All Association Management Articles
  • Board culture trumps structure and process

    John T. Dinner Association Management

    The basic fiduciary requirement that directors act in the best interests of the organization and exercise a duty of care is often viewed in legal terms. Similarly, director independence has been defined with respect to the relationship with staff. Both have significant behavioral and board culture implications that trump any legal or structural requirements when it comes to board effectiveness.

  • Business travel spending up for 2013, eying increase in 2014

    Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event Management

    ​The travel industry has picked up the recession slack quite well, showing healthier figures in 2013. Business travel especially has picked up quickly, which is a testament to an improving economy and better business prospects in all arenas.

  • Are you trading efficiency for productivity?

    Michael J. Berens Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    One of the basic principles of a free-market economy is that markets perform better when unhampered by government regulation or oversight. It turns out the same can be said for employees. A number of workplace research studies have shown that employees perform better, have higher levels of satisfaction, take fewer sick days and are more productive when they have a greater sense of control over their work and their work environment.

  • 10 tips to improve exhibitor retention at your trade show

    Jessica A. Bartram Association Management

    Is your association losing trade show exhibitors due to a lack of ROI? Maybe you are hearing complaints from trade show exhibitors about too little traffic, not enough qualified leads, too much commotion, and the list goes on. Depending on your event, your trade show could be a significant source of revenue. Ignoring these complaints won’t make them go away — and the truth is, they're right.

  • Being explicit about boardroom culture

    John T. Dinner Association Management

    ​​In a previous article, I identified the value boards can derive from asking some deeper questions about their value, contribution and what they aspire to become as an oversight group. Those questions are a good starting point for improving the quality of governance and board performance. Not surprisingly, there are other questions a board could and should consider.

  • Management lessons learned from HealthCare.gov launch

    Mike Wokasch Healthcare Administration

    ​The embarrassing and problematic launch of HealthCare.gov is nothing short of incomprehensible in our well-established technology driven world of commerce. How could the U.S. government not put up a functioning website to support applications and enrollment for health insurance? If you are managing a small or large project, here are a few axioms that don’t appear to have been taken into consideration when HealthCare.gov was constructed and launched.

  • Take your conference to the next level with a mobile app

    Liz Murphy Association Management

    The sheer scale of the five-day convention for the International Association of Chiefs of Police — from the size of the complex to the 200-plus program sessions offered — could have easily become overwhelming and fragmented. But organizers of the IACP annual conference took a critical, proactive step to ensure attendees were able to get the most out of the event.

  • Should your executive director be an association or industry expert?

    Maria Huntley

    If you’re an association board member who is thinking about hiring a new executive director, this is probably the most important question you need to answer before you start the process of searching for your next staff leader. Should your executive director be an association or industry expert?

  • Best to book soon — and consider a multiyear strategy

    David Gabri

    The marketplace has simply changed. Have you? The increased demand for meetings, conventions and group incentive programs is rapidly changing the landscape in the meetings marketplace, particularly in the luxury-level and upper-tier sectors. Combine this with an upswing in attendance at both corporate and association programs, and planners may be increasingly at risk when it comes to securing the sites, facilities, precise patterns and terms and conditions they desire for their programs.

  • The power of a governance vision

    John T. Dinner

    Most boards do not have the time to move away from pro forma agendas, and these boards would also have difficulty identifying topics outside the rather narrow boundaries of governance best practices and the like. After all, boards are primarily focused on making decisions and the discussions that lead to these decisions.