Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Why bother with a consultant when I have AI?

By Wes Trochlil | October 14, 2026

Why bother with a consultant when I have AI? As AI becomes increasingly powerful, the value of using an AMS selection consultant (and many other types of consultants!) starts to come into question. After all, with very well-constructed prompts and responses, an association could develop a very solid needs analysis and RFP that could be used to […]

Guardrails can be helpful!

By Wes Trochlil | October 7, 2026

Guardrails can be helpful! When selecting a new AMS, I find my clients are often very tempted by custom software or “platform” systems (e.g., built on Salesforce or MS Dynamics) because these systems are infinitely configurable. After all, if I can make the system do anything I want, that’s a good thing, right? Well, maybe. In […]

“If you knew this information, what might you do differently?”

By Wes Trochlil | September 30, 2026

“If you knew this information, what might you do differently?” I had a conversation with a client recently about developing KPIs, reports, and queries from their forthcoming data warehouse. My client said: “We have a ton of requests for KPIs and reports. How do we determine which to focus on first?” My response: “When someone requests a dashboard […]

Showing is not teaching

By Wes Trochlil | September 23, 2026

Showing is not teaching In my experience, when new staff members are taught how to use their AMS (or LMS, CMS, FMS, etc.) they aren’t really taught how to use the system, they are shown how to use it. So what’s the difference? In a nutshell, showing only covers the “how” and “what.” But teaching […]

Data management is improvisation

By Wes Trochlil | September 16, 2026

Data management is improvisation I was listening to a podcast recently featuring TV writer Rob Long. During the podcast he said (I’m paraphrasing) that, in order to be successful, one needs to learn to improvise, because nothing in life ever goes as planned. One of my favorite sayings is, “If you want to make God […]

Older Posts

Must-haves vs. Nice-to-haves

July 12, 2007

When developing an RFP on behalf of my clients, one of the items we'll discuss is "nice-to-haves" vs. "must-haves" on […]

Checking references; look for the older clients

July 11, 2007

One of the cardinal rules when buying a new association management system is to be sure to check references. Presumably […]

What baseline functionality should an AMS have?

July 10, 2007

I’m often asked this question (or a variant of it) by my clients and others. “Well shouldn’t every association management […]

One System or Multiple Systems?

July 9, 2007

Frank Sarlo from PDA recently posted the following to the ASAE technology listserver: "Our Programs and Meetings Department is researching […]

Some rest from blogging

July 2, 2007

I’ll be taking a rest from blogging during the week of July 4th. My typically brilliant posts on data management […]

Do as I Say, Not as I Do

June 29, 2007

There’s an old saying: “There are those that back up, and those that will.” And as I mention here, it’s […]

.net vs. PHP and Technology Architecture

June 28, 2007

There was a thread on the ASAE technology listserver a few weeks back about whether an association should choose an […]

Data Entry, Then and Now

June 27, 2007

It was 20 years ago this June that I took a summer job at my college alumni association. I had […]

Bleg

June 27, 2007

Update: Many thanks to Lisa Junker at ASAE for sending me her copy of this post.  I published a post […]

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