Are new member retention rates much lower than the retention rates for all other members at your association? Imagine improving your new member retention rates by 10%, 20%, even 50%! Some associations are growing their membership by focusing far more on engaging their most at-risk members. How are they doing it? By delivering the value and experiences new members need. Join us for a mix of research data and real-life examples you can start using immediately.

Amanda Kaiser, Lisa Vivinetto, Stephanie Selesnick, Larry Guthrie

It’s time to start attending to your association’s future. Preparing your association and its stakeholders for the future requires more from key decision-makers. By fully embracing the duty of foresight, boards can focus their attention on pursuing intentional learning with the future. This provocative conversation explores how boards can start doing the work that only they can do, and why foresight is the future of governing for building both high-performing boards and thriving organizations.

Jeff De Cagna, Alicia Skulemowski, Veronica Meadows, Nabil El-Ghoroury

Do you carry items forward on your to-do list day after day? Do you sit down in the office to finish one task then find yourself quickly distracted by another? Do you struggle to set boundaries around your working time? This session about combating gaps in our productivity is for you. Four speakers — a mindfulness consultant, a burnout prevention coach, an association professional and an education expert — put heads together to offer tips, strategies and frameworks to help you become more productive, both as individuals and organization. Topics covered include association culture and leadership expectations, how to stay present in your workspace, the power of turning off your phone and unlearning perfectionism.

Holly Ducksworth, Lauren LeMunyan, David Elliot, Tracy Vanneman

What is real learning, why do we need it, and how can we attain it within our organizations? Learning needs to be a core part of any organization’s purpose, to prepare a workforce to continue flourishing in the future. Armed with this purpose, in order to be a guide and partner for those who are learning throughout their careers, we have to focus not on single byte units but on developing competencies and supporting mastery. Starting from the lens of workforce development, this discussion unearths the key steps you need to implement an effective and comprehensive real learning strategy for your team.

Lowell Aplebaum, Tracy King, Jess Halverson Boyer, Carolyn Thompson

How do we create and sustain a sense of community amongst our members, networks or contributors? In what ways do our organizational missions depend upon and align with community building? What role does storytelling play in curating, inspiring and synthesizing a shared message? Hear from experts in online community building, crowdsourcing, member connectivity and story-telling to think about these questions.

What makes us do the things we do? In the first half of this session, author and scholar Dan Ariely shares his wisdom about irrationality and the human mind. Ariely talks about the personal and professional experiences that led him to the study of this strand of behavioral psychology, then fleshes out his research with real-life examples. You will learn more about the factors that impact how we make decisions, handle distractions and exercise willpower.

In the second half, you will bear witness to a SURGE-concocted experiment. What would happen, we wondered, if we took down all the signposts and let a conversational journey develop spontaneously? These speakers did no advance prep, and came to the discussion with no idea of its direction other than to discuss the broad subject, ""professional motivation."" Armed only with their relevant expertise, a passion for the topic and a facilitator, the speakers tackle the theme imaginatively and instinctively.

Dan Ariely

Human-centered design, a product development methodology that puts people first, has the ability to increase successful outcomes for any association’s technology initiative. Our panel focuses on human-centered design’s four stages: user research, ideation, iteration and implementation. With real-life association experiences of excelling or struggling with a technology project, this session provides actionable tactics and insights to help you and your organization adopt this approach.

Gorgon Withers, Amy Burke, Harry Rothmann, Emily Hendershot

More than ever, associations are being challenged to sustain amidst disruption and to help their member companies do the same. Labor shortages and retirement waves are threatening the stability of organizations — even entire industries. As a result, leaders must prioritize the development of positive workplace cultures and employee engagement initiatives, but research indicates this is easier said than done.

Learn more about what it takes to foster a culture of success within your workforce. The panel explores how to define, measure and manage a culture capable of inspiring team-building and fostering engagement and community. You will hear creative strategies and best practices designed to offer the best workplace for you and your employees, and better serve the changing needs of your industry’s employers.

Rhea Steele, Mike Moss, Sarah Sladek, Kathija "Kat" Mohammed

Representatives from the frontlines of the association community across the world unite to share a social and economic snapshot of each of their regions. Tuning in from Southeast Asia, the United States, Europe, Africa and Australia, this update provides an overview of the association activities making waves in each locale. What unites us and distinguishes us as association professionals on different continents? What can we learn from each other? How can we build a worldwide association movement to strengthen our industries and society as a whole? In a virtual world, let’s think internationally.

Bobby Peralta, Jeffers Miruka, John Peacock, Reggie Henry, Florence Bindelle, Damian Hutt

These three speakers have crafted businesses that all interact seamlessly with data. The potential of data to address your organizational needs depends upon the questions you ask, the mindset you create and the analytical strategies you employ. This conversation offers applied solutions both to real problems in the present, and to predict future patterns of behavior.