I recently had a fascinating conversation with a client whose annual conference consistently knocks it out of the park. They’re not just meeting budget; they’re exceeding it. Attendee satisfaction is sky-high, and their sponsor retention rate is a staggering 95%. Naturally, I had to ask their secret. How do they stay so relevant and consistently deliver what their market craves, year after year? Their answer was surprisingly simple: Innovation.
It struck me how profound that one word was. There’s an implicit agreement between the association and its membership: the association provides the platform (the conference), and the members provide the innovation (their ideas and expertise). Too often, annual conferences become echo chambers, rehashing the “hot topics” of the previous year. Not this one. Their planning committee is empowered to be bold, to truly listen to what members want to learn and experience.
If you’ve ever been involved in a call for abstracts or conference content development, you know how easy it is to fall into the trap of “this is how we’ve always done it.” Volunteers, often feeling constrained by tradition, may hesitate to suggest changes to the format or established sessions. But what if…?
Our client takes a radical approach. They dismantle their conference every single year and rebuild it from the ground up. This isn’t just tweaking the program; it’s a fundamental reimagining. They’ve earned the trust of their membership by demonstrating a genuine commitment to innovation, even with their most significant (and potentially most risky) product – the annual conference. This willingness to reinvent, to embrace the potential for change, is what sets them apart.
So, I pose the question to you: Could this perspective shift help your association stay relevant? Does your current conference strategy allow for genuine innovation, or are you simply recycling content and structures from years past? Are you brave enough to dismantle and rebuild? The answer might just be the key to your association’s continued success.
