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

Job opening: Data Records Manager

January 14, 2015

A client of mine, National PTA in Alexandria, VA, has created a new position within the organization called “Data Records […]

Data managers vs. data consumers

January 12, 2015

As I work with my clients it becomes clear that there are two “classes” of users when it comes to […]

Start with just ONE idea for database cleaning

January 8, 2015

Are you overwhelmed by the idea of cleaning up your database? Rather than trying to fix it all, focus on […]

More transparency from an AMS vendor

January 7, 2015

I’ve written in the past about the need for more AMS vendors to be transparent about how things are going […]

Lots going on in the AMS world

January 6, 2015

There have been two significant announcements in the AMS world in the past several weeks. First, Timberlake Software was acquired […]

New Article Posted – Importing Data Isn't Always as Simple as it Seems

November 24, 2014

One of the most common requests I hear from my clients is that they want to be able to easily […]

Attending iBEF

November 19, 2014

I recently had the opportunity to attend iBEF, the iMIS Business Excellence Forum. iBEF is hosted by ASI, the makers […]

How diverse is your product palette?

November 17, 2014

Over two decades ago, I worked for a small trade association whose primary product was a very large trade show […]

Plan on (and budget for) training before AND after go-live

November 14, 2014

Over the past six months I’ve helped several associations go-live with their new association management systems. One thing that has […]

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