Knowledge: Understanding Associations

Posted on: 21 Jul 2015

Whether you are delivering an event from within an association or as outsourced help, there are things about the unusual market that you might need to know.

Tania Goodacre, event manager at Australian Trucking Association

I have worked for associations in Australia for 14 years now, and enjoy the feeling of being an events professional inside a professional association.

However, delivering events for associations is very different from corporate companies. Associations have different resources, structures and goals, and dealing with them can be both stressful and incredibly rewarding.

As an event professional, the first question to ask (as always) is why the association is holding the event. Understand the purpose of the event and what it means to the association. How does the association’s event fit into its overall strategic plan?

But that’s the first piece of the puzzle. Associations are unusual, and it is reflected in their approach to an event.

Budget

Yes, I know everyone has one (or should). Meeting the budget is often a major Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for event planners. Event planners should never hesitate to give suppliers the ballpark budget – this will allow them to make appropriate suggestions for your event.

Committees

Most associations have committees that event planners need to interact with. Committees are often made up of time-poor volunteers who need information in a concise, informative way.

Tips for dealing with an event committee:

- Draft a Terms of Reference (ToR) with the committee, including a schedule of the meeting dates, tasks and due dates. This will clearly indicate roles and when committee members need to be available.

- Don’t overwhelm the committee with irrelevant details, i.e. the colour scheme of the event. Keep the details that you share with the committee within the ToR.

- Take minutes or notes at meetings, and distribute them in a timely manner after. Remember to highlight actions that the committee have agreed on, especially if you are expecting information from them.

Members

One of the wonderful things about working in an association is the interaction with its members. Members are often interested in their industry association and its activities.

This is quite prevalent with regards to events. Expectations, however, must be managed – just because they firmly believe that it would be better in one location does not mean it’s a good idea. Learn to be proactive about what you can and cannot achieve for your association through an event. I come back to my first point: “Why are you having this event?”

Leadership

The event planner in an association needs to be a great team leader. This is especially true when it is time to deliver your event and your team consists of staff from other departments and not professionals from the events industry.

My advice here is to conduct at least one staff briefing, but you may need more depending on the duration and size of the event. They will be interested in information such as:

- Where you are going? Have team members been to the venue and/or location before?
- How are they getting there?
- What are their duties and roles?
- What are their schedules?
- What other expectations do you have of them?

Also, be aware of any new team member that have not been previously involved in an event. Give them a separate briefing on events in general before the staff briefing, if necessary. This will make the new team member feel part of the team at the briefing and during the event.

Minimal resources

Associations are often very conscious of their lack of resources. My advice to you is to come back to your association’s strategic plan and how the event fits into the plan, which will dictate how resources are allocated.

Assisted delegate attendance

Some associations subsidise or pay for their members to attend the national conference. In these cases, the primary objective of the event, finance-wise, is to stick to the budget and make savings anywhere you can. This can be a stressful environment for the event planner, which will get passed onto their suppliers.

Profit

Most associations need to make significant profit from their events, as it will assist in funding the association’s other initiatives. The pressure of the budget reality can weigh heavy on an association’s event planner.

Keeping the above points in mind, I hope your next event achieves its KPIs.

Look out for the August print edition of Biz Events Asia for a greater understanding of the associations market.