Jadine Sturgill, administrative manager
This is the second in a 2-part series on professional development based on a recent Association Chat (#assnchat). Click here to read part 1.
Read below for more helpful thoughts about professional development from the IMI staff.
Q6. What are some good examples of professional development that you’ve seen associations provide?
- Many organizations offer professional development via seminars, workshops, publications, and break-out sessions at conferences, online courses, case studies, white papers, journals, and information on their website shared only with members. They also keep members up to date on industry trends and how to deal with them.
- There are numerous avenues of professional development offered to the members: free monthly educational webinars, educational tracks at the two annual conferences, an onsite Webinar Library, and individual certifications. The committees are dedicated to providing best practices resources and white papers. The website is continually being updated with member advisories, legislative alerts and headlines that affect the members’ industry. The weekly newsletter and bi-monthly magazine provide continual information from industry experts both nationally and globally located. Surveys are created and distributed to get member feedback for further development and improvement of best practices. A strategic planning meeting with the board of directors and executive director occurs annually to evaluate the progress and to set goals for the association for the following year.
- Webinars are very effective – they can be provided at a low cost and members can participate from their offices.
Q7. How are you investing in your own professional development this year?
- I try to attend at least one free, online webinar a month on a topic of interest to me; such as Tracking Social Media Success, or Five Things Your Members Want from Their Association Website. I like to read articles on what is trending and books. I was fortunate to attend the ASAE conference this year and I like to hear what my colleges are learning and share with them so we can all benefit.
- I make every effort to attend ASAE’s Annual Meeting & Exposition and AMCI’s AMCs Engaged meeting. In addition to these two meetings, I am also an avid reader and subscribe to quite a few ListServs and I’m a social media junkie who follows hundreds of folks within the association management industry.
- I set aside a small block of time each week and a larger block of time each month specifically for professional development. It’s an appointment I make to better myself – and therefore bring my best to my associations.
- Being a member of AENC provides me with educational webinars and articles on a weekly basis. I am also committed to reading a number of industry-related books and considering taking some courses this year that will improve some of my computer skills and organization abilities.
- I plan to continue attending events and webinars that help me make progress toward my goal of earning my CAE.
We hope you enjoyed IMI’s in-house #assnchat. If you haven’t tried #assnchat on Twitter, give it a try! You may find answers to questions you didn’t even know you had.
Want to know more about association management? Contact us info@imiae.com to find out more about what IMI Association Executives can do for your organization.