Your association has probably been a resource for professionals to share useful and specific inside industry knowledge for years. You may still be that, but today, that isn’t enough to attract new members.

Your association has probably been a resource for professionals to share useful and specific inside industry knowledge for years. You may still be that, but today, that isn’t enough to attract new members.

That’s the past; you need to start focusing on the future.

I have a smartphone; I’m connected to a worldwide community through Twitter and other social media platforms; I have crowd-sourced information through a Google+ community; I get more industry updates in my email inbox daily than I have time to read. What can your association offer me that I can’t get for free online?

BE ONE STEP AHEAD

Here’s what I need from you. I need you to show me the future. I need you to be at least one step ahead of the trends and passing that information to me through engaging programs. I need you to have an impressive membership that offers me networking opportunities I can’t find on my own. If you are focusing on what’s next in your industry, constantly innovating, you’ll have that membership. If you’re not, you won’t be around for me to join anyways.

WORK IS CHANGING, ASSOCIATIONS NEED TO EVOLVE

According to a Knoll Workplace study, the availability of technology and collaboration tools is one of the workplace trends most quickly changing the way we work. I’m sure you experience this daily in your own workplace; I know I do. How we work is changing, and associations need to keep up because why we join is directly related to our work.

Some great minds dedicated to envisioning how associations will move into the future see open-source associations where groups have access to online collaboration tools and provide just-in-time knowledge. New associations are forming all the time to meet demands in a constantly changing landscape of new industries like biotech, healthcare and alternative energy.

As these associations pop up, will your association still fill a niche?

You are definitely going to want to heed the 2012 Pulse Report, things are changing quickly and associations need to catch up.

If your members have a problem, they don’t need to go to you anymore to find someone else with that same problem; they can go online, and that’s your problem. Share with us about how your association is solving that problem and ensuring future relevancy.