Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Improvement is never linear

By Wes Trochlil | June 10, 2026

Improvement is never linear One of the many lessons one learns over a lifetime is that improvement, regardless of what you’re trying to improve, is never linear. That is, you’ll always have days where you’re better, and days where you don’t improve, or maybe even fall back. And so it is with data management. Even if you […]

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture!

By Wes Trochlil | June 3, 2026

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture! Whenever I start on a big home clean up or renovation project, I like to take a “before” picture, so that I can see the progress that was made when the project is complete. (Ironically, even though I’m the son of an award-winning amateur photographer, I often forget […]

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish?

By Wes Trochlil | May 27, 2026

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish? Two quick customer service stories to illustrate a point: First story: I’ve used the same email provider for more than 20 years. But for technical reasons, recently I needed to switch providers, so I canceled my service with them a few weeks in advance of my renewal. […]

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you

By Wes Trochlil | May 20, 2026

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you I’ve been working in and with AMS products for 36 years (27 years of consulting, nine years as an association staffer). And I can say with great confidence that the systems available today are much better than they were 36 years ago! (Shocking, I know.) But […]

Using AI beyond content generation

By Wes Trochlil | May 13, 2026

Using AI beyond content generation Recent surveys by ASAE and others suggest nearly 90% of associations are using AI for some type of content generation (e.g., creating blog posts, newsletter articles, “canned” responses to inquiries, etc.). That is great, but when it comes to data management, there are so many more opportunities for leveraging AI. Here are some ideas […]

Older Posts

Avectra Scores BIG VC Money

October 26, 2007

The association management software world is known more for its smaller “mom and pop” vendors than for big software players. […]

The Wisdom of Children

October 25, 2007

At the dinner table with my family the other day, I was discussing an issue as my nine-year-old son listened […]

Data Management Malpractice

October 15, 2007

UPDATE: Link fixed  Terry Dowdy forwarded me his thoughts about this recent story in The Washington Post about The Nature Conservancy's […]

Soliciting Feedback from Members and Customers

October 12, 2007

Aside from your annual “member survey,” what kind of mechanisms does your organization have in place to collect feedback from […]

"Overreacting to Blips"

October 10, 2007

At the Gartner CRM conference I attended recently (see my posts here), an analyst listed five key points about metrics. […]

Impressive Customer Service Follow Up

October 5, 2007

I recently placed an online order at Jockey.com for some t-shirts. My order was delivered as promised, but what really got […]

Registration Kiosks

October 4, 2007

I've been hearing a lot lately from vendors about "registration kiosks." These are computers or kiosks set up in a […]

Copies of Copies

October 3, 2007

I went to see my doctor the other day. At the end of the appointment, the doctor asked the receptionist […]

Best Practices in Software Training

October 2, 2007

I've done a lot of training on using software, and I've sat through even more in conjunction with implementation projects […]

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