Author Archives: Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE
About Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE
Elizabeth Weaver Engel, M.A., CAE, is CEO and Chief Strategist at Spark Consulting LLC. Elizabeth has over 19 years of experience helping associations grow, in membership, marketing, communications, public presence, and especially revenue, which is what Spark is all about. She speaks and writes frequently on a variety of topics in association management. When she's not helping associations grow, Elizabeth loves to dance, listen to live music, cook, garden, and blog about the Philadelphia Eagles.Membership 101: Recruitment versus Retention versus Renewal
Three great tastes that taste great together. Recruitment, retention, and renewal are related, but they aren’t the same thing. Recruitment is what you do to get people in the door of your association in the first place. It’s at least partially … Continue reading
Membership 101: MVP
Not Most Valuable Player, Member Value Proposition It may seem obvious to say this, but people have to choose to join your association. What are their other options? Join a competitor non-profit Join a competitor for-profit (yes, there are for-profit … Continue reading
Launching: Membership 101 Series
I’ve had several clients hire me recently to do webinars/presentations on basic concepts in membership. It occurred to me that other people might want this information, too. So I’m launching a series of blog posts designed to introduce readers to … Continue reading
ISO Your Board Transformation Story
Sherry Marts (of S*Marts Consulting) and I are starting to work on a whitepaper looking at what’s going on in diversity and inclusion in the association space. This will be the ninth whitepaper in the ongoing Spark collaborative series. You may … Continue reading
Letter to ASAE – ASAE’s Response
ASAE has officially responded to those of us who expressed concern about the association industry response to the 2016 Presidential election. Thanks to John Graham and Scott Wiley for allowing me to publicly share their response to the letter that … Continue reading
Associations and Trump’s Travel Ban
Airports and cities large and small erupted into chaos this weekend as Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning Muslims from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen from entering the US took effect. People with valid entry visas and legal … Continue reading
Education to Employment #AMA
What are you doing Wednesday, February 1 at 12:30 pm ET? If your answer is “eating lunch,” or “nothing much,” I have a better option for you. Shelly Alcorn and I will be hosting an Ask Me Anything (aka “AMA”) … Continue reading
Where are the YPs?
“How can I recruit young professional members if there are no young professionals entering our industry?” I’ve been thinking about this question a lot recently, not least of which because I have a client that is in this EXACT situation. … Continue reading
What Really Worked in 2016?
Beth Brodovsky, who hosts the Driving Participation podcast (and if you haven’t checked it out yet, what are you waiting for?) recently asked a bunch of her former guests this insightful question for a year-end episode. Here’s my answer: One … Continue reading
What Will 2017 Hold?
Aptify set out to answer this question, at least for associations, in their recent e-book: Top Association Management Predictions for 2017. In the monograph, 13 association pros (including me) share their thoughts about the future as relates to topics like member engagement, online … Continue reading
