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

It’s Time For The Sixth Annual One-Question Survey!

August 27, 2012

Since 2007, I’ve been conducting an annual non-scientific survey of associations, asking them what their biggest data management issues are. […]

My favorite technologies – # 5 of 5 – Evernote

August 24, 2012

This is the last of five blog posts on my favorite technologies. Evernote, quite simply, is a place to put […]

My favorite technologies – # 4 of 5 – Logmein

August 23, 2012

This is the fourth of five blog posts on my favorite technologies. Simply put, Logmein is an online service that […]

My favorite technologies – # 3 of 5 – Dropbox

August 22, 2012

This is the third of five blog posts on my favorite technologies. Since opening my consulting business over a decade […]

My favorite technologies – # 2 of 5 – Dymo label printer

August 21, 2012

This is the second of five blog posts on my favorite technologies. Many years ago, I worked at a small […]

New Article Posted – Relevance is the Key to Understanding Your Audience

August 20, 2012

I’ve posted a new article on my website. Consider these statistics: 107 trillion emails were sent in 2010. Over 1.5 trillion texts. There are over […]

My favorite technologies – # 1 of 5 – TextExpander and Keyboard Maestro

August 20, 2012

I recently had the opportunity to speak at the AMC Institute’s Summer Conference in Dallas, just prior to the ASAE […]

Pet Peeve of the Day

July 23, 2012

Opt outs that require you to enter the email address at which I no longer want to receive your emails. […]

New Article Posted – Treat Your Volunteers Like the Gold That They Are

July 19, 2012

I’ve posted a new article on my website. Ask yourself this: In the past month, how many times have you heard […]

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