It happened again. I was participating in a board of directors’ meeting and directors were discussing a critical issue. Discussion was flowing. Directors were offering good ideas, observations, and opinions, and suddenly everything stopped. This board was trying to run their board meeting using Robert’s Rules of Order, and one of the directors had just made not one, but two motions, one of which he explained “...was a main motion and the other one a subsidiary motion.” 

We’re pleased to announce that Allison Lundberg, CAE—who serves as the manager of marketing and communications for our client partner the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine—has been elected to the board of the American Association of Medical Society Executives (AAMSE) in the role of director. She will serve on the board in that role until 2024.

We’re proud to congratulate Wendy-Jo Toyama, MBA CAE FASAE, on being recognized as a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (FASAE). Wendy is a member of AMC’s executive team and serves as the CEO of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM).

We're excited to announce we've been recognized with a Diversity in Business Award by the Daily Herald Business Ledger.

To succeed, associations depend on good governance practices and association staff are critical to implementing and promoting them. Drawing on its rich history of establishing frameworks in which boards of directors are able to function at a high level, AMC has developed Governance Essentials, a half-day workshop that provides  core governance practices with a focus on the "nuts and bolts" of good governance.  

Two AMC DEI, association leadership, and membership experts will be sharing their expertise at the  American Association of Medical Society Executives (AAMSE) Annual Meeting this week.

Excellent editorial work is invisible to readers, but errors are not

I often joke that to be an editor is to have an invisible profession—after all, the editor’s role is only apparent to everyone else when it is done poorly.

Join AMC Senior Consultant Debbie Trueblood, MSW IOM CAE, on July 15 at 1 pm CDT for a session on Association Ethics Best Practices: Handling Difficult Conversations with Members.

We are excited to announce that Debbie Trueblood, MSW IOM CAE, has joined our team as a senior consultant for AMC Consulting Services.

You hear a lot about “Zoom fatigue” these days and the draining effects of being on video meetings for hours a day. As offices in our area consider reopening and ending capacity limitations, some are relishing the novelty of being able to return to holding meetings in person with their teams and staff. “Teams need to be together in person to truly connect” is often cited as a reason for returning to in-person meetings. Do people connect better in person? Sometimes. Do in-person meetings create an inclusive and equitable space? Not for everyone.

We are excited to announce that we have been selected as the new management partner for the  Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and will begin providing operational and  management services to the Society on July 1, 2021.

Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering, highlighted a tweet in her March newsletter that helped to further articulate one of the troubling reasons about the possible move back to in-person meetings. The tweet referenced how disabled people have been asking for years for remote conferences so they can participate and how they have been told no, it’s too difficult to do, at least until the pandemic made remote events a necessity for everyone.  In her newsletter, Priya challenges us to “build our gatherings around the needs and insights of the marginalized.”

How do we take stock of the past 525,600 minutes or a year like the one we’ve just experienced?

In March 2021, the murky waters of COVID-19 and its crippling effect around the world began to clear. With levels of infection rates going down, indoor activities re-opening, and optimistic vaccination announcements, summer looks like it could return to some semblance of normalcy.

In 2017, I approached Mark Engle, DM FASAE CAE, Association Management Center (AMC) principal to learn about the board selection process (BSP) research that he and Professor William Brown, PhD, Busch School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University had conducted. The research explored board competencies and processes that lead to exceptional and high-functioning board of directors.

In the first post of the How Can I Write Better Headlines series, I talked about things you SHOULD do to write great headlines for association audiences and beyond. Telling you what works is helpful, but you also need to know which headline errors to avoid. So, think of this as the “what not to do” in headline writing.

Headline writing is an art. You can even win awards for it. (As the managing editor of the Awards and Personalization Association, I’m well aware that there are awards for expertise in just about everything—but headlines might be a new one for you.)

On February 25, governance experts Mark Engle and Erin Volland will lead an interactive virtual workshop on Governance Essentials™, walking association professionals through the foundational practices needed to ensure good governance in their association. Sound governance practices are critical for high-performing organizations but are rarely taught to association staff, leaving them to learn as they go.

2020 was defined by many things—for associations and the staff who support them, the ability to pivot and adapt to the unforeseen were top among them. As 2020 began, AMC staff were busy preparing for the typical  20+ events we manage each year for our association partners.

We are proud to announce our new partnership with the American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) and the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM). As of January 1, AMC began providing management services to ACAAM and ABAM.

According to recent industry data, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated trends that were already in the works (Association Laboratory). Will advancing towards a competency-based board be part of this trend? The pandemic has certainly forced many associations to review their volunteer leadership structure, particularly around their decision-making process and the distribution of authority to make key, timely decisions. 

This past week we celebrated our first virtual diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) week to create a space where we could learn more about what makes us all unique and to support AMC’s commitment to DEI. It’s easy enough to find ways to celebrate and learn together when you’re able to gather in person, but what happens when everyone is still working remotely? As many of us have discovered since the start of the pandemic, virtual events take a bit more creativity and planning for attendees to feel engaged and connected.

In my last post, I explained how I entered the association sphere after a career in newspaper journalism. I learned a lot with this career shift and have a few tips that can apply to anyone starting a new job or switching industries.

How did I get here? It’s been a beautiful combination of hard work and sheer luck, to be honest.

As a senior content marketing and editorial manager in the Creative Media Services (CMS) department at AMC, I work with our association partners on a wide variety of projects, including managing the  production of traditional print products, such as postcards and meeting brochures; writing feature articles and crafting marketing messaging; and assisting my colleagues with client-specific knowledge as they work on search engine optimization (SEO), analtyics, and others services that aren’t quite in my wheelhouse.

We are honored to announce that two AMC staff are being recognized this year with an Association Forum’s Forty Under 40^® award.

2020 feels like a year filled with an excessive amount of hardship, loss, and grief.

When I heard about the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last Friday evening, I gasped and my heart sank. I knew her cancer had returned, but she always seemed to bounce back. Perhaps I was buoyed by the images of her morning workouts that are famously featured in the documentary The Notorious RBG and forever etched in my mind. She seemed eternally and unusually resilient.

Highly functional committees and task forces are equally as important to organizations as a high-functioning board. Both depend on the other to govern well. And both can suffer if there is discord or lack of direction. Read this new article by AMC Senior Consultant Erin Volland for insights into why and how you can ensure your committees and task forces are functioning as effectively as possible so they can advance your organization’s strategy and serve your mission.

Dropped Members. They can make even the most seasoned association membership professional shudder. Why would a member end their membership with your organization when you very clearly offer a ton of valuable benefits? Are they aware of the value you offer? Maybe not.

2020 is not business as usual…2021 looks scary, too.

Members are the lifeblood of associations and AMC clients. As association professionals, we’re here to serve them, and our bottom lines depend on their support through dues payments, meeting registrations, and product sales. So, when a global pandemic and a recession challenge those goals, how can we keep up?

In today’s environment, it’s critical that associations have an effective, responsive, and cohesive governance strategy that is committed to organizational success. In this special virtual edition of Exceptional Boards: Strengthening the Governance Team, Mark Engle and Mary Byers provide the tools and resources needed to create a high-performing, response-ready board.

In her Conversations by Association podcast episode, Marilyn Jansen, AMC’s executive director of business development, discusses her mentoring relationship with former coworker Lindsey Nelson, CAE, and also recalls how finding female mentors was greatly different when she was just starting her career.

Like many offices, AMC transitioned to a fully remote work environment back in March. I was happy about the change and envisioned sailing through my to-do list each day and checking off all of those lingering tasks I’d been meaning to finish. After all, I’d been very productive working from home 1 day a week for years.

At AMC, our Creative Media Services (CMS) team includes 8 editors who take great pride in correct grammar, following style guides, and beautifully worded phrases. You may have seen earlier posts on grammar faux pas and misused words, but in this age of digital communication—which is especially augmented now that many offices will continue to work remotely and organizations are taking great care to communicate their plans, intent, and social justice stances—it remains even more critical to effectively communicate what we are trying to say. At best, you avoid embarrassment, and at worst, you avoid a public scandal.

We have gathered the CMS editorial team’s top grammar blunders. We’ll break it down for you, so stop! It’s grammar time.

It would be cliché and perhaps too obvious to say that for nonprofits and associations, this year is unlike any other. And yet, here we are. Most of our in-person conferences have been cancelled. Many, if not most, of us are implementing virtual meetings and conferences. Our traditional forms of content delivery and revenue streams have been disrupted.

I have loved books ever since I was a kid. It’s more than simply the act of reading—I enjoy the tangible feel of books, the cover design. I have way too many books at home, and it’s kind of a problem.

However, that love for books has translated into a passion for the act of publishing books. As a managing editor on AMC’s Creative Media Services (CMS) team, I have helped manage the publication of six healthcare-related books, and I’m currently managing two other book projects.

The Metal Construction Association (MCA) hosts two in-person educational meetings each year that typically draw 110–125 people at each event. Seven weeks before the 2020 MCA Summer Meeting in June, with COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in the United States, the MCA board and staff made the decision to transition to a virtual event this year and move our hotel contract to a similar date at the same location in a future year. With months spent planning the in-person meeting, all parties knew we needed to act swiftly and smartly to smoothly transition to a virtual event.

There is the line in everyone’s 2020 calendar where plane tickets and hotel reservations shift to virtual meeting appointments. For our personal calendars, the shift might look like cancelled vacations. For our professional calendars, it might be rescheduled annual conferences and house of delegates and board meetings: those events where consequential business still has to take place but no longer can in the traditional face-to-face format.

Connecting with your staff is always important, but during uncertain times where your team is remote or social distancing, it’s even more crucial to keep your staff engaged, connected, and, in turn, happy. We have been working remotely for 3 months now and  know it can be challenging to come up with creative ideas. Here are our 7 tips for keeping staff connected when you feel like you’ve used up your best ideas:

With COVID-19 infection rates decreasing in some areas and increasing in others, the AMC Meetings team is busy planning client conferences with four different contingency options in place: a regular face-to-face (F2F) meeting, a hybrid meeting, an all-virtual meeting, and a potentially cancelled meeting. Adding a virtual component to an existing face-to-face (F2F) meeting or converting your F2F meeting to a completely virtual one has never been a hotter topic of conversation in the meetings and events industry. But before you rush off and start talking to digital platform vendors, take a moment to think about WHY you are adding that virtual component.
Such virtual components include hybrid meetings and virtual meetings:

We are pleased to announce that Amy Sherwood, CAE, has returned to the company as executive director of the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON). In this role, Amy oversees all administrative and program responsibilities for APHON including its strategic plan, operations management, resource development, business planning, membership and marketing, and partnership with its board of directors.  

5 Insights from AMC’s Education SIG

Members of AMC’s education special interest group (SIG) have been at the forefront of transitioning in-person educational conferences to virtual events for our clients in response to COVID-19. With so many unknowns around the ability to meet in person in the fall and beyond, many AMC clients are already looking ahead to 2021 and considering fully virtual events or hybrid in-person/virtual events. Before you make the leap into hosting a virtual educational event, there are a few aspects that you need to consider first. As we’ve gone through the process with several of our clients, we’ve identified five considerations to keep in mind to ensure a successful virtual educational event.

We are pleased to announce that Joe Lindahl, MA CAE, has been appointed executive director of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM), an AMC client partner since 2019.

How AMC’s Professional Relations and Development Team Pivoted to Virtual Options for Members, Sponsors, and Exhibitors

As associations try to field the crisis created by the coronavirus, the teams that serve AMC’s client partners and execute their conferences have had to nimbly circumvent the cancellations while ensuring that members still receive the education they need and clients meet revenue goals. With client conferences being canceled in response to Shelter in Place orders in many states, AMC’s Professional Relations and Development (PRD) Team needed to rapidly change direction to create contingency plans for exhibit sales and corporate-sponsored events. With flexibility, collaboration, and an openness to any and all ideas, PRD created a strategy for exhibits and corporate sponsorships affected by current disrupted conferences and future events that may be impacted in the same way.

Jerald Jacobs, practice leader at Pillsbury Nonprofit Organization, author of Association Law Handbook, and past general counsel of ASAE, and Mark Engle dive deeper into association bylaw processes during COVID-19. Listen to Jerald’s recommendations of the ways boards might change how they delegate responsibilities and the methods and frequencies of how they meet, especially given that multiple virtual meetings generate various levels of engagement.

In this vlog, Mark Engle speaks with Jerald Jacobs, who is the Pillsbury Nonprofit Organization’s practice leader, author of the Association Law Handbook, and past general counsel of ASAE. Tune in for Jerald’s legal insights about the ability of nonprofit boards to delegate authority and amend bylaws, particularly during time of crisis, along with how well association have adapted to the new normal of operating remotely.

Communication in the Time of Coronavirus

COVID-19 threatens not just the health of individuals, but also the economy. For the 99.9% of businesses in the United States—the small businesses that employ nearly half of U.S. workers and are crucial to the economy’s success—the pandemic is a threat to their survival. The small businesses that make up the majority of the member companies in the Awards and Personalization Association are no exception. Therefore, providing timely, reliable information to members in the face of COVID-19 is of the utmost importance.

In his latest vlog, Mark Engle talks with Arlene Pietranton, PhD CAE, CEO of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), about how being intentional about instilling a culture of trust between the ASHA board and staff from the beginning has been instrumental in helping them to make decisions quickly during this time of crisis.

In times of crisis, such as the current global pandemic or other disruptive, large-scale phenomena, it’s absolutely essential that boards govern nimbly and ensure that they are not just reacting to the crisis in front of them—they also must be able to continue thinking ahead in the midst of it.

We are pleased to announce season 2 of the “Conversations by Association” podcast, created in partnership with The Collaborative, a coaching, consulting, and education partner for associations. “Conversations by Association” offers guidance and best practices from successful association and nonprofit professionals about career pathways, career advancement, mentoring, and leadership tracks.

Any chance you’ve been thinking of sustainability recently? Given the variety of adjustments we've all needed to make recently, it's not surprising if whatever you initially considered to be sustainable has since gone out the window. That's OK—your primary focus should be on keeping yourself and others healthy. But if you're still interested in practicing a sustainable lifestyle, how can you do that safely during a global public health pandemic? Read the below tips to learn how you can keep practicing sustainability during these disrupted times.