A Look Back: Most Popular Posts in 2020
Before pulling the list of our blog’s most visited pages in 2020, we assumed posts about virtual conferences would dominate the top spots. Well, not exactly. The topic of the #1 post took us by surprise. But when you think about it, why do members attend conferences and join associations? Because, especially now, they want to talk with their peers and feel a sense of belonging and community.
#1: 8 Ways to Create a Sense of Belonging & Community at Your Association
It’s no wonder this is the #1 post. Nearly one year ago, when this post was published, we wrote:
“Why are people feeling lonely and craving community now more than ever? Because modern life makes it difficult to find and build a community.”
Our life in socially-distanced isolation drives this point home like never before. But your association can help members find and build a community, and feel a sense of belonging—even if you must do it virtually.
Members crave community and conversations now more than ever. Our eight suggestions in this post still apply to today’s online reality, although you’ll have to tweak #3 until chapter or local meetups are safe again.
#2: Getting Attendees Ready to Network at Your Virtual Event
For the past ten months, conversations in the association space have centered around one of the biggest challenges we’ve seen in our careers: pivoting from in-person to virtual conferences. We had to do it for our Engage user conference, and most of you had to do it too—or you’re in the process of doing it.
While the conference planners’ focus was on the educational experience, it wasn’t long before everyone realized the networking experience was just as, if not more, important to attendees. Our #2 post explains how to prepare attendees for your conference so they’ll be ready to meet other attendees for real conversations.
#3: Extend the Attendee Experience Beyond Your Virtual Conference
The virtual conference is where the attendee’s educational and networking experience begins, but it doesn’t have to end there. In this post, we explain how post-conference activities help attendees deepen their learning, turn ideas into action, and strengthen new relationships.
We cover learning circles, boosting, networking follow-up, post-event activities in your virtual venue, deeper dives, sponsor involvement, and much more. With all these great ideas to explore, it’s no wonder Associations Now featured this post in their Daily Buzz column—another reason it attracted so many readers.
#4: Communicating with Prospective Attendees About Your New Virtual Event
ASAE’s Daily Buzz liked this post too. We published it in early April, just a few weeks into the pandemic. Back then, virtual conferences were still a new phenomenon so our advice was much appreciated by readers.
Even now, our tips on communication style, rationale behind your decision to go virtual, and conference FAQ are still on point, especially if you haven’t yet hosted a virtual conference for your members, or if many of your members haven’t yet participated in one.
#5: Finding New Ways to Engage Members Online During the COVID-19 Crisis
We published this post on March 23, 2020 in the early days of the pandemic, but rereading it now, it’s astonishing how timely it feels. Not only is it a good refresher on how to engage members, but you might also discover new ideas and insights to enhance your volunteering program.
This post also provides examples of online microvolunteering tasks that will give members an opportunity to make a difference while stuck at home.
#6: How to Deliver Marketing ROI to Your Virtual Event Sponsors & Exhibitors
A major challenge with virtual conferences is preserving the sponsorship and exhibitor revenue delivered by in-person events. The only way to do that is to offer enough value to your revenue partners so they’ll invest in your event. Many people say that’s impossible, but we don’t agree. We’ve seen it done but it means taking a new approach to sponsorship and exhibiting.
A new approach starts with talking to sponsors and exhibitors about their goals and providing the opportunities for them to achieve them. It means rethinking their role in your event—and this post shares many ideas for doing that. Not surprisingly, Associations Now featured this post too in the Daily Buzz.
#7: Not Going Virtual Isn’t an Option for Association Conferences
As the pandemic wore on, we still came across associations who resisted hosting a virtual conference. They were holding out until things “got back to normal.” But no one expected this situation to last so long. This is our normal now.
Having heard enough excuses, in September, we wrote this post to explain why not offering a virtual educational and networking experience to your members and market is a bad idea. We discussed the likelihood of members attending an in-person event in the coming year, the people who need virtual conferences because they can’t ever travel to events, the existing need for education and networking, and the opportunity to earn sponsorship and exhibiting revenue.
#8: How Your Association Can Come Out Ahead by Hosting Virtual Events
This April post pairs well with the one above, although we never thought we’d still be making the same argument five months later. Back then, we were introducing the advantages of virtual conferences to our audience.
For example, when virtual conferences are designed well, they provide budget predictability and savings, increased attendance (and registration revenue), expanded audience, new opportunities for exhibitors and sponsors, and a different, yet better, learning experience.
#9: How to Create an Effective & Memorable Virtual Learning Experience
Are you wondering about that “different, yet better, learning experience?” How appropriate that our #9 post focuses on the virtual learning experience. One silver lining of this pandemic is the attention given to the educational experience provided by virtual conferences. Some associations merely replicated their in-person experience, but others looked at their education with fresh eyes and created a more engaging, effective learning experience for their attendees.
In this post, we cover the conference schedule and format, session design, speaker preparation, audience engagement tactics, and social learning (discussions).
#10: 5 Strategies for Engaging Members During This Next Phase of the Pandemic Crisis
When we wrote this post in July, we were hopeful about entering the recovery mode of the pandemic, rather than the response mode we had been in. “The challenge now is keeping members engaged during this next phase—the next normal, although nothing seems normal about it.”
In this post, we discuss how to find out about members’ changing needs and interests, and provide ideas for engagement strategies, including content, education, community, volunteering and causes.
Virtual educational and networking events are still your best bet for becoming indispensable to your members. If you’d like to take these programs to the next level, come take a tour of The Echo, our virtual events solution, that provides plenty of meeting rooms, lounges and other spaces to host virtual discussions and networking activities along with educational sessions, private meetings and exhibit booths.