“P-Value”? What’s a “P-Value”?

And why should you care? Associations generate a lot of original research, but association execs also use a lot of research created by other entities both to assess the internal operations of the association as…

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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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