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

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 […]

Technology philosophy #2 – Just because you CAN automate it doesn’t mean you should

September 18, 2012

Because I’m a tremendous geek and love software, I’m always open to exploring new software programs that may somehow make […]

New Article Posted – What's Plaguing Associations 2012 – The Dog That Didn't Bark

September 17, 2012

I’ve posted a new article on my website. For six years I have conducted a one-question, non-scientific survey of association executives, […]

Technology philosophy #1 – More effective, not just more efficient

September 17, 2012

Last month in Dallas I had the opportunity to speak at the AMC Institute on Technology Issues Facing Association Management […]

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