Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Improvement is never linear

By Wes Trochlil | June 10, 2026

Improvement is never linear One of the many lessons one learns over a lifetime is that improvement, regardless of what you’re trying to improve, is never linear. That is, you’ll always have days where you’re better, and days where you don’t improve, or maybe even fall back. And so it is with data management. Even if you […]

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture!

By Wes Trochlil | June 3, 2026

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture! Whenever I start on a big home clean up or renovation project, I like to take a “before” picture, so that I can see the progress that was made when the project is complete. (Ironically, even though I’m the son of an award-winning amateur photographer, I often forget […]

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish?

By Wes Trochlil | May 27, 2026

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish? Two quick customer service stories to illustrate a point: First story: I’ve used the same email provider for more than 20 years. But for technical reasons, recently I needed to switch providers, so I canceled my service with them a few weeks in advance of my renewal. […]

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you

By Wes Trochlil | May 20, 2026

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you I’ve been working in and with AMS products for 36 years (27 years of consulting, nine years as an association staffer). And I can say with great confidence that the systems available today are much better than they were 36 years ago! (Shocking, I know.) But […]

Using AI beyond content generation

By Wes Trochlil | May 13, 2026

Using AI beyond content generation Recent surveys by ASAE and others suggest nearly 90% of associations are using AI for some type of content generation (e.g., creating blog posts, newsletter articles, “canned” responses to inquiries, etc.). That is great, but when it comes to data management, there are so many more opportunities for leveraging AI. Here are some ideas […]

Older Posts

Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference VII – Data you should NOT collect

January 12, 2012

At the session I presented at the ASAE Technology Conference last month, one of the points I made was that […]

Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference VI – Training

January 11, 2012

A session attendee at the Tech Conference said (I paraphrase): “In all the proposals I’ve received from AMS vendors, the […]

Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference V – Testing plans

January 10, 2012

During one session I attended at the ASAE Tech Conference, the issue arose of testing in the AMS during implementation. […]

Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference IV – How to deal with the fear and pain of a new AMS

January 6, 2012

At one session I attended, an audience member asked the question quite plaintively: “How do we deal with the fear […]

Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference III – Modify your expectations

January 5, 2012

I can’t remember who said it, but along the way I heard someone say something simple yet profound. When it […]

Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference II – How do I set up an internal users group

January 4, 2012

I’m a huge proponent of internal users groups, which I’ve written about here and here. At a session I attended, Jamie […]

Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference – Why should I use a consultant?

January 3, 2012

Over the course of the next couple of posts, I’m going to write about several things I heard at ASAE’s Tech […]

Check out my guest blog post at Avectra

December 12, 2011

Avectra is running a series of guest blog posts for the next 12 days. You can find my post here, […]

A free idea for the AMS vendors (from one of my clients)

December 6, 2011

I was speaking recently with Frank Wolfe, CAE, CEO of the Hospitality Financial Technology Professionals, in Austin, TX. Frank had […]

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