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

Dashboards or Charts?

July 27, 2007

On his Membership Marketing Blog, Tony Rossell has a post about membership dashboards. He provides a link to a chart […]

Taking Prudent Risks

July 26, 2007

In this tip, I discuss how considering “worst-case” scenarios can help you decide whether or not to do something. There […]

Computility Demo

July 25, 2007

I had the opportunity to view a demo of the Computility AMS recently. For very small associations, I think the […]

Managing to the Exception

July 24, 2007

I often tell my clients to avoid managing (or programming) to the exception. What I mean is too often when […]

One for the AMS Vendors: Get PROACTIVE

July 23, 2007

I was trading emails with my colleague (and fellow AMS consultant) George Breeden recently, and he raised an issue that […]

Are you providing opt-out information?

July 20, 2007

Recently I began receiving emails from a political advocacy organization that has views that are, shall we say, completely counter […]

Association IT Salaries

July 19, 2007

In this post I talked about IT salaries in the general population. At the time I wasn’t aware that ASAE […]

Working with your vendor

July 18, 2007

Many associations struggle with the relationship they have with their software vendor. There are many reasons for this, but a primary […]

L-Soft Voluntarily Enters Bankruptcy

July 17, 2007

A client of mine sent me a note last week pointing out that L-Soft, the makers of Listserv software, has […]

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