Event registration should be as easy for the organizer as it is for potential attendees—but that isn’t always the case. That’s why Personify, Inc. (“Personify”), a lifelong technology partner to associations, nonprofits and event professionals, compiled research from over 300 organizations to create your go-to handbook on the subject: “The A2Z Guide to Event Registration.” The research provides valuable insights into industry trends, common challenges and practical guidance on crafting efficient, successful event registration.

“At Personify, we understand that as the first touch an audience has with an event, registration sets the tone for the entire experience,” said Daria Knupp, Senior Content Manager at Personify. “We conducted this research to provide event organizers with a roadmap to streamline the event registration process, optimizing it to address the frustrations most expressed by audiences. Of those surveyed, 44% identified registrants as the most critical metric to an event’s success, which tracks when you consider that an event ultimately hinges on attendance. The more people register, the more attendees you have to engage with content. We believe our findings are vital to successful event registration, and by extension, to a successful event.”

Above all, our research showed ease of use to be the most important factor when developing an event registration process—with 54% of respondents ranking it as their top priority. By putting ease of use first, event organizers can create a user-friendly, low-stress experience that increases the likelihood of attendees following through with registration and enhancing their satisfaction with the brand overall.

While ease of use may be top of mind, registrants also have their data and privacy to worry about when registering for events. As registration trends move toward personalization, protecting users’ data remains imperative, with 66% of survey respondents opting to use secure online registration software. By staying vigilant and proactive with cybersecurity, event professionals can build trust with attendees and ensure their data remains safe and secure.

Once you have your event registration built out, secure and ready to go, what’s the best way to promote it? In our increasingly digital world, it’s no surprise that our survey revealed social media as the most popular tool for promoting event registration. Social media is indispensable when it comes to both planning for and promoting events, and our research proves users’ preference for it as a means of communication. And though email marketing came in at a close second, it’s important to be wary of email fatigue: when emails start to pile up, registrants can start to tune out.

Despite the potential challenges of email fatigue, email still presents a unique marketing opportunity for event professionals—granted if they’re able to stand out in a sea of emails. Our research shows that a strategic approach leveraging a combination of personalization, segmentation, A/B testing, value proposition and multi-channel marketing is the most successful. Personalizing according to topics of interest, certification renewals and past attendance can help forge a connection between brand and recipient, while clearly communicating the event’s value gives potential attendees compelling reasons to attend.

A successful event starts with a successful registration process. As your attendee’s first impression of the event itself, it’s essential to keep the process simple, secure and easily accessible through social media and email marketing. Adhering to the insights uncovered in this report can help increase engagement, boost event attendance and strengthen the bond between you and your users—meaning even more attendance down the line!

Download the “A2Z Guide to Event Registration” for free and gain access to 20 pages of insights into what makes registrants tick, tips to streamline the registration process and practical steps to keep your users’ data safe. Our research team surveyed over 300 organizations from various industries managing registration for at least one event annually.  Some of the organizations surveyed manage over 20 events each year, and while most of the events are held in person, a small percentage of the organizations also host virtual and hybrid events. While every event registration process is unique, our findings speak to broader truths about what compels potential attendees to register—or not register—and can be used to optimize your event organization process, increase investment returns and maximize engagement for your next event.

About Personify

Personify partners with associations, chambers of commerce, nonprofits, event professionals, YMCAs, JCCs and other organizations to help them bring people and ideas together. Our technology platform, combined with our professional service and support, empowers organizations of all sizes at every step of their journey. Personify’s integrated solutions enable clients to build reliable revenue streams and achieve greater success, and our partnership means they never do it alone. 

For more information, visit https://personifycorp.com/.

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In a webinar hosted by Personify, leading industry experts explored these personas and their member journeys. Which experts you ask? 

• Wes Trochlil, President of Effective Database Management 
• Megan Woodburn, Founder and Co-CEO at Strategic Association Management 
• Nick Ruffin, President and CEO of AMR Management Services 
• Erin Sullivan, VP of Marketing at Personify  

This blog recaps the highlights. You can watch the full discussion anytime, on-demand here.  

What are member personas and why should you care?  

A persona is a fictional representation of a person built on common traits. They’re used to help understand and predict user behaviors and empathetically speak to individuals you don’t know personally. 

In the context of your members, the same use case applies. Understanding personas helps you build interactions that different individuals can relate to. Segment audiences and refine activities for each member’s journey with your association. 

Below is a graphic of the 10 different personas that make up your association. Your members can be any combination of them. People join your association for a variety of reasons and their persona is a big part of why they join.  

Example: The Advocate 

An advocate will join because they’re passionate about the association’s mission. They want involvement and to help raise awareness. They’ll engage in activities such as fundraisers and volunteer opportunities. Their need is to fulfill their purpose as true believer, which is the core of the advocate persona.  

Membership is no longer a one size fits all.

By embracing member personas, you’ll have happier members and boost engagement and retention.  

What the experts say about member personas 

How have you seen levels of engagement evolve or change in associations in recent years?  

After the dramatic changes we saw after the 2020 pandemic, member engagement has evolved. Member expectations have shifted. Technology offers opportunities to run virtual events and build disparate communities online. 

Nick Ruffin noted “the numbers we’ve seen of attendees for a virtual, annual conference is double or triple the numbers they had ever seen in person…it showed that there was this audience that was out there, that for whatever reason, just wasn’t going to come out to a conference.”  

This demonstrates that there’s a persona of members who want to take part and engage. But, maybe just not in person.  

We can give to all members, whether they prefer to engage in person or virtually. Megan Woodburn said it best, “how are we engaging the whole rather than just who has been our typical member or typical registrant at these events?”  

Should evolving engagement trends change how associations run their business and programs? If so, how?    

YES! We’ve acknowledged shifting member expectations. Wes Trochlil noted “members and customers are now saying you need to meet me on my terms and so how are you going to do that?”  

Asking your members what’s working and what isn’t is a great way to boost engagement. Host a focus group, send out surveys and listen to your members when they give feedback.  

Megan warns us to “be cautious about listening to only the loudest voices, make sure you’re doing this thoughtfully. Make sure you’re thinking about the whole rather than just solving one solution.”  

How can we better understand and serve people of all types and engagement levels in an association?  

Nick Ruftin started this off by saying “there’s 1,000 ideas of things we can do, but we can’t afford to do all of them. You could maybe afford to do 2 or 3 of them well. Using the data of what your members actually want and participate in is where you should focus your energy on, in alignment with your strategic plan, mission and vision.”   

Of course, this is easier said than done.  

Wes drove this point home discussing situations where a segment of members seems to not care. They may always be members and have high retention. But they don’t interact, participate in surveys or volunteer. These members don’t engage in the same way you anticipated, but that’s okay. They’ll consume the content they want and participate in a level that works for them. Have your team encourage the engagement of these members and try to boost that engagement. Even if a member isn’t participating now, it doesn’t mean they won’t in the future.  

The hybrid experience is something that has proven to engage all types of members. Erin Sullivan commented, “the post-pandemic member expects a hybrid experience and hybrid is expensive to put on…so you have to prioritize which events and programming make sense to provide a virtual component for, and which ones we want people to join in person.”  

Given the past few years, how are you feeling about events and conferences in 2023?  

Confidence in the events space is extremely high according to our panelists. It seems post-pandemic that people are craving in-person interaction. Megan spoke to this saying “events are back and they’re back strong. If fact we’re seeing about a 10% increase in attendance…a 60% increase in registration.”  

People belong to an association to meet with peers, network, learn and ask questions. Bringing back in-person events provides the perfect platform for all that to happen. 

Which persona(s) do you identify most with?  

Nick, being passionate but resistant to participation, identified as a combination of an advocate and curious.  

Wes felt similar to Nick and is an influencer, giver and advocate.  

Megan agreed that she is a combination of curious, advocate and influencer.  

Erin identified strongly with the connector, as one of her strengths is winning others over and bringing people together.  

All panelists felt their personas evolved over the course of their career. They identified with different personas in different career stages.  

Looking at 2023, what opportunities and challenges do you foresee for associations?  

Taking a hard look at your association is key here.  

Is your association addressing member needs? Speaking their language and offering them relevant experiences will build strong relationships. You’ll ultimately build a stronger program with better retention. 

The technology you use is critical. If you’re not evaluating it every couple of years you may be missing new opportunities.  

Want to hear more? Learn how the American Society of Nutrition used their tech stack to pivot to online meetings and events during the pandemic.  

A huge challenge our panelists identified was a possible recession. This will impact member travel budgets for events. It also speaks to agility and organizations staying nimble in the face of change. 

Looking on the bright side, Nick noted, “this could be an opportunity for associations to network and create value for members. We all survived the 2008 recession, and we have way more resources, tools and technology now.” 

Leverage your technology stack to understand your personas  

A robust association management software (AMS) will allow you to segment member data. By evaluating demographics, preferences, job titles, event attendance and content engagement, you can better understand your association personas. Once you have an understanding you can craft programs and messages that resonate.  Below are a few great technology options to help build engagement and programs for your many personas. 

Learning Management System (LMS)  

An LMS, like Classroom, engages your learning personas. You can provide opportunities to learn and gain certifications through Classroom. Bonus: this provides a good reason for employers to cover employee membership dues!  

Members who benefit most from an LMS are:   

• Researchers
• Climbers  
• Scholars   

Online Community  

An online community, like CommUnity, enables networking and community building. Members can engage and stay informed about your association’s programs. A community is a great way to connect people on specific topics or in geographic areas. You can go as big or as small as you want and let them lead the conversation.  

We’ve heard a lot of success in online communities connecting members in disparate locations – or globally. Or for onboarding young members. If your community syncs with your Association Management Software, even better. This creates more data points you can lean into to work with those personas. 

Members who benefit most from online communities are:   

• Entertainers  
• Influencers  
• Givers  
• Advocates  
• Connectors  
• Mentors

Job Board  

A job board, like Personify’s Job Board, enables members to post and search for jobs. They can also learn about volunteer and research positions. This is great for those seeking career path growth or to grow their association or business.  

Members who benefit most from a job board are:  

• Climbers  
• Advocates  
• Scholars  
• Researchers  

Event Management  

An event management tool (we have a lot of those at Personify) will help you create events members will love. Connect people virtually and face-to-face for professional development, networking, friendship and more.  

Members who benefit most from events are:  

• Influencers  
• Advocates  
• Connectors

To watch the full conversation between Megan, Nick, Wes and Erin click the link below!  

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Personify, Inc. (“Personify”), a technology partner helping associations, nonprofits and event professionals to bring people together and build revenue, is pleased to release powerful insights and considerations for trade shows and events in 2023. The research report, “2023 Exhibitor Data: Research Findings,” presents the most relevant and current trends for trade show and event organizers with research conducted by A2Z Events in January 2023. The full report provides a deep understanding of the power of events today, changing expectations, unique challenges, expanding goals and demographic shifts, all from the eyes of the exhibitor.  

“At Personify, we understand the importance of staying informed about the current trends and expectations for trade shows and events,” said Rich Vallaster, Director of Event Marketing at Personify. “That’s why we conducted this research – to provide event organizers with a better understanding of exhibitor preferences and needs. The most surprising finding from the survey was that exhibitors cited increasing their visibility as more important than generating leads – a clear indication of the broader goals many companies have for events today. Overall, we feel this survey data is essential to help ensure that trade shows in 2023 meet the demands of modern exhibitors.” 

Within the report, our research affirms anticipated growth in event participation this year, highlighting that events are a powerful and versatile marketing tool for companies of all sizes. 89% of survey respondents reported their 2023 event participation is staying the same or increasing compared to 2022. Despite economic uncertainty, companies are looking to 2023 as a benchmark for successful events, recognizing the importance of event ROI and engagement in an ever-competitive market.  

Findings within the report suggest that events have become more than just a tool to acquire new customers. While generating new leads has always been a top priority, in 2023, exhibitors are looking to increase their visibility more than ever before. Exhibitors also reported that content will be a key motivator for attendance at an event and sustainability remains a focus for many when organizing events.  

Additionally, the report uncovers the most important demographic to target and consider when designing your event experiences in 2023. Today’s primary target audience may be younger than you think. The demographic insights within the report support a considerable shift in buying power and an increase in expectations for a curated, interactive and engaging experience before, during and after events.   

Meeting the needs of exhibitors is not easy in today’s world. On top of ensuring basic needs, such as having an exhibition space and marketing materials available, understanding exhibitor expectations and motivations will further enable show organizers and events professionals to maximize their events in 2023 and beyond.  

“2023 Exhibitor Data: Research Findings” is available to download for free and contains 16 pages filled with insights into the motivations, preferences and expectations of today’s exhibitors. The report was compiled from the survey responses of 318 participants employed by companies or organizations that have exhibited during at least one trade show, conference or event in the United States during 2022. While each company or organization is unique in its participation in trade shows and events, the findings can help inform show organizers as they develop strategies designed to support the long-term growth and success of their organization.  

The full report, conducted by A2Z Events by Personify, is available to download for free, here.  

About Personify 

Personify partners with associations, chambers of commerce, nonprofits, event professionals, YMCAs, JCCs, and other organizations to help them bring people and ideas together. Our technology platform, combined with our professional service and support, empowers organizations of all sizes at every step of their journey. Personify’s integrated solutions enable clients to build reliable revenue streams and achieve greater success, and our partnership means they never do it alone. 

For more information, visit https://personifycorp.com/. 

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Personify, Inc. (“Personify”), a technology company that enables organizations to manage and grow their communities, announced today the acquisition of Charlotte-based GTR Event Technology. GTR is a long-established player in the events industry, providing innovative solutions for event professionals and modern experiences for attendees. The acquisition of GTR allows Personify to offer a complete event management platform for organizers of trade shows, conferences, corporate meetings, and other events of all variations and sizes.

GTR has developed powerful and easy-to-use software, along with expert services for badge printing, online registration, lead retrieval and attendance tracking.

“The addition of GTR to Personify’s Community Experience Platform further enables our mission of helping our clients to manage and grow their communities. Our clients often want us to serve all their technology needs including event, association, and community engagement technology. GTR’s products now allow Personify to be a single source,” said Scott Collison, President and CEO of Personify.

Travis Tucker, CEO of GTR, added, “Being part of Personify’s Community Experience Platform will expand the audience of those who will now consider GTR’s products for their event management technology needs. Our market has immediately expanded. We look forward to providing a broader variety of associations, chambers, and trade show and event organizers with an exceptional event experience.”

Attendees will enjoy a seamless experience of Personify’s event website and online registration, event check-in and badge printing and a mobile conference app. Event organizers, exhibitors and sponsors can generate more revenue and productivity from trade show floor planning, lead retrieval, matchmaking, exhibitor and sponsor marketing, attendance tracking, and data reporting and analytics.

Travis Tucker, CEO of GTR, will join Personify’s team as the Head of Events Business Strategy.

Show organizers and association leaders can learn more about Personify’s event management technologies during the upcoming webinar “Better Together: The Future of Event Management with GTR, A2Z Events and Personify” on September 20 at 12:30 ET. To register for the webinar, click here.

Personify is a Pamlico Capital portfolio company and GTR is backed by Topmark Partners.

For additional questions not addressed above, please review our Client FAQ, available here.

About Personify

Personify partners with associations, chambers of commerce, charities, event professionals, YMCAs, JCCs, and other purpose-driven organizations to help them manage and grow their communities. Personify’s Community Experience Platform combined with their professional service offerings benefit organizations of any size and at any stage of growth. For more information, visit personifycorp.com.

About GTR

Since 1995, Event Planners have chosen GTR for leading technology, exceptional service, and overall value. GTR provides the conference and tradeshow industry with technology designed to improve and simplify every event. With their all-in-one event management platform, end-to-end support, global reach, and eye on innovation, GTR has powered over 12,000 events around the world. For more information, visit gtrnow.com. Events are hard, GTR makes them simple.

About Pamlico Capital

Pamlico Capital is a private equity firm founded in 1988 that invests in growing middle market companies in North America. Pamlico Capital seeks control-oriented growth equity investments of up to $200 million alongside founders and proven leaders in its target industries: communications, healthcare, services and software. The firm, based in Charlotte, NC, has assets under management of approximately $4 billion. For additional information, please visit pamlicocapital.com.

About Topmark Partners

The team at Topmark Partners has been investing in growth stage businesses since 1999. Topmark Partners develops trusted relationships with experienced entrepreneurs and supports its portfolio companies through the most dynamic phases of their lifecycles. Based in Tampa, FL, Topmark Partners invests in companies led by entrepreneurs applying proven technology to solve business problems. These technology-enabled businesses typically generate $3 million to $30 million of revenue and are at or near breakeven. Topmark Partners targets investments of $2 million to $7 million in each portfolio company. Learn more at topmarkpartners.com.

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The Enhanced Digital Content (EDC) program from A2Z Events by Personify can help your exhibitors extend their reach, generate leads, and gain customers. We offer a few different options for organizations to take advantage of EDC depending on their organization’s size, internal resources and needs.  

What is Enhanced Digital Content (EDC)?

EDC is a tool that enables exhibitors to create robust online profiles in the exhibitor console within the A2Z Events platform. This customizable profile allows exhibitors to add product information, show specials, press releases, video galleries and more. Think of the profile as an exhibitor’s content-rich digital booth that is available before, during and after the event.  

EDC enriches the event experience for both attendees and exhibitors:  

• Attendees can access exhibitor profiles before the event to plan out which booths they want to visit and connect with exhibitors before stepping onto the show floor. Additionally, the EDC tool benefits attendees unable to attend the event in person to interact with exhibitors digitally and recreate some of the in-person experience. 

• Exhibitors have increased visibility to attendees and potential customers at the event. They can elicit more show leads by promoting show specials, giveaways, etc. on their digital profile to increase the percent of folks that visit their booth in person. By creating a robust online profile, exhibitors can turn the conversations with attendees from “What do you offer?” to “I’m interested in this product I read about on your profile.” 

How Does Enhanced Digital Content Work?

There are a few different ways that an A2Z Events client can leverage EDC. Personify has an in-house Digital Engagement Team (DET) that will manage all aspects of the EDC program on behalf of clients. The DET works with you to make sure your exhibitors and attendees have a seamless user experience from program setup to marketing, post show reporting and analysis. They generate additional revenue to A2Z Events clients at no cost to them by offering online marketing opportunities to their show’s exhibitors through the Enhanced Digital Content Partnership Program (EDCP).  

Alternatively, an A2Z Events client can purchase the EDC functionality and manage it themselves if they have the resources and bandwidth. 

Why is Enhanced Digital Content Valuable to Exhibitors?

Nothing is worse than going to an event as an exhibitor, spending time, money, and resources to generate few or poor-quality leads. We find that exhibitors who add rich content to their online profiles typically generate 3X more profile visits, have more meaningful engagement, and gather a higher number of leads.  

The ability to showcase their company through enhanced content galleries gives organizations higher visibility over a longer period of time, as opposed to only a physical exhibitor booth.  

Exhibitors and attendees can also utilize the matchmaking feature in their profiles. By selecting what they are seeking to get out of the event, attendees will be matched with exhibitors that offer relevant products or solutions.  

Attendees will be able to prioritize the booths they visit, and Exhibitors in return will receive more engaged attendees. This allows for both attendees and exhibitors to maximize their time at the event and optimize their experience by finding their event match! 

How EDC Makes an Event Successful and Profitable

I’ve mentioned how EDC benefits exhibitors and attendees, but what about the event organizers? Well, having happy people who are able to meet their lead and revenue goals will keep coming back to your event year after year, improving your exhibitor retention rate and providing guaranteed revenue from their booth.  

Additionally, when you leverage our DET, you can save significant time and resources when planning and executing your event. 

 Utilizing the customized marketing our team provides, your event is elevated, from the website to email campaigns to event implementation. The DET team will also help adapt your strategy mid show if needed and at the end of your event you receive a post-show report with statistics and revenue breakdowns.  

Want to Learn More About Enhanced Digital Content?

If you’re interested in learning more about what A2Z Events can do for your next event through EDC, feel free to reach out to one of our team members. They’ll be able to answer any questions and build your strategy for digital success. 

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Personify, Inc. (“Personify”), the leader in technology solutions for associations, nonprofits and event professionals is pleased to announce the launch of the first-ever A2Z Event Professionals Awards. The new awards program was established to celebrate the agility, creativity and industrious problem solvers in today’s events and association industries.  

The A2Z Event Professionals Awards are now accepting nominations from across the events industry. Nominees are not required to be A2Z Events users or Personify clients and may range in size and experience from associations to independent show organizers. The awards program will highlight innovation and creative thinking in the events industry, no matter the organization or origin.  

“So many awards are focused on revenue or square footage,” says Rich Vallaster, Director of Event Marketing at Personify. “While those are critical components to an event’s success, recognizing the ideas of all sizes and the people and teams who have had a huge impact in the industry is why we created these awards.” 

Submission categories vary to cover the multitude of opportunities to innovate and impact an event experience on a large or small scale. Clients may nominate themselves, a fellow event professional or an event team for their exceptional work to improve sponsorships, floor plan management, educational content, attendee engagement, activations and more.   

Nominations will be reviewed by a panel of event professionals who will evaluate submissions based on overall association or organizational success, creativity and innovation, as well as impact on industry or sector.  

For more information, criteria and the nomination form, click here.

About Personify 

Personify partners with associations, chambers of commerce, charities, event professionals, health and wellness facilities, educational institutions, and other purpose-driven organizations to help them manage and grow their communities. Personify’s Community Experience Platform combined with their professional service offerings benefit organizations of any size and at any stage of growth. For more information, visit https://personifycorp.com/. 

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Last week, Personify hosted our first Community Lab event! It was a great day filled with inspiring sessions led by thought leaders, experts and super users of online communities built for association members, and the discussion forums were filled with insightful questions and ideas from the “community curious” to the veteran community builder.  

In short, Community Lab was filled with a lot of learning and a lot of fun. We call that a success! If you couldn’t join us, we’ve rounded up some of the top sessions and ah-ha moments we heard that attendees really enjoyed.  

Top moments and discoveries from Community Lab 

The opening keynote revealed the biggest opportunity for online communities for associations 

Even though “online community” has become a buzzword across several industries in the past couple of years, our opening keynote panel reminded us that, for associations, online communities aren’t new. In fact, associations were some of the first to offer online communities because associations were born out of the desire for people to be a part of a community.  

All panelists agreed that, whether in-person or virtual, you can’t separate associations from community.  

With that perspective in mind, Marjorie Anderson believes that the real opportunity for an association’s online community isn’t as a destination, but as an integral part of a member’s journey with the association. 

“There’s an expectation that if I’m part of the community, how do you then help support the rest of my [member] journey? So if I am a seasoned volunteer within your organization, and I’m part of your community, how can I give back? Maybe I want to be able to share my knowledge — how do I do that is easy for me to do that? If I’m new, is it easy for me to come in and ask a question or connect to the people that I need to connect with? It’s no longer about Community just as a destination.” 

Benjamin and Erin also provided perspective on how living through the pandemic drove people to online communities, not simply to make connections online, but for more learning opportunities through virtual events and online courses.  

Building an inclusive culture sparked the most comments we saw in our sessions.

It was amazing seeing all the chatter in each of our sessions, and our session titled, “How to Build an Inclusive Culture in Your Online Community,” inspired so many thought-provoking and supportive comments.  

What made this session unique is that it focused on how to use inclusive language to ensure all your members feel welcomed, safe and accepted when they enter your online space, so we received comments and questions like,  

“Wow, that is a really cool description of “executive dysfunction.” I haven’t heard it described that way.” 

“In considering the goal of removing binary language from the gender sphere, I wonder what options might be considered to update the terms ‘bisexual’ and ‘biromantic’?” 

“Great session, very informative.” 

Watch the session: How to Build an Inclusive Culture in Your Online Community 

Gaining member feedback was a hot topic.

Something nearly all our sessions touched on was how essential it is to avoid building or refreshing your online community for the wrong reasons. Don’t get us wrong, everyone has the best of intentions — we all want to offer an online space our members will love to use.  

But sometimes it’s easy to assume we know what our members will enjoy using in our online communities or see an online community as a fix to some internal challenges like stunted membership growth or inconsistent communication.  

And judging by some of the online community success stories that came out of Community Lab, you absolutely can increase membership growth and improve member communication using your online community…but it all depends on what your members need and ask for when it comes to their dedicated online space.  

Our discussion forums were filled with attendees exchanging insights they’ve received from members and requests for survey questions people have used to gauge their members’ community wants and needs. 

Watch the success story: Amplify Your Impact — Using your online community to increase fundraising efforts 

People are still wondering about events. 

Events have been a hot topic since the world first declared an official pandemic a couple of years ago and upended the way associations connect with members, offer learning opportunities, generate revenue and more.  

As pandemic restrictions are easing in some areas of the U.S., the chatter in our sessions and discussion forums reveals that association professionals are still asking questions about hosting safe in-person events and working through the logistics of hybrid events, but the conversations seem more hopeful.  

Attendees’ comments prove that in-person events are back, but they’re also committed to using tools and strategies like an online community to drive registrations, share pre-and post-event invites and on-demand sessions and continue the buzz of events in ways that went untapped before the pandemic.  

Watch the session: Leveraging Online Communities for your Hybrid and In-Person Events 

See how an online community platform can serve your members. 

Whether or not you attended Community Lab, we hope you enjoy watching our on-demand sessions, and if you want to see how CommUnity can help your membership and association grow together in action, reach out to us today! 

And check out more of our on-demand sessions by visiting our Resource Center.

The post Highlights from Community Lab by Personify  appeared first on Personify.

Community Lab’s full day of community connection, learning and discovery kicks off with an opening panel discussion between Personify’s Benjamin Morton, an expert in community consulting, Personify’s Erin Geoffroy Sullivan, a marketing and brand leader with expertise in online communities, and thought leader and community influencer, Marjorie Anderson. Marjorie is the founder of Community by Association, and she’ll speak with Benjamin and Erin about the possibilities for associations and nonprofits to create and maintain vibrant online communities as inclusive spaces that keep members informed, engaged and connected. 

Event programming continues with 12 learning sessions that explore the real-world challenges and opportunities from hundreds of community builders. Sessions will cover a wide variety of topics including building a thriving online community with limited resources, successfully onboarding your team and members, fundraising beyond in-person events and making inclusive practices the foundation of your online space.  

The sessions also feature Personify clients such as the National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP) and FTK Nation as they share how their associations leverage online communities to increase their fundraising impact and cut down on costs associated with document storage and sharing. 

Additionally, peer-to-peer roundtables will provide a space for attendees to connect, share knowledge and learn from each other’s successes and failures through topical discussion forums. Each Community Lab learning session is worth one CAE credit. 

Whether you’re someone who is “community curious” and are beginning to explore the benefits of an online community or you’re a seasoned community veteran, Community Lab will be a place for anyone who uses, creates and loves online communities to explore, connect and build together. 

For the full Community Lab event schedule, speaker lineup and to register, click here. 

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By: Ashly Stewart, Senior Marketing Manager

Did you know that 79% of the population shops online with 75% of online buyers shopping at least once a month! That’s a lot of online buyers.

And many of those regular online shoppers are also members of associations and nonprofits.  

While it’s true that the interaction between an association and its members and supporters is far from transactional, it’s also true that if your association gives your members an opportunity to make any type of online payment — from signing up and renewing their memberships to purchasing products or courses to registering for events — your members will expect an Amazon-like experience. 

But don’t worry. You can offer your members a seamless buying experience that’s easy to use and easy to love even if you’re not a large, online retailer.  

Here’s everything you need to know about how e-business for associations can positively affect your members, your staff, and your mission. 

What does e-business look like for associations?  

For most, “e-commerce” is associated with retail and ideas like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and online shopping carts. For associations, the online buying experience can include days like GivingTuesday and there’s usually a shopping cart involved, but e-business for an association often goes beyond a simple purchase.  

To better understand how e-business expands beyond e-commerce, it’s good to look at a few different ways that associations serve their members that start with an online transaction. 

Here are some of the more popular uses for e-business tools used by associations: 

1. Selling branded swag items (like t-shirts and mugs) and other merchandise 

2. Purchasing a new membership or group memberships 

3. Renewing memberships 

4. Registrations for events and meetings 

5. Purchasing learning courses and webinars 

6. Ordering hard copies of publications 

These common member activities are good examples of how associations’ online payments go beyond ordering something like clothes or groceries online.  

Instead, the need for members to purchase and renew memberships online, register for events and purchase learning courses means that associations must not simply deliver a good, but provide valuable benefits and experiences for several days, months, even years. 

To do this well, associations should be able to track, deliver and expand on these member experiences in a way that makes your members happy and keeps them happy.  

That’s the power of e-business for associations.  

Discover the top 5 e-business features for associations. 

So how do you leverage the power of e-business to serve your members and your mission? Well, with today’s modern tools and innovative solutions, the possibilities seem endless. But before you dive into the latest and greatest of e-business, it’s good to take a step back, identify your association’s goals and how it wants to serve its members, and set a strong foundation.  

Here are a few essential e-business features to consider as you look to enhance your members’ online buying experience.  

1. Online storefront 

One of the more popular features of a good e-business tool and strategy is your online storefront, which is the page that your members will use to purchase your products or services. When it comes to successful online storefronts, you’ll find that users love storefronts that are easy, accurate, and visually appealing.  

If you’re selling courses or webinars, this could look like including the title of the course, the air date and presenter headshot as well as the correct price to purchase. Small details can go a long way, like organizing the webinars chronologically so users know what’s coming up next and adding content that indicates if the webinar is a live session or a recorded session.  

And if there are no spots left in an upcoming event or you’re out of certain sizes of t-shirts, make sure that your storefront is updated to indicate that space is limited or items are out of stock! 

2. Site search 

That little magnifying glass and search field often seen at the top of website pages seem like such small things, but any avid online shopper (including the author of this post) can tell you that it is essential to an efficient, positive online buying experience.  

As websites grow larger and people are putting out more content than ever, having site search is vital to help users quickly find the information that’s most relevant to them. 

And when it comes to e-business for associations, the speed and ease of having a member or partner search for a webinar they want based on important categories like the air date or the topic can be the difference in securing a new registration or not.  

Still wondering if site search is really THAT essential for good e-business? Check out our blog to better understand why consumers using on-site search spend 3-4x more with a given brand. 

3. Registration pages 

Registration pages have always been a big deal since a sign-up form is a requirement for people to sign up as members!  

Beyond this important capability, registration pages are how people sign-up for events, which have always been some of the biggest opportunities to connect with members and generate revenue for associations and nonprofits. 

A registration page that’s optimized for good e-business will make signing up easy by not requiring too much information up-front, making payment processing seamless, including helpful follow-up information (usually in the form of a confirmation page and/or email) and sending accurate invoicing.  

4. Member portals 

We’ve been talking a lot about initial sign-ups and registrations, but another big part of a great e-business experience is the ability to track activity and maintain your purchases and registrations.  

Think about the experience of ordering something from Amazon: you can see your order status, easily access your order information, watch the fulfillment process as your delivery is tracked and you can view and change your account information (like your home and email address) at any time — and you can do it all through logging into your account yourself. 

Self-service is a big deal for many who choose to purchase anything online, and organizations have taken notice. 69% of decision makers at service organizations say self-service is a major part of their service strategy. 

Why are so many business leaders choosing to invest in self-service tools and solutions? Simply put, their customers, partners and members are asking for it. The need for self-service tools has only increased over the past couple of years as COVID limited in-person service and customer success teams were stretched thin.  

Even though we can and will move past the worst days of the pandemic, organizations are already planning to further invest in successful strategies and tools that have helped people work and live better like remote work schedules, online communities and, yes, self-service capabilities.  

5. Integrations with your AMS 

As you can see, there are a few important e-business features that associations should consider if they offer any type of online buying to their members.  

If you want to see all those features “talk” and work together seamlessly on the backend of your site and your e-business forms, you need the ability to integrate these features with your AMS.  

Having an AMS that either offers or integrates well with your e-business tools results in that Amazon-like experience for your members, and it gives your team the data it needs to offer unparalleled service and engagement to your members. 

Here are just a few ways we see associations and nonprofits using their integrated AMS to create amazing e-business experiences:  

• Do you have a member that has a renewal coming up? You can send them a renewal email to encourage them to sign up again. Plus, you can make it easy for them to renew by paying with their saved payment information. 

• Do you have a member who wants to easily sign up for your annual conference? If they’ve registered for any of your previous events or meetings, they can use their existing profile information.  

• Is your member interested in a hard copy of one of your digital publications? They can pay with a saved credit card and have that hard copy delivered directly to their address.  

• Do you manage chapters or committees that need memberships? You can purchase and manage memberships on behalf of specific groups.  

• Want to engage your members more? You can include recommended products or services based on your members’ buying history or feature products you think they would enjoy through marketing tools.  

All these experiences and more are possible if you can combine your e-business strategies and tools with your AMS.  

Learn about the biggest benefits of e-business for associations. 

Now that we’ve walked through what you need to know to understand why e-business has become such a big part of an associations’ strategy to serve and grow their membership and the essentials that you need to get started for a booming e-business strategy, we should talk more about the ways that e-business benefits your members.  

Or, instead of talking about it, we can SHOW you.  

The post Everything You Need to Know About E-Business for Associations  appeared first on Personify.

By: Ashly Stewart, Content Marketing Manager

Last week, Rich Vallaster, Director of Marketing for Events Management Solutions, joined me as we asked people the big questions related to inclusive communities: What has a community done to make you feel welcome in the past? What are the different reasons you’ve joined an online community? And what tools do you find helpful in a community?  

The answers included welcoming spaces like college alumni communities, fitness communities, and even an online community dedicated to helping people with curly hair be their loudest, proudest, most stylish selves! 

To get to the heart of why these types of communities make us feel welcome, we looked at why 5 of the most popular community examples join online communities in the first place and how associations and nonprofits can build a community that’s a space for all with the right tools and strategies at their side.  

Here are a few highlights from the webinar.

Why organizations love communities 

Online communities have been on the rise for the last couple of years, and associations and nonprofits have taken notice of the big benefits of having an online space to connect with members, get real-time feedback, and offer members continued engagement with each other and the organization.  

Combine these benefits with the latest stats that prove that online branded communities are having a significant impact on increasing membership loyalty and decreasing support costs, and we can start to understand why more associations are choosing to invest time, money, and resources to build an online community.  

Why members love communities 

When members were asked what motivates them to join communities, a large majority of members said they like to ask questions and they like the idea of helping other people find solutions to their problems. Isn’t that nice? 

We also found that half of people say they want to join communities to be seen and to be heard, which supports emerging insights we’ve seen across industries, especially in 2020 where the pandemic made everyone feel a little isolated and disconnected from each other.  

The big problem with online communities — and how to solve it 

BUT. It turns out that members feel disappointed in their experiences with an online community after they’ve joined, specifically when it comes to the desire to be seen and heard.  

When asked how being in an online community makes members feel, a mere 19 percent say they feel that their voices are heard and only 24 percent feel like they can really be themselves.  

There are a lot of reasons why members join online communities and then decide not to engage or leave altogether, but we believe recent member feedback proves that the solution to building a community that members want to be a part of and recruit their friends to join has everything to do with meeting their expectations. 

How to meet (and exceed) member expectations 

Members want to be seen and heard, and the best way to do this is to stop treating all your community members the same. Understand WHY your different members joined your community and how they like to interact.  

For some, it could be that they joined to get the latest and greatest news and resources. Others join to connect with like-minded people about a topic they love in discussion forums.  

Once you take the time to understand the “why” behind your top member types, you can begin to create an online space that makes them feel welcome – a community that becomes one of their favorite online spaces.  

5 popular types of community member examples

To help organizations get started on the quest to understand their members and build something that they will engage with, we broke down the top 5 different types of community member examples including: 

• The Researcher — The researcher joins communities to find a trusted place for reliable information. They enjoy discussion forums that are well-organized and searchable and a blog or resource center. Just don’t post old information from questionable sources, or you’ll lose this member type. Fun fact: In our live Q&A session, The Researcher was the member type attendees identified with the most.  

• The Connector — The connector is a dream member type because they tend to be highly engaged without a lot of encouragement from staff. Basically, if you give them an active Newsfeed, the ability to message other members, and the ability to start new discussion forums you have a very happy member on your hands. You also can’t go wrong with an updated event calendar for your connectors.  

• The Scholar — Similar to the researcher, the scholars join communities for the chance to learn new things. But for scholars, they enjoy more formalized learning opportunities like video tutorials, training courses, and even fun quizzes. The other big benefit of communities for scholars (and associations) is that they like to share their knowledge in the community.  

• The Advocate — The advocates are community superusers! Advocates are true believers in your mission, and they often join associations and nonprofits to fulfill a need to make a difference. They view an online community as one of the better ways to further the mission by connecting with other members, responding to volunteer opportunities, and easily donating to fundraisers. 

• The Entertainer — Online communities attract people like the entertainer who simply enjoy all the fun things the digital space has to offer — light-hearted videos, pictures, and articles — that can easily be viewed and shared with others. Entertainers bring positivity to online communities, and even though they’re known for bringing the laughter, they also forge deep connections and often volunteer to help with fun events like social hours, virtual trivia, etc.  

Communities + events = a winning combo in a virtual(ish) world 

Rich Vallaster spent the last few minutes of the webinar talking about a trend we’ve seen emerge as COVID-19 has changed the way members connect with their associations and other members. The move from in-person gatherings like events, social hours, and chapter meetings to virtual was a difficult transition, but we’ve persisted.  

He walked us through a few strategies for increasing attendance to virtual, hybrid, and in-person events through using an online community to promote the event and start building connections BEFORE an event starts, so members find greater value in attending the event with friends at their side.  

You can also use online communities to build on the momentum and deepen connections made during the event by setting up discussion forums that related to your event’s sessions, and topics to keep conversations going and add continued benefits for your members and extra value to your events. 

Enjoy the recording and interactive guide 

If you couldn’t make it to the live webinar, well, we missed you! But we hope you’ll watch the recording and continue the conversation by reaching out to us with all your great questions and ideas.  

And if you can’t quite get to the webinar recording, we’ve built an interactive guide that walks you through some of the best takeaways and tips for building a community that’s inclusive to all your members complete with full profiles of the top community member examples.

The post Webinar Recap: 5 Community Member Examples appeared first on Personify.