Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

AI is a journey, not a destination

By Wes Trochlil | April 15, 2026

AI is a journey, not a destination Lately I’ve noticed a lot of associations talking about AI like it’s a moon shot. “We need an AI project.” “We’re rolling out AI in Q4.” That language suggests AI is something you implement once and then check off the list. It isn’t. AI is a journey, and […]

Action produces information

By Wes Trochlil | April 8, 2026

Action produces information “Action produces information. If you’re unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it’s the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing.” – Brian Armstrong, co-founder of Coinbase This is the great thing about data and why I’ve been in this business so long. […]

Why a single source of truth is so beneficial…

By Wes Trochlil | March 25, 2026

Why a single source of truth is so beneficial… The holy grail of data management is the “single source of truth.” As I like to characterize it, when someone asks “Where is the data about X?” everyone knows the answer and everyone gives the SAME answer. One of the most common challenges I hear from my […]

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

By Wes Trochlil | March 18, 2026

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should I’ve worked in and with associations for well over 37 years now. And one of the things I’ve always loved and appreciated about association staffers is their willingness to do whatever is needed to get the job done. But the problem is this “Yes, we can!” attitude can also […]

Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful

By Wes Trochlil | March 4, 2026

Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful “Your data doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful.” – (Borrowed with permission from Intellidata’s Slice newsletter.) In my experience, many associations hold themselves back from cleaning up their data, because they are overwhelmed with where to start, and they also think success can only be achieved […]

Older Posts

Are you asking your customers (or members)?

November 6, 2012

I recently received the monthly newsletter from Matrix Group, one of the many  vendors on my list of AMS vendors. […]

Do You REALLY Know What Visitors Think of Your Website?

October 22, 2012

My friend and colleague Ray van Hilst at Vanguard Technology is conducting an association benchmarking survey about website redesign. Ray […]

Coming soon – iMIS 20

October 9, 2012

I had the opportunity to get a sneak-peak at iMIS 20, which ASI is releasing on December 6, 2012, at […]

Technology philosophy #7 – Have a disaster recovery plan

September 25, 2012

This one isn’t so much a philosophy as just a sensible business practice. You MUST have some type of disaster […]

See the 5 Realities of AMS Implementations Interview

September 24, 2012

Bryan Kelly of Association Mavens interviewed me last week on the Five Realities of an AMS Implementation. You can watch […]

Technology philosophy #6 – Everything comes with a tradeoff

September 24, 2012

This is somewhat related to philosophy #5, in that no matter what decision you make about technology (or any other […]

Technology philosophy #5 – Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it has no cost

September 21, 2012

The internet is awash in free software. I love it, of course. So much software, so little time! But just […]

Technology philosophy #4 – Outsource when you can

September 20, 2012

If you’re like me, when you have some type of internal challenge with managing information within our organization, you may […]

Technology philosophy #3 – "Less, but better."

September 19, 2012

I first came across this line in the great Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. “Less, but better” was the […]

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