This is an exciting year for AMC’s, and the associations they manage. The shutdown in the United States has lifted, business travel has resumed, and conferences are being held in person. Your staff are now tasked with guiding your associations into planning and executing these events in a still ever changing environment. While building your conferences and programming to best serve the bulk of your membership, it is important to take time to consider the outliers. Taking time to consider the consequences of each change or policy you implement will pay dividends down the road.

Visit Tampa Bay is a poster child for innovation within the travel industry. We know who we are, and we embrace it. Our pirate-inspired logo is a perfect example because it stands out amongst a sea of other logos donning palm trees and sunshine. And while palm trees and sunshine represent Florida well, I’d much rather have a future traveler remark, “I love that logo!”

The verdict is in – AMCI’s new education tract – HITT on Demand – was a big success at this year’s Annual Meeting. Like throwing down an intense, fast workout, our High Intensity Interval Training sessions provide microlearning and soft skill opportunities on hot topics designed to enlighten and inspire AMC executives.

Before I purchased an association management company (AMC), I owned and ran a pizzeria. In that business, you have your basic ingredients: mozzarella cheese, the dough, the pizza sauce, maybe a little pepperoni. Of course, you offer a lot of extras: sausage, olives, even anchovies.

Some pizzerias often more exotic combinations that include pineapple.

The AMCI Annual Meeting 2020 in Long Beach, CA was one of the last events many in our industry attended before our travel declined and ultimately halted to a full stop. How fitting it was then to come together again in Orlando, FL for AMCI 2021 June 2-4^th.

Showing up to our first event in over a year, it was hard to know what to expect for the “new normal” meeting environment, such  as something as simple as shaking a hand, which we took for granted a year ago in Long Beach! Besides the content and networking opportunities that waited for us at AMCI, this was also a learning experience for us to gauge how we should operate our client’s meetings and events in a post-pandemic era. We dusted off our suitcases, dug in the back closet for business clothes that haven’t seen sunlight in months, and hopped on flights packed with theme-park clad families to make it to AMCI.

Four Newly Accredited AMCs Recognized at Annual Meeting

We have all heard of overachievers during the pandemic – loaves of bread, puzzles completed, miles tracked on fake bikes. Some of our AMC colleagues truly used the time to their professional and competitive advantage – becoming an accredited firm within AMCI.

 We had the chance during our Annual Meeting to recognize the four most recently accredited firms, AMC Source, ICOM, Management Connection, and Q & A Business Solutions.  Kudos to their respective principals, Gregory Brooks, Dr. Ahmed El Shal, Nick Bundra, and Beth Quick-Andrews, CAE, for rallying their teams and completing the intensive accreditation process in a virtual environment. And as my company is part of a global firm, I want to issue a special welcome to ICOM, headquartered in the UAE with an additional office in Cairo.

Microaggressions – What They Are and How To Avoid Them

Acknowledgements: This issue’s column was a collaborative piece with Dr. Gretchen Neigh, Dr. Debra Bangasser and Dr. April Thames. Thank you for contributing commonplace examples of microaggressions and raising awareness to empower scientific society memberships to work together to exclude them.

Over the last decade professional societies have made a concerted effort to improve diversity and create an environment of inclusion.  Since PMG began in 2008, progress has been made.  It has been exciting to see both men and women elevate others who were not like them and see positivity in disagreement on key issues. Throughout my time in association management, I have watched the many organizations grow and change, but yes, we still have a LOT more work to do to create a truly welcoming and inclusive environment. 

Emerging Leaders Workshop - In Case You Missed It 

More than 50 emerging AMC leaders convened to listen, learn, and share their experiences at AMCI's first Emerging Leaders half-day workshop. The program focused on how to advocate for yourself, seize opportunities, and spotlighted best practices to close skill gaps and accelerate your career.

There were dozens of highlights and nearly as many books, articles and resources shared. Below are five techniques we explored applying to our routines; if they inspire you, share your thoughts in the comments!

Unprecedented times. Pivoting. Navigating the New Normal. Wear a Mask.

I know I am nowhere near the first, nor unfortunately, the last person to give you the terms above. We knew that 2020 had an impact on our community – an impact that would be felt beyond the time of herd immunity and 100% capacity events. I appreciate the nearly 100 AMCs that took the time out of a very dynamic time for all of our businesses to give us data about both the impact on their business as well as where the AMC Institute is hitting the mark or has opportunities to develop.

Dear AMCI Membership,

Many of us have watched as our industry wrestles with when and how to meet safely again. When the AMC Institute staff team worked with our industry partners to suggest shifting the Annual Meeting to June 2021, I know that the members of the Board took a collective deep breath and agreed to move forward. At the time we needed to make that decision, a relative handful of U.S. residents had received the vaccine, with no clear path forward for mass vaccination.

During the selection process, your association’s board of directors will ask a lot of questions about a new association management company (AMC). The questions will probably focus heavily on costs, staffing levels, past successes, and how the AMC has performed with similar associations.

Knowing how your AMC develops its cost structure and understanding how they’ve guided associations through the same obstacles to success is important—but many boards often fail to ask about an AMC’s culture.

The transition from one association management company (AMC) to another can be one of the biggest challenges an association’s board of directors will ever face. Even when the transition goes smoothly, replacing one staff team and headquarters with an entirely different one in a relatively short timeframe is always going to be difficult.

But while transitioning to another AMC may be challenging, it is often necessary. A board of directors and their AMC can become strategically misaligned. The association and/or the AMC may outgrow one another. There can be a need for new perspectives and new capacities.

When your board selects a new association management company (AMC), it isn’t like firing an employee.

It is like firing several employees, all at once.

As 2021 progresses, we are all feeling the collective desire for things to go “back to normal.” The COVID vaccine is quickly being distributed around the globe, and many are hoping that we’ll soon be returning to all the things we did pre-pandemic. For some, this includes hosting and attending in-person conferences and events.

We’ve fielded a myriad of questions from clients and prospects about what the rest of 2021 is going to look like, and the truth is, we really don’t know. None of us has a crystal ball, but what we can do is give insight into 6 areas we’ve been tracking when it comes to education for the remainder of 2021. 

The Palm Beaches is open for meetings and events, as we lead the way to re-envisioned face-to-face events with an enhanced focus on wellness, connection, and safety. In January, in partnership with the Palm Beach County Convention Center, we hosted a live event as an Official Network Partner of PCMA Convening Leaders.  By focusing on mental wellness and leveraging community partnerships to create engaging and creative experiences, we’re able to help our clients wow attendees without compromising safety. 

As we all know, these are incredibly stressful times as people are working remotely while caring for children or elders, feeling isolated and lonely, worrying about their finances and job security, dealing with political divide and racial injustice, trying to stay physically healthy, and more. That’s a lot! The good news is that if you’re reading this article, it’s likely because you care about your employees’ mental wellbeing and want to learn how you can help them.

With everchanging restrictions on gatherings and travel globally, the pandemic brought business as usual to an abrupt halt – significantly so in the world of events. But disruptions can also be fertile ground for innovation, and the meetings industry is ready to meet this challenge. In this spirit, Marriott International set out to plan, conduct, and learn from our series of hybrid virtual and in-person events. We call our series Connect with Confidence and introduced it as an extension of our Marriott Bonvoy™ Events initiative. While more events are planned around the world, our first two hybrid events were:

For the seventh year, Omnipress has surveyed over 150 association and meeting professionals to track the role conference content plays before, during, and after the event. This year’s survey measures the impact of 2020 on conference delivery, conference performance, and the resulting implications for 2021 and beyond.

Top 10 Tips Tried & True Tips & Tricks for Business Development

 Here is a helpful top 10 list to assist you in ensuring success in your business development efforts offered by Jeanne Sheehy, MBA, CMO, Bostrom, Megan Woodburn, CAE, Founder and CEO, Strategic Association Management (SAM) and Katie Callahan-Giobbi, Head of Business Development, SmithBucklin.

1. Growing the Pie