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

Take part in the Tagoras Learning + Technology Survey

September 17, 2015

My good friends at Tagoras Consulting are working on their latest Association Learning + Technology report. But they need input […]

"Learning is a process, not an event"

September 16, 2015

I attended a luncheon hosted by Tagoras a couple months ago, and one of my takeaways was this thought: “Learning […]

“Is this your first time attending?”

September 15, 2015

If you’ve ever registered for a large conference (e.g., an association’s annual conference), you’ve probably seen this question on the […]

ALL resources are limited

September 14, 2015

I’ve written in the past (here, here, and here) that it’s important to understand that all decisions require a trade-off. […]

Want to improve user adoption? Get rid of the screen noise

September 11, 2015

As a former association executive who spent many years working in the association database, I remember the days of having […]

Seek first to understand – Redux

September 10, 2015

I’ve written about this before (here and here), but it’s so pervasive in my meetings with clients and vendors that […]

An excellent interview – with me!

September 9, 2015

Here’s an interview of me conducted recently by Celisa Steele of Tagoras Consulting around data management. A nice quick 20 […]

Why are you hiding my password from me?!?

September 8, 2015

For website developers, a simple question: When you force me to create a new login for your website and ask […]

A must-attend for senior-level execs in professional development

September 4, 2015

  I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be serving as one of the select faculty at the Leading Learning Symposium, […]

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