Some context, please

Some context, please

A pet peeve of mine: A report about associations (e.g., marketing benchmarks report) where the report defines associations by the number of members, but fails to discriminate between trade associations and individual associations. In other words, the report will talk about "associations with fewer than 500 members" as if a trade association with 450 members is somehow the same as an individual membership organization with 450 members.

I have worked with trade associations with fewer than three dozen members that had a budget and staff three times the size of a professional society with 2,500 members. I think you see my point; the number of members without context makes for pretty useless comparisons or benchmarks.

Just something to keep in mind if you're ever creating or reading benchmarking reports.

Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives

Give a little at a time rather than taking away

March 3, 2021

Give a little at a time rather than taking away I’m sure there’s research somewhere […]

First, you gotta have the data

February 17, 2021

First, you gotta have the data When I work with clients on a new AMS […]

Work on your relationship with your AMS vendor

February 10, 2021

Work on your relationship with your AMS vendor It is no coincidence that my most […]

Dashboards for Data Integrity

February 3, 2021

Dashboards for Data Integrity I’ve written a bunch on data integrity reports. (Click here for […]

Next-to-Nothing Goals

January 27, 2021

Next-to-Nothing Goals I saw a Ted Talk by Christine Carter recently discussing the concept of […]

Just because you can…

January 20, 2021

Just because you can… In response to a recent Wednesday Wisdom on averages hiding the […]

Always ask “Why?”

January 13, 2021

Always ask “Why?” Little kids ask “Why?” all the time, because they are sponges for […]

Averages hide the extremes

January 6, 2021

Averages hide the extremes I can’t remember where I first heard it, but “averages hide […]

Look up PARTIAL names!

December 24, 2020

Look up PARTIAL names! Train your staff to do look ups on partial names, not full […]

Not Just Technology

December 16, 2020

Not Just Technology There was recently a discussion on the ASAE online community about project management […]

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top