Blog
The Time Is Now
Climate change and sustainability are increasingly in the news and showing up as a key topic for the association industry. Association execs are realizing that climate change is not just a moral imperative, it’s a…
Read More →Caveat Emptor: The Podcast
Decisions, decisions: we make them all day long. But what fuels our decision-making? Research! Every association executive uses research to make decisions, and often we’re responsible for conducting – or at least sponsoring – original…
Read More →
Can Associations Be Part of the Climate Solution?
We ABSOLUTELY can. People associate in order to solve problems that are, individually, intractable. I can’t think of a more important problem that’s not amenable to individual solutions than climate change. Shelly Alcorn and I…
Read More →
Ask Better Questions
I recently had the opportunity to participate in Association Charrette, a project of Vista Cova, facilitated by Lowell Apelbaum. Most commonly used in design focused industries (architecture, urban planning, landscaping), charrettes “…serve as a way…
Read More →
Research and Information Literacy – Learning More
Would you like to learn more about how you can improve your information literacy and become a more discerning and knowledgeable consumer and sponsor of research? Caveat Emptor co-author Polly Karpowicz and I recently had…
Read More →
Top Ten
All in one post/place! 10. Five Tips for Success with Ad Hoc Volunteers Original Post (2014) Updated Post (2022) 9. Why Is Membership the Only Relationship? Original Post (2013) Updated Post (2022) 8. Membership 101:…
Read More →
1: Membership 101: The Welcome Series
And finally, coming in at #1 in the Spark All-Time Top 10 Blog Posts (and it wasn’t even close): Membership 101: The Welcome Series. First written more than five years ago, this post remains the…
Read More →
2: Strategic Planning v. Strategic Thinking
We’re almost at the end of the revisiting of the top ten all-time Spark blog posts in honor of Spark’s tenth anniversary! Coming in at the #2 spot: Strategic Planning v. Strategic Thinking. In the…
Read More →
3: Getting the Most Out of Your Consulting Partnerships
Coming in at Number Three in the all-time Top 10 Spark blog posts: Getting the Most Out of Your Consulting Partnerships. (And it garnered a lot of pingbacks, which is probably one of the reasons…
Read More →Association Meetings in a Post-Roe World
On Tuesday, October 11, Shelly Alcorn hosted Joan Eisenstodt and me on The Phoenix Cast for an important conversation about association meetings in a post-Roe world. Just as meetings are starting to recover from pandemic shutdowns, new (and…
Read More →