Topic One -- Technology Extends the Life and Value of Meetings

Trends
Association use of technology, that is to say, CD-ROMs, the Internet, satellite broadcasts, etc is growing. Email is viewed as mission critical across the board, as is some form of enduring material for post-meeting use. What is not growing, and there seems to be widespread apathy on the subject, is measuring the effectiveness of integrating technology into meetings.

One ASAE member said --

"We're pretty heavily involved in that [using technology to expand the reach of our meetings] with another outside company. At our annual meeting, we have 87 sessions. We take the best 16 and put them on the Web. We include the transcript, an audio broadcast, and the slides. We also use audio reproductions, satellite broadcasts, and the Internet. We do it all."

Why is technology use growing, but nobody seems to be measuring its effectiveness?
ASAE members noted that no single model exists for determining ROI as the major contributor, and the second factor is that technology is changing too quickly and nobody thinks they can keep up with it all. But probing deeper, the authors find that the ASAE membership is not as homogeneous as it looks on the surface. In fact, the ASAE looks remarkably similar to all other markets and fill the appropriate areas in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle (TALC) curve (see below).

The ASAE and it membership, based on the telephone survey, fits the TALC with innovators, early adopters, and laggards as part of the mix. Over the course of a few calls, one ASAE executive sounded more like Lou Gerstner CEO of IBM and another made it clear that technology would never play a part in their associations.

So, the answer to lack of measurement question makes sense when you align ASAE members on the TALC. Most members feel that not using technology is bad, but the majority of them think that determining the ROI is too complex because there is no simple formula for it and that their wait-see-and-hope approach is the best way to deal with the complexity of technology.
Here's another ASAE member's thoughts --

"...We can measure the ROI of a live event but I really don’t know of any industry standard way to measure it. We have an online committee but we need to corral them in because the average member of the committee isn’t there yet. We measure our members through periodic surveys and through product sales. They are even further behind in the on-line area..."

The Trends present Risks and Rewards
Clearly, wider adoption and use of technology is a reward to both associations and their members. More people that are not physically present at the events are able to participate in meetings, information is archived for follow on use, and there is a sense that the association is doing more for its membership in order to make late-breaking information more readily available.

But what are the risks associated with the trends? The most obvious risk is that associations, unlike any other time in their history, are seeing competitors enter their markets and capturing the mindshare and wallets of members. It's called competition to the uninitiated and it hurts if you're not ready for it. In fact, it can be deadly.

Imagine that for the last 25 years you've been a non-profit association and the revenues of your organization emanated from sources like donations, corporate gifts and educational grants, and member dues. And the Internet wasn't around either. You had the best asset of them all -- your meetings. Here you built an industry around the meetings,t you invited exhibitors to display their products and you charged them for the privilege.

Conclusions

• Competition will force associations to develop and use ROI models as part of profiteering efforts and overall strategy.
• Associations will, grudgingly, abandon low ROI programs, or at a minimum, become more aggressive at securing sponsorships for the lowest of ROI programs.
• Thinking and strategy is shifting from cost centers to profit centers.
• Technology use to extend live meetings will continue to grow.
• Virtual meetings will see their niches become more accepted, more widely adopted and used for profit.

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Topic Two -- Enduring Materials (CD-ROM, audio and video tapes, etc) Grow Association Profits

Trends
CD-ROM is the fastest growing enduring material amongst associations. Its use is closely aligned with profit strategy. Most associations indicated three (3) or more CD-ROM programs were planned per year, some even spoke of five (5) or more. CD-ROM production is an outsource activity to supplier/vendors with content provided by the association through live meeting captures, archived video and audio tapes, or other new materials.

One ASAE member put it this way --

"The Web doesn’t generate revenue for us but the CD-ROMs and video tapes do.
The Web to us means member service."

All associations are confident (based on surveys and member requests for CD-ROMs) members have CD-ROM access at work and at home. We conclude that CD-ROM use will grow and level out in two years, only to be replaced by DVD-ROM. DVDs are now making good penetration into the home market with movies as the content, a similar phenomenon attributed to the VHS tape over ten years ago.

Audio and video tapes, the workhorses of enduring materials for the past fifteen years, are sunset technologies and their use is viewed as pure commodity. Growth in audio and video tapes is non-existent and association executives do not view their use as strategic, just a service to their members. Executives at ASAE do not pay audio/video tape companies to record onsite, the reason being audio/video recording companies share profits with the associations in proportion to their risk taking.

Monographs are in continual decline, the main reason cited by ASAE executives is the long turnaround compared to CDs and other enduring materials. Most monographs can take up to six months to finish and get to market. The second reason for the decline is that monographs reflect the opinion of one person, not even the presenters, that person being the writer. Associations are less motivated to sanitize information disseminated onsite given that users are more savvy researchers themselves, a direct result of wider Internet use. The monograph needs to find its way to the Web within a month from the live meeting or it may go the way of the dinosaur.

Faxes, the original low-tech solution, are still favored by busy professionals as a form of enduring material. It's very easy for a user to request a fax from an association and throw it in their briefcase for plane and lobby reading. Faxes don't require technology, after you get them, for you to "use" them. Here, convenience overcomes technology. Associations are encouraged to make broadcast faxes part of their overall strategy.

Email, use it -- enough said

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Topic Three -- The Internet and the World Wide Web

Trends
ASAE members all report the existence of their websites, but not all think of their website as a strategic tool to grow memberships, dues, revenues, and provide ongoing education. In fact, looking at all the Web has to offer (eCommerce, listervs, online presentations and education, etc,) members of the ASAE breakdown into innovators, early and late majority, and laggards.

Every association reported that interest in the Web is low, but that should change in the next 12-18 months.

As one member put it --

"With the Internet it’s tough to get the users going. We have committees and task forces focused on it but it’s still tough."

and another --

"We had a strategic planning meeting yesterday and it was very exciting to plan how to use technology for our web page and our continuing education. But there are two issues for us that we continually have to balance—financial and human resources and where the membership is technologically [TALC]. We’re facing a situation of dollars. Our membership is increasing but we may have to increase the dues. We have to look at doing that to fund the things we want to do…and our members are healthcare professionals. We’ve assessed where they are [technologically]. A few years ago they hadn’t progressed very far at all. That’s changing at an increasing rate but we still only have 40% using technology in the way you mean it [constant online use and associated enduring materials]. In fact, we’re now offering Internet classes at our annual meeting to get people started. We have that typical tension getting them on board. We are a small organization."

Why is interest low? Obviously, associations have to build online programs and market them to members so members see and derive benefits from the Web. It's the classic chicken and egg conundrum. Associations have to commit to making the Web critical to the success of the association and its members.

The majority of members say that their websites are developed and maintained by internal staff resources. Outsourcing is used for onsite presentation streaming and capture, just as it is for eCommerce application development.

Revenue models are still in flux, but leading associations make most of what they do available online. One ASAE executive put it this way --

"…We do it all. We have run a Virtual Congress for several years. We include slides and audio from presentations that are put on. We’ve won awards for that. We capture a lot of presentations on CD-ROM. For the last 3 or 4 years, we have been putting our Journal on CD-ROM. We put our abstracts on the Web and we are going to be including the full text soon. We converted a paper product to a Web product. We converted it to 2 lessons per month offering free CME to members. We offer free CME credit and free access to the Web to influence members to participate. Even this year, our active hits have increased ten-fold this year. You have to coax them [your members]. We offer them a free portal to the Web. We’re doing everything we can. We converted our leadership program from printed form into weekly updates..."

Other leading associations are charging, in the model of pay-per-view, for access and ongoing education credits from online presentations. One association is outsourcing the whole operation to a third-party and monitoring progress once a week. The vendor submits quarterly activity reports that include number of hits, accesses, and online purchases. The entire eCommerce application is outsourced to the vendor, but the content creation is not outsourced. Forward-thinking associations take responsibility for their content, they understand that content is the strategic differentiator.

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Topic Four -- The Big Battle for Associations; Competition Everywhere

Trends
Associations are in competition for the wallet share and mind share of their members, and some associations don't recognize it yet. For medical associations, competitors like WebMD, Healtheon, and Medcast are growing the information and profit pie, but are locking out slow-moving associations ability to capture some of the growth and profit.

These new competitors advertise on television, the Web, print, all the traditional media. And associations? When was the last time you saw your association make a pitch on TV? These new competitors are taking no prisoners in their quest to be the only channels for information access and dependency.

But there is hope, and it's association meetings. Associations still hold the meetings that make people gather together in the tens of thousands. Associations hold meetings that bring exhibitors and members together. Associations still attract and put to work thousands of unpaid volunteers who do great work. But it won't last forever if associations do nothing to protect their single greatest competitive advantage, the live meeting.

How can associations keep barriers to entry high to competitors for their live meetings?

• Continue to hold valuable meetings
• Don't keep them a secret -- capture the meetings in some format and make the content available very soon after the event
• Make sure that top talent speaks at your meetings
• Partner with other associations to provide compelling meetings -- build a critical mass
• Include your vendors into your strategy
• Abandon weak meetings, you want every meeting to be valuable (respect the time and energy of yourself and your members)
• Move most of your content onto the Web and CD-ROM
• Hold online meetings
• Market the value of your meetings to members (you are in a constant battle for the minds of your members, you must be active every day of the year - marketing is everything)