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

Have the courage of your convictions

May 12, 2021

Have the courage of your convictions Having the courage of your convictions means you’re willing to do what you believe […]

Even your online directory is out of date!

May 5, 2021

Even your online directory is out of date! Back in the day of printed directories, there was an aphorism: “By […]

Start small

April 28, 2021

Start small When I work with my clients on projects that involve measuring member engagement, business intelligence, or data analysis, […]

Some context, please

April 21, 2021

Some context, please A pet peeve of mine: A report about associations (e.g., marketing benchmarks report) where the report defines associations by […]

Eventually automated emails get ignored

April 14, 2021

Eventually automated emails get ignored During the discovery and development phase of implementing a new AMS, it is not uncommon […]

The challenge the AMS providers see

April 7, 2021

The challenge the AMS providers see Over the years I’ve asked AMS providers what they see as the biggest challenges […]

Be careful about “solutioning” too quickly

March 31, 2021

Be careful about “solutioning” too quickly One of the great things about software developers is that they tend to be […]

What’s our next action?

March 24, 2021

What’s our next action? As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time in meetings (I bet you do, […]

Don’t automate for the sake of automation

March 17, 2021

Don’t automate for the sake of automation I’m the laziest person in the world. I LOVE it when I can […]

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