Why I won't renew with ASAE in 2011

As a young association professional at a small trade association (under 10 employees), an ASAE membership is not something gifted to our staff from the powers at be. Before I had my own membership, I used our Executive Director's membership info if I needed to check a discussion and the Associations Now magazine was a free reading material in the kitchen. Last year I decided to dedicate more time to improving my knowledge of the association industry and figured the $100 Young Association Professional membership was the best place to start.

I was wrong. That's why I won't renew my ASAE membership for 2011.

With so many amazing and brilliant minds regularly conversing about association life on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., it quickly became clear to me that I had squandered $100 to read discussions I had already had with people much more keyed in to the topics that mattered to me. Most of the discussions related to marketing, digital strategy, social media, etc. on the ListServ (which I'll get to in a minute) are basic 101 stuff or people looking to start. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but I need more depth. I had hoped that the Members Only discussions would lead to better connections and friendly debates. There aren't many meaningful responses besides a 'great post!' or 'check out the results I had!' I don't know, I just really expected more.

Ack! The ListServs are such a headache! It's 2010, move away from them. They're clunky and slow moving. Say, isn't that a complaint of most association professionals in their own associations? Way to get us ahead of the curve.

Frustrated with the ListServs, posted articles, etc., I delved further into my existing networks. As always #assnchat moderated by @kikilitalien remains my favorite resource. For me to dedicate a column of my TweetDeck to the hashtag speaks volumes to me about how worthwhile I find it (even though I've been a neglectful participant for far too long now). If there's anything I missed on that I can always follow up with the Social Media Sweetspot on Fridays (or any of the archives). Since my association has started using the Higher Logic eCommunity platform I also have access to HUG, their private user group, where I can find all sorts of helpful information about reaching our member base better and engaging more people. For free professional groups you can follow there's Engage365, NTEN, YAPstar, etc. For association blogs, I get a ton of benefit from reading Mizz Information, Association Subculture, IdeaArchitects, Acronym Soup, Social Fish, Midcourse Corrections, Splash, Principled Innovation, Jamie Notter and Reid All About It amongst many others (I could seriously list the blogs I read for professional development for hours. . .the industry has no shortage of great minds).

Also, I have a direct connection to all these bloggers and more through Twitter if I'm ever ready to have a really active conversation. There's also Skype for when 140 characters won't do.

So with all these resources available, what would the benefit be for me to be a member of ASAE? I can save $300 on a conference. A conference I wouldn't attend and would track from my computer anyways.

I had a talk with another association professional who was against my departure who said this:

'Think of the networking and job opportunities you will miss if you aren't a member!'

Oh, you mean the free job board they have posted and the networking I already do? I would hope that should the day ever come I was leaving my job to move to another association they would take more of my professional qualifications into place and not dismiss me for being an ASAE non-member. If they want me to be a member, I will happily let them pay my dues. . .but I don't see where the point would be.

So there you have it. Whether you agree or disagree, I would love to hear what my fellow association peeps think.