Association Laboratory Inc.

You are not who you were.

At the Hotel Bar
Recently, I was taking a break from thought leadering when I remembered a recent conversation at a client gig in Napa. A person I had just met, asked me if I traveled a lot. My response began with, “Well I used to travel all the time but then, ya know, the spicy cough, but now I’m nearly back to pre-pandemic travel.” I realized in virtually every conversation, there was a time gap that needed to be explained. Kinda like a lost time period on your resume when you didn’t have a job and were too embarrassed to put prison gap year. It dawned on me that every conversation with a new person included a pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post pandemic narrative. The post pandemic story always described how I and my life were different. When I listened to others, commoner, and equal alike, I heard the same thing. “I used
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Embedded in Dubai – From the Front Lines of Association

As I sit here basking in my many Freedoms (thank you Constitution and Bill of Rights), it is easy to think that we as American association leaders are the center of the world. Much like Sargent Schultz’s evil twin, we “know everything, evvvverything”. We often forget that there are many associations outside of the United States. We forget about all the association leaders who direct these organizations. From northern Europe through the Middle East and down through Africa and across Asia and the Pacific, we have colleagues working every day to advance the cause of member-based organizations. Usually, without our knowledge. This winter, I was fortunate to be invited to participate in the Dubai Association Conference (#DAC2022) held in late March 2022. I have a weird role at these events.   Generally speaking, I’m neither a buyer nor seller. I get invited because of Association Laboratory’s sector research, arguably
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Hunting for Engagement – What Conservation Groups Can Teach Associations

This last weekend, I finally found time to catch up on my reading. You know, perusing the stack of mags next to your chair. The stuff we say we’ll read but never seem to find an opportunity. Sitting contentedly in the sun coming through my living room window, I had an epiphany. I’d been engrossed in a magazine I was reading. I’d read stories about the history of the organization. I’d read stories about member successes. I’d even read an in-depth article linking the science of their Mission to their advocacy agenda in DC. The organization? Pheasants Forever (PF). Pheasants Forever is a conservation organization. Founded in 1982 by a group of pheasant hunters that “saw the connection between upland habitat loss and declining pheasant populations”. Today, according to their website, they have 130,000 members in forty states. The have approximately 750 local chapters. Too often we look to
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I’m a Consultant and This is My Relationship Advice

One of my many blog readers or “bleaders” as I call them, suggested I talk about how the Pandemic might have changed our view on relationships. What has been the impact of lockdowns and quarantines on our relationships? Are work colleagues less or more interesting on Zoom? Why do girls think I’m more attractive when I’m wearing a mask? Well, I’ve been a consultant for more than 3 decades and I’ve learned not just a thing, but a thing or two. Here’s my advice. Your relationships are not defined by your communication channel. Is your mom somehow less of your mom if you talk to her by Zoom instead of seeing her in person? No. So why do you think your other personal or business relationships are different due to online interaction as opposed to face-to-face contact. The Pandemic hasn’t changed our relationships, it’s simply pushed us from one
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How My Wife Told Me I was Fat – Secrets to Content and Engagement Strategy (and Marriage)

My wife called me fat last summer. Looked me right in the eye and said, “You’re fat.” A little backstory. I once (pre Pandemic) traveled often, about ½ the time. My health was important to me. I committed to exercising on the road. I tried to eat healthier. In addition, I made no effort to drink less. In fact, I tried to drink more. During visits home I frequented my health club which, BTW had not 1, not 2 but three different bars. It also has a wide variety of what could be characterized as exercise equipment. Stuff like treadmills, weights, and the like. It also had a nice sauna. I thought I had a reasonably good routine worked out and wouldn’t have called myself “out of shape”. During the pandemic I worked to maintain my workout schedule. With my health club unavailable, I looked at exercise apps. I
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Agile Gardening – How to “grow” your association.

As the sun slowly set behind the dune near our house, I looked over at my wife, Martha. She had been diligently planting a new, native plant in our garden. You could already envision the color of the flowers, their scent on a cool morning. Suddenly, she stood up, swept her hair back and glanced at the lowering sun. Then, like some sort of Instagram model, she turned and smiled at me. Wow, I thought, gardening provides great lessons in business strategy. She said something then, but frankly I’d stopped paying attention. Bloggin and all. My wife and I are not (yet) farmers, but it seems that way sometimes. Between our house gardens and community garden, most of our summer scheduling revolves around how to keep everything watered. Work is a welcome break. At our home in Chicago, our first garden together began as a house surrounded by small
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6 lessons our most famous association teaches us through the Oscars Ceremony

This month I finally caught the bug. What I’d avoided for months. It was bound to happen despite all the precautions. The self isolation. The mask wearing. The blog writing. Yes, I came down with ASL or acute spring laziness. Luckily, our strategist, and leader of our newly created Hollywood and Entertainment Practice,  Nikki Golden, CAE was on the ball. She volunteered (insisted? demanded?) to take over this month’s From My Seat at the (Home) Bar with her insights about this year’s  Oscars. What we often forget (well not me, I’m not forgetful like you) is that the Oscars are just an award show produced by an association. A run-of-the-mill 501(c)(6). The Oscars is virtually identical to what many of us produce. For example They honor peoples’ accomplishments – we honor peoples’ accomplishments. They record – we record. They have a bar – we have a bar. They have
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Is Content Strategy Replacing Membership Strategy for Associations?

Recently, Association Laboratory conducted a workshop yesterday called Connecting Content to Relevance, on content strategy. This is one of a series of workshops we’re producing called Looking Forward Together. These workshops are based on our environmental scan of the association strategy environment, Looking Forward. Today, it dawned on me, that I talk on content strategy more often than membership strategy. Putting on my “thoughtful” cap, I pondered the evolution of associations in the content space and considered the insights gained from our participants yesterday. Why is content strategy for associations so important? Content strategy is the most substantial emerging strategy of associations according to association executives. Consider the following data collected from nearly 500 association leaders in Looking Forward 2020. 53% say they are implementing content strategies to increase Mission impact. 75% say they are working to provide more robust content. Content strategy is so important because it supports
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What am I eating during the Pandemic? Everything.

Recently, I saw an Instagram meme stating that at the end (end?) of the Pandemic, you emerge as a Monk, Hunk, Chunk, or Drunk. Personas that are based on our Pandemic-based lifestyle. These personas are not mutually exclusive. In consulting we use the Venn Diagram to improve our understanding of how things are connected. #consultinglife #visualization #pretentiousass Today? Let’s address the Chunk circle. You can’t just spend your time drinking your way through the Pandemic. #Drunk During the Pandemic, many of us faced various forms of lockdowns. We found ourselves having to cook far more often. We tried to take advantage of the ingredients and foodstuffs on hand to avoid grocery shopping. We did a quick re-learning of the depression era lessons our grandparents and parents lectured us about (blah blah blah, we were poor, blah, blah, blah, etc.). Our food, and the steps we took to procure and
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What Deer Hunting Taught Me About Strategy

At the Hotel Bar
I was officially tired. From before sunup, to long after it had set, opening day of deer season 2020 had been a long one. After 16 ½ hours of total time deer hunting I collapsed, exhausted into bed. Too tired to eat (except ice cream) and too tired to drink (except two Manhattans), I had just completed my first solo (as in by myself) deer hunt in Southwest Wisconsin at my friend Phil’s farm. (Keep reading for awesome hunt pics.) The result was a nice doe for the freezer.  It took my longest shot (175 yard), my longest drag (½ mile uphill across hills and fields), and my first-time skinning and butchering a deer (in the dark on a tarp near the road) to make it a reality. All by my lonesome. As I lay down in bed pretty damn happy and satisfied, what came to mind? The similarities
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