A Virtual Roundtable Replay

In this holiday-week episode of The Association Insights Podcast, we’re re-airing our December LinkedIn Live roundtable, Member Value Reimagined—How Associations Are Evolving to Meet Modern Expectations.

As member expectations continue to evolve, associations are rethinking what value truly means—beyond benefits to belonging, relevance, and impact. Hosted by Colleen Gallagher, President & CEO of OnWrd & UpWrd and publisher of Association Insights, this candid conversation features Stephanie Denvir of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, Kerri McGovern of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and Brian Peters of The Adhesive & Sealant Council, sharing how they’re adapting engagement, personalization, and retention strategies heading into 2026.

🎧 Whether you lead membership, communications, marketing, or strategy, this episode offers real-world insights you can apply heading into the new year.

Key Highlights

Redefining Member Value in 2025: How associations are moving beyond static benefit lists to focus on experience, trust, and outcomes—and why value looks different across audiences.

Retention, Relevance, and Belonging: How leaders are proving ROI to boards, identifying “stickiness” levers, and letting go of programs members no longer perceive as valuable.

Personalization That Actually Scales: Practical approaches to onboarding, segmentation, behavioral signals, and benefit utilization—without adding headcount.

Data, Technology, and the Human Touch: How dashboards, scorecards, NPS, and AI tools can support smarter decisions while preserving trust and people-first engagement.

Year-Round Engagement That Drives Renewal: What content, community structures, chapters, and leadership visibility strategies are keeping members engaged beyond events and renewal cycles.

Stop / Start / Scale for 2026: A fast-paced lightning round on what associations should stop doing, start prioritizing, and scale because it’s working.

🎧 Tune in for an honest, experience-driven conversation on how associations can evolve their value proposition, deepen engagement, and head into 2026 with clarity and confidence.

Stay Connected: Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: More conversations with association leaders and practitioners sharing what’s working, what’s changing, and how they’re navigating growth, engagement, and impact across the sector.

In this special year-end episode of The Association Insights Podcast, we’re re-airing the live broadcast of the 2025 Association Insights CommImpact Awards, originally streamed on YouTube. Hosted by Colleen Gallagher, President and CEO and Meghan Henning, Senior PR Strategist of OnWrd & UpWrd, the ceremony celebrated associations across North America whose communications, storytelling, and engagement efforts are setting new standards of excellence.

The Association Insights CommImpact Awards recognize outstanding work across eight core categories, spotlighting campaigns that elevate industries, strengthen member communities, and demonstrate the power of strategic, human-centered communication.

Key Highlights:

Advocacy Excellence: American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)

Recognized for their National Immunization Awareness Month campaign, which delivered trusted, compassionate messaging in a highly politicized public health environment—reaching millions and strengthening vaccine confidence nationwide.

Best Media Relations Campaign: NTM Info & Research (NTMir)

Honored for World NTM Day 2025, a bilingual global media campaign spotlighting an underrecognized lung disease and achieving nearly 200 million impressions across 25 countries.

Innovative Content Strategy: College of American Pathologists (CAP)

Awarded for a dynamic, multi-channel content ecosystem that advanced education, engagement, and member value through advocacy communications, podcast storytelling, and platform-specific campaigns.

Thought Leadership & Research: Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP)

Recognized for transforming the release of ICH E6(R3) into a comprehensive suite of educational resources reaching tens of thousands of professionals worldwide.

Effective Member Engagement Initiative: American Bus Association (ABA)

Honored for the ABA News Center, a modern digital hub amplifying member stories and driving increased engagement and visibility across channels.

Event Promotion: Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA) with Media Source

Recognized for their International Plasma Awareness Week 2025 campaign, leveraging national survey data, patient storytelling, and a virtual media tour to drive public awareness and action.

Outstanding Internal Communications: National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP)

Awarded for a thoughtful, people-first succession communications strategy that ensured clarity, stability, and trust during a leadership transition.

Leadership in Public Awareness Campaign: Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB)

Honored for the “Care Matters” PSA campaign, a story-driven effort highlighting the role of state medical boards in safeguarding patient trust and earning more than 44 million views.

Join us as we celebrate these associations and the impactful work shaping the future of association communications.

Stay Connected:Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: We’re continuing to sit down with association leaders, builders, and problem-solvers to unpack what’s working, what’s changing, and how to lead with clarity in 2026 and beyond. Stay tuned!

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast—and the next installment in our Big Ideas & Trends Series—host Meghan Henning sits down with Stephanie Simpson and Derek Neal, CAE to talk about what a real association turnaround looks like behind the scenes.

Stephanie Simpson will conclude her tenure as CEO of the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) this month to step into her new role as CEO of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). Derek Neal serves as AMLE’s Chief Operating Officer. Together, they share how a legacy organization serving 10–15-year-olds and the educators who love them moved from years of financial losses and stagnation to renewed clarity, growth, and relevance.

Key Highlights

🎧 Whether you’re facing your own version of a turnaround or simply rethinking your strategy for 2026, this conversation offers honest, practical perspective on leading change with mission—and people—at the center.

From “We’ve Always Done It This Way” to Acting Now: Stephanie and Derek walk through AMLE’s inflection point: shifting from a “wait until after conference” mindset to acting quickly—renegotiating contracts, modernizing staffing, and using a successful conference year as a launchpad for deeper change rather than a reason to delay.

Focusing on Who You Can Help Most (First): With limited staff and resources, AMLE made a deliberate choice to prioritize middle school principals as a primary audience—recognizing that supporting school leaders would create a multiplier effect for teachers, students, and systems.

Rebuilding Trust Through Listening—and Asking for Help: Instead of treating lapsed members as lost, Stephanie went directly to them with a different message: we need your expertise. From reworking AMLE’s foundational text to co-creating new resources, they turned listening tours into opportunities for members to regain professional pride and ownership.

Re-anchoring Around “Successful Middle School”: AMLE modernized its core framework by updating and renaming its flagship position paper to Successful Middle School: This We Believe—then used it as the backbone for everything from school recognition programs to new book series and resource hubs like middleschool.org and Embracing the Change: Middle School 101 for Families.

Advocacy on a Budget: Flipping the Script on Middle School: Without a big lobbying budget, AMLE built a National Policy Agenda for the Middle Grades and paired it with a “Flip the Script” communications campaign to challenge negative stereotypes about middle school. Strategic partnerships have amplified their voice without overextending resources.

Turning Challenges into Strategic Opportunities: From COVID to economic uncertainty and shifting hotel markets, Stephanie and Derek share how they intentionally reframed disruption as opportunity—from accelerating overdue staffing changes to securing better future meeting contracts while supporting partner communities.

🎧 Tune in for a grounded, optimistic look at how an association can reinvent itself without losing sight of its mission—or the young adolescents at the heart of the work.

Stay Connected:Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: December’s Big Ideas & Trends Series continues with more conversations on the shifts, experiments, and bold moves shaping associations heading into 2026.

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast, host Colleen Gallagher kicks off our Big Ideas & Trends Series with a candid conversation about what it really takes for associations to innovate.

Colleen is joined by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, M.A., CAE, Chief Strategist, Spark Consulting; Jamie Notter, Culture Scientist; and Chrissy Bagby, CAE, PMP, Chief Strategy Officer, American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB).

They unpack the new white paper and share how Lean Startup thinking, paired with culture change, can help associations test ideas, reduce risk, and stop “we’ve always done it this way” from running the show.

Key Highlights

It’s Not the Method, It’s the Culture: Why associations don’t have an idea problem—they have a culture and psychological safety problem.

AAVSB’s Story: How Chrissy’s team moved from big, risky builds to structured experiments, shared understanding, and the role of the “cooperative skeptic.”

Build–Measure–Learn in Real Life: What to measure early on, why behavior beats opinions, and how to use data without getting paralyzed by it.

Boards, Staff, and Decision Clarity: Practical ways to define roles, set guardrails, and bring volunteer leaders along without slowing everything down.

🎧 Tune in for honest, practical insight on how to bring Lean thinking into your association—whether you’re in the C-suite or leading from the middle.

Stay Connected:Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: December’s Big Ideas & Trends Series continues with more conversations on the shifts, experiments, and bold moves shaping associations heading into 2026.

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast, host Colleen Gallagher sits down with Jamie Shibley, Co-Founder & CEO of The Expressory, to talk about how thoughtful appreciation can become a real strategy for retention, sponsorship loyalty, and long-term trust—not just a year-end “nice to have.” Drawing on her roots in her grandfather’s relationship-driven flower shop and years in corporate and e-commerce, Jamie shares how associations can use simple, intentional touchpoints to make members, sponsors, and donors feel genuinely seen.

🎧 Whether you’re behind on holiday planning, rethinking how you thank sponsors and donors, or looking for new ways to support member renewals in 2026, this conversation will help you move beyond generic swag to meaningful, strategic engagement.

Key Highlights

Holiday Triage Without the Panic: Why it’s not “too late” in late November—and how to use New Year’s or other moments as powerful appreciation windows.

Donors & Sponsors as Long-Term Partners: Ideas for gifts and messages that reflect their impact and values, instead of one-off branded items.

Member Renewal with Heart: How to use mailed touchpoints, stories of impact, and small gestures to support renewal and year-round engagement.

Personalization at Scale: Ways to make appreciation feel personal using shared challenges, goals, and themes—without custom gifting for thousands.

Measuring the ROI of Appreciation: Practical ways to track retention, referrals, and conversations sparked by strategic gifting.

🎧 Tune in for a practical, encouraging roadmap to investing in relationships—not just technology—in the year ahead letting you turn appreciation into a strategic lever for member, sponsor, and donor loyalty—all year long.

Stay Connected: Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: In December, we’re launching our Big Ideas & Trends Series, sitting down with association CEOs and senior leaders to explore the shifts, strategies, and bold bets that will shape associations heading into 2026. Stay tuned!

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast, host Meghan Henning takes listeners to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a powerful conversation with Ed Silver, Vice President of Business Development at Explore Asheville. With more than 25 years in travel and hospitality—from Flight Centre and American Express Travel to GBTA and Lodging.com—Ed brings a unique blend of tech, business development, and destination strategy to his role.

From supporting Asheville’s recovery after Hurricane Helene to rethinking how DMOs show up as true partners for associations, Ed shares how Explore Asheville is aligning events, community needs, and long-term impact.

🎧 Whether you’re scouting future host cities or rethinking how you choose destinations altogether, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at how to move from “room blocks and contracts” to mission-aligned, high-impact meetings.

Key Highlights:

From Shareholder Value to Community Value: Ed shares why he shifted from global travel tech roles to destination leadership in Asheville—and how he’s now channeling his private-sector experience into building economic opportunity and resilience for his local community.

DMOs as Strategic Partners, Not Just Vendors: Explore Asheville doesn’t start with a list of hotels—it starts with your goals. Ed breaks down how his team co-designs the attendee experience, matches association missions to Asheville’s creative energy, and helps shape events from concept through execution.

Beyond Room Nights: Measuring Real Economic Impact: Visitor spending in Asheville reaches nearly $3 billion annually, and Explore Asheville looks well beyond heads-in-beds. Ed explains how his team models direct spend and broader economic impact, times meetings for “shoulder seasons,” and helps planners understand how their events support local restaurants, small businesses, and year-round jobs.

Sustainability, Inclusivity, and Balance as Core Pillars: Sustainability isn’t a side project—it’s one of Explore Asheville’s strategic imperatives. Ed shares how they:

• Invest in projects that serve both residents and visitors (like restored sports complexes)

• Encourage safe, responsible travel

• Promote local suppliers, creatives, and small businesses

• Welcome values-aligned associations looking for destinations that reflect their commitments

Data + Storytelling: The Next Chapter for Destination Marketing: Drawing on his technology background, Ed talks about how Explore Asheville is leaning into data, personalization, and marketing automation to deepen relationships with planners—while keeping the human, relationship-driven side of the meetings business front and center.

Why You Should Call the DMO First, Not Last: Ed’s biggest advice for association professionals: involve the DMO early. From incentive funding and venue matchmaking to bringing local leaders into your program and designing community engagement, DMOs can dramatically multiply the impact of your event—if they’re at the table from day one.

🎧 Tune in for a candid, future-focused conversation on what it really means to choose a destination partner in 2026 and beyond—and how places like Asheville are redefining what meetings can do for both attendees and communities.

Stay Connected: Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: We’re continuing to sit down with association executives, destination leaders, and industry innovators to explore what’s working, what’s changing, and how to build events and strategies that truly move your mission forward. Stay tuned!

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast, host Colleen Gallagher sits down with Denny Lengkong, President of IntelliData, for a candid, jargon-free conversation about turning association data into decisions. From “Dashboarding 101” to building a culture that breaks down silos, Denny shares practical ways teams of any size can start small, prove value, and scale their analytics—without blowing the budget or waiting on IT.

🎧 Whether you’re leading a lean staff or modernizing a large association, you’ll get clear steps to move from scattered reports to a repeatable, data-driven rhythm.

Key Highlights

Start Simple → Scale Smart

Stop waiting for the perfect stack. Denny’s “cup-of-noodles to pizza oven” analogy shows how to begin with an Excel table and a basic chart—then evolve into multi-source dashboards as your literacy and needs grow.

Three Questions Before You Build Anything

Reverse-engineer your dashboard:

1. What problem or goal are we answering?

2. Who’s the audience (peers, execs, board, members)?

3. Do we actually have the data—and is it clean and complete?

These answers shape the visuals, the data model, and your collection plan.

What “Data-Driven” Really Means

It’s not a buzzword: it’s making routine adjustments based on what the numbers say—mid-campaign, mid-year, and not just at year-end. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

Kill the Silos, Create a Single Source of Truth

Membership says 5,000; events team says 5,500? You’ve got silos. Denny outlines how successful associations share data, align definitions, and anchor reporting to one trusted source.

You Need a Champion (and Ideally, a Small Data Team)

Lasting change needs ownership. The most effective associations appoint a cross-functional lead or lightweight data team to set standards, prioritize asks, and coach the organization.

Cost, Time, and Bandwidth (The Honest Answer)

You can DIY and learn—start small for near-zero cost—or bring in help when bandwidth, speed, or complexity outgrows your team. Either way, show quick wins to build momentum and buy-in.

Share Early, Win Early

Publish simple visuals, gather feedback, iterate. Early exposure sparks better questions, better data collection, and stronger internal demand for insights.

A Case Study with Dual Impact

Certification programs + learning products: by connecting exam outcomes with course and resource usage, one association identified what helped candidates pass—then proactively guided non-passers to the right prep. Members succeeded faster; the association grew non-dues revenue. Win-win.

🎧 Tune in for practical steps, real examples, and a playbook for moving from “we have data” to “we use data” across your association.

Stay Connected: Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: We’re continuing to sit down with association leaders, builders, and problem-solvers to unpack what’s working, what’s changing, and how to lead with clarity in 2026 and beyond. Stay tuned!

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast, host Colleen Gallagher sits down with Suzanne Struglinski, seasoned communications and PR practitioner, to talk about what it really takes to plan a successful event when it’s not your full-time job.

From coordinating the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) conference to helping with the all-volunteer Women of the Year Awards with Washington Women in Public Relations, Suzanne brings candid, field-tested insights for association and nonprofit professionals who are balancing event planning on top of everything else.

🎧 Whether you’re a one-person department, a comms pro doubling as an event lead, or part of a volunteer-driven organization, this episode is packed with practical tips, real-world examples, and smart shortcuts for pulling off high-impact events on lean resources.

Key Highlights

Start with Realism, Not Perfection: When your team is small (or just you), it’s critical to set realistic goals, delegate, and identify what’s truly achievable. Suzanne shares why you can’t—and shouldn’t—try to do it all alone.

Budget Like a Pro (Without Losing Your Mind): From food and beverage minimums to unexpected AV and Wi-Fi costs, Suzanne walks through how to prioritize spending, read contracts carefully, and get creative about where to save without compromising attendee experience.

Decisive Leadership Under Pressure: Event planning demands quick calls. Suzanne explains how to make smart, timely decisions—like cutting concurrent sessions to save thousands—and why trusting your judgment matters more than perfection.

Designing a Great Guest Experience: A stellar event starts with empathy. Hear Suzanne’s “door-to-door” approach to building a seamless attendee experience, plus how to balance tradition and innovation to keep programming fresh and engaging.

Showcasing ROI Beyond Attendance: Attendance is just one metric. Suzanne shares how to use events to capture year-round value—like generating new visuals, creating evergreen content, and building member loyalty that lasts far beyond the closing session.

Media and Messaging Tips for Events: As a veteran PR pro, Suzanne breaks down when and how to invite media, what makes something newsworthy, and why events can double as powerful relationship-building opportunities—even if they don’t generate headlines.

Tools, Timelines, and Teamwork: For volunteer-led teams, timelines are everything. Suzanne shares her go-to milestone approach (12 months out, 9 months, 6, 3, and 1) and why communication and clarity are key to keeping everyone aligned.

Staying Grounded (and Sane): Her best advice? Be realistic, remember your event’s true purpose, and know that you’ll never please everyone—and that’s okay. Success is about delivering value, not perfection.

🎧 Tune in for a refreshingly honest and highly practical conversation on how to manage events that feel big and look professional—even when your team is small and your plate is full.

Stay Connected: Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: We’re continuing to sit down with association leaders, communicators, and change-makers for candid conversations about what’s working, what’s changing, and how they’re leading their organizations forward. Stay tuned!

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast, host Colleen Gallagher sits down with Julie McDowell, Director of Strategic Communications & Digital Content, and Becca Battisfore, Senior Content Strategist, at the College of American Pathologists (CAP) for an in-depth look at how a legacy association is modernizing its approach to content, data, and digital engagement.

From managing messaging across member and customer audiences to aligning analytics with KPIs, Julie and Becca share how the CAP’s digital team of five supports 18,000 members and countless laboratories worldwide—all while driving measurable impact.

🎧 Whether you’re leading a large communications department or a lean digital team, this episode offers real-world insights on prioritization, collaboration, and content strategy that actually works.

Key Highlights

From Skepticism to Strategy: Julie reflects on launching the CAP’s social media presence more than a decade ago—and how the team turned early doubts into a thriving online community for physicians and laboratory professionals.

Audience First, Always: The CAP’s content strategy starts with a single question: who is this for? Learn how the team balances the needs of two overlapping but distinct audiences—members and customers—through smart segmentation, email strategy, and channel selection.

Metrics That Matter: Becca breaks down how she approaches analytics—from what metrics are truly meaningful to how data drives decision-making. She explains why open rates are outdated and how she connects clickthroughs, behavior, and conversions for a complete picture.

When to Stop Doing What’s Not Working: Julie shares one of the most liberating lessons for association communicators: give yourself permission to stop doing the things that aren’t driving results. Focusing on what works energizes teams and delivers greater impact.

Collaboration as a Core Strategy: From internal “road shows” to sharing data across departments, Julie and Becca explain how transparency, shared KPIs, and storytelling have helped build buy-in and alignment across CAP’s 600-person staff.

Storytelling Through Sound: As the voices behind the CAP’s long-running CapCast podcast, the pair discuss how audio storytelling has evolved from quick Q&As to powerful narratives that humanize members and spark connection—from personal wellness journeys to myth-busting forensic science.

🎧 Tune in for a thoughtful, data-driven, and refreshingly candid conversation about what it takes to build smarter content strategies in associations today—and how to lead with both heart and analytics.

Stay Connected: Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: We’re continuing to sit down with top association leaders and communication strategists to uncover what’s working, what’s changing, and how they’re leading their teams—and their missions—forward. Stay tuned!

In this episode of the Association Insights Podcast, host Colleen Gallagher continues the Member Value Reimagined series with an energizing and candid conversation with Julie Davis, Director of Marketing and Membership, and Ben H. Rome, Director of Communications and Brand, at the American Bus Association (ABA).

From strategic tech upgrades to authentic storytelling, Julie and Ben share how ABA is reimagining member value in ways that are both deeply personal and forward-looking. You’ll hear how they’re modernizing systems, listening with intent, and building a sense of belonging for one of the most passionate communities in travel and transportation.

Key Highlights

Why Marketplace is Just the Beginning: ABA’s flagship event is a major driver of member satisfaction—but Julie and Ben are on a mission to make sure the other year-round value is just as visible, accessible, and appreciated.

Bringing the Member Experience into the Future: From exploring a new member app to investing in data systems and automation, Julie shares how ABA is embracing a fan-first mindset to modernize the member journey—especially for digital-native generations.

Authentic Storytelling that Builds Community: Ben reveals how member-driven storytelling has become a powerful differentiator for ABA—creating emotional connections and elevating the association’s brand far beyond traditional marketing.

The Power of Listening (and What Happens Next): It’s not just about hearing members—it’s about engaging with them through councils, conversations, and curiosity. Julie and Ben explain how their team uses real-time feedback to surface insights, validate new ideas, and build programs that matter.

Advice for Associations in Transition: Whether you’re building a tech roadmap, expanding your member base, or navigating cultural change, Julie and Ben offer grounded, practical advice for association professionals rethinking value, engagement, and growth.

🎧 Tune in for a warm, thoughtful, and actionable conversation on how to modernize member value while staying grounded in what matters most—your people.

Stay Connected:Subscribe to The Association Insights podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

Follow us on LinkedIn at OnWrd & UpWrd for the latest in association trends and strategies.

Coming Soon: We’re sitting down with more association leaders to unpack bold strategies, fresh thinking, and member engagement that actually works. Stay tuned for episodes that challenge assumptions—and deliver results.