Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

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 […]

Who own the AMS company is like the weather…

By Wes Trochlil | September 9, 2026

Who own the AMS company is like the weather… When I work with clients to find a new AMS, one of the most common questions I get is: “Is the software company owned by private equity or is it privately owned?” While I think this is a legitimate question to ask and have answered, it […]

“As good or better than me.”

By Wes Trochlil | September 2, 2026

“As good or better than me.” I was recently speaking with a software developer working on AI and we were discussing using natural language querying in an AMS. I told him, “The biggest challenge you face is that the first time the AI is wrong, staff will never use it again.” He agreed but then added: “The […]

Documentation is insurance

By Wes Trochlil | August 26, 2026

Documentation is insurance In a conversation with a client about their data management needs, the client pointed out that if they lost one or two key staff members, so much institutional knowledge would go with them that the association would have real difficulty managing their AMS. I recommended that they should document all of their key processes so […]

It all comes down to fundamentals

By Wes Trochlil | August 12, 2026

It all comes down to fundamentals I’m preparing for a webinar that I’m presenting in a couple of weeks, on using data to improve marketing and communications. This is a presentation (in one form or another) that I’ve made for nearly 20 years, and it includes an excellent case study of one association that dramatically improved their […]

Older Posts

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). […]

Take the SCIPP Association Information Security Assessment

October 13, 2015

  SCIPP International is a nonprofit organization interested in finding out – and sharing back – the extent of the association […]

Data Breach – Not if, but when

October 9, 2015

  Many associations, because they are small and have relatively low volume on their e-commerce sites, believe they are not […]

A Can't-Miss event for senior-level execs in professional development

October 1, 2015

In less than a month, I’ll be serving as one of the select faculty at the Leading Learning Symposium, presented […]

Are you testing training effectiveness?

September 25, 2015

When you do training (you ARE doing training, right?) in your association management software system, are you testing for learning […]

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