Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics?

Association execs consume – and produce – a lot of research in our day-to-day work, but most of us don’t have formal training in research. A lot of the language of research programs– p-values and…

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5: 10 Tips for Creating an Effective Marketing Piece

We’re at the midpoint of the Top 10 All-Time Spark blog posts, with #5: 10 Tips for Creating an Effective Marketing Piece. The original piece was written in response to a conference presentation I’ve given…

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6: Explaining Marketing to a Kid

Coming in at number 6 in the all-time list of top ten Spark blog posts: Explaining Marketing to a Kid. The original post was inspired by a fun activity the association I was working for…

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7: Membership 101: Exit Surveys

In position number 7 of the top ten all time Spark blog posts: Membership 101: Exit Surveys. (I told you the Membership 101 series would be back!) Once again, the advice in the initial post…

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8: Membership 101: Effective Renewal Cycles

In position number 8 of the top ten all time Spark blog posts: Membership 101: Effective Renewal Cycles. (Spoiler alert: you’re going to see more of the Membership 101 series posts in the countdown.) When…

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9: Why Is Membership the Only Relationship?

In position number 9 of the top ten all time Spark blog posts: Why Is Membership the Only Relationship? Originally written as a follow on to a panel session I participated in at ASAE’s 2013 Great…

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What’s Changing for Chapters?

Mariner Management and billhighway recently released the third edition of their chapter benchmarking report, and I had the opportunity to interview Peggy Hoffman and Peter Houstle about it. Q: This is, I believe, the third…

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10: Five Tips for Success with Ad Hoc Volunteers

Starting in position 10, Five Tips for Success with Ad Hoc Volunteers When I first wrote this post in 2014, Peggy Hoffman and I had recently released The Mission-Driven Volunteer. We looked at what associations were…

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Revisiting the Top Ten

I first started blogging about association management nearly 15 years ago (RIP Thanks For Playing). When I launched Spark (TEN years ago this year!), I ported all my old blog posts over and just kept…

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Learning By Doing

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the January 2022 Association Insights In Old Town (ASAE login required) virtual educational session, Better Engage Your Members and Attendees to Solve Association Problems, led by Better Meetings‘s Lee Gimpel….

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