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The Member Engagement Show
The Member Engagement Show episodes
- An AI Governance Roadmap to AI Maturity with Sahil Kapadia
On this episode of the The Member Engagement Show, our guest is Sahil Kapadia, Founder of AMSNow. Sahil has 20 years of experience leading technology and organizational transformation across associations and other industries. Today his work involves helping organizations assess their AI readiness, establish governance, and turn AI opportunities into practical projects. Topics covered include:
- What are association leaders saying about AI and how they’re approaching it?
- The importance of leadership listening to frontline staff about real bottlenecks.
- How AI is a utility that needs to be deployed with organizational cohesion.
- What scares associations about AI adoption?
- What to do before implementation.
- Identifying roadblocks and where AI can help improve workflows.
- Moving from planning to action.
- Why an association needs AI governance and what it should cover.
- Why policy reviews should be done annually.
- When AI policies get too strict and limiting.
- What to do if you can’t have a dedicated AI guardian.
- How leadership can help team members leaning into AI.
- How to decide which AI projects are worth pursuing.
- What a good AI project plan looks like.
- Where to start for the overwhelmed.
Helpful links:
AMSnow.io
Elizabeth Engel's episode
55 min - A Value-Informed Approach to Using AI with Cate Sauer
Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Cate Sauer, Senior Customer Success Manager at Higher Logic. Cate has recently presented several courses on ethical AI use, and talks about her work helping associations use technology in a way that aligns with their values and mission. She shares ways associations can benefit from using AI without surrendering the human judgment and accountability. Topics covered include:
- The most frequently heard concerns and questions from associations around AI.
- Data and privacy considerations when deciding what AI platforms to use for what tasks.
- The responsibility associations have to educate staff, set policies around AI usage, and be transparent with members.
- Reducing AI energy impact by treating it "like going to the grocery store."
- Three pillars for using AI ethically: accountability, protection, and fairness.
- Guidance on putting together AI policies.
- Providing a pathway back to a person.
Some Helpful Links
AI & Copyright episode featuring Dorothy Dang from Whiteford Law
AI & Value episode featuring Elizabeth Engel
Webinar on Embracing AI Safely with Amada DeLuke
45 min - From Member Maze to Curated Experience: Putting AI to Work with Elizabeth Engel
On this episode of Higher Logic’s “The Member Engagement Show,” we talk with Elizabeth Engel, Membership Product Advisor at Higher Logic. Elizabeth has 30 years of experience across association membership, marketing, technology, strategy and leadership. She’s been an advisor through her own consulting business, Spark, and now helps shape Higher Logic’s approach to AI for associations. We talk with Elizabeth about how associations can move from offering a maze of resources to creating a more useful and responsive experience. Topics covered include:
- The three core problems associations are dealing with when it comes to serving members.
- The different value propositions for members and prospects.
- The importance in the age of AI search of making info easy to find on your sites.
- Proactively fixing it so members come to the association for answers.
- Making data usable.
- How AI is bringing solutions both to member experiences and data organization & use internally.
- Adding business intelligence into AI systems.
- Why someone should come to the association for answers and not public AI tools.
- Properly teaching your AI agent.
- Key questions to ask yourself as you start to set up your AI tools.
Helpful Links:
Get to know Higher Logic's AI Assistant
Understand the awareness gap in our webinar with Olena Lima
44 min - Grow Membership by Becoming More Discoverable with Olena Lima
On this episode of Higher Logic’s Member Engagement Show, we share a webinar featuring Olena Lima, founder and principal consultant of MemberBoat, a marketing agency that works to empower associations with innovative digital solutions and expert marketing strategies that foster engagement, growth, and value for members. She’s also host of the Membership Marketing School & Association Hub Podcast. The webinar goes deep on what it takes to attract new members and build memberships. Topics covered include:
- What do associations think is the biggest barrier to member recruitment?
- How big is the missed opportunity of unaware non-members?
- The importance of knowing your total addressable market and market share.
- The math of retention and conversion tells you how many people you have to reach.
- Which audiences are the hardest to reach?
- What matters most to prospects at different stages of their career.
- Positioning your association for discoverability.
- Aligning your content with what humans and search systems are looking for.
- Why you should take a trip to a physical library (really!)
- Deciding between public and gated content.
- Moving people through member journeys.
- One thing you can do this week to improve visibility.
- The underused asset you already have.
Helpful Links:
Watch the Webinar Version
Higher Logic 2025 Association Member Experience Report
Association Forum’s Association Membership and Services Survey 2026
50 min - Real World AI Use Cases for Associations with Joe DeLisle
Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Joe DeLisle, Jr., Director of Council Relations for the American Medical Group Association (AMGA). Joe shares how he and AMGA have been using AI for everything from community discussion summaries and meeting prep to member research and internal workflows. Listen in for real examples of how one association is applying AI to improve member value and make their work easier at the same time.
Topics covered include:- How AI is saving time while keeping humans in the driver’s seat.
- Using AI for repeatable processes.
- Using AI to assist in members whose field of knowledge is not yours.
- Using AI with your email inbox to source, create, and deliver relevant member content.
- Using AI to free up time to execute on really good ideas you’ve been sitting on for a while.
- Using AI for meetings and events, before, during and after.
- Using AI for member and industry intelligence.
- A message for those with AI-reluctance.
- What you should tell AI when you’re setting it up.
- Guardrails for protecting data.
- An example of how to roll out AI to an organization.
Some Helpful Links
Share your association engagement stories with us, [email protected]
Our host, Kelly Whelan on LinkedIn
55 min - Listening to the Voice of the Member: Association Data & Insights with Stephanie Kusibab
Our guest on this episode of Higher Logic’s The Member Engagement Show is Stephanie Kusibab, CEO and chief strategist for Essentiam. Stephanie has worked extensively with associations and nonprofits on everything from futures and foresight work to organizational strategy and innovation. Topics covered on this episode include:
- Advancing from simply gathering data to using insights from that data.
- The qualitative/quantitative balance.
- How to use focus groups and community to help you form better questions for future data.
- The value of community for always-on feedback.
- Community as an early warning and early opportunity signal.
- Tips for elevating the role of community internally.
- Getting more engagement and delivering the right value proposition – the two main concerns of associations today.
- The biggest barrier to realizing personalization and marketing automation’s potential.
- Using data to test new ideas and innovate.
- The changing ways people want to contribute to associations.
- Distinguishing signal from noise.
- A practical first step toward better data strategy.
Helpful links:
- From Numbers to Knowledge: Turning Data into Better Decisions with ASAE's Christin Berry
- Higher Logic's Member Data Guide
48 min - Leading AI Transformation Through Change Management with Ashleigh Brookshaw
Our guest on this episode of Higher Logic’s The Member Engagement Show is Ashleigh Brookshaw, a strategic advisor at Higher Logic who is also a Prosci-certified change manager and agile & traditional project manager. As more associations adopt AI, Ashleigh touches on several topics related to the challenges and opportunities that can bring:
- How organizations can adopt AI successfully.
- Why AI is first and foremost a change management challenge, not a tool implementation challenge.
- What are the key components of AI readiness?
- Is the quality of your data good enough to get high quality AI outputs?
- Implementing AI with both members and internal staff in mind.
- How to decide what AI initiatives to prioritize.
- The right way to do staff enablement.
- The skills or mindset shifts that people need the most in AI adoption.
- Involving members in your AI adoption.
- The signals of a successful AI implementation?
50 min - Association Email in the Age of AI with Amber Worthen
Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Amber Worthen, Founder and CEO of Email Maven. She’s an email strategist who’s spent years helping member organizations rethink how they connect with members through email. Most recently, she’s been exploring the effect of AI on email inboxes. Topics covered include:
- What is changing in the email landscape now that AI has come along?
- What’s under your control and what’s in the email recipients’ control.
- How traditional email metrics like opens, clicks, and deliverability are being impacted.
- The new goal for inbox targeting.
- A reality check for those who think sending more emails is the answer.
- The rising importance of segmenting and email preference options.
- Making data-driven decisions around email.
- Know your email platform.
- The power of engagement scoring, personas, and dynamic content.
- The 10 main things to future-proof your inboxes.
- Why it’s a good idea to test how AI is summarizing your newsletters.
Resources
Download the episode transcript.
Explore Email Maven's resources.
Check out Higher Logic's 2025-2026 Association Email Benchmark Report.
Watch Higher Logic's recent webinar, Relevance Wins: What 2026 Benchmarks Reveal About High Performing Emails.
48 min - Launching with Purpose: Build an Engaging Association Community with Andrew Hohman
In this episode of The Member Engagement Show, our guest is Andrew Hohman, Senior Implementation Advisor at Higher Logic. about the best practices for launching and sustaining successful online communities. We talk about identifying and addressing project risks and helping associations make their new communities successful. Topics covered include:
- What separates successful online communities from ones that struggle
- The importance of assigning at least one community "owner"
- The importance of tying community to your associations strategic goals
- Launch tips
- The decisions associations should make before launching a community
- Building momentum in the community
- Ways to support new community members
- Learning from your members, especially in the early days
Some Helpful Links
Member Engagement Show episode with Georgina Donahue
Higher Logic Association Community Benchmark Report
Higher Logic Association Email Benchmark Report
43 min - Improving Your Association's Value Proposition with Sarah Spinosa
Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Sarah Spinosa, Director of Product Marketing for Higher Logic. Sarah discusses value propositions for associations and how they can be activated, elevated, and improved. Topics covered include:
- Why the pressure to hone a clear value proposition is increasing
- Recognizing Members as consumers, with expectations influenced by their experience outside the association
- People aren't joining professional associations by default
- Ways associations can use product marketing principles to refine and define their value proposition
- Talking about outcomes, not just what you offer
- The importance of mapping value at different career stages
- The difference between professional and trade association value propositions
- The importance of knowing your members and knowing when their needs change
- Communicating the value proposition continuously, not just at sign-up
- Aligning internal stakeholders around the value proposition
Some helpful links:
Higher Logic 2026 Association Trends and Predictions webinar
MGI Membership Marketing Benchmark Report
Higher Logic Association Member Experience Report
46 min
About The Member Engagement Show
From the publisher's feed
The Member Engagement show is the podcast for anyone tasked with boosting retention, gaining new members, and deepening member engagement for associations and organizations. Guests share expert advice…
on the many facets of building and providing ongoing value to association members. You’ll come away from each episode with strategies proven to transform your organization.