When it comes to providing your association members with value, one of the most important things you can provide is great programming. And by programming, we mean hosting events and activities that your members actually want to attend.
After all—according to Marketing General’s Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report —most people join associations in order to:
- Network with others in the field (56%)
- Learn best practices in their profession (25%)
- Participate in a continuing education program (23%)
- Receive access to specialised and current information (20%)
In order to give members what they want, here are a few activities that can add real value to your members and keep them actively engaged in your association for years to come.
Information Sessions
Informational sessions can keep your members up to date on things like how recent legislation or regulation affects your industry, how a new trend or technology stands to disrupt the status quo, and more.
During such sessions, you can provide resources to help your members comply with any such new regulations or requirements, ensuring they can not only stay on top of industry news and trends, but can help one another out in the process.
Training Programs
Training programs are incredibly useful for association members, especially if you can provide skills training. This could be for hard skills, like training for a new technology or software, or for soft skills like listening, negotiating, receiving and incorporating feedback, and more.
Your members want these types of training programs too, as continuing professional education is seen as a “top member priority” for many association members polled.
Trade Shows
If applicable for your industry, trade shows can be a great way to engage both new and seasoned members. These shows could be related to new tech, new equipment, or formulation improvements for HR tech, cosmetic formulation, new construction materials/equipment, more sustainable options, etc.
Advocacy Events
Events that support advocacy can add an additional element of value to your association that members might not be getting at their respective workplaces. Some such events could include the role of HR in making hiring more accessible for persons with disability, sustainability in cosmetics, DEI initiatives, and more.
Mentoring Programs
In lieu of generic networking, implementing a mentoring program can actually support all of the above!
For example, mentors can point mentees in the right direction when it comes to the training programs and industry events your association offers. What’s more, attendance to events can be bolstered by having strong connections within your association.
You’ll also foster more knowledge sharing with a mentoring program. Instead of suffering from knowledge erosion, senior members can impart their skills and knowledge to other, younger members before they retire and/or leave the association.
You can also implement a mentoring program specific to DEI, reverse mentoring, community, and more. Whatever your association needs, a mentoring program can be crafted to serve it.
Ultimately, mentoring programs can hold your association together and connect members in a way that traditional networking activities simply can’t.
To learn more about how mentoring can help you engage your members year-round, download our free webinar kit: Engaging Industry Association Members Through Mentoring. Join our Head of Sales for EMEA, Jess Benham, as she covers how industry associations can use mentoring to address member engagement and retention issues as well as the cost that comes with both.
PLUS: The kit also includes some resources picked by Jess to help you start building your best mentoring program yet.
Watch the preview:
If you want to learn how the Mentorloop platform can help your association run an awesome mentoring program that connects members and adds value, book a demo and chat with one of our mentoring experts!
