NI Sunday Education Schedule
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
Opening Session (2:30 – 3:45 PM)
Become an Idea Factory: Turn Yourself (And Your Organization) into an Innovation Machine
Kyle Scheele, Speaker
That belief is based on outdated ideas about what creativity means, where it comes from, and who gets to harness it. The truth is, creativity is a skill like any other: it can be learned.
In the same way that we teach employees how to track expenses, process invoices, and jiggle the lock just right to get into the supply closet, we can teach them how to be more creative, how to have better ideas, and how to build a culture where innovation is a natural byproduct.
In this talk, Kyle will:
- Inspire audience members to harness their own capacity for creativity and innovation.
- Give practical tips for how to get more (and better!) ideas out of yourself and your team)
- Share the 5 things that every idea needs
- Help you avoid common idea-killers in
- your organization
Meet-Up with Your Peers (3:45 – 4:15 PM)
Gather Round Lounge | Membership, Marketing and Communications
This is your chance to connect with colleagues facing similar challenges. Build your network while sharing successful strategies, brainstorm new ideas, and build relationships that will fuel your membership growth and engagement.
5 Concurrent Education Sessions (4:15 – 5:15 PM)
Board Chair & CEO: Leading your Association
Jackie McLaughlin, Partner, Chazin and Company
A successful association is like a three legged stool. Its mission & membership/fundraising are two of those legs. Administration is the third. Although it doesn't invoke the emotions that mission and membership do, it is the foundation that creates the stability for success.
- To understand the term "fiduciary responsibility" and how that impacts your legal responsibilities. To discover what you can do to protect yourself and your organization.
- To learn why well-crafted budgets are critical to success and how they can help you overcome decision fatigue.
- To eliminate the overwhelm and angst you may feel every time you are handed financial statements, by learning how to extract the data that's truly important and that can help drive your success forward
- To familiarize yourself with the external parties that your organization will have to accommodate and how they can affect your operations and your future.
Building the Business Model of the Future: Secure Growth & Gain a Competitive Edge
Eric Curtis, Curtis Strategy
Disruption isn't just a buzzword; it's a reality forcing associations to adapt or struggle to keep up with industry changes. While this has left many feeling uncertain and unsettled, there are those who have capitalized on the disruption as an opportunity to transform and reinvent their business or service models.
In this session, you will identify the key disruptors impacting your association and industry, learn a practical 3-step process for evaluating and reinventing your business model, and discover inspiring examples of associations that have successfully pivoted and thrived. Don't let disruption define your future. Join us and start building a thriving future for your association.
- Identify at least 3 key disruptors impacting their specific association and industry
- Apply a practical 3-step process to evaluate and identify potential opportunities for reinventing their association's business model.
- Describe at least 2 real-world examples of associations that successfully pivoted and thrived amidst disruption, identifying key strategies or tactics they employed
Coalitions for the Win
Andrea Chevalier, Director of Governmental Relations, Texas Council of Administrators of Special Education
Coalitions benefit organizations of all sizes by amplifying their impact, structuring knowledge-sharing and networking, and bridging the differences between organizations by facilitating conversation and understanding. The coalition’s superpower is its ability to provide multi-organizational agreement to policy makers, sending a strong signal about the viability of a policy. In this session, association professionals who are engaged in policy advocacy eff orts will take home coalition-building strategies and participate in collaborative activities as they learn about an effective, focused framework for conducting coalition business.
- Apply key concepts of coalition organizational structure to your association needs and resource level.
- Explore approaches to developing a shared purpose, goals, definitions, deliverables, and norms collaboratively.
- Identify strategies to maximize the most impactful policy solutions.
Non Dues Revenue: Knock Out Sponsorship Plans
Logan Beszterda, CAE, Vice President of Strategic Development, Association Management Consultants, LLC.
Sponsorship plans serve as a significant revenue source for associations, whether they are annual or event-specific. However, sponsorship opportunities often go unreviewed and stay stagnate for years, hindering the organization from maximizing revenue and offering superior benefits to sponsors. By making subtle adjustments to packages and conducting annual analyses, we have assisted associations in doubling their sponsorship revenue and expanding their reach in just a few years. During this session, our aim is to assist you in understanding the who, what, and how of developing and analyzing a sponsorship plan that enhances your association's growth and reduces financial strain.
- Identify potential sponsoring companies and assess their investments in like associations.
- Examine your top-selling tiers and determine if your benefits are priced competitively.
- Analyze your benefits in comparison to similar organizations to identify any gaps
From Assessment to Action: Interactive Case Study on Google Ads Optimization | MMC
Keith Parker, MBA, Director of Operations, Texas New Mexico Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
In this session, Keith Parker will share insights from a recent project aimed at optimizing Google Ads for the Texas & New Mexico Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. The session will cover a comprehensive review of current Google Ads strategies, identification of areas for improvement, and the implementation of targeted changes that led to significant results. Participants will learn about the process of evaluating existing advertising efforts and the key factors that drive effective online ad campaigns. Keith will discuss how increasing ad spend strategically and making data-driven adjustments resulted in higher engagement and more purchases through the organization’s WooCommerce store.
- Learn to assess and analyze Google Ads performance.
- Identify and prioritize improvements for better ad targeting.
- Implement changes to maximize ROI and drive sales.
- Leverage tools and analytics for ongoing ad campaign optimization.
Thought Leader Session (4:15 – 5:15 PM)
Gather Round Lounge | A Roadmap to Attendee Welfare
Toni Lira, Director of Sales, Texas Association Group, Hilton Worldwide Sales
Taking a holistic approach to meetings supports attendees’ personal commitments to their health and well-being, and can even inspire participants to adopt new practices to take home. Many attendees may feel stress about the obstacles meetings present to their wellness commitments. In this session, your leaders will partner with planners to help create a meeting environment that incorporates both new, and familiar, approaches to fitness and health.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify examples and idea starters for wellness in meetings and events
- Participate in Peer-to-Peer sharing of current best practices
- Explore proven outcomes for higher attendee engagement