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

"User-friendly" is in the eye of the beholder

October 13, 2016

Just like beauty, the idea of software being “user-friendly” is in the eye of the beholder. Very often when I […]

Use your data to communicate with first-year members differently

October 12, 2016

Long ago, I was a membership director in a couple of different trade associations. And as any membership professional knows, […]

Be sure to schedule training for shortly AFTER go-live.

October 11, 2016

When my clients implement a new AMS, the implementation plan always includes training for staff, so that they know how to […]

Who ARE you?

October 7, 2016

One of my greater pet peeves is company websites that don’t list any contact information. I see this a lot […]

The data is only good if you use it and manage it

October 6, 2016

So very often in my meetings with clients, there will be discussions around the different data points the organization is collecting. […]

"It's like the family dinner"

October 4, 2016

I often recommend to my clients that they have regular meetings among their heaviest database users, to discuss all the issues related […]

Data management is a process, not an event

September 29, 2016

An event is something that occurs once. A process is something you do continually, over time. It’s that simple. Data […]

More Venture Capital in the AMS Space

September 27, 2016

The latest announcement of venture capital money investing in an AMS company is MemberSuite. As noted here, Revolution Ventures is […]

Are you "enabling" your board?

September 27, 2016

I once met with an association to discuss their data management issues. They were explaining to me that the systems they had […]

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