Explore every episode of the podcast The Member Engagement Show

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Hillary Chambers, Manager of Global Meetings and Events for the Higher Education Users Group (HEUG), a leading global user community in higher education built on Higher Logic’s online community software. Hillary also leads planning and promotion for Higher Logic’s annual Super Forum conference. We talk about how to maximize engagement at every stage of the event lifecycle and how to apply some community strategies to successful event planning. Topics include:

• Have events fully bounced back post-Covid?
• Event timelines and planning for an event.
• Learning from attendee feedback.
• Distinguishing between a blip and a real trend in sentiment.
• Handling the awareness and communication process.
• Getting event ideas by listening to the community.
• Using community to find and foster speakers.
• Using video to communicate event information.
• The pain points faced in today’s event planning.
• The balance: making a live event a can’t-miss while not excluding virtual attendees.

Helpful Links

Christin Berry podcast episode on data

Super Forum 2026

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Georgina Donahue, Higher Logic’s Director of Community Innovation and AI Strategy. With over 10 years in community leadership (having started out as a community manager) Georgina shares her wealth of expertise in community leadership, and user-focused community advocacy. Topics covered include:

• How community is the engine that drives alignment between organizations and members.
• Tips for growing online communities, based on Georgina's experience taking a community she managed from 0 to 50,000 members.
• Key metrics for measuring the success of a community.
• How to get leadership buy-in for community
• Busy vs. meaningful engagement.
• Engagement myths…busted!
• Tips to drive the member journey, from onboarding to advocacy
• Selling the importance of community internally.
• Community and member engagement trends for the year ahead.
• A sneak peek from Kelly at some insights from the upcoming Member Engagement Report.

Helpful Links

Peggy Hoffman episode on community volunteering

Community Manager Toolkit

Today’s episode of The Member Engagement Show is a special presentation of a recent webinar covering the release of Higher Logic’s 2025 Association Community Benchmark Report: “From Data to Action.” Kelly and her guests Eileen Quinn and John Micah Yates, strategic advisors on the Higher Logic customer success team, walk through the results of the study and offer strategies to increase member participation and engagement. Topics include:

• Highlights from the report
• Strategies for increasing engagement in your online community
• Average community size, logins, and discussions
• The most common types of engagements
• What kinds of engagements are lagging
• Community digest open rates
• How many users make use of resource libraries
• If AI is pulling people away from online communities
• Login trends based on months of the year
• The inverse trend between size and participation
• The relationship between community age and engagement
• How automation rules impact engagement
• How gamification impacts engagement
• How volunteering, mentoring, and job boards impact engagement
• Tactics for growing communities
• Ways to increase discussion and contribution activity
• How much, if any, of your content should be gated
• Tips for avoiding over-emailing

Some Helpful Links:

Webinar Recording

2025 Association Community Benchmark Report

Podcast episode with Christin Berry of ASAE

Podcast episode with Karen Saverino of Smithbucklin

Our guest this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Brian Scott, President and CISO of 501CISO, who talks about the increasing prevalence of cybercrime targeting nonprofits and associations. We discuss the industrialization of cybercrime, the unique vulnerabilities of smaller organizations, and the importance of cybersecurity education and training. Topics covered include:

• Why cybercrime is worse than it’s ever been.
• The global industrialization of cybercrime.
• How AI is helping cybercriminals be more effective.
• Why nonprofits and associations are becoming a bigger target.
• Are Managed Service Providers (MSPs) always reliable protection?
• Tips for hiring and using MSPs.
• The impact of being the target of cybercrime.
• Key things associations should do to protect their security and data.
• The '501 CISO Big Six' essential protections to implement.
• Why cybersecurity is not just an “IT problem.”

Some Helpful Links:

Episode on AI use and data privacy with guest Amanda DeLuke.

Explore more resources from Brian Scott & 501CISO: cleartoneconsulting.com/publications/

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Christin Berry CAE, VP Business Analytics and Data services at ASAE. Christin recently presented a session at ASAE’s annual conference on how to use data to gain meaningful insights that can help you ask better questions and make better decisions. This tied in nicely to Higher Logic’s own recently released 2025 Association Community Benchmark Report, so we thought this was the perfect time to help associations more effectively collect and leverage data. Topics covered include:

• The ways data can be most helpful to associations.
• Gaps in the way we approach data.
• Getting beyond just numbers to help foster faster decision-making.
• Using different formats to get information out to constituents.
• How offering fast answers can lead to broader content discovery.
• Organizing information infrastructures to facilitate fast answers.
• Data setup for internal use.
• Data mining to combat low survey response rates.
• Why data, in isolation, isn’t enough for good decision-making.
• The importance of knowing why you’re gathering data.
• Why it’s okay if your data just helps you ask better questions.
• Why watching the pattern can be more powerful than watching the numbers.
• The need for curious people.
• How to not get overwhelmed with data.
• Building automations off your data.

Some Helpful Links

ASAE

Higher Logic's 2025 Association Community Benchmark Report

On this timely and informative episode of The Member Engagement Show, Dorothy Deng, Partner at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston discusses AI and copyright law, especially as it relates to association management. There are many legal considerations for associations using AI and this is an excellent primer on the copyright fundamentals to stay safe and within the law. Topics covered include:

• Fundamental copyright considerations and how they that relate to AI use.
• The embedded principles of copyright law - human authorship and fair use.
• Does writing AI prompts afford you ownership of the AI output?
• Why you’re on (a little) safer ground if your prompt includes pre-existing human created copyrighted material.
• Why those “This material was AI generated” labels might prevent you from having a copyright claim.
• Does the percentage of human vs. AI involvement in a work matter to the copyright office?
• How to protect yourself from unwittingly infringing on other people’s copyrights.
• How associations should keep copyright in mind when using AI.
• The licensing opportunities for associations as LLMs seek higher quality data.

Some Helpful Links:

The U.S. Copyright Office’s Report on AI

On this episode of Higher Logic’s “Member Engagement Show,” Higher Logic Strategic Advisor Bekah Weidner talks about ways to bring in non-dues revenue (NDR) in uncertain economic times or times of economic change. Looking for ways to boost revenue at your organization? Topics covered include:

• The importance of having diverse sources of revenue.
• Sponsorship and advertising strategies and tactics.
• Non-dues revenue from newsletters, emails, events, job boards and more.
• The right way to use your community to benefit sponsors, partners, and the association.
• Exploring all of your association content assets as sponsorship opportunities.
• The importance of keeping sponsorships aligned with your association’s tone and mission and protecting the integrity of the content assets.

Helpful Links:

For more revenue generation ideas...

• Join us on September 10, 2025 for our free webinar: From Engagement to Non-Dues Revenue: Monetizing Your Online Community
• Check out our Non-Dues Revenue Success Kit

In this episode of The Member Engagement Show, we talk with Bettina Fowler, Senior VP of Customer Success at Higher Logic to get the very best of her popular session at Higher Logic's annual Super Forum conference, “45 Ideas in 45 Minutes.” Bettina has been involved in customer success at Higher Logic for 11 years and has tons of great insights from working with customers on implementation, member engagement, and marketing strategies. Kelly chats with her about quick and easy ways to level up the way in which associations and nonprofits serve their communities. Topics covered include:

• Top things to check regularly and make sure you didn’t miss in your platform setup.
• Tools and strategies associations can easily use to improve member engagement.
• The features in your platform that you might not even know about or might be underutilized.
• Are you maximizing AI functionalities in your community management?
• All the reasons not to fear upgrades to your platform.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic customers can access the full Super Forum session recording in the Higher Logic User Group (HUG).

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Higher Logic’s own Senior Product Manager, Aaron Novelle. Aaron has been a leader in the development of AI enhancements to the Higher Logic Thrive platform. With those enhancements now in beta, we wanted to catch up with Aaron about how associations can leverage AI to continuously improve the member experience. Topics covered include:

• What Higher Logic AI tools are available now and what’s on the horizon.
• What AI search assistants are and what they can do when connected to online communities.
• A primer on RAG (Resource Augmented Generation) LLMs vs. the global LLMs that power general AI tools like ChatGPT.
• How associations can deploy AI while keeping their data safe.
• Associations as the bastions of specific expertise and knowledge.
• The importance of aggregating and categorizing your association’s knowledge base - and how to make that easier.

Some Helpful Links:

Learn About Higher Logic's AI Search Assistant (and Turn it On in Your Community!)

Higher Logic's AI Toolkit

ASAE Webinar: Embracing AI Safely (with Higher Logic's Amanda DeLuke)

On this episode of Higher Logic’s award-winning “Member Engagement Show,” we talk with Karen Saverino, CMO at Smithbucklin. Karen has over 25 years of experience in marketing and communications, most with nonprofits and associations. She is one of the authors of Smithbucklin’s recent report on the Perceptions and Evolving Role of Associations. Listen to the episode for insights from that report and to hear ways associations can apply those insights to attract and retain members.

Topics covered include:

• What are members' most valuable benefits from their association?
• Do members currently trust their association?
• The importance of education and professional development.
• Is AI a threat to online community participation?
• What prevents people from becoming members?
• Four fundamentals you should focus on based on the report’s data.
• Some pointers on doing your own member research.

Helpful Links:

Smithbucklin’s Perceptions and Evolving Role of Associations Report

Learning management and trends podcast episode with Bluesky

Our guest this episode of the award-winning Member Engagement Show is Romeo Talento, Customer Success Advisor at Higher Logic and a career expert in SEO strategies, who talks about some of the ways associations and non-profits are approaching and should approach those SEO strategies. Prior to his role at HL, Romeo managed membership and marketing for associations like the American Bar Association and the Merchant Risk Council. Topics covered include:

• A primer on what SEO is (and isn’t).
• How search engines work.
• The importance of keyword research and wording things correctly.
• The steps to incorporate into your day-to-day work to optimize content for search engines.
• Recommendations for one-person marketing teams juggling multiple hats.
• The three types of SEO you need to know.
• The importance of alt text in images, page titles, and working links.
• Tips for page design and backlinks.
• The power of data and numbers in your web content.
• Suggestions for long-term SEO wins.
• How AI and voice searches are changing SEO

Helpful Links

On-Demand webinar with Alec Cole, Founder of Salt Rock SEO, on AI’s Impact on SEO

SEO Checklist: 41 Tips to Optimize Your Website

Higher Logic Thrive

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Peggy Hoffman, Founder of Mariner Management. Mariner Management is an association management company providing full management services to small associations and counsel to global associations seeking to improve member communities and volunteer development. Peggy also works as a member community strategist, volunteer management consultant, national speaker and trainer for volunteers and staff.

In this episode, we discuss the current state of association volunteer systems, with topics covered including:

• What research tells us about the current landscape of association volunteer programs.
• What are the reoccurring challenges?
• What adjustments to volunteer systems make a difference?
• The demand for shorter-term volunteering.
• What keeps volunteers engaged?
• What kind of information do volunteers really want when it comes to a program’s goals and achievements?
• What draws in and engages the next generation of volunteers?
• Why you should ask volunteers to “get milk on their way home, not go out of their way.”
• Determining when to sunset a volunteer program that's not performing.
• The critical role of the staff liaison.
• Just how important is it to have a volunteer program?

Peggy will be presenting a session at Higher Logic's Super Forum Conference, March 26-28 in Nashville, TN, on "Igniting Engagement: Empowering Members to Lead." Join this interactive session to learn how to shift your perspective and your strategy around volunteering to ignite engagement.

Helpful Links & Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Article: Why Volunteering Needs a Transformation

Article: Create Better Volunteer Experiences Through Feedback

Report: A Holistic Approach to Association Volunteer Management

Executive Summary: A Holistic Approach to Association Volunteer Management

Report: Mutually Beneficial Volunteerism

Guide: The Decision to Volunteer - Why People Give Their Time and How You Can Engage Them

Simplified Engagement Loop from MCI's Engagement Index

Report: Chapter Performance and Benchmarking Report

On this episode of Higher Logic Thrive’s The Member Engagement Show, our guests are Andrea Wieters, Director of Strategic and Future Focused Research for the ASAE Research Foundation, and Jennifer McNelly, CEO of the American Society of Safety Professionals. Both work on ASAE ForesightWorks, a program focused on major trend analysis and forecasting to equip associations and their volunteer leaders for effective environmental scanning and planning for change. Andrea, Jennifer, and Kelly discuss ForesightWorks' continuous strategic intelligence on drivers of change in the association industry and practical applications for the insights provided by this program. Topics covered include:

• What the ASAE Research Foundation and ForesightWorks does - including their list of "Drivers of Change".
• The newest Drivers of Change: AI, emerging Gen Z, and the talent drought.
• The ways the world of work is changing and why every association leader needs to understand it.
• The importance of a systems-based approach.
• Six key thematic areas of change explored in the ForesightWorks list of Drivers of Change.
• Advice for association leaders on how to apply drivers of change to strategy.

Some Helpful Links

ASAE ForesightWorks  

Why Associations Need Foresight

The CDC’s Future of Work

Higher Logic Thrive

On this special episode of The Member Engagement Show, we give you exclusive listener access to a recent webinar: “What Do Members Want? Tips and Trends from Higher Logic’s 2024 Association Member Experience Report.” Presenters Higher Logic Content Marketing Manager Kelly Whelan, Director of Product Marketing Sarah Spinosa, and Strategic Advisor Bekah Weidner reveal insights gleaned from the study and add their thoughts on how you can use these insights and best practices to improve your member engagement. Topics covered include:

• Why members leave their associations.
• How often do members interact with their association?
• What are the top member benefits?
• Member education needs and trends.
• How associations can participate in targeted initiatives members look for.
• Member communication preferences.
• How important is personalization and segmentation to members?

Helpful Links

Watch the Webinar: What Do Members Want? Tips and Trends From the 2024 Association Member Experience Report

2024 Association Member Experience Report

Association Community Benchmark Report

Higher Logic Thrive Learn

Higher Logic Post on Engagement Scoring

Super Forum 2025 Registration

In this episode of The Member Engagement Show, we explore educational trends and best practices for associations, as well as Learning Management Systems (LMS) with two fantastic guests from Blue Sky eLearn: Chief Revenue Officer Mark L. Jones, CAE, and VP Association Solutions Liam O’Malley CAE, PMP. We cover all things related to empowering associations to create powerful learning opportunities for members, including topics such as:

• What a Learning Management System (LMS) is.
• Education as a huge driver for Non-Dues Revenue.
• Education for membership expansion.
• Bringing data management and technologies like AI into association education.
• How to diversify your educational experiences.
• How the right platform can create a coherent and efficient learning ecosystem.
• Why a learning program doesn’t need to be a heavy administrative lift.
• Tips for adopting and launching learning programs and an LMS.
• The biggest gap in most association learning programs.

Higher Logic partnered with Blue Sky eLearn to launch our newest offering, Higher Logic Thrive Learn.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic Thrive Learn.

Blog post with Blue Sky on AI-powered learning.

The 2024 Association Member Experience Report.

In this episode of The Member Engagement Show, we talk with Angela Costa, TD SYNNEX Marketing Strategist, and Kendrick Johnson, TD SYNNEX Digital Marketing Specialist about how to strategize and set up your community to attract sponsors and generate content and value for members. It’s a great listen for any association interested in monetization and non-dues revenue. Topics covered on this episode include:

• Creating an environment where members, content, and sponsors can come together in mutually beneficial ways.
• Strategizing to drive traffic to your community: "If you build it they won’t necessarily come."
• Ways to monetize your platform.
• How to effectively use gated content.
• The importance of keeping fresh content in your community.
• Sponsorable newsletters as revenue and traffic drivers.
• Using editorial calendars to avoid “random acts of marketing.”
• Leveraging sponsors for thought-leadership content that helps your community users.
• The importance of having a dialogue and sharing tips with your sponsors.
• Being patient and testing things out.

TD SYNNEX is a leader in IT solutions orchestration and global technology distribution. They connect the technology ecosystem and manage relationships with major technology partners for organizations.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic's Community Content Calendar Template

Higher Logic's Community Manager Toolkit

The TD Synnex Level Up Community

In this episode of The Member Engagement Show, we speak with Higher Logic’s Senior Privacy Analyst Amanda DeLuke about much-talked-about concerns around AI, privacy, security, and data protection. Topics covered include:

• What is ISO and SOC2, and why are they important security standards?
• The latest AI and privacy trends.
• How to approach AI at your organization with your eyes wide open.
• Considerations when approaching different use cases for AI in associations.
• Free resources on privacy and security.
• How to not be overwhelmed by the AI revolution.
• How data classification factors into privacy and security.
• What the legislators are doing (or not) to help.

Some Helpful Links:

Podcast on AI with Conor Sibley, Higher Logic's CTO

Higher Logic Blog Posts on AI (including tips for prompts, things associations should know, and Higher Logic's partnership with IBM to harness the power of community and AI)

Messaging, Malware, and Mobile Antiabuse Working Group (M3AAWG)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

Our guest this episode is Michael Jones, VP of Mobile Technologies at Results Direct. Results Direct helps associations leverage mobile apps and engagement trends to enhance member communication, engagement, and retention and improve the member experience. Results Direct is a longtime partner of Higher Logic and partnered with us to create Higher Logic Thrive Mobile 365. During this episode, we explore:

• Current tech and engagement challenges facing associations.
• Learnings from The State of Mobile in Associations Benchmark Report.
• How mobile apps help associations address some of their biggest priorities.
• The three places associations interface most with their members.
• How overall mobile use is trending across all demographics.
• How mobile opens a new communication channel for going beyond email.
• Why a mobile responsive website doesn’t tap the full advantages of a mobile app.
• How to get members to download your app.
• Tips for making your association app a success.

Helpful links:

Higher Logic Thrive Mobile 365

Results Direct

In this episode of The Member Engagement Show, we cover Higher Logic's recently released 2024 Association Community Benchmark Report, which collects community performance and engagement data specifically for associations and non-profits.

Not only do we discuss key metrics from the report, but expert community advisors Tiffany Moule and Kimmie Harrington share tips for improving your community performance and member engagement. Topics include:

• What the report is and how associations can best use it.
• Highlights from the report including:
  • Which months have the highest community engagement.
  • Average open rates for community digests.
  • Average discussion activity.
  • The impact of size and age on community engagement.
• How to engage different types of community users.
• The positive impact of tying mentoring, volunteering, and job board opportunities to your online community to increase engagement with your programs and community.
• Just how big a difference personalization makes.
• Why onboarding is a critical time for community engagement.
• The percentage of community members you can expect to contribute content.
• The impact of having resource libraries in a community.

Helpful Links:

Register and join us for our free upcoming webinar on the 2024 Association Community Benchmark Report, taking place September 25 at 2 PM ET.

Download the 2024 Community Benchmark Report

Explore the Community Manager Toolkit

More Higher Logic podcast episodes and resources

Our guests on this week’s episode are Higher Logic Senior Advisor of Customer Success, Kristen Parody, and Higher Logic Customer Success Manager, Cate Sauer. Kristen and Cate are both regulars on the Higher Logic Users Group (HUG) and former association management professionals. Their work at Higher Logic revolves around helping associations succeed by sharing high-level strategies, best practices, and support.

During the episode, we share tips for how associations can manage and engage groups, chapters, and events by using dedicated microsites. 

• Hear about some common association use-cases for microsites. 
• Learn why microsites are great for offering personalized branding and experiences for different member segments or events.
• Learn how chapter and other microsites can be used to empower volunteers and chapter leaders.
• Understand the best practices for setting up microsites, including the benefits of testing and starting small.
• Learn what Higher Logic's Component Management add-on is and how it can help.

Helpful Links:

Kristen Parody on LinkedIn Cate Sauer on LinkedIn

• FloridaMakes Webinar on how they use microsites.
• Microsite Resources in the HUG Education Library
• Info on Higher Logic's Component Management Add-On

Higher Logic Success Team Contacts: successteam@higherlogic.com realmagnetsuccessteam@higherlogic.com informzsuccessteam@higherlogic.com

Our guest this episode is Heather McNair, CEO of Cloud Generation. Heather has had a long career working on association communities and credentialing programs. Heather also shares how Higher Logic Thrive Credentialing can help associations administer their certification, certificate, and credential programs. In one example. Heather shares how an association more than doubled the number of new certificate participants in just one year, while cutting staff time spent on the program in half.

Throughout the episode, we discuss:

• The different types of credentialing programs: certifications, certificates, micro-credentials, and stacked credentials.
• How Higher Logic Thrive Credentialing makes managing complex certification programs.
• Opportunities associations are missing when it comes to certification and credentialing.
• How to ensure members understand the importance of certification, the process of getting their credentials, and how to approach re-certification.
• Strategies for nurturing members toward certification.
• How to revitalize a certification program that may be stalling out.
• Repurposing existing content for certification programs.
• Using technology to scale and improve certification programs.

Helpful Links:

Higher Logic Thrive Credentialing

Heather McNair on LinkedIn

higherlogic.com/podcasts

Our guest this episode is Higher Logic's Chief Technology Officer, Conor Sibley, who has spent three decades at influential companies designing and managing Internet scale platforms. He has intimate knowledge of emerging technologies and is part of the team leading the development of Higher Logic’s own AI toolset.

We talk about the ways AI applications for associations are evolving, and Conor highlights Higher Logic's new AI tools. Topics covered include:

• The types of AI that go way beyond just generative AI.
• How associations can use AI for highly personalized experiences.
• The power of AI in automated marketing.
• Definitions for Multi-Modal Large Language Model, AI hallucinations, and results augmented generation (RAG).
• AI applications that can help associations externally and internally.
• The ways AI can be applied to improve translation and multi-lingual experiences

Helpful Links: June 11 Webinar: Available Now - See Higher Logic's New AI Tools In Action Additional resources at higherlogic.com/podcasts.

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Diana Mertz, Sr. Director of Membership and Engagement with the American Staffing Association. Diana has over 15 years' experience in association management, primarily on the membership side. Topics covered include:

• Building and maintaining special interest groups in communities.
• Nurturing volunteers as leaders.
• Tips for communities keeping long-time communities fresh and engaged.
• How members’ perception and use of communities changes over time.
• Learning what YOUR members want and how to tap into that for success.
• Teaching members how to use and get the most out of the community.
• Recognition for your most valuable contributors.

Helpful Links

Visit higherlogic.com/podcasts for resources.

Learn more about ASA's Women in Leadership program (video).

Diana Mertz on LinkedIn

American Staffing Association

In this episode, we talk with Amber Worthen, CEO of Email Maven, which provides comprehensive email platform support primarily for associations. Email Maven helps staff get the email work done, pitching in on both projects and overall strategy. Prior to Email Maven, Amber was in the trade association space for seven years. The episode explores:

• How to accomplish a lot with a small email marketing team.
• How to effectively introduce automation into the email marketing picture.
• Why email benchmarks are important and how they can help associations.
• What kind of email metrics you should be tracking.
• How to provide a better, more targeted experience for your members through automation. 
• How to spot helpful vs. unhelpful email data.
• The most underestimated Higher Logic email tool: web tracking.
• Emerging trends in email marketing

Links:

• Visit higherlogic.com/podcasts to download the Association Email Benchmark Report and check out other resources referenced on the show.
• Register for our April 30 webinar, Benchmarks for Success, to learn more about association marketing, community, and experience benchmarks.
• Learn more about Email Maven.

In this episode, we talk to Higher Logic’s Sr. Product Marketing Manager Sarah Spinosa about how to effectively use association job boards to assist members in their career growth, sustain industries, and increase the value of your association community; all part of effective association management. Topics include:

• Job Boards reinforce your association as the “professional home” for members.
• A job board’s role in member recruitment, engagement, and retention.
• A job board's role in generating non-dues revenue.
• Using job boards to spot skills demands and gaps, and education opportunities.
• How job boards add value to your community and drive logins.
• How job boards can keep the industry healthy.
• Effective job board tech tools and management tips.

Useful Links:

Visit higherlogic.com/podcasts to learn more about Higher Logic Thrive Jobs and explore our guide to the ideal association tech stack.

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Higher Logic's Sales Enablement Manager Devin Timbrook, who has 7 years’ experience working with associations and nonprofits. Devin specializes in scalable ways to engage members, and in this episode she focuses on how associations can use automation to save time and create personalized member experiences. Kelly and Devin cover:

• Trends in automation for associations
• Some ideas for using automation to better your member experience
• Automation opportunities in marketing and online communities
• How Higher Logic's Advanced Starter Kits can help you get started
• Responses to some common concerns about automating

Devin will explore automation in more depth during her session at Super Forum 2024, April 10-12 in National Harbor, MD. Hope to see you there!

And check out other episodes of the show, and association resources at higherlogic.com/podcasts/.

In this episode of The Member Engagement Show, Kelly talks with Kunal Johar, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of OpenWater by ASI. Kunal shares how anyone can help their organization digitally transform. He also walks through the transformative impacts of using the latest addition to the Higher Logic Thrive suite: Higher Logic Thrive Submissions and Review. The result of a partnership between Higher Logic and OpenWater, Higher Logic Thrive Submissions and Review is an abstract software that integrates with Higher Logic Thrive Community enabling organizations to collect and manage award, abstract, scholarship, grant, and other submissions and applications.

Listen to the episode for more:

• Digital Transformation doesn't have to be a giant structural change; it can be one person deciding to improve a process (and you can iterate on that improvement).
• Member needs and day-to-day efficiency is what drives digital transformation. Associations should ask "what are our daily roadblocks?" and then consider "is there a simple way to fix this?"
• Associations should explore ways to use the tools they already have for digital transformation - avoiding additional budget approval. 

Kunal will also be joining us for Super Forum 2024, April 10-12 - don't miss out!

Learn more about Higher Logic Thrive Submissions and Review, and check out other resources we've referenced on The Member Engagement Show at higherlogic.com/podcasts.

On this episode of The Member Engagement Show, Kelly talks with Higher Logic’s Sr. Sales Engineer Emily Stamm about association volunteer and mentorship programs. The episode covers:

• How mentorship programs benefit both seasoned experts and younger members.
• Why you should establish volunteer programs in your association.
• What makes for great volunteer opportunities.
• How to spot and foster the best potential volunteers.
• How use community to create member engagement in volunteer and mentoring programs.
• Showcasing volunteer efforts, programs, and results.
• Ways to show your appreciation for your volunteers.

Check out the resources and events mentioned during this episode at higherlogic.com/podcasts, including:

• Super Forum 2024, which takes place, April 10-12 - Emily Stamm will be teaching a session to help you improve your mentoring and volunteering programs!
• Our guide, Path to Renewal: Mentoring & Volunteering

Our guest on today’s episode is Higher Logic’s own Martha Jack. Martha is the Senior Director of Design Services, where she leads the Design Services team in helping customers build communities uniquely tailored to association needs. Martha has worked with countless clients to create community and website experiences that foster member engagement and support the objectives of associations. Topics covered on this episode include:

• Creating synergy between websites and communities.
• Why community design is so important for helping members stay engaged and find the information they need
• Creating sustainable communities with automation that saves staff time.
• Why your community homepage doesn't need to have everything, everywhere, all at once.
• How to create ongoing interest by launching new community features over time.
• Important design considerations that are unique to association websites.
• Website and community design trends.
• Why you should never consider your community “finished.”

Find links to our Higher Logic Thrive Community Lookbook, and more information about Higher Logic Design Services at higherlogic.com/podcasts.

Martha will also be teaching a session at Higher Logic's Super Forum 2024, April 10-12, on web accessibility to help you learn how to make your community better for everyone. Register to learn more from Martha and others!

Kelly's guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Shaine Anderson, Executive Vice President and COO of the commercial real estate development association, NAIOP.

Shaine has also held roles at the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the US Indoor Soccer Association, and the American Composites Manufacturers Association. Over the years, Shaine has just about seen it all in the association space. In this episode, she shares tips for those starting a job with an association and for others thinking through their career growth in the association industry. She also explores trends in the field. Topics covered include:

• Working in an association is, first and foremost, a people-centered job. Those who succeed cultivate emotional intelligence and love to work with others.
• Working in the association world means being curious and having a thirst for learning. Get to know multiple areas of associations for more context around your particular role.
• For your association to succeed, members must feel they can't miss out on what you offer.
• When your association is doing advocacy work, share the behind-the-scenes work with your members.
• Test different tools and technologies, but once you choose, maintain consistency.

Check out the resources and events mentioned during this episode, including:

• Super Forum, April 10-12 - The early-bird discount is still in effect!
• Higher Logic's on-demand webinar, Future-Proof Your Association.
• Higher Logic's 2023 Association Member Experience Report.

Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Lucas McCann, President/CEO of Core Affinity. Lucas is also President and owner of the Big Red M and the host of the 6 Degrees of Associations podcast. He's worked with over 1000 associations to develop successful programs, optimize marketing, increase revenue, and cultivate industry partnerships.

Kelly chats with Lucas about association affinity programs, covering topics such as:

• What does an affinity program for an association look like?
• Common misperceptions about affinity programs.
• The dangers of not properly resourcing affinity programs.
• Common mistakes made in running affinity programs.
• The near-magical powers of member feedback.
• The near-magical powers of making experiences easy.
• The steps to starting or reviving an affinity program.
• The importance of data and reporting.
• Trends and innovations in affinity programs.

Learn more about Core Affinity.

Listen to the 6 Degrees of Association podcast.

Check out Higher Logic's recent 2023 Association Member Experience Report.

Register for Super Forum 2024 by February 2, 2024 to save $200 on your registration!

In this episode, Higher Logic’s Kelly Whelan talks with Teri Carden, creator of Non Dues-A-Palooza, an organization that brings together industry thought leaders and curious association professionals to explore new and innovative ways to generate and implement non-dues revenue for associations. Give the episode a listen and you’ll learn:

• Why NDR so important and impactful for associations.
• Today’s typical dues/NDR split for association revenue.
• Examples of non-dues revenue streams.
• Key takeaways from this year’s Non Dues-A-Palooza event and what to expect from Non Dues-A-Palooza popups coming to a city near you.
• Three things your sponsors are looking for.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Learn more about Non-Dues-a-Palooza: https://www.nonduesapalooza.com/
• Contact Teri Carden: teri@nonduesapalooza.com
• Higher Logic's upcoming webinar, with CEO Rob Wenger, The Future Is Now: AI and Automation in Association Software (choose the time that works for you)
  • November 16: http://www.higherlogic.com/w/november-2023-rob-product-ai-webinar-rsvp/
  • November 20: http://www.higherlogic.com/w/november-2023-apac-rob-product-ai-webinar-rsvp/
• Register for Super Forum 2024, where Teri and others will share tips and ideas for helping your association thrive: https://superforum.higherlogic.com/

Today we discuss Higher Logic’s 2023 Association Community Benchmark Report with Senior Customer Advisor Kristen Parody. Kristen and Kelly cover topics like:

• Why associations should review benchmarks and how they can use them.
• Using benchmarks to inform discussions with your leadership team.
• The trends in engagement pre-, during, and post-pandemic.
• Using benchmarks for reasonable goal setting.
• The percentage of users that actually engage.
• Why email digest open rate is important.
• Tips for collecting and analyzing your own community data.
• Strategies for improving engagement with your community.
• Adopting a personal voice in your community.

There are several resources mentioned in this episode that are useful as you review community benchmarks and work on increasing your association’s member engagement.

• Download the 2023 Association Community Benchmark Report.
• Read Kristen’s checklist of things community managers can do to ensure online community health.
• Higher Logic customers can log into the Higher Logic User Group (HUG) and join us for monthly Hug Connects to learn from their peers.

We're also currently soliciting speaker proposals for Super Forum 2024 - share your insights, your successes, and even your failures through a workshop, panel, or speaker session. The deadline for submissions is October 13, 2023.

On this episode of the Member Engagement Show, Kelly talks with Sarah Spinosa, Product Marketing Manager at Higher Logic and a member of the ASAE Marketing Advisory Council. Sarah has 15 years of marketing experience and served on the 2023 ASAE MMCC Program Advisory Council and as an ASAE Gold Circle Award judge.   The conversation revolves around member-generated content and touches on: *What member-generated content is *Why it's important for associations *Ideas for leveraging your members’ expertise *Ways to gather member-generated content *Making it easy for members to submit content *Tapping into sponsors and partners for content *Encouraging content from newer, younger members who are earlier in their careers *Promoting and highlighting member-generated content

Sarah will be presenting a deeper dive on this subject at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition August 5-8, 2023 in Atlanta, GA.  

In this episode Higher Logic's Sr. Marketing Automation Manager and email marketing expert Stefani Read touches on some of the learning from Higher Logic’s annual Email Benchmark Report and gives tips on how to operationalize the revealed insights.

Topics include:

• The effect of Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection on getting accurate open rate metrics and other recipient data and how to cope with it
  • Why desktop opens shot up after MPP, but mobile email opens went down.
  • Why you should look at actual number of clicks and not click through percentage
  • Why it’s no longer smart to build strategy around open rates you can’t be 100% confident in
• Trends in email volumes, open rates, and click rates
• Tactics that impact email metrics
• A/B testing tips
• Tips for what metrics and email data you collect

Download Higher Logic’s 2022 Email Benchmark Report. 

Read more about how to adapt to Mail Privacy Protection in our blog post, The Impact of Email Privacy Rules and Tips for Adapting.

Associations need to be able to draw in each new generation (both as members and staff) to continue grow and thrive. As Gen Z enters the workforce, how should associations adapt in order to demonstrate their relevance?

Our guest this episode is Hanna Holman, a 2021 graduate with a BA in strategic communication journalism. She was a project manager with Mountain Tennessee Outreach Project, a group working to alleviate substandard housing in rural Appalachia, and is now the membership assistant at Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research, a non-profit dedicated to advancing ethical research. There, she handles member recruitment and retention, produces member content, and serves as a primary point of contact for PRIM&R’s members.

The episode covers:

• Ideas for associations looking to engage the next generation of members and staff, and to adapt to a changing world.
• Gen Z’s key considerations when looking for professional roles and employment?
• Why Gen Z might be less likely to make work their passion and focus of their life than previous generations.
• Accounting for changes in work and learning expectations.
• Thinking beyond email and appearing in Gen Z’s lives more creatively.
• Reducing the barriers to information and engagement.
• Avoiding the damage outdated systems can do when you’re trying to appeal to Gen Z.
• Listening to younger staff members for a strategic advantage.
• Are younger generations even interested in joining associations? Do they even know about them?
• Leveraging FOMO.
• The power of candid, casual conversations (and not being afraid of them)

Keep exploring this topic during Higher Logic's free webinar on March 21, Attracting and Retaining the Next Generation of Association Members and Staff. During the webinar, a panel of association professionals will discuss:

• Considerations for your technological infrastructure
• Ideas for cultivating a flexible work and learning environment 
• Strategies for supporting members’ and staff’s professional growth 
• And more!

This episodes guests, Alexey Gutin and Josh Slyman of Web Scribble, walk us through the enormous value that job boards and communities that incorporate career development bring to associations, employers, and members.

Alexey is Co-founder and CEO at Web Scribble while Higher Logic alumni Josh is the company’s Director of Product Strategy.

In this episode, we cover:

• Higher Logic's newest association solution, Higher Logic Thrive Jobs
• A review of the labor markets for last year and 2023
• What kind of talent is currently in demand
• The value of career centers and job boards for associations in this environment
• How boards can help introduce members to careers they never before considered
• How vital it is for associations to stay aware of career development needs
• Job boards as a driver of content that engages and retains
• Job boards as a source of NDR
• Job boards attracting employers as eventual partners and sponsors
• Job boards as a source of informative data for the association and partners
• The Community + Job Board + Marketing + LMS ecosystem
• Why “if you found a member a job, you found a member for life”

Josh Slyman will also lead a session at Super Forum 2023 about how strategically connecting careers and community to protect your member’s careers drives membership, revenue, engagement, and forwards your mission. Register to gain more tips and tactics - April 10-12 in Washington, DC!

This episode, we talk with speaker and thought leader Reggie Henry, Chief Information and Performance Excellence officer at ASAE about what associations should be thinking about in 2023. We cover ground such as:

• Are we planning too much based on last year’s data and technology?
• Why you can't go back to how things were pre-pandemic.
• The importance of continuing to support the new and diverse people brought into the fold via virtual meetings.
• Preparing to attract and retain the next generation of members and staff.
• The importance of having listening posts in communities.
• How communities become critical in both pandemics and recessions. 
• The new contract needed with members to get to personalization.
• Being mindful of the RONI, Return on NOT Investing.
• The importance of technology infrastructure and a smooth user experience.
• Best of Need vs. Best of Breed.
• The dangers of chasing the wrong metrics.
• Meeting people based on their interests, not on what we have to sell.

Learn more about ASAE and their upcoming events at ASAEcenter.org

Registration is now open for the 13th annual Super Forum, April 10-12 in Washington DC! You won’t want to miss this comprehensive conference for association professionals. There will be a whole host of sessions dedicated to helping you enhance your member experience, and you’ll have the opportunity to share ideas, strategies, and challenges with your peers in the field.  

In a challenging economy, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of trends and tactics to keep your members renewing and to help your association thrive - and that's easier to do with a community of colleagues beside you. We hope to see you there! 

In this episode, host Kelly Whelan talks with Higher Logic Product Marketing Manager Sarah Spinosa about the recently released Association Member Experience Report. There's nothing like going right to source when you want to find out what members want, like, and wish they were getting from their association memberships, and that's exactly what this report outlines. This is an episode not to be missed! 

Topics covered include:

• Who Higher Logic surveyed and why
• How members prefer to get information (it may surprise you)
• What benefits members value most
• How often members tend to interact with their associations
• Are associations giving the level of personalization members want
• What the survey revealed about events, both in-person and virtual
• Top reasons members consider leaving their associations
• How associations can use this valuable information

Download Higher Logic's 2022 Association Member Experience Report to learn more!

The Guest: Suzanne F Stevens. Suzanne is a professional speaker who has served on many boards, including as past president of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. As the founder of YouMeWe Social Impact Group, she works with organizations to grow Conscious leaders, their influence, and Social Impact – sustainably. Suzanne merges her social initiative expertise in the nonprofit and for-profit worlds to create an enriched experience that will attract, engage, and retain a diverse membership. 

The Topics:

• The importance of associations incorporating social initiatives
• How associations can choose initiatives and issues that align with their values
• Making social initiatives part of the strategy vs. an add-on or afterthought
• The concrete steps leadership can take to “bake in” social initiatives
• How connecting to the social issues members care about leads to retention
• Social issues as another way of connecting members to each other, including at events
• What makes a social initiative sustainable
• Why associations are in an especially strong position to improve the world

Handy Links: You Me We Organization

Higher Logic's 2022 Association Member Experience Report

In this episode of Higher Logic's Member Engagement Show, Kelly talks with Marianne Fray, CEO of the Maternity Care Coalition, an organization that works to improve the health and well-being of pregnant women and parenting families, and enhance school readiness for children 0-3.

With a 30+ year career inspiring diverse teams to do more together than they could alone to strengthen communities, Marianne has stablished two successful cross company industry communities that drive business innovation in the project management and life sciences industries. She has advised F100 companies on diversity and inclusion practices and is a founding member of a 501c6 non-profit organization called Women of Color in the Pharmaceutical Industry.

This episode explores:

• The meaning of being a servant leader
• The power of asking people what they need
• The need to check our assumptions and recognize how misperceptions can put people into reductive boxes and cause missed opportunities
• The importance of looking out for individual and systemic bias so that we can be prepared to examine and sometimes dismantle the conscious and unconscious judgments that shape and define our world
• What it means to truly represent your constituents
• The magic question that can kick off any relationship positively

To learn more about Marianne Fray and about black maternal mortality and morbidity, check out her article in Women's Way.

To learn more about Maternity Care Coalition's work, check out their 2022 Annual Report: Advocating for Parental Autonomy.

You can also download Higher Logic's 2022 Association Member Experience Report to learn more about what members value most from their associations.

Our guest on this episode is Dominick Mondi, President of the MidAtlantic Society of Association Executives and Executive Director of the NE Spa and Pool Association. In it, our host Beth and Dominick discuss: 

• Why you should consider volunteering at an association
• What is “micro-volunteering”?
• Keeping a volunteer base engaged and energetic
• The many ways people come to work for associations
• The challenges associations are facing and ways to deal with them
• Preparing your association for the future of member engagement
• The benefits of having regional chapters
• How to convince leadership of the benefits of attending gatherings beyond the big annual conference
• The kind of experiences that keep members really happy
• The power of personally asking prospects to attend get-togethers
• How to decide whether to volunteer at the local/regional level or national level

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

In this episode, Beth Arritt speaks with guests Frank Humada and Colby Horton with Association Briefings about the power of communicating through audio and the ins and outs of launching a podcast for your association.  

By listening to this show, you'll learn:

• Is podcasting right for your association?
• The strategy that goes into successful podcasts
• Lessons learned from the association podcasting front lines
• How to approach the critical role of show host
• The role podcasts can play in non-dues revenue
• How to find and manage great guests
• How to cover the most compelling topics possible
• How to promote and drive traffic to your podcast
• Is podcasting a fad or a permanent media content channel?

Be sure to check out Colby and Frank's podcast, Engaging in the Next - especially Beth's episode with them.

And don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

This episode's guest, Bruce Rosenthal, has an amazing mastery of how to maximize the relationship between associations and their corporate sponsors for both NDR and better member servicing. Corporations re-evaluated during the pandemic what works best for them in pursuit of their overall goals, and associations need to pay attention to those changes.

Bruce is a longtime strategic advisor and consultant to associations, helping them advance corporate sponsorship and partnership programs, identify strategies to increase revenue and member value, create added value for corporate partners, and develop corporate sponsorship and partnership implementation plans.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• How sponsorships changed since the pandemic and what was learned about sponsors’ needs
• The new needs of corporate sponsors
• The best way associations can meet those needs now
• What doesn’t work anymore when pitching sponsorships
• The internal culture change needed inside associations for new approaches to corporate partnerships
• How to make corporate sponsors feel like a true part of the membership
• What makes an association a necessity for members and partners
• The right way for associations to partner with corporate partners
• Results of a sponsorship engagement study
• What mistakes associations are making in servicing their sponsors
• How to get corporations to return your calls

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

This week's guest, Jim Catts, explores how technology has presented both challenges and opportunities for association marketers. Jim is a career technologist who's currently co-funder and CTO of Rhythm Software. He's been working with associations to smartly apply technology to the work they do for around 20 years.

In the episode, we cover:

• How we’ve moved beyond running member experiences manually and physically
• The costs and lost opportunities of doing so 
• The paradigm shifts of email and dynamic web 
• How tech allows for personalized, on demand member content
• How associations are like Netflix (hint: is your association a content or technology company?)
• How associations are NOT like Amazon (hint: are your member driven by search?)
• How the pandemic changed member experience expectations
• How soon VR and AR will or won't become part of the member experience
• What’s the right way for associations to start using machine learning and AI?
• How newer generations are changing the member experience
• The tactical steps to take with your technology right now

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

This week, our guest is Annie Henderson, who made the change this year from membership marketing to corporate marketing at her association, ASBO International. Annie and Beth talk through how to navigate the differences of marketing to corporates, particularly at an association, and what techniques you can use to try to bring in sponsors and exhibitors at every level. In this episode, you'll discover: Moving from the member marketing to partners marketing mindset Why you need to what your corporate partners’ timelines for activities The challenges faced in winning partners and getting them engaged and involved further Competing against bigger competitors Moving partners beyond exhibiting The tools and tactics you can use in corporate partnerships The power of personas What a treat deal “sweeteners” can be Treating your partner like member, not a bank Taking on your challenges and opportunities in the right order

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

According to our guest, Kiki L'Italien, trust is an indispensable commodity. Gaining it takes both time and ongoing proof that trust in your association is well deserved.

KiKi has honed her approach to communications and strategy for many organizations – nonprofits and corporate alike – including Optica, American Red Cross National Headquarters, QVC, and the American Institute of Architects. Now a senior consultant with Tecker International, she speaks regularly about management strategy and cultivating communities of trust. KiKi is also creator and host of Association Chat, an online community, blog, and podcast reaching 72k individuals monthly. 

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why trust is a commodity that’s hard to come by
• What associations are doing to both win and lose trust
• The dangers of conflict of interest and how it hurts trust
• Why who you have running partnerships is key to maintaining trust
• How to build trust at scale
• The need to be an effective trust-builder both digitally and in person
• How overcomplicating things in order to sound smart can lose trust
• The key to authenticity – genuine curiosity
• The right communication channels for the right group
• Why you should commit to delivering what you say you’re going to deliver
• Why it pays to be mindful of your digital body language
• Why you should create environments where members aren’t afraid to participate because they aren’t “perfect” enough
• Character and competency, a winning combination

Don't forget to subscribe to Association Marketing Pros (AMP), Beth's weekly newsletter for association marketers.

This year, ASAE's Marketing Membership & Communications Conference in Washington, DC was back in person and in full effect. Higher Logic's association evangelist and podcast host Beth Arritt and Product Marketing Manager Sarah Spinosa were in attendance, and summarize this grand event where over 700 marcom and membership professionals and experts gathered to learn and network. If you couldn't make it, hear Beth and Sarah cover some of the main points and takeaways in this episode of the Member Engagement Show, including:

• What's the difference between an "idea monkey" and "ringleaders"?
• Email tips that radically improve marketing performance, as well as some email myth-busting
• Creative integrations and providing journeys for members
• Distinguishing your mission and vision through storytelling
• Reaching members with omnichannel strategies
• The importance of member experience and personalization
• Cool ways the conference was able to get back to doing an in-person event

We always invite you to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any tips on how to get better member engagement for your association. And also don't forget to subscribe to Beth's AMP newsletter. 

How can you reach your diverse member segments in a personalized way? Why aren’t "best practices" always the best for your audience? How can you use mute campaigns to prevent unsubscribes?

Hear three association marketing professionals discuss these topics and more with Beth Arritt. You’ll come away with marketing plays you can adapt for your own association.

• Andrea Huggins, Senior Marketing Manager at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
• Annie Henderson, Corporate Marketing Manager at ASBO International
• Debbie Segor, Marketing & Communications Manager at the American Society for Nondestructive Testing

How can a solo marketer reach members in a personal way? How can you reduce member email fatigue? What happens when your marketing software doesn’t integrate?

See how our fantastic panel of association marketing professionals solves these challenges, and more.

You'll hear from:

• Ashley Baker, Executive Events Director at NiUG
• Brad Hon, Digital Content Coordinator at the Australian College of Nursing
• Amanda Dollman, Marketing and Communications Manager at the Resolution Institute

Along with Beth Arritt, your host and former marketing association VP.