Resources for Community Success

In the past, association professionals have depended on less-than-reliable figures for event measurement, and all too often, the data collected sat untouched and untapped. 

As an association professional, you know that events are critical to creating member value. Although too often, you might be blinded by your own event goals and lose sight of a critical component of event success: the attendee experience. 

Across industries and around the world, organizations are making a shift. They've realized what was once enough to sustain good performance no longer meets the mark. They've recognized the need to stretch to meet consumers' evolving needs and expectations. They've turned their attention from customer service to customer experience.

Forj, a leading virtual events and member experience platform for associations and professional community organizations, today released its spring 2021 State of Member Experience survey of nearly 4,000 virtual event attendees.

In the past, associations have relied on traditional, tried-and-true methods to deliver member value—quarterly magazines, requisite workshops, annual conferences. Today, you have an opportunity to transform your approach and elevate the future member experience.

Forj, a leading virtual events and member experience platform for associations and professional community organizations, announced today that it has received a new round of financing led by Baird Capital, with participation from GCI. The new capital will enable Milwaukee-headquartered Forj to accelerate its growth and investment in developing its innovative platform purpose-built for professional associations and member groups to enable a more fulfilling member experience.

When you develop a virtual conference or event, you always have high hopes that your keynote speakers and panelists will excite your audience members and leave them with wonderful insights and ideas. You also want your speakers to attract a high number of attendees to their sessions, keep them engaged throughout the presentation and get rave reviews in satisfaction surveys. But, what percentage of your speakers are actually living up to those high expectations? If you’re like most event planners, you have had more than a few underperforming speakers, as well as a few no-shows. This guide will help you make your next event speaker a star.

Recent surveys of meeting and event planners consistently show that about 80 percent will hold their next in-person event in the second half of this year, with a recent uptick in event planning in the U.S. due mostly to progress in COVID-19 immunizations. While this is great news for associations that rely on event marketing for revenue generation and member engagement, it comes with many risks as well as opportunities.

In 2021 and beyond, virtual events will grow in importance as part of our digital marketing mix, and we'll need to create more value for our associations, our members and our sponsors.

BBI International is the world leader in biofuels/biomass publishing and events, including the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW), which is the largest gathering of ethanol producers in the world every year. It is a trade show, as well as an education and networking event for production/operations managers, leadership/financial professionals, product management and infrastructure/market development leaders. It is also an important annual event for sponsors/exhibitors to engage with current and prospective customers.