Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

AI is a journey, not a destination

By Wes Trochlil | April 15, 2026

AI is a journey, not a destination Lately I’ve noticed a lot of associations talking about AI like it’s a moon shot. “We need an AI project.” “We’re rolling out AI in Q4.” That language suggests AI is something you implement once and then check off the list. It isn’t. AI is a journey, and […]

Action produces information

By Wes Trochlil | April 8, 2026

Action produces information “Action produces information. If you’re unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it’s the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing.” – Brian Armstrong, co-founder of Coinbase This is the great thing about data and why I’ve been in this business so long. […]

Why a single source of truth is so beneficial…

By Wes Trochlil | March 25, 2026

Why a single source of truth is so beneficial… The holy grail of data management is the “single source of truth.” As I like to characterize it, when someone asks “Where is the data about X?” everyone knows the answer and everyone gives the SAME answer. One of the most common challenges I hear from my […]

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

By Wes Trochlil | March 18, 2026

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should I’ve worked in and with associations for well over 37 years now. And one of the things I’ve always loved and appreciated about association staffers is their willingness to do whatever is needed to get the job done. But the problem is this “Yes, we can!” attitude can also […]

Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful

By Wes Trochlil | March 4, 2026

Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful “Your data doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful.” – (Borrowed with permission from Intellidata’s Slice newsletter.) In my experience, many associations hold themselves back from cleaning up their data, because they are overwhelmed with where to start, and they also think success can only be achieved […]

Older Posts

Take-aways from Gartner, Part 1

September 19, 2007

These next several posts will focus on issues raised during the Gartner CRM Conference Summit 2007 which I think are […]

Off to the Gartner Customer Relationship Management Summit

September 17, 2007

I'm attending the Gartner Customer Relationship Management Summit in beautiful Ft. Lauderdale for the next three days. Among other things, […]

Tips for Managing Your AMS Kick-off

September 12, 2007

Kristine Metter at AcademyHealth has been working with her staff as they go live with a new association management system. […]

The Power of the Handwritten Note

September 11, 2007

Over the past couple of months I’ve written two articles for ASAE’s magazine Associations Now. In both cases, once the […]

Even Forrester Research Agrees with Me

September 10, 2007

Forrester Research is an independent technology and market research company. Forrester recently released a list of its CRM “best practices.” […]

Focus on the Real Objectives

September 6, 2007

Recently my wife and I went out of town and left our four kids with a babysitter for the weekend. […]

Micro-managing Kills Initiative

September 5, 2007

Why aren't more of your staff comfortable with working in your association's database? One reason may be micro-management. I've been […]

Modeling Behavior

August 31, 2007

The other day my two-year old daughter and I walked to our mailbox to mail a letter. The mailbox is […]

You gotta have a back up plan

August 30, 2007

No, I’m not talking about data back up this time. I’m talking about having a back up plan for how […]

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