Menu

160 International, European and national association executives and association conference organisers from 18 countries attended the Association Congress 2010 London at the Millennium Conference Centre, in London 11th-13th July.

Marketing General's Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report has surveyed associations to better understand the strategies and tactics they use to recruit members, engage new members, renew existing members, and reinstate former members.

The current economic climate is having an impact on associations, just as it is on virtually all business sectors. This report on a recent study shows that standalone organizations employing their own staff, leasing their own office space and incurring their own capital expenses were nearly twice as likely to have ended 2008 with deficits than organizations managed by Association Management Companies (AMCs). Therefore, the answer to the question posed in the title would seem to be a resounding "yes."

Associations are growing towards educational organisations. What is the difference between on-line education and web-casting? How could Open University collaborate with associations? Interview with Dr David Robinson, of The Open University, Europe's largest university.

Over 150 attendees from associations, professional conference organisers and association management companies are due to attend the 4th Association Congress, taking place 12 & 13 July in London.

Hilton Dawson, CEO, British Association of Social Workers (BASW) describes the current issues for Social Working, and the desperate need for transformation of their profession.

Peer Review is supposed to be the keystone of quality control for research projects and academic studies, yet evidence of its many deficiencies has been building up for over 20 years. American lawyers have started challenging expert witnesses on the basis that peer review no longer guarantees their expertise. Yet accurate peer review in fields such as medicine can be a matter of life and death. Mark Whitaker investigates the tarnished image of a flawed process.

"Eventbrite for Causes" launched last month, allowing nonprofit eventholders to apply for a reduced rate, which also creates a community where these eventholders can share best practices.

Association Resource is very pleased to be supporting the Conference Awards 2010. These awards are an important initiative, designed to recognise and reward excellence for all individuals and associations who organise pay-to-attend conferences.

We are conducting our fourth annual associations survey, and we would value your input and opinions. The survey feeds into the 'Annual Associations Report 2010' and topics at the Association Congress 2010.

An interesting opportunity is available for anyone in the UK looking to update their website system with a "Website Scrappage Scheme" - a useful new initiative that mirror's many EU governments car scrappage schemes, both of which benefit the buyer and the supplier.

The recent electronics show in Las Vegas, while concentrating on consumer customers, saw the launch of two eBook readers targeted at the professional market, with larger screens and partnerships with professional publishers. How will this effect associations?

These insights provide valuable guidance to prioritize your mailing policies.

The dynamism of the association market segment was also noted this year by the research team of the International Congress and Convention Association, an association for suppliers to the congress and convention organisers, who identified almost 800 previously unknown, regularly occurring series of association meetings that rotate between at least three different countries.

This is the first in a series of two articles where we examine the role that trade associations can play in promoting business continuity management to their members.

A blog or blogging is simply a way to communicate information with a community option. There is a wealth of potential diversity in your blog design and implementation.

Whose responsibility is it to "do something" about a board member who is AWOL, deadwood, undependable, a procrastinator, or worse?

At Association Congress 09 in July, a common message was that many organisations are struggling to find new ways to attract and retain members. At the same time it is becoming increasingly tough to sustain conference activities, as it becomes harder for members to justify the cost, financial or environmental, of attending.

Excel-London, hosts to our Association Congress this year, published its research, trends and analysis for the events industry on 27th May.

The International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) has ranked the world's most popular countries and cities for hosting international association meetings, it announced yesterday, revealing that the United States and Germany were the two most popular countries for international meetings, while Paris and Vienna were the two most popular cities.

The charter has been created by Visit London’s dedicated association team who have worked with 12 major hotel groups to create the charter terms, representing over 39,598 bedrooms. The charter has been created to simplify the process of sourcing London hotel rooms for events that require 1,000 beds or more.

Dan Pallotta of Pallotta Teamworks has written about his experiences dealing with misguided pressure on his commercially run fund-raising company in delivering for non-profit organisations.

An "iPod moment" is about to happen. Amazon launched the second version of their Kindle eBook and Google published thousands of books for the mobile phone, last week.

At International Confex in London, on 24th February, Association Resource launches its online database of associations, The Association Register, and it's sister organisation Conference Resource launches The Conference Directory, and a Call for Papers tool.

Resources for Associations (no relation), a leading association management company has been bought by Kingston Smith Association Management.

If you've decided to take advantage of Web conferencing's cost-saving and productivity enhancing capabilities, selecting the product that's best-suited for your business is key.

Has your association achieved something that you believe deserves recognition amongst your fellow trade associations? The Trade Association Best Practice Awards are now firmly established as a showcase event to recognize and reward the achievements of associations in the UK.

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers has submitted its response to the EC green paper 'Copyright in the Knowledge Economy', the green paper issued by the Internal Market and Services Directorate General of the European Commission.

We are pleased to announce our annual conference dates of 15th - 17th July, and the host sponsor is Excel-London.

The central London Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre has three developments of interest to conference organisers - both on price, service offering, and increased capacity.

The report reveals that, on average, association members earn higher salaries, like their jobs more and are happier people than those who do not join associations. Rather than suggesting that association membership itself leads to success, the report concludes that success in one's profession increases the likelihood of joining an association.

Over three hundred and fifty worldwide association executives in 16 Project Teams examined social responsibility, particularly how professional, trade and cause-related organizations are creating "sustainable value" by using strategic social responsibility to drive their businesses and address critical world problems.

This year’s conference will focus on associations and non-profit organisations. The event will cover the most important technology issues and provide ideas, tools and resources for senior-level association and non-profit executives by connecting them with chief technology officers, IT specialists and business partners.

With market conditions tightening, this year’s Annual DPA Conference at Brighton on 23 October will provide help and value for publishers and data providers operating in an increasingly competitive environment.

Recent report from Outsell Research on social networking provides an insight for Associations.

Registration for the EIBTM 2008 Hosted Buyer Programme is now live and we would like to invite you to participate as part of our group

ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership drew 6,266 participants to the 2008 Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, August 16-19.

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) announce winners of the 2008 awards at the ALPSP International Conference Dinner.

Visit London has re-launched themselves, including their logo, website and association congress services.

The two day annual conference was an opportunity for association event organisers to hear how other organisers and experts are applying best practice and commercial methods to provide higher value, grow their events, and deliver other associated services. Two education tracks addressed strategic and practical conference issues, technology systems and membership.

Recent research conducted by Tecker Consultants suggests that there is a decreased interest in joining associations among the younger generations entering the workplace.

Join Boston Conferencing and Impact Media Solutions as they discuss how associations are maximizing their webinars and in-person conferences by archiving them for convenient online access. We'll share insight into what you can do as an association executive to continue to drive constituents to your professional development and educational libraries long after your events have ended.

A new concept was introduced at IMEX 2008 Association Day - The World Cafe. ‘World Cafe’ is a new method of structured conversation designed to support learning and allow for the constructive flow and development of ideas formulated by small groups.

This interactive session, by Carole McKellar, of Resources for Associations, explores the key roles of a ‘training provider’ so that your events can provide measurable outcomes.

Launched at IMEX 2008, two significant books, two different topics one goal, what can Associations benefit from them.

The survey includes many of the questions previously asked to provide an insight into the changes in journal publishing over time. There are also some additional questions covering issues and practices that have emerged since the last survey was undertaken.

Raising dues periodically is an unavoidable part of the association lifecycle, but the when, why, and how of a dues increase can have a significant impact on its effectiveness. One association marketing firm surveyed associations about their dues increases, and the results reveal a wide variety of practices.

Members are the lifeblood for all associations. Their contributions are vitally important to the creation and distribution of all products, programs, and services. Likewise, good employees in the membership department will tremendously affect your recruitment and retention efforts. According to the authors Bill Fromm and Jim Heskitt of the Harvard Business School, companies that distinguish themselves by the way they hire, train, and treat their employees experience growth rates from 60 to 300 percent higher than their competitors.

This is the second in a series of two articles where we examine the role that trade associations can play in promoting business continuity management to their members.

It’s that familiar moment, and I am on my way to the sunny climes of Lisbon, Portugal or Lis -BOA (for those in the know) to run the European Shippers’ Council annual event, the Shipper Forum.

If you’re organising a business event of any size, sooner or later you’ll be asked, or ask yourself, the question "Who shall we have for our keynote speaker?".

Some months back, the head of Channel 4 (a UK Terrestrial TV Channel) wrote an article in the Financial Times on the waste of time that conferences often are.

Kellen Company, one of the world's largest association management companies with over 100 association clients, has forged an alliance with Singapore-based CMA International Consultants Pte Ltd to set up their Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore which opened in January 2008.

The Business Information division of Thomson Directories is broadening its emarketing service by offering data intelligence, results profiling, analysis and data augmentation.

With the increased reliance on computers, electronic information has become extremely important in litigation. This article deals solely with the policies implemented prior to litigation, not after, such as litigation holds or issues regarding electronic discovery ("e-Discovery").

The International congress on Quality of Education,CIMQUSEF2008 now in its 5th year is focusing on the topic: "Quality of Research: from planning to evaluation". The conference will be held in Marrakesh from 22 to 24 April 2008.

Having attended the IMEX 2007 Association programme and found it great value, we have decided to host Associations Executives at this year's event.

Google announced it is developing a new free tool called "Knol". At first glance, the title for the announcement—"Encouraging people to contribute knowledge"—would seem to fit with the "wisdom of the crowd" strategy behind Wikipedia and other user-based services. However, the "Insomnia" illustration of the concept behind Knol is clearly author-centric.

Comprehensive Analysis Demonstrates Gains for ODF as Proprietary Document Formats Fall Increasingly Out of Favor In Public Sector.

IMEX, an annual event for the meetings Industry, has introduced several new meetings techniques into the programme for its next Association Day.

In preparation for our annual ASIC conference, and with "Sustainable Events" being the new "thing" for conference organisers, I went in search for suppliers with sustainable products/services.

The Data Protection Act covers how you should deal with information you store on employees, past employees, potential employees, and customers. A Code of Practice has been developed, called the Employment Practices Data Protection Code, which sets out best practice in the four areas which could cause you problems.

Online and print must work together instead of compete, according to John Zieser, Chief Development Officer and Vice President, Corporate Development, Meredith Corporation, USA; and Craig Harvey, Asia Pacific Media Director, Synovate, Hong Kong, China

Chaired by Patrick Delaney, Managing Director of Ovation; Corbin Ball a Technology Consultant and Tony Carey, consultant to the International Conference Industry, the EIBTM debate question was "Does Technology bring you closer to your customers?"

Every year Association executives from around the world gather at the end of November in a sunny but crisp Barcelona for the European Incentive Business Travel & Meetings (EIBTM) Event.

Conference and Incentive Travel Magazine held their inaugural Forum meeting dedicated to Association event organizers last week at the Excel Centre, Docklands, London.

In the autumn the European Court of Justice is expected to rule on this issue.

Magazine publishers are still trying to figure out how to monetise their digital content. The solutions are still fairly traditional, however...

Two European online ad bodies, IAB Europe and the EIAA, are to collaborate to develop ‘standard, comprehensive international definitions’ for interactive audience measurement. The standards will cover site-centric, user-centric and combined measurement systems.

Nov. 5, 2007 (China Knowledge) – At the launch of the China Association for the Promotion of Collaboration between Production, Learning and Research, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said he hopes that China would develop into a high-tech nation which is able to bridge its higher education institutes with R&D centers.

In the US, a coalition of nine privacy and consumer groups has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to implement a ‘Do-Not-Track’ list for Internet users who do not want their online activities tracked, stored and used by advertisers and marketers.

Three trade associations: The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), The International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM) and the Professional /Scholarly Division (PSP) of the Association of American Publishers released a further step towards establishing clear rules for users of copyright works who cannot locate the owners of such works (so-called 'orphan works') to obtain permission to include such content in new works, course-packs, and compilations.

Doremus, the specialist business communications agency, and the Financial Times, recently polled over 600 worldwide senior executives online to learn how they feel about electronic media versus so-called traditional media, such as print.

The AMC Institute's online Request for Proposal (RFP) tool is drawing praise from associations who have used the web-based process to find an Association Management Company (AMC) to serve their specific needs.

MEMBERS (the Membership Management Technology Exhibition) took place on the 19th September at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London N1. Now in its eleventh year, MEMBERS is the leading forum for non-profit sector to meet with suppliers of member and donor management technology - and have the opportunity to evaluate a number of different solutions in one day under a single roof.

An environmental scan from ASAE & The Center identified the supertrends shaping non-profits today and in the future. How is the field reacting? Benjamin Martin, CAE, reveals what he learned about three of those supertrends during his conversations with association executives.

For all its promise, China is not an easy market to penetrate. Language and cultural barriers, government control and corruption, financial and legal complexities —these obstacles have proved insurmountable for many who would do business there. Yet some associations have established a foothold in China, and opportunities exist for others.

Derek Boyd, CEO of the National Microelectronics Institute has been picked out from those that completed the survey on Event Registration & Attendance Influences. As the winner he receives The Heart of Change by John Kotter of Harvard Business School. Each week of the survey there is the opportunity to win this interesting book by completing the survey. Click Here to take survey

According to the European commission, the scale of current economic and Social change, the rapid transition to a knowledge-based society and demographic Pressures resulting from an ageing population in Europe are all Challenges, which demand a new approach to education and training, within the framework of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is defined as ‘all learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence, within a personal, civic, social and/or employment-related perspective.

Now that the UK conference market is worth £11.7 billion a year, there’s never been a better time to catch up on all the latest meetings trends to stay ahead of the game. Only 35 association members who plan conferences meetings and events are complimentary.

Attracting and retaining talent is the biggest challenge facing HR executives across Europe over the next decade, according to the head of the European Association of Personnel Management (EAPM).

Join us for the Hosted EIBTM Association Programme in Barcelona Barcelona once again beckons association executives and volunteers responsible for International events to the EIBTM Association Programme. The event never ceases to present the very best of facilities and services for association. We invite you to register for a hosted place in Association Resource’s group, which includes: complimentary flights, transfers, 4/5* accommodation, education programme, networking functions and scheduled appointments, at www.associationresource.org/eibtm.

Dr Hamso reviews and introudces this valuable contribution to the meetings and events industry. Member retention will be affected by the value of events, conferences and training, as well as networking/social events. Can this book help you to address value for members?

EIBTM, an exhibition for the meetings industry held in Barcelona in November each year, has redesigned its programme for association buyers.

Specialised media and lawmakers are perceived as the most important factors for European federations, EurActiv's 2007 survey found.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of The Business of Membership Organizations: Industry Leaders on Achieving Successful Stewardship, Establishing Financial Goals, and Providing Value to Members to their offering.

Excel London has launched a unique website resource and package called Association Plus, to provide support in marketing Association congresses or conferences to potential delegates, with the ultimate aim of driving up attendance figures.

“Cave dwellers froze to death on beds of coal. It was all around them, but they could not see it or use it. Today, we are in danger of making the same mistakes” - Arthur C. Clarke

With the onward march of globalisation, companies are often faced with a bewildering range of standards to which their products must conform.