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

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 […]

New Article Posted – Using an AMS to Provide Member Value – A Case Study

October 20, 2015

A small association (15 staff) serves an international membership of businesses working on electric motors. One of the services this […]

An interesting new service for trade show planners

October 16, 2015

  I had the opportunity to see a short demo of the new trade show planning service from eventr.io (www.eventr.io). […]

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