MMC Education
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Tuesday, November 16
Opening Keynote (1:30 - 2:30 pm)
Why Now is the Time to Change Your Pricing Strategy (and how to do it)
Dr. Michael Tatonetti, Founder, Pricing for Associations
If there's one thing most associations faced over the past two years, it's that a lack of a pricing and value strategy for your products and services leads to knee-jerk reactions when an emergency hits. The good news? Now is the perfect time to implement a pricing and value strategy. In this session, you will learn what components your strategy needs, where to start today, and how to continue your strategy with continuous improvement for years to come - emergency or not.
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze which components of a pricing and value strategy your organization is lacking
- Develop a plan of action to initiate a proper pricing and value strategy
- Execute an annual review for continuous improvement in value and pricing
Concurrent Education Sessions (2:45 - 3:45 pm)
5 Steps to Sell Your Value
Dr. Michael Tatonetti, Founder, Pricing for Associations
If we're being honest, COVID-19 disrupted our association industry. Sure, many of us were on the path of digital transformation and rethinking our offerings, but our recovering environment means it's time to stop offering free, determine what we should even keep offering or sunset, and deeply analyze our product landscape to match what our members and sponsors need. And with that comes the problem of value and pricing - how do we provide value and monetize what has been and what will be? Join us as we share the 5 steps your team needs to walk through when deciding what to do with your products and pricing - and how to sell the value to your Board for buy-in. This 5-step process can be applied to sponsorship, membership, certification, education, in-person events, virtual events, or the next big thing your team will create.
Learning Objectives:
- The two types of value propositions you need to utilize
- How to define your value propositions
- How to conduct market research for value and pricing
- Value-based sales and negotiation recommendations
Be a Brand Boss: Managing Your Association’s Brand
Dave Shaw, President & Lead Brand Strategist, Arrow
All brands are comprised of tangible elements like logos and products, but what about intangibles such as “audience experience” or “organizational reputation”? Strong brands take everything into consideration. Your marketing team is responsible for managing all aspects of the brand — and understanding how they work together. This breakout session from brand strategy expert Dave Shaw will offer specific actions you can take to be the steward of your association’s brand. Increase awareness, strengthen reputation, build loyalty among members and sponsors, and in no time, your co-workers will look to you as the brand boss.
Exhibits and Networking Reception (3:45 - 5:00 pm)
Network with attendees, visit with exhibitors to learn about the latest services for associations and your chance to win a prize.
Wednesday, November 17
Keynote (8:30 - 9:30 am)
The Secret to Crafting Compelling Stories & Engaging Stakeholders
Veronica V. Sopher, Speaker
Stories were told long before humans learned to read or write. They are at the core of how we communicate, make connections and decisions. Veronica V. Sopher will teach you strategies and steps to identify and promote compelling stories to connect with your internal and external audiences to grow your brand and make a meaningful impression. This session will not only share the framework to construct compelling stories but will also inspire you to take it to the next level by creating buy-in and action.
Concurrent Education Sessions (10:00 - 11:00 pm)
From Sacred Cows to Work Horses: Reinventing Content Creation as a Member Benefit
Lacy Compton, M.A., Account Director, Strategic Association Management
All groups have sacred cows they can’t let go of, for a variety of reasons, and many of these are printed collateral and materials that end up costing associations way more than their return. In this presentation, staff from the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT) will share how it took a 40-year-old print journal for TAGT, TEMPO, and transitioned it to an online publication, TEMPO+. In doing so, TAGT not only reinvigorated a member benefit most people tossed in the trash, TAGT restructured its divisions, created new avenues for volunteering and microvolunteering, created new thought leadership opportunities for the organization and members, played with new branding opportunities, increased sponsorship options, and even developed both a new membership structure and a new membership pipeline through a content subscription model. Session attendees will explore how to evaluate an existing program/benefit, engage members in the innovation process, reuse/reinvigorate previously presented content (including all those presentations you recorded in 2020!), and envision ways they can expand their current content offerings to leverage their members’ stories and expertise and position themselves as leaders in their fields.
Communicating is the Only Thing: Staying Relevant Amid Ongoing Crises
David Wyatt, Senior Vice President, Elizabeth Christian Public Relations
Walter Zaykowski, Vice President, Elizabeth Christian Public Relations
2020 and 2021 have brought a new operational mode for associations and for the members you serve. Everyone is living in crises - and staying relevant is not only a challenge…it is a make-or-break proposition for all associations, industries, organizations, and workers. As we have been isolated from one another, and largely unable to meet in physical spaces in our normal ways, we also find ourselves “out of sight, out of mind” such that communication isn’t another thing. It is the only thing. Communicating with our members and employees effectively impacts everything from membership and retention to worker attrition, productivity, success at the #TxLege and the success of our programs. As COVID-19 response, social justice and other #TXlege issues eclipse business as usual, you need to know how to get your message through with confidence. Join our speakers for a lively and frank discussion on what they’ve seen across sectors on new best practices, what works, what most certainly does not and how communicating with stakeholders has never been more important.
Table Topics and Lunch Break with Exhibitors (11:00 am - 12:30 pm)
Visit with exhibitors to learn about the latest services for associations and your chance to win a prize while enjoying lunch.
Concurrent Education Sessions (12:30 - 1:30 pm)
Membership Roundtable
Trish Woodley, Membership Director, The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International
Membership Directors face a broad range of challenges as they work through the impact of COVID-19 and recover from dwindling members to meaningful ways to engage and rethink what membership will look like as we move forward to whatever the new office looks like to members. This facilitated roundtable will dive into those challenges and lean on your experienced colleagues for options, solutions, and insights. Be prepared to engage and bring your ideas and questions!
Leverage Your Association's Data and Maximize Membership and Engagement
Jeff Bunkin, Senior Director of Strategic Accounts, Feathr, Feathr Resources
Kate Johanns, CAE, Marketing & Communications Director, ATP
This session will provide a case study on how the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) has grown its digital audience and engaged with its current and potential membership since the last in-person Membership, Marketing and Communications Conference in November 2019. The catalyst for growth was ATPE's embrace of data. Timed with the pandemic - and given that ATPE's members are on the "front lines'' - the results have been remarkable.
Concurrent Education Sessions (1:45 - 2:45 pm)
Where Do We Go From Here? Post-COVID Membership Challenges
Cathi Hight, Kaizen Consultant, Hight Performance Group, Inc.
The pandemic disrupted the operating model for membership-based organizations and challenged how they serve. Many organizations were agile, shifted their priorities, and leveraged their influence for the benefit of a broader audience—the community—and became the lynchpin to overcome common challenges. Now that the focus is on economic recovery and long-term solutions, industry leaders must consider how to navigate driving forces to develop future-focused organizations that are resilient to disruption. Returning to “business as usual” is not the option.
- Moving from being relevant to a group of members to becoming essential for all stakeholders
- Communicating value to a diverse audience with different motivations to engage
- Transitioning from a member-based revenue model to diversified funding sources.
Current Topics and Challenges for Marketers
Tim Niedecken, CAE, Vice President of Marketing, Heritage Land Bank Ag Credit Association
Marketing professionals face a broad range of challenges as they work through the impact of COVID-19. This facilitated roundtable will dive into those challenges and lean on your experienced colleagues for options, solutions, and insights.