They’re often built around specific locations or causes, with a narrower focus than you might get at an annual meeting. Some chapter members may actually work together; others just share a community.

But ultimately, chapters offer a focused peer collaboration opportunity—with events at the center. Whether it’s a classroom-style experience, a networking event, or a happy hour, it can be an excellent way to strengthen ties within the event sector.

As a 40-year event veteran, Lynda Hoff, CMM, CMP, the manager for Member Experience and Events for the Ontario Nurses Association, is deeply familiar with the needs of chapters, both because of her current role, which oversees chapters throughout the province, and her prior work with the Toronto chapter of Meeting Professionals International.

“Engagement has changed and morphed over the decades, and will continue to do so as we move forward,” she says. “But I don’t think that personal connection, that human connection, will ever go away.”

In many ways, understanding chapter engagement comes down to understanding who your chapter members are and how they need to be served. And it turns out, they may not need to be in the same room anymore.

4 Fast Facts About Association Chapters

Association chapters are not a monolith—far from it. In fact, they can be sharply different in makeup and design. A few key facts about how chapters function:

1. Chapters are largely tethered to the main organization.

While chapters may have their own programming and organizational structure, they are designed to work within a larger framework. As Mariner Management & Marketing and BillHighway’s 2022 Chapter Performance & Benchmarking Report notes, more than three-quarters of the chapters it studied were either chartered or wholly-owned by the parent organization. This does have limits, however: The benchmark found that only 45% of chapters required its members to join the main organization.

2. Chapters can act as fully autonomous, however.

As McKinley Advisors notes, some chapters may choose to go with an autonomous model, which allows the chapter to focus on the needs of chapter members without direct influence from the parent organization. This can lead to more responsive chapter relations—while disconnecting the chapter from the national organization.

3. Chapters don’t have to be geographically oriented.

In recent years, improved technology has allowed the creation of chapters based on interest area rather than location, leading to the rise of “virtual chapters” in which people largely collaborate in purely digital settings.

4. The most important resource chapters offer is education.

According to the Chapter Performance & Benchmarking Report, 95% of chapters offer professional development events, the most popular chapter offering. General networking, at 82%, was previously almost as popular as education, though that has receded slightly in recent years, likely because of the pandemic.

Understand Who You’re Trying To Reach

Hoff makes clear that while ONA’s chapters vary wildly in proximity and size, creating unique dynamics depending on which part of Ontario the chapter is located in.

Association chapters have much to manage, and one of those things is physical distance, which can be a factor even among individual chapters. ONA, a trade union with more than 68,000 members, has chapters within five regions that differ sharply, creating the potential for vastly different membership experiences.

The largely rural Region 1, for example, covers parts of the province that can be difficult to reach by car. Meanwhile, Region 3 is based around Toronto, Canada’s largest city, making it possible not only for regular chapter meetings, but frequent regional meetings. In some cases, they’re even walkable, per Hoff.

“But in other areas where the transportation and the geographical distance is vast,” she asks, “then how do we do that?”

Additionally, not all members need the same things from their chapters. ONA, for one, has a Francophone membership contingent and Indigenous members. Those may require specialized offerings, like translation tools. Additionally, chapters are often an important way to introduce new generations of students to the fold.

Chapters are defined both by their regionalism and their ability to serve members with more specific needs—and chapter meetings should account for that.

Give Chapter Members Useful Content—And Connection

Chapter meetings can take many forms, but the most common type involves professional development. With that in mind, Hoff says it’s important to listen to the needs of chapter members to understand the educational opportunities that matter most to them. She recommends leaning into the event’s small scale.

“In a small chapter event, you know most of the people that are there, and you have the opportunity to connect with those folks that can truly help you figure out what that problem is, or give you a supplier that can help you, or a lead on something that you know will be able to solve that problem for you,” she says. “A large tent space? Maybe not so much.”

But with resources likely to be tighter than at traditional events, don’t be afraid to steal ideas and tweak them, either, Hoff says. “I don’t want to reinvent the wheel.”

ONA’s in-person chapter events have limited sponsor offerings, such as sponsored coffee stations, but the ultimate goal is to make room for interactions. Even if it’s a meeting to manage the basic business of the chapter, there should be room for networking at each event, as the scale makes such connections important.

“That space should be valued and that time should be cherished,” she adds. “Because you don’t get it very often.”

The Good & Bad Of Integrating Tech

Technology has shifted significantly in recent years, to the point where it often dominates the discussion, even with everyone in the same room. Hoff says smartphones are the biggest change she’s seen in her entire career. There’s a constant risk of distraction.

“In a classroom, I can say, ‘Put it away,’ but once you’re dealing with adults, they’re not going to put it away,” she says.

It’s not all bad, however. Hoff sees positive side effects from tech’s ice-breaking nature. For example, it was previously possible to walk into a chapter meeting and not know anyone beyond perhaps a name, or the person’s voice on the phone. But that has significantly changed in recent years.

“Technology allowed me to be able to physically see you,” Hoff says. “And now, when I am in person with you, it’s like long-lost friends. You come together, you know them, you know where you may have been.”

Mixing Virtual Into Chapter Events

The rise of virtual events has created new ways for chapters to interact, making them less tied to geographic areas. As the Mariner Management report states, chapters now have room to organize based on time zone and turn chapter events into hybrid events.

Leaders are often skeptical, but even so, the virtual elements speak for themselves, according to Hoff.

“They have seen that you can engage someone who may not be able to attend in person for whatever their circumstances, but they can still participate and still bring those grassroots issues to a larger table,” she says.

However, accommodation needs to be considered in this context. ONA uses EventMobi to offer auto-translation services for Francophone members. And of course, moderators need to ensure that people on the other end of the line don’t get lost in the shuffle.

“A lot of times you’ll hear people say, ‘I was part of a hybrid event, I was in person. And we forgot about them on the screen,’” Hoff says. “You have to really be intentional about making sure that the folks that are on-screen are included.”

On the plus side, hybrid events open up new avenues to sponsorship that might not have been so obvious before, with brand integration opportunities, such as the ability to post videos, that dig deeper than previously possible.

It’s possible the future of chapters might be a little more tech-friendly and less geography-dependent—and virtual event integrations might just be the way to get you there.

To find out how EventMobi can help you create more engaging meetings and events throughout the year, sign up for a free demo!

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The post Build Engagement Through Better Local Chapter Meetings appeared first on EventMobi.

Bringing together thousands of people passionate about the same cause or industry is a great way to get a shot of energy for a few days. (That’s especially true once you hit the trade show floor.) By the time the event is over, an attendee is likely to feel pretty good about their association.

But an annual meeting is only three days out of the year, maybe four. Is there a way to keep those good vibes going after everyone goes home?

EventMobi Director of Sales Ian Webb thinks so. As a U.K.-based event-industry veteran who has been to hundreds of events over his 20-year career, he’s experienced it all, and knows how great events can center the organization as a whole.

“The annual meeting’s always been the highlight of the year for both the association and its members—especially for the medical, scientific or technical associations I’ve done a lot of my work in,” Webb said in an interview.

What makes an in-person event so powerful—and how can you carry the torch of a great event throughout the year? Here are a few ideas that could get you thinking:

The Power of In-Person Education

After a couple of years of sharp, unexpected transition for the events industry, in-person meetings have reemerged—stronger, sharper, and more focused than ever. The meetings sector has shown resilience, even amid shifting budgetary pictures and economic uncertainty, and associations have found momentum in meetings that lean into the traditional strengths of in-person interaction and unique event experiences. The result? Many organizations are producing better meetings than ever.

Per PCMA Convene’s 30th Meetings Market Survey, the interest in in-person meetings has leaped significantly, with 40% of respondents reporting an increase in attendance compared to the days before the pandemic.

But that said, the growing interest doesn’t necessarily mean attendees want the same old annual meeting education experience. Knowing that more people are coming in person, Webb says, opens up an opportunity to create more interactive elements that lean into events—offering something distinct from what you get from a laptop screen.

“I think even more so now, the opportunities to meet, learn, and collaborate in person are obviously huge,” Webb says. “There’s a focus now on events being more of a designed experience and an immersive experience of how that content is delivered.”

(In other words, fewer lectures, more hands-on sessions.)

Bring the Education Home

The scale of events is such that annual meetings have room to cover both extremely broad topics in keynotes and narrow education offerings in breakout sessions, and the two come together to offer a more fulfilling result. But the problem is, the narrow options are often so plentiful that they compete for your attention. That, says Webb, is secretly a prime engagement opportunity for associations.

“There should now be opportunities for me to continue to engage with that content—and learn, and receive that education, outside of the event itself,” he says.

In one way, having lots of appealing sessions is good, because it encourages a “fear of missing out” among attendees. But that could potentially be damaging, if the bevy of choices means those attendees miss those education opportunities.

“I’m not going to be able to attend all of those sessions,” he says. “I’m not going to be able to get to all of that content in a three-day conference—but I think that probably presents the opportunity now.”

How does that look? Webb suggests recording as many sessions as possible, with the idea that the content offerings could be converted into digital-first on-demand education offerings or post-event webinars—both solving the FOMO problem and making the education offerings last beyond the event itself. (Plus, just imagine all the ways you could chunk up great event content for your members!)

Don’t Drop Hybrid Just Yet

That said, there’s a real risk of missing the opportunity amid a post-pandemic rollback. As the PCMA Convene report states, 42% of respondents said they are back to being fully in-person without a digital element, compared to 24% streaming in real-time and 21% offering asynchronous events.

In other words, the hybrid door could be closing before you’ve properly explored its post-event value. Webb says now is the time to rethink what is possible with events—because it could have value not just from an engagement standpoint, but a financial one.

“I think, as part of designing the event slightly differently, we have to think about the event not as this three-day conference where that education, that content, is kind of used up,” Webb says. “You need to make sure that you provide opportunities to engage with that outside of the conference itself.”

Keep Attendees In Touch

Another benefit of building engagement opportunities outside the event is that you can build upon the connections attendees make during the conference.

Connecting with actual people is, of course, one of the best parts of attending an annual meeting. If you’re going to all these interactive sessions, you’re likely to make some friends. And while tactics like offering well-designed name tags can help break the ice, the fact is, a strong networking relationship only starts at an annual meeting.

But keeping connected to those people is another task entirely. Fortunately, event applications—which often get used during the event itself, then forgotten about until the next event—are well-positioned to help.

Webb notes that tools like EventMobi, while initially designed for in-event communication, now “allow you to continue conversations that you’ve had at the event, by connecting and continuing that post-event.”

Perhaps it shifts the scope of how you view your event app—but given the recent disruption of social networks like X (formerly Twitter), is that a bad thing? It could be just the opportunity to bolster your owned media channels.

Broaden Your Sponsor Perspective

Another factor in expanding the reach of annual meetings beyond the actual event? Sponsors! As Association Chat creator KiKi L’Italien wrote last year, it’s important to stop looking at sponsor relationships in terms of your conferences, and instead lean into more year-round offerings that may make more sense for organizations trying to reach your members throughout the year.

By combining elements of in-person events with year-round digital offerings, Webb adds, it also means you get the benefits of both worlds, including the pop of in-event marketing and the more granular approach favored in the digital realm, making it possible for sponsors to track how much attention their profiles get throughout the year, for example.

“I think that the traditional event sponsorship package can transcend now into a different offering using technology,” he says.

Leverage Events As The Catalyst For Engagement & Retention

An annual meeting is ultimately an opportunity to put all your marbles in a single basket. As member engagement opportunities go, it is the 100-meter dash.

But there’s no reason to put all your collective energy into one single event to benefit your association—when there’s plenty of opportunity to also do a marathon throughout the year. There’s room for both strategies.

“I think, if you start going down that route, you could go off onto a whole other area in a way. That can actually bring value to membership retention and growth of the membership as a whole. So I definitely think now it’s much easier to bring the event strategy and the association membership strategy into one linear conversation.”

In the past, this kind of integrated full-circle approach tying in-person events to a year-round member engagement strategy might have remained the domain of the association with tens of thousands of members—and a budget to match. But tools like EventMobi can help close the loop, even for smaller associations that might not have the budget to match their ambitions. (Or so they thought!)

Ultimately, though, the ground around event tech is shifting—just like our mindset of what makes a good annual meeting. And our tactics should likely shift to reflect that.

To find out how EventMobi can help you create more engaging meetings and events throughout the year, sign up for a free demo!

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The post From Sprint To Marathon: 6 Reasons Associations Should Rethink Annual Meetings appeared first on EventMobi.

And right now, solid engagement is something that associations could use a bit more of. According to the 2024 edition of MCI’s Association Engagement Index, two-thirds of association members regularly access the content organizations produce. But less than a third regularly engage in what the report calls “association life”—regular engagement with events or fellow association members. Over time, this could lead to more passive members and even churn.

That sounds like a tough nut to crack, but structured workshops could be exactly what you need to make everything “click” for your members, says Liz Lathan, CMP, the cofounder and Chief Marketing Officer of The Community Factory, an event-design firm.

Watch the video to see workshop expert Liz Lathan share her top tips on how to build engaging workshops for association members.

“I think when you’re in the room, having a more workshop format that is facilitated, that involves group work, that involves conversation, that involves an actual reason to get on a plane and be with people in a room? It provides so many different levels of engagement,” she says.

Of course, not all workshop formats are created equal. But the right techniques, strategies, and approaches can not only help drive engagement while everyone’s in the room, but can potentially move the needle when everyone’s back at work.

Lathan, who has spent more than two decades in the events space, shared a few strategies with us around how to build workshops that support your business goals:

Engaging Workshops: What Attendees Need

In a nutshell, workshops are standalone events, driven by facilitators and built around a specific topic. Generally, workshops focus on a narrowly relevant or emerging subject. For example, you might have a day-long event targeted specifically at hiring managers within your membership, or you might focus intently on broader trends in artificial intelligence. These workshops may convey specific tactics or advice, or they may be highly interactive.

As Lathan notes, when done well, they represent a distillation of what an association does best—education, supporting certifications, and advocating for their sector.

“It’s so that people can leave with a benchmark understanding of industry best practices, and then go execute against those—so that we’re all raising ourselves to a higher level,” Lathan says.

Effective Workshop Designs

Often, the most engaging workshops are built around a specific structure or framework—an area that Lathan specializes in, having developed concepts such as the Spontaneous Think Tank, which leans on a wall of sticky notes and crowdsourcing to help drive conversations around attendees’ business challenges. It’s an approach Lathan says combines elements of a design thinking process and an unconference event—but with facilitation to drive engagement.

“It’s a think tank because you’re there to solve a problem, but it’s facilitated in a way that you actually assigned a leader to the conversation,” she says. “And so, even if the leader is a terrible speaker, even if the leader goes off the rails a little bit, the people can bring it back because they’ve all been given this opportunity to participate.”

In general, Lathan says structured events generate consistent results and discussion.

“Having people in a room together, following a framework—having people understand how to implement these things in a consistent way, so that the quality goes up—I think that’s where the real value is,” she says.

Engaging Workshop Ideas

Building for engagement won’t get you far if your workshop attendees aren’t ready to engage. Having wallflowers in the audience can be a major limiting factor for growth.

For example, if your workshop is tied to an annual meeting, attendees who prefer listening to lectures may feel lost in a highly interactive session. But with the right audience, there’s real potential for engagement to extend beyond the moment.

A few years back, Latham helped conduct a study that led to a new term for engagement, Return on Emotion, the concept that certain emotions need to be evoked to drive business connections. Workshops, she says, are the perfect testbed for attendee engagement.

“You feel a sense of belonging, you feel a sense of acceptance, and you feel the sense that you are with your people. And that’s where workshops really shine,” Lathan says. ”When you go into a room with 5,000 people in a keynote hall, you can’t see the people on the left or the right because the room’s so dark.”

One strategy that could help break the ice? A well-designed name badge that makes it clear you know who you’re talking to. “The name needs to be big,” Lathan says. “And I firmly believe that the first name is what matters more than anything.”

Accountability: Post-Workshop Goal Setting

A good workshop can bring people out of their comfort zones and get them thinking differently about their roles. But how can you ensure that the workshop actually drives some true change?

Lathan suggests adding in a dash of accountability—and that accountability can even be analog in nature.

“Make everybody write a letter to themselves about what they will be doing, let’s say six months from now,” she suggests. “And then, the leader should take those letters and then in six months mail them to everybody.”

The result, Lathan says, makes attendees their own accountability buddies. Speaking of accountability buddies, that could be something else that attendees bring home with them—a pledge they’ll chat with a fellow attendee a month after the meeting, and then after they each get their respective letters.

If you’re looking for a more digital approach, online community tools, such as chat platforms or networking apps, could also prove effective for keeping the discussion going. Even if your facilitator’s contract doesn’t extend beyond the event, association employees or volunteers could take over.

“An association is a 365-day community, anyway,” Lathan adds.

Build On Your Workshop’s Success

Finally, don’t be afraid to promote the work attendees are doing on social media. After some time has passed by (Lathan suggests 45 days), post about what attendees are doing with the knowledge they gained from the workshop on TikTok, LinkedIn, or your social media platform of choice.

By playing the long game, a workshop suddenly isn’t just a small-scale event anymore—it’s pushing engagement forward within your organization and beyond.

“When you can put those in a room together and actually have that camaraderie get built, along with education and that cognitive engagement, they’re going to go do something with it,” Lathan says. “This is the vital role that workshops play in any educational program.”

And it might just make your next workshop one that potential attendees won’t want to miss.

To find out how EventMobi can help you create more engaging meetings and events throughout the year, sign up for a free demo!

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The post How To Create More Engaging Workshops For Your Association’s Members: 5 Fresh Ideas appeared first on EventMobi.