we’re being intentional about looking ahead to the new year, it would be a mistake to think we can predict if, when or how a recession will hit. Still, last year taught us to be prepared for anything, and it’s widely accepted that there will be some disruption to the economy, even if experts disagree on the scale and severity.

During difficult times for your members, it’s important to go directly to them and ask what they need, make it easy for people to ask for and receive help and offer programs and services that align with your members’ biggest recession needs, if possible.

Here are a few ideas we talked about:

• Create a survey to send to members to ask them what kind of help they need. It could be assistance in paying for bills or groceries, finding more ways to connect with other members or help finding a job. Send and post this survey across all your major channels (emails, social, website, etc.) to gather the most responses.
• Make it easy to sign up for help or donate goods or services through special email campaigns, an easy-to-spot “Donate Now” button on your website, social platforms and your online community.
• Offer support groups using discussion forums in your online community and organize them based on what people need most.
• Consider starting a job board or sending out a weekly newsletter with new jobs and learning opportunities offered by your community.

2. Member-empowering technology

When we talk about “member-empowering” technology, we’re talking about tech that gives members ownership of their member experience. In the past, many members were content to show up to association events, fundraisers, programs, etc.

And even though you still have member types who enjoy that type of participation with your organization, one of the defining characteristics of the modern member is a high level of engagement and ability to shape their journey with your mission.

To that end, we talked about how tech solutions like online communities and learning management systems are giving members the power to make connections with other members, take learning courses and workshops, job hunt and more on their terms.

From an attendee: A webinar attendee also asked a good question about the role of social media in their association’s efforts since their members have said that’s their favorite way to interact with the mission and other members.

We talked about how it would be a mistake to ignore members if they have spoken and made it clear that’s their preferred communication and connection channel is social. So we talked about the importance of giving members what they wanted while also ensuring they’re protected from data hacks and social media takeovers that can make it difficult for organizations to run their profiles they want to run them.

The overall recommendation was to maintain your organization’s website, but put your social channels front-and-center with social icons and even social plug-ins that give a preview of your social profiles. You can also find ways to have your website and online communities to mirror the look and feel of your members’ favorite channels by adding elements like Newsfeeds, posts and more to give a similar experience to what your members enjoy seeing and using.

3. The new event VIPs

The association world is thrilled to be getting back to in-person events! And as our first in-person events in a couple of years are launched, the industry has been keeping a close pulse on how event attendees have evolved and how our event experiences should evolve as well.

One of the biggest event trends we’re seeing seems to be a result of the pandemic, though we were seeing the start of it before 2022 — and that’s the rise of young event attendees.

The data seems to show that as remote work became the norm over the past couple of years and The Great Resignation gripped the workforce, young professionals turned to associations and their events as a place to connect, network, learn from peers and experts and find new job opportunities in lieu of a more traditional office setting and culture.

For our new event VIPs, the key will the curating event experiences for them. Traditional event attendees liked to wander the event floors, whereas young members and attendees prefer to have the Netflix-like experience, which can look like sessions recommended to them based on their member profiles, event activations that align with their interests and values and the ease of event mobile apps to have agendas, reminders and more delivered straight to their devices.

Want more 2023 association trends?

If you missed the webinar last week, we got you covered! Click on the button below to access and enjoy the webinar recording, and please reach out if you have any follow-up questions or thoughts.

The post Webinar Recap: The Top Association Tech Trends for 2023 appeared first on Personify.

This time of the year marks the upcoming change of the season, kids going back to school, and for many associations and nonprofits, strategic planning is just around the corner.  

And a hot topic that comes up during a lot of strategic planning conversations is around the tools and technology that keep our organizations running and our missions moving forward.  

Conversations about tech can be difficult because not everyone on staff or the board works with tech, and because talk about tech often turns into a conversation about resources, which have become stretched thin for many organizations over the past few years.  

But new tech can also be invigorating as new tools emerge that could mean more benefits for your members, more efficiency for your staff and, ultimately, more visibility into and growth for your organization.  

Taking into account both sides of the tech conversation, we invited Rebecca Achurch, Founder of Achurch Consulting with over 20 years in the association and IT leadership, and Janna Knapp, Senior Director of Professional Services with Personify, who has been leading tech clients and professional services for about 10 years, to talk about their top tips for planning for new technology…and how associations and nonprofits can save some time and costs along the way.  

The Top Moments in “Planning for New Tech & Tools”  

1. “Pre-Planning” is the new planning stage. 

When people think about properly planning for new tech and tools, they think about meeting with their board and staff to develop a budget, timeline, team, etc. But Rebecca likes to talk about a very important, but often neglected, “pre-planning” stage.  

Pre-planning is all about determining what the expectations for the overall strategy will be, looking at what the organization really needs so prioritization comes easier and looking at the type of support that will be needed.  

“Don’t set a budget or timeline during this stage,” Rebecca stresses.

Janna agrees and goes further in saying that the pre-planning stage is served by getting as specific as possible. This can mean getting as detailed as examining individual staff members’ goals and priorities. If, for example, you know that your teammate, Susan, will oversee parts of the tech implementation, but her biggest event is in the fall, you’ll want to consider that in your timeline.  

2. Biggest “red flag” when choosing a tech partner 

Depending on an organization’s goals, size and resources, an association may choose to partner with a consulting firm or an association management company to help them select, implement and/or manage their technology on an ongoing basis.  

These types of partners can be lifesavers if there’s a gap in expertise or simply not enough time to coordinate their technology, but like any partnership, there are things you want to watch out for when choosing a tech partner.  

When asked if there are any “red flags” organizations should watch for as they’re planning for new tools, Rebecca warned against choosing a “yes, partner!” She says that if a partner is consistently answering all your requests with a resounding “yes” without any qualifying statement or follow-up questions, it can indicate unrealistic expectations and result in missed timelines and objectives.  

Speaking of missed timelines, Janna also stressed that if your partner is missing deadlines, especially in the early stages of implementation, it’s important to address them straight away.  

3. Setting your biggest priorities during your tech implementation 

Something that Rebecca and Janna agreed can make or break your tech implementation is the ability to set the right expectations and priorities.  

Admittedly, setting priorities is often a difficult task when you have competing deadlines, big goals and are up against limited resources. To help prioritize certain strategies and timelines, Janna said that you definitely can and should prioritize anything related to financials.  

In other words, if you can’t collect fees, that should be a huge priority. And Rebecca and Janna wrapped up the conversation about prioritization saying that another problem you should always prioritize solving is anything that produces bad data. Data has become one of the most reliable ways to understand member behavior and make strategic decisions for the organization, so it must be as clean and true as possible. 

Get more insights by streaming the webcast 

We could fill a few blog posts with more great insights and advice Rebecca and Janna shared with us regarding tech budgets, timelines, bylaws, and more, but we’ll let you enjoy the webinar at your leisure. After watching the webcast, feel free to reach out with any of your questions about association technology and tools. It’s our favorite topic.  

The post 3 Highlights from “Planning for New Tech & Tools”  appeared first on Personify.

Not only do bylaws keep our organizations legal and organized, they are also becoming key to the way that a nonprofit or association structures its board, makes hiring decisions, and even how it makes big, strategic investments — like the decision to purchase new software to help make your mission go round. 

As our member benefits and our laws are requiring more digital experiences, organizations are starting to realize that their bylaws can and should affect how they use technology.  

What are bylaws? 

Donorbox defines bylaws by saying: 

Nonprofit bylaws are a nonprofit’s operating manual. Nonprofit bylaws (or Bylaws and Articles of Organization) are the main governing document for a nonprofit organization. They are the main official documents of an organization, nonprofit or for-profit.  

Bylaws are generally seen as legal documents, and they take into account the federal, state, and even city regulations and ordinances that an organization needs to follow to be recognized as a credible, legal entity.  

In addition to legal regulations, bylaws also contain directives related to how an organization is structured. For nonprofits and associations, this often includes board terms, how often the board should meet, and it also includes information regarding how to communicate with members, how dues and fees are collected and more.  

Bylaws are seen as more permanent, foundational documents, which is why it’s wise to not get too specific with some of the directives. For example, you may include a team structure or chain of command, but you don’t want to include job descriptions because those can be subject to change.  

Laws change and our organizations evolve. It’s important to plan to revisit your bylaws to maintain your legal and cultural validity.  

Here’s a sample of a bylaws document.  

How do your bylaws affect nonprofit tech? 

These days, so much of the way we work is digital, from e-payments to e-signatures. Our reliance on technology to work with staff, board officers, volunteers and members has required our laws and bylaws to reflect that.  

Take the rise of remote working since the pandemic. Many bylaws had to include items stating if and how board meetings could be attended virtually and how voting would take place via Zoom meetings.  

In the case of our legal regulations reflecting the need for digital solutions, IRS Form 990 asks if nonprofits have a document retention policy, even though they’re not required to have one. Additionally, with organizations collecting private member data, we’re anticipating more local and federal regulations in the future.  

Finally, many bylaws include sections that offer instruction on how to form committees and the necessary chains of command when it comes to big organizational decisions, like purchasing or upgrading software.  

Leveraging your bylaws to prepare for new tech 

1. Review your bylaws to ensure your tech is keeping you legal 

Part of good due diligence is to revisit your bylaws as your federal and local regulations change. But regulations regarding tech are still relatively new and evolving. As part of your review process each year, it can be good to include “technology requirements” in your checklist.  

The National Council of Nonprofits is a great resource for gaining insights on new regulations and trending governance topics.  

2. Check your bylaws as you develop your tech implementation timelines 

The decision for nonprofits to purchase or upgrade technology is usually a big one that requires an investment in time, money and resources. This often leads to board involvement, selection committees, budget approvals, board votes, etc.  

Since bylaws often outline specific directives for how often a board meets, when voting takes place, even the definition of a fiscal year when budgets are evaluated and finalized, it’s important to check your bylaws as you plan for a successful tech implementation.  

We’ve seen instances where an organization wants to make tech decisions quickly, but have been delayed by months, even a year or two after they realized that their bylaws wouldn’t allow the right people to meet and decide sooner.  

3. Consider recruiting a tech-savvy board member 

This isn’t technically bylaw-related, but it’s a key thing to consider that could heavily influence your bylaws — recruit a board member(s) that are passionate and knowledgeable about tech. Someone with professional experience in tech brings lots of good information regarding features, tools and processes and most likely also knows trustworthy tech partners they can leverage for advice or products and services.  

But even someone who is merely passionate about tech could provide a lot of value in researching tech solutions and leading the charge when it comes to ensuring that your bylaws are tech-friendly. 

4. Be proactive about any changes that need to be made in your bylaws 

As we’ve discussed, bylaws can influence the type of technology your nonprofit purchases, when they purchase it and how they purchase it. It’s a good idea to review your bylaws each year knowing tech purchases or upgrades will eventually be something your nonprofit or association needs.  

By considering technology during your regular bylaw review, you can determine if there are bylaws that need to be addressed or changed before you invest in tech, which can save you a lot of time and even some money as you plan your next tech implementation. 

Learn more about how bylaws and other factors can help you plan for technology 

If your nonprofit or association uses tech, join us on August 15, 11:30 CT/ 12:30 ET for our webinar “Planning for New Tech & Tools” to hear how things like your bylaws, gaining board support and other important factors are key to a successful tech implementation.  

The post 4 Ways Your Nonprofit Bylaws Can Affect Your Technology   appeared first on Personify.

What this strategic planning doesn’t account for is the lasting impacts on event professionals from the pandemic. It can easily be seen as you peruse through LinkedIn.  The entire events ecosystem, including countless event management teams, have shrunk through natural attrition and furloughs during COVID. Frequently these professionals have moved on to other jobs or new industries completely.   

Organizations big and small continue to work with smaller staff. Unfortunately, this reduced staffing also exists with key constituents such as contacts at exhibitors and sponsors.  So, I hear from clients often, “how can I do more with less?”  

Technology  

I am sure it seems easier said from a guy who works for an event technology company but hear me out.    

Retail During COVID 

Look at the retail industry, for example. Retailers who pivoted to new technology and leveraged existing solutions faired the best. From apps, scan-and-go, online check-in/order pick-up, etc. Even the expansion of services such as DocuSign signaled those businesses could easily transact without paper. They met their customer where they needed them.  They were agile and adapted to maximize both the in-person and online experience (much like event organizers will need to do moving forward).  

If you want a glimpse of how the National Retail Federation managed events and trade shows during COVID to meet their industries’ needs, watch the on-demand interview with Susan Newman, Senior Vice President of Conference at the Events Revenue Summit.   

Meanwhile, the events industry attempted to use technology to recreate the same experience of an in-person event virtually (the plop and drop method). We all know how the early days of virtual events went. While the technology improved and event organizers began to design better experiences, there was no one-to-one equivalent.  The most successful were conference- heavy events.  Why? The technology has long been available and utilized for online learning, learners were still eager, and many were required for certification.  The least successful was capturing the serendipity of networking and the benefits of a trade show floor connecting buyers and suppliers. 

I shared in my Event Communities Blog Post, the reason the industry has been slow to adopt new(er) technology and services has been its success. The pandemic forced organizers to do things differently – for now.   

The New Events Normal  

What concerns me the most is how easily we can slip into old habits as we start this next phase of virtual or hybrid events. The problem this time, compared to previous event downturns, is we are coming back to new expectations of all our constituents.  As expectations change, so do processes that need to change.   

Even before all this impending change, it is not uncommon to see events still using a printed floor plan, updating it with sticky notes or white-out (who knew that still even existed). Some are printing and faxing paper contracts, emailing credit card numbers, and sharing personally identifiable information in blatant disregard to credit card security and compliance. Others are endlessly copying and pasting data, relying on a locked excel document to calculate years’ worth of priority points, or running daily reports manually and keeping printouts in folders and binders in an office. The list goes on.   

Events Industry Brain Drain  

This brain drain creates both challenges and opportunities for rebuilding. Many organizations relied on people to manage and maintain historical processes, data, and much more with a seasoned staff. Some of it happened on paper in folders, random files amassed on their hard drive, and others simply stored it way in their brain. Events often just happened, without question, year after year with the staff knowing the details. I often refer to these situations as it’s not an issue until it is an issue. COVID made it an issue.    

Without access to these files during the lockdown or team members who were suddenly gone, so was the information they held. Sure, some of it was recoverable from a hard drive, but sometimes it was not. And many of those files weren’t designed to be used other than the creator. So once again, the answer points back to – technology.  

Online Event Management Tools and Platforms  

Utilizing cloud-based platforms and solutions cannot prevent such a loss of information; they are designed to capture your event’s data so it can persist long after team members retire or leave the organization.   

Event management solutions and other platforms are designed to warehouse historical data, electronic contracts, historical purchases by companies, contacts, and much more. They have your end goal in mind.   

Even if you utilize some platforms, COVID has created the perfect opportunity to review your solutions and better build processes to streamline your efforts moving forward.  

Let the Tech-Tech  

As you explore options or even better maximize what you currently use, it is important to see how technology can help secure your data, speed cash flow, avoid costly mistakes, streamline your workflows, integrate systems, automate your reporting, all while doing it with less staff.  Working with your partners to architect the best solution is critical.   

But what’s the most significant advantage of leveraging technology?   

You can focus on relationships.   

Now more than ever, it is essential to spend time talking and listening to all your constituents, especially your exhibitors and sponsors. Even companies who have long exhibited or sponsored at your show often face similar challenges trying to learn the new events normal. They may have smaller budgets, reduced staff, and changes in marketing spend that will require more time with them. The last thing you will want to do is slow the sale up by needing to fax a contract you had to write up or wait until a sponsorship prospectus is updated. They will expect to conduct business much like the retail world has adapted this past year.   

Ready to find out how technology can help your organization?  Join Rich Vallaster, Director of Marketing and the Tradeshow Wonk at Personify, as he shares how #eventtech can help solve the new events normal.  

In this session, you’ll learn: 

• How to leverage new and existing solutions to improve efficiency and streamline operations 
• Best practices to increase exhibitor and sponsor satisfaction  
• Key areas of consideration for building an affordable event tech stack  
• Cost saving and revenue-generating ideas to cover your software costs 
• And much, much more

WATCH THE WEBINAR ON-DEMAND 

The post Maximizing the New Events Normal with Tech Tools appeared first on Personify.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has been dedicated to improving health data integrity for almost 100 years. “We deal with patient records, coding, privacy and security of health data, and all things related to a patient’s information,” says Vicky Betzig, Director of Meetings at AHIMA. “And since COVID-19, so many of the guidelines and regulations seem to have gone right out the window! So much has changed so fast for the members we serve, and in turn, we have had to change quickly in order to meet their new needs.”

Here are some of the innovative ways that the AHIMA is helping its members and
exhibiting companies at its annual events.

Knowing What You Don’t Know

Like many associations, annual events are a key revenue driver for AHIMA. But all of the
uncertainty of when states would re-open (and if anyone would come even if they were)
led AHIMA to do something they’ve never done in their long history: convert from in-person
to virtual events.

In addition to the internal staff, AHIMA brought in outside help to make sure the experience
was not just a stitched-together series of video calls and presentations. It was essential to
get the industry expertise to reinvent and rethink what they offered their members.

Ultimately, AHIMA created many engaging and interactive components to make an
experience beyond the recorded sessions. A Concierge Desk with a live AHIMA staff to
answer questions, high-level staff leading dance breaks on camera and technology to
facilitate face-to-face virtual networking were just some of the ways the organization
reimagined their event.

Nurturing Relationships

AHIMA used Personify’s A2Z Events as their exhibitor and sponsor database, and they
relied on that technology heavily when they made the quick change from in-person to
virtual. Betzig explains that they saw competitors cancel events with little warning—
and seemingly zero regard for their partner relationships. “They did not offer exhibitors
any refunds or chance to recoup their losses, and that did not go over well,” she notes.
AHIMA learned from the reactions to that, and thanks to their database, we’re able to
efficiently and effectively communicate with their partners.

Having Empathy for Members

“We’ve had a lot of people in our profession who have experienced salary reductions
or lost their jobs entirely. So, at the association, there’s been a lot of advocacy around
helping them find resources for employment,” explains Betzig. In addition, AHIMA has been assisting out-of-work industry people in transferring their skills to new endeavors like contact tracing and knowing that the pandemic has put many
people in challenging financial positions.

This AHIMA profile was first published on the Associations Now blog on September 7, 2020 as part of an ongoing series profiling the COVID response strategy of Associations. Republished with permission, all rights reserved. 

The post How AHIMA’s adaptability allowed them to continue their mission during COVID-19 appeared first on Personify.

For many people, the mention of payment processors, gateways or tokens is scarier than a Halloween horror film. Before you run frightfully to your CFO or finance department, hear me out.

We all take for granted the ease and convenience of which we transact for nearly everything in our daily lives. From one-click “buy now” features to recurring payments for donations and utility bills, it is easy to forget the complex network of payment technology and services that allow for a seamless and secure experience in the blink of an eye.

With many physical locations, organizations and businesses shuttered or fully remote during the lockdown, it highlighted the importance of frictionless (and sometimes touchless) transactions. Around the world, consumers are increasingly comfortable with making purchases online (and COVID-19 only further enforced it). Whether you plan events, manage a membership-based organization, or run a nonprofit, revenue and cash flow will always be at the heart of any business. When those members, customers or supporters are ready to sign up, buy a booth or sponsorship at an event, or donate, they want to do it quickly, easily and securely. Organizations that cannot meet this expectation will be increasingly challenged.

In addition, the online payment service lets you know right away if the person making the online payment has sufficient funds to cover the transaction – rather than finding out a week later when the check bounces.

So, where should I start?

There are several terms that are used almost interchangeably when describing payments:

• payment gateway
• payment processor
• payment provider
• payment service or payment system
• merchant account

Though they are distinct, with subtle differences, they all refer to a company, service or application that acts as a financial middleman between you and your customer, and between both of you and your bank accounts. Each facilitates the completion of transactions and the processing of payments.

Here are Some Key Terms to Understand:

Payment gateway

A payment gateway is a service that receives the payment request from your organization and directs it to the payment processor. You can imagine the payment gateway as the digital equivalent of the point-of-sale machine you’d put your card in at the grocery store.

Payment processor

A payment processor is a service that validates the purchaser’s credit card details  (e.g. those of your member, donor or exhibitor/sponsor) and checks if they have sufficient funds in their account to cover the payment. If the customer has enough funds, the transaction is authorized, and the funds are transferred from the customer’s account. The transaction status is transmitted back to the payment gateway, which then sends a status message to your website. The payment processor company may also provide you with the equipment you need to accept in-person payments, such as a card swiper.

Payment provider

A payment provider (or payment service provider) is the company that operates the payment gateway or payment processor services. Some will operate both.

Payment service or payment system

A payment provider offers multiple payment gateways with different features and pricing – each type is referred to as a payment service or payment system.

Merchant account

A merchant account is another important term to understand. When a transaction is successfully completed, the funds are transferred from the purchaser’s account to your merchant account, a special kind of bank account used exclusively to hold funds received from credit and debit card transactions. To accept online payments, you usually need to set up a merchant account with your payment provider. Funds accumulating in your merchant account are transferred to your organization’s bank account regularly.

But what’s the difference between a payment gateway and a payment processor?

Although the terms payment gateway and payment processor are sometimes used interchangeably, they actually refer to different parts of the payments process.

In an online transaction, the payment gateway is what authenticates the customer’s payment, whereas the payment processor is the mechanism that communicates the transaction between the bank and the merchant.

This distinction is important because, in a physical transaction, only the payment processor is needed. In a virtual transaction, however, an extra layer of authentication is necessary.

However, to make it even more confusing, the payment gateway and payment processor are sometimes combined into a single service known by either name. Some companies will manage both sides of the process, whereas others only handle one.

I have heard about credit card tokens. What are they and why should I care?

Credit card tokens are a randomly generated value to replace the actual credit card number. In a growing era of credit card fraud and data breaches, tokenization is an excellent way to meet PCI compliance and keep your customer’s data safe. Learn more about this topic from our Vice President of Cyber Security and Compliance, Chris Xenos.

How do online payments work?

To fully understand how online payments work, let’s follow a transaction from start to finish. In this way, you can see how your website, your member or exhibitor, and your payment service provider all interact.

To get started with online payment processing, you typically need a merchant account and an account with a payment service provider and a web page with a call to action button (e.g. Join, Donate, Buy, Sponsor) that initiates the transaction process. Once you have set up your web page and connected it to an online payment system, visitors to your site will be able to pay online for products or services. The online payment process begins when the visitor clicks the button to pay online for membership fees or an exhibit booth or make a donation or purchase something from your online store. On the online payment form that appears, the visitor enters their credit card information and submits the transaction request. Depending on your online payment service provider, the form may appear on your website, or your purchaser may be redirected to a form on your service provider’s website. The transaction request, along with the credit card information entered by the purchaser, is securely transmitted to the payment gateway operated by your payment service provider. The information is encrypted so that no one – including you – can view the purchaser’s personal and financial information.

Suppose the purchaser’s credentials are valid and there are sufficient funds to complete the transaction. In that case, your payment service provider will initiate a transfer of funds from the purchaser’s bank account to the merchant account associated with your website and notify your website that the transaction has been approved. Depending on how your website is set up, that information can be used to update records on your site automatically (e.g. update your membership management or event management system). If the transaction is declined for any reason – such as invalid credentials or insufficient funds – no funds will be transferred, but status information will still be sent to your website.

Want to learn more?  Watch our on-demand webinar!

The post Payments, Tokens, Gateways, OH MY! appeared first on Personify.

A 2019 Global NGO Technology Report found that 48% of nonprofits in the U.S. increased technology spending in 2019. Similarly, a recent report by NTEN found that 56% of respondents from nonprofit organizations implement a new cloud service in just the last year.

If you’re adding new technology or migrating a current system to the cloud, your team may have a number of questions and potential concerns about the process. How long will it take to implement? How much will it cost? When will my organization reap the benefits, whether that’s a growth in membership, increased donations, or a less cumbersome process for staff?

Buying new technology for nonprofits and associations can be an overwhelming process, whether you’re adding a tool to your existing technology stack or replacing core systems that serve as your organization’s source of truth. But it doesn’t have to be.

Here are 5 steps to make the buying process more streamlined, efficient and enjoyable:

1. Align on your Strategy Upfront

Have you ever gathered your team for a product demo or meeting with a vendor only to learn that you have wildly different ideas about the scope of the product and problems that it will solve within your organization? If so, the vendor meeting was likely far less productive than you intended.

Before you meet with any vendors, take time to connect with departmental stakeholders beyond the buying committee. Outline the teams and departments that will be using the technology. This can and should include staff that are creating new member and donor profiles and signing up people for programs, executive members who are leveraging the data to develop insights and drive forward the organization, and event staff who are planning your annual conference. Are these individuals represented in the committee that is compiling your needs and goals for the new system or tool?

When gathering this information, evaluate the business processes that are needed to effectively use your new technology. This exercise creates an opportunity to reevaluate legacy business processes and areas of inefficiency.

How to make it fun? Consider a non-traditional format to brainstorm your goals and strategy for the new technology. For example, Lean Coffee is a structured, but agenda-less meeting format where participants gather and build an agenda together democratically. Depending on the size of the group, you could also have participants’ favorite coffee beverage ready for pickup at their local coffee shop on the morning of the meeting.

2. Outline Your Needs and Requirements

Once you’ve got a strategy in place, start building a list of requirements that takes into account the goals and objectives of each area of the business and their wish list of what they hope to achieve with the new system.

For example, if you are shopping for a new Association Management System (AMS), your membership team’s wish list may include the ability to support complex membership and event types and robust reporting on membership trends. If you’re shopping for an online community, your events team may need to be able to host virtual events within the platform and segment users by their membership type. Your executive team will need to be able to document the ROI and see data insights showing how the tool supports the organization’s goals. And, your IT team will want to know how the tool keeps member, volunteer or donor data safe from cybersecurity attacks and can integrate and share data with other tools in your technology stack.

How to make it fun? Consider hosting a supermarket sweep-style game for participants to identify what’s most important to them in the list of requirements. Instead of groceries, you can print out potential features and benefits for a new piece of technology. Your buying committee is then timed and has to “run through the supermarket” and quickly pick the features/benefits that are most important to them. You can then hold a discussion at the end where you prioritize these across the group.

3. Build Your Proposal

Once you have a clear understanding of your organization’s needs and specific criteria, you’ll be ready to start crafting a request for proposal (RFP) or a request for information (RFI) that describes your objectives, requirements and questions for potential vendors.

An RFP or RFI is important because it clearly articulates your needs to vendors and establishes a baseline against which you’ll measure all proposals that are submitted. It also identifies the scope of the project and details all functional and system requirements that are needed to achieve your goals. It creates transparency around the process for evaluating submissions, how different features or benefits will be weighed and what types of information is needed from the vendor.

How to make it fun? While an RFP doesn’t stand for “really fun process,” that doesn’t mean it has to be boring and vanilla. When evaluating technology for nonprofits, many RFPs ask the same generic questions over and over such as, “What relevant experience do you have?” and “Do you have case studies to share?” While these are important, consider unique questions such as, “What’s something you believe in that some of your peers may disagree with” or “What risks do you feel are present that we haven’t included in the RFP?”

4. Select Your Technology Vendor

Your hard work has paid off and now you have multiple responses to review. Which will be the best fit for your organization? To create an effective process for selecting your vendor, we recommend you bring your cross-departmental team of subject-matter experts back together to ensure the needs of all departments are being met by the proposals that have been submitted. Filter out any proposals that do not meet the requirements you shared in your RFP.

For the remaining proposals, evaluate each one based on the qualifications and ranked importance that you previously aligned on with the team. You can then set up product demos (virtual or in-person) with your top vendors to answer additional questions and have a better understanding on how the technology will meet your needs.

Based on your evaluations of each vendor’s technical offering and proposed price, information obtained during due diligence, and any presentations or demonstrations, rank the proposals and then select the one that provides the best value.

How to make it fun? Add some spice to the standard product demo process by requesting your vendors to show off their skillsets in new and interesting ways. You can ask your vendors to structure their demo around a particular theme such as, “What kind of superhero would your technology be, and why?” Bonus points if your vendors show up in costume.

5. Get Ready to Implement

It’s not over once you’ve chosen a vendor. Implementing new technology for nonprofits and associations is most effective when you have a carefully planned process, timeline and list of stakeholders to make sure that the relationship with your new vendor starts off on the right foot.

To set yourself up for success, we recommend documenting both the before and after processes prior to implementation. Leverage flow charts to mark the steps that will be conducted in-person versus online. Develop a communications strategy for each of the internal groups that will be affected by the implementation and/or migration process and how the implementation team will support them at each step. The word “support” is key here.

Implementing new technology requires a lot of change whether it’s to your business processes, your passwords, the departments involved, etc. Look for things that you can carry over—when it makes sense—from your current approach and build in time for people to get up to speed and feel confident with the new technology.

How to make it fun? Eliciting feedback is an important part of the implementation process. Instead of hosting a meeting on Zoom or in a conference room, create a series of happy hours or coffee breaks for the implementation team and involved stakeholders to share what’s working and any issues they’re running into throughout the process. Invite the project manager or implementation staff from your new software vendor to give both groups a chance to get to know each other and build trust.

Technology for Nonprofits & Associations: Want a Deeper Dive into the Buying Process?

These five steps are a good place to start when thinking about investing in new technology for your organization, but there’s much more to consider. Want to learn more?

Join me as I share a step-by-step process and key considerations for choosing new technology for nonprofits and associations that includes all of the appropriate internal and external stakeholders.

During the session, we’ll explore concepts in:

• Strategy: Why it’s crucial to internally align on your strategy before talking to vendors
• Requirements: How to establish and define your technology needs, and when to conduct a gap analysis
• Proposals: What a well-drafted RFP or RFI should look like, and when to use them
• Demos and Selection: What to ask and who to include in product demos and your selection process
• Implementation: How to make the transition more efficient, effective and easier on your team

Watch Now

The post Technology for Nonprofits & Associations: 5 Steps to Make the Buying Process Less Painful and More Fun appeared first on Personify.

Technology Enables Organizations to Reimagine their In-Person Events as Virtual Experiences

Aug 10, 2020 – Personify, Inc. (“Personify”), the leading technology provider for associations, nonprofits and show organizers, today launched a new virtual conference and expo solution that empowers organizations to create and execute compelling digital event experiences including tools to host interactive conference sessions, facilitate networking opportunities, and drive engagement among attendees, speakers and sponsors. Personify’s virtual conference solution allows an organization to:

• Drive attendee and sponsor engagement with online conferences that include keynotes, breakout sessions and virtual meetups
• Connect exhibitors and attendees with a virtual trade show floor, sell online sponsorships and the ability to book meetings and host matchmaking between buyers and sellers
• Host open forums and private discussions and provide a searchable directory with options for profile badging and a resource gallery
• Broadcast live and on-demand content and support continuing education initiatives

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for association and event professionals planning to connect their constituents and host in-person events and meetings. Many organizations rely heavily on their annual shows and events to drive revenue for the organization and deliver value to their members, attendees, and exhibitors.

“Our clients are working hard to reimagine their events strategy and programming this year to deliver more value while arming their constituents with resources and education during this uncertain time,” said Norbert Orth, interim CEO of Personify. “Personify’s virtual conference solution enables organizations to create a compelling digital experience for their members, attendees and exhibitors in support of their event programs this year and beyond.”

71% of associations have cancelled at least one in-person event in 2020, according to the ASAE Research Foundation, and 46% of show organizers have postponed in-person events in 2020, according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. There has been a strong shift to virtual events with Google search volume for “virtual solutions” increasing by 10X over the past five months.

“We believe that virtual conferences will continue to play an important role in helping organizations connect with their audiences, even after we’re able to return to in-person events,” said Teresa Zimmerman, Vice President of Marketing at Personify. “Our virtual conference solution gives our clients more options—whether it’s an in-person, virtual or a hybrid approach—and expands the potential reach for their events overall.”

Personify will share more details about its virtual conference solution at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Annual Conference, which is a virtual event taking place on August 10-12, 2020.

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A trusted solution that allows for infinite possibilities, Personify is the technology foundation that provides insights to maximize engagement and deliver value across each and every interaction with members, donors, volunteers, attendees, exhibitors and more. For over 20 years, Personify has been a trusted partner to associations, nonprofits, show organizers, YMCAs and JCCs—helping them improve insights, optimize operations, increase revenue and drive productivity. For more information, visit www.personifycorp.com.

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