Photo credit: ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership
An association is defined as a group of people who share a common interest, job, or purpose. While Women In Trucking (WIT) is an association itself, did you know that WIT is also part of ASAE? The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) is the non-profit organization for association management, representing both organizations and individual association professionals.In essence, an“association for associations”thatshares the common goal ofbringing together people with shared interests.
As someone new to the world of associations, I recently had the opportunity to attend the annual ASAE conference, which took place in Cleveland, OH. To say I was impressed by this meeting of association professionals would be an understatement.
ASAE provides many resources to associations like WIT to help develop, maintain and enhance member experiences. The annual conference is the opportunity to convene and share these best practices, pain points, fresh ideas, and network with like-minded professionals, looking to provide the most meaningful benefits to their members.
SPEAKERS
The 3-day event kicked off with an inspiring conversation with Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in US history. Gorman shared her story of receiving the call from the White House asking her to read one of her poems at the Presidential Inauguration in 2021. She also shared how she deals with a speech articulation issue that has been with her since childhood. I left this discussion feeling uplifted and inspired.
Each morning attendees met the leadership team of ASAE and took part in celebrating members who excelled this last year including scholarship winners, professionals who earned association credentials, newest members of the Board of Directors and various new members of committees and leadership classes.
Rounding out the last day of speakers was Adam Kinzinger, a former United States Representative, CNN commentator and Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard. Kinsinger spoke about his experience as a member of Congress and how that has shaped his values now that he is a father to a young son. His passion for his family and his country was truly evident. Another day leaving me feeling inspired.
Photo credit: ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership
SESSIONS
Throughout the week I was able to participate in many different sessions and educational experiences that helped expand my own knowledge of what an association is and the expectations that it has to its membership.
Hot topics across the conferenceincluded:
Emerging presence of AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Importance of strengthening member benefits
Creating a culture of inclusion within each association
Mentorship
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
AI is an intimidating yet exciting innovative technology that will only continue to expand its reach, particularly in the work of associations. I was able to learn of the many ways that AI can assist with efficiency, member value and knowledge sharing. Understanding there is so much I don’t know – and learning of the wealth of products in the market today that were built to help organizations maximize their impact with their customers, partners, and members.
Member Benefits
Members of an association typically join to belong to a group of peers aligned with the same goals and purpose. During one session I attended, it was clear that creating member value is an important step that all associations must focus on consistently. At WIT I see this happening regularly – from the focus on finding new ways to engage with each other outside of a virtual environment to the refocus on enhancing the Engage community and Mentor Match program.
Culture of Inclusion
A clear theme throughout all of the sessions was the importance of creating a culture of inclusion within your association. Many associations, like WIT, have diverse memberships with many different needs, career goals and learning opportunities. It was good to hear from other associations on how they are accomplishing meeting these unique needs and providing value to all members. WIT members come from across the transportation industry – including students, professional drivers, safety professionals, HR, recruiting/retention, operations, leadership and anything in between. It got me thinking about what WIT can do differently to provide different various versions of member value based upon individual needs and career disciplines.
Mentorship
One of my favorite sessions focused on the importance of mentorship. Through this session, I took away some solid best practices that other associations have used to maintain their successful mentorship programs. The WIT Mentor Match program continues to evolve. Being able to gain ideas, support and guidance to enhance Mentor Match will be invaluable tools to create even more value for WIT members. Some key takeaways included:
Providing resource guides for mentors / mentees at sign up
Celebrating on the completion of an annual mentor relationship
Providing training and best practices
Creating tailored mentor/mentee communities
Photo credit: ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership
EXPO HALL
In addition to the various education sessions, there was a robust exhibitor hall featuring many products and services beneficial to associations. The highlight of the hall was the awesome participation by various cities across the US and Canada. These cities are primed to host various associations’ in person engagements and meetings. It was awesome to get to experience these cities and learn more about how inviting they are to association members. I’m looking forward to sharing more on the various cities with the WIT staff team!
As is often the case, returning to my desk after this experience has my “wheels turning.” I’m looking forward to engaging the rest of the WIT staff team and sharing all the ideas and inspiration I brought back from this conference. As an association WIT is uniquely positioned to share the time, talent and treasures of females in this industry. To learn more about ASAE visit asaecenter.org/.
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An association is defined as a group of people who share a common interest, job, or purpose. While Women In Trucking (WIT) is an association itself, did you know that WIT is also part of ASAE? The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) is the non-profit organization for association management, representing both organizations and individual association professionals. In essence, an “association for associations” that shares the common goal of bringing together people with shared interests.
