Wes’s Wednesday Wisdom

Why checkboxes and tags are awesome and dangerous One of the most common functions in an AMS is the concept of checkboxes and/or tags (your system may have both!). With checkboxes and tags we can easily “group” otherwise disparate data sets together. For example, need to create a VIP list of people to invite to […]

Don’t miss obvious engagement data What I’ve experienced with my clients over the years is that too many associations are not very conscientious about tracking all of their volunteer engagement in a centralized manner. (Because I’m a volunteer myself, I find this particular issue rather grating.) Take the tracking of authors (i.e., anyone who has written

All data requires active management It’s a simple fact of data management that is often overlooked: Any data that is not actively managed will eventually become useless. And it’s truer now than ever. If you take a moment to think about your members, whether they are individuals or organizations, every point of data that you

Documentation is critical for consistency There are so many reasons why documenting your data management processes are so critical to long-term success, but one of the most important reasons is to ensure we process data consistently over time. This is especially true for processes that occur repeatedly but very infrequently. For example, a client of

Consumer demands change and technology changes When I work with clients on the selection of a new AMS, I’ll often hear the client say things like “We feel like we’ve failed because we need to find new technology.” But this may be untrue. Very often, changes in consumer demand will require associations to have technology to

Why I write Thirty years ago, I started a new job as director of membership for a small trade association. It was my first real membership position, having worked in marketing and communications for four years prior at another trade association. While I knew how associations worked, I had no real idea how to recruit, manage, and retain membership.

DAN – The Data Analytics Network I’m a huge fan of users groups (both internal and external!). After all, users groups are just associations by another name, and having spent my entire career in the association space, I know their value. There is a great, informal group called the Data Analytics Network (DAN) for professional and trade

Process before technology In a conversation with a client recently, I was reminded (yet again) of how important people and process are when it comes to managing data. As we discussed their technology options, the client said, “You know, even if this technology is free, it won’t do us any good if we haven’t established

Opting out and communication preferences Last week’s newsletter discussed the need for associations to collect mobile phone numbers for use in communications. Several readers noted that I didn’t address opt-outs. Opting out should be implicit in all our data management, but I’ll address it explicitly here. As a rule, we need to provide our members, customers,

Are you collecting mobile phone numbers? You should be. Are you collecting (and using) the mobile phone numbers of your members? If you aren’t, it might be time to consider doing it. Here’s the thing about mobile phone numbers: For a certain demographic (e.g., ME), the mobile number is sacred. Only the most important people