Membership World Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode of the Membership World Podcast, Gordon Glenister speaks with Jon Stone, Director of Corporate Services at the Home Care Association, about the vital role the organisation plays in supporting home care providers across the UK.

Jon explains how the Home Care Association helps more than 2,000 members with advice, guidance, events, training, regulatory support and specialist expertise. He shares his personal journey into the sector and why quality home care is an issue that affects all of us, both professionally and personally.

The conversation explores the biggest pressures facing home care providers today, including regulation, workforce shortages, low pay, recruitment difficulties and the growing gap between the real cost of delivering care and the rates many local authorities are willing to fund. Jon highlights why caring is a highly skilled profession and why the sector deserves greater recognition and investment.

Gordon and Jon also discuss the challenge of demonstrating membership value in a sector under intense financial pressure. Jon outlines how the Association uses research, cost-of-care reports, Freedom of Information data and regional roadshows to support members, strengthen advocacy and give providers a stronger collective voice.

They also touch on franchise models in home care, the importance of tailored member benefits, and what lies ahead as legislative and structural changes continue to reshape the care landscape.

A thoughtful episode on leadership, belonging, advocacy and the future of home care in the UK.

Gordon Glenister is joined by Tony Ryan, CEO of the Design and Technology Association (DATA), to explore how he has rebuilt and re-energised a membership body by focusing relentlessly on member need and mission. Ryan shares an unconventional career journey—from leaving school at 16 to becoming a car mechanic, then entering teaching and ultimately leading two London comprehensives as a headteacher. Eight years ago, he moved into the association world to champion the subject that first drew him into education.

Ryan explains the wider context: design and technology (D&T) evolved from “woodwork” into a design-led, problem-solving discipline, yet suffered significant decline in school take-up—from over 430,000 GCSE entries at its peak to around 79,000 today. Against that backdrop, DATA has grown its membership from 8,700 to 26,000 and returned to financial stability.

Key moves included simplifying 31 membership categories into a clearer set, tailoring benefits for primary versus secondary teachers, and shifting recruitment away from “hard sell” towards partnership. He highlights lobbying in Westminster, practical classroom support, and industry collaborations such as Samsung-backed competitions. Looking ahead, DATA aims to scale impact through regional, industry-funded sponsorship that could provide free membership to up to 1,700 schools per region—building towards 50,000–60,000 engaged teachers nationwide.

Dario Betti, the Chief Executive Officer of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), is a distinguished figure with over 20 years of experience in spearheading initiatives within the mobile phone industry.

Betti's comprehensive knowledge of the mobile ecosystem, coupled with his strategic vision, has been pivotal in shaping MEF's influential role in addressing the multifaceted dynamics of the industry.

Renowned for his expertise in mobile entertainment, consumer safeguarding, and fostering industry-wide collaboration, Betti has emerged as a prominent authority in the mobile sector. His unwavering commitment to nurturing sustainable and secure mobile ecosystems has significantly contributed to fostering strategic growth and industry-wide collaboration, cementing MEF's position as a trailblazer in driving impactful change within the mobile ecosystem.

This episode is sponsored by global membership events app RD mobile RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com)

In this episode Heather Lishman, Director of the British Professional Conference Organisers, talks about the changing face of association events.  

One of the most stressful jobs, the professional event organisers role has changed considerably over the years, with them having to grapple around event tech, sustainable events, tighter and tighter budgets and more demanding sponsors. 

One of the areas we talk about is the growth in event legacy and Heather cites some great examples of what associations are doing.

This episode is sponsored by global membership events app RD mobile RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com)

The law hasn’t stopped discrimination misogyny, homophobia, prejudice and sexism it has simply gone underground. This has made it more difficult to prove. Why concrete evidence is needed if the law is to step in.

The problem that discrimination, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder; can you as a reasonable person, know whether a raised voice and/or aggressive action is aimed at you because you are gay, a woman or of ethnic origins?

A personal story to illustrate this; the word of one person against another; laws are there to protect individuals but in practice they don’t prevent inequality, injustices or discrimination.

Along with the incident that caused global outrage with the Spanish Football President, this is just some of the areas we cover in this insightful podcast episode with the Patron of the National Association of Licensed Paralegals, Amanda Hamilton.  Find out more from the Association here.

This episode is sponsored by global membership events app RD mobile RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com)

Simon joined the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) as their Head of Asset Finance in 2014. In 2021 he became Director of Advocacy.

He is responsible for the FLA Asset Finance Division and the cross-organisational advocacy work that the FLA undertakes. This includes representing asset finance members to government and the regulators, developing relationships with stakeholders, overseeing the FLA’s asset finance policy work and ensuring that they have a joined-up advocacy programme that demonstrates their members contribution to the UK, so that they can raise their profile and influence public policy.

Simon’s background is in public affairs and communications. Previously, he worked for membership bodies and the commercial sector, including the Chartered Institute of Taxation, the Association of Consultancy and Engineering. LexisNexis and in leading market research agencies.

He has also been named one of the top 100 UK lobbyists.

When he is not working, he and his wife raise two children and one cat. The jury is still out on which species is the easier to guide through life.

This episode is sponsored by global membership events app RD mobile RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com)

In this episode we talk about the power of working with volunteers for your membership organisation, with the CEO of the Scouts movement.

Matt Hyde is Chief Executive of the Scouts, the UK’s largest youth movement. Formerly Chief Executive of the National Union of Students (NUS), he’s undertaken a number of leadership roles in the charity sector and as Chief Executive of the Scouts has contributed to a period of record membership growth since joining in 2013.  He has led award-winning campaigns, spearheaded work to support the growth of Scouts in areas of deprivation and oversaw the development of a new age range, called Squirrels; opening up Scouts for four and five year olds.

Matt is Co-Founder of The Big Help Out, an initiative to dramatically increase volunteering numbers across the UK as part of HM King Charles III’s Coronation, which saw over 7.2m volunteer. He is a trustee of Comic Relief, a Patron of UNLOCK (the charity for people with convictions) and was previously Vice-Chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). 

Matt was awarded an OBE in the 2020 New Year Honours List, an Honorary Fellowship from Queen Mary University of London in 2012 and an Honorary Degree from the University of Hertfordshire in 2023.

This episode is sponsored by global membership events app RD mobile RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com)

The British Orthopaedic Association has over 5,000 members throughout the UK and overseas and is the special surgical speciality association for trauma and orthopaedics. Annette Heninger is the director of communications, and in this episode shares her insight about how they communicate and engage with their members and how they are even exploring a new membership tier for their retirees. For more information on the BOA viist https://www.boa.ac.uk/

This podcast has been sponsored by RD Mobile - the complete events and membership engagement platform.  Find out more RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com) #membership #engagement  The go-to technical creative agency | Pixl8 @gordon@gordonglenister.com

In this episode industry veterans Russ Magnusson, CEO and founder of RD Mobile and Membership digital agency founder Alex Skinner talk about the some of the trends facing the membership sector post Covid. Skinner commented, one client had 70% of income from physical training accounts so were motivated to make decisions to move online very quickly. Culture played a big part to do something different. How do you managed a large remote distributed team, this was new ground for a lot of membership bodies. .  Some decisions during the Pandemic were made at speed and in some cases now having to re-evaluate as not all the these products were talking to each other in one centralised platform.  Magnusson suggests not many organisations have gone for a hybrid model and a desire for in-person events has been very high.  Find out more from this riveting interview. This podcast has been sponsored by RD Mobile - the complete events and membership engagement platform.  Find out more RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com) #membership #engagement  The go-to technical creative agency | Pixl8 @gordon@gordonglenister.com

The Regional Studies Association is a learned society - there are about  26,000 learned associations around the world. The RSA has membership from all over the world and its members range from academics, geographers, political scientists, planners, journalists, and rise from students  up to professors . The society was established in 1966 and the current CEO Sally Hardy is coming up to her 37th year.  Members love the networking most, says Sally. What they are looking for are those personal connections, people doing the same things they are.  They have a huge global conference programme and publish a number of journals. They talk about how their app has helped boost membership engagement. This has helped the organisation grow its online community particularly younger audiences

This episode is sponsored by global membership events app RD mobile RD Mobile | Virtual Event Platform and Member Engagement App (resultsdirect.com)