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

Not just training, but RE-training…

December 9, 2015

I talk to associations every week about the challenges they are facing with their data management systems. One of the […]

The rise of the data manager

December 4, 2015

In my recently released benchmarking survey of association data management, I asked the following question: “Do you have a specific position […]

Small, medium, large? Depends who you ask.

December 3, 2015

I recently read on an association forum the following phrase: “We have a mid-sized meeting with around 7,000 attendees…” What caught my […]

The rising importance of Learning Management Systems

December 2, 2015

I work with associations of all sizes, ranging from zero staff (all-volunteer run) to over 700 staff. One thing I’ve […]

The inherent conflict between staff needs and customer needs

November 30, 2015

One of the greatest benefits of the internet revolution is that data management has been moved from staff to customer. […]

Data and technology are a means to an end, not the end itself

November 24, 2015

I love data and I love technology. So when there’s an opportunity to use new technology, or an opportunity to […]

Make sure it's actionable, not just interesting

November 23, 2015

Because data is so easy to collect and store these days, it’s very tempting to try to collect data about […]

Attending the first MemberSuite Customer "Meetup"

November 19, 2015

Last week I had the opportunity to attend MemberSuite’s Meetup 2015, their first user group meeting. MemberSuite had nearly 50 […]

"Think like a lazy person but don't act like a lazy person."

October 29, 2015

  My brother runs a business cleaning business in Minneapolis. We were discussing a business process issue (unrelated to cleaning OR […]

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