Following an eventful few days at the Associations Forum National Conference 2024 (AFNC 2024) in Canberra, we have looked back on what we learned from both small and large associations that are making significant strides.
Opening Keynote
Tanya Barden OAM, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Food and Grocery Council
After assuming the role of CEO, Tanya Barden underwent a comprehensive review of the association’s business model, member journey and Constitution, in which she says the latter was reviewed for the first time in 25 years. Following this review, the association streamlined its member categories, then strengthened its value proposition, invested in a CRM to create a complete member journey, and revised the number of board members from 14 to 9. These changes were needed as there was no data available and the association wasn’t generating sufficient income solely from memberships and events. Tanya outlined her plan in four key points:
- Focus on a few strategic goals that the board can get behind
- Enhance member engagement
- Build a web of relations – she noted conducting CEO engagements with top 30 members as an example
- Supporting members – Dealing with major supermarkets is no easy task. The association got behind the soft plastics packaging campaign by engaging all three levels of government.
Additionally, Tanya shared three lessons:
- Sharing the purpose and vision with the board is important
- Implementation takes time
- Size matters in membership – as Tanya noted, their members fell into three sizes and all prioritises different things:
- Large – advocacy
- Medium – insights
- Small – problem solving.
Boosting Australia’s productivity and the role of associations
The Productivity Commission published some worrying signs for productivity in Australia, with only 1 to 2% Australian businesses “innovating in ways that are new to the world”, and ways in which we are acquiring and transferring knowledge, in other words, “diffusing innovation”, are dormant or slowing.
You can delve into the 99-page Productivity Commission’s report for more information, including 13 of its recommendations, however in the interest of time, here is a summary of Prof. Alex Robson’s (Deputy Chair) presentation at the AFNC (with some good news for the associations sector!):
- The business community is the most important channel for diffusing information about innovations.
- Businesses need to know what technologies and practices exist in the marketplace, their compatibility with the business’ organisation and how to adapt and integrate them into the organisation.
- Information flows, including businesses’ experiences with new technologies and practices, can be mediated by industry associations, consultants and experts.
- In Australia, industry associations play a critical role in realising spillovers by drawing together insights from their members’ experiences with innovation and helping firms to apply them to their own circumstances.
- The chief problem is not that associations are deficient in this role, but that the potential recipient businesses often do not know how far way they are from best practice.
Membership Rapid: boosting retention and recruitment
Jodie McKenzie, CEO of Australian Counselling Association, attributed the significant growth in membership over a 10-month period to a cultural shift towards consistent communication with members regarding the association’s strategy and its underlying pillars.
Following Jodie was Christine Pope, President of Australian Traditional-Medicine Society (ATMS), who recounted the myriad of obstacles the association encountered, including the removal of educational requirements for four modalities, which was then followed by the decision to remove a staggering 16 modalities from health funds. Christine detailed the association’s gradual yet steady progress in advocacy and membership expansion, particularly targeting students embarking on careers in traditional medicine.
As she had previously shared in our interview in the lead up to the Conference, the ATMS organised a one-day training session named, ‘Transition to Practice’. This session, offered at a nominal fee, provided graduating students with essential business setup and marketing training. Following this initiative, ATMS offered a discounted membership upgrade, from student to full membership for only $100, which covers insurance and health fund registration, alleviating administrative burdens for new-to-practice members.
—
Stay tuned for part 2 of our AFNC 2024 key takeaways in our next newsletter. If you haven’t already, subscribe to our newsletter to receive this and more insights and resources on association and conference management.