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

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 […]

iMIS 15: Color Me Unimpressed

July 17, 2007

On behalf of a client, I had the opportunity to see a brief demo of iMIS 15 last week. My […]

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