The Future of Membership?
On November 6th, I was invited to present a TED-style talk on the “Future of Membership” at the first Association Chief Executives (ACE) Symposium. My thesis: volunteerism not membership is what makes our organizations unique; membership is a means to an end; the metrics we use to judge membership success are all wrong; and the bottom line: get clarity around your mission (your purpose) first, then worry about what form of membership (if any) serves that purpose best.
Read the presentation here.
About Mark J. Golden, FASAE, CAE
Mark J. Golden, FASAE, CAE, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicne (formerly AACC), which provides global leadership advancing the practice and profession of clinical laboratory science and laboratory medicine.
He previously served as Executive Director and CEO of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in Alexandria, Virginia. as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), Vienna, Virginia and in leadership roles with the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA), Washington, D.C. and the Association of Telemessaging Services International (ATSI), Alexandria, Virginia.
Long active in the association community, Mr. Golden has served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for Association Leadership, Vice Chair of the ASAE Board of Directors, Chair of the Center for Association Leadership’s Research Committee, and member of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce's Association Committee of 100.
He is the 2011 recipient of the American Society of Association Executive's Key Award, the highest honor ASAE bestows, to "honor the association CEO who demonstrates exceptional qualities of leadership in his or her own association, and displays a deep commitment to voluntary membership organizations as a whole.”
On November 6th, I was invited to present a TED-style talk on the “Future of Membership” at the first Association Chief Executives (ACE) Symposium. My thesis: volunteerism not membership is what makes our organizations unique; membership is a means to an end; the metrics we use to judge membership success are all wrong; and the bottom line: get clarity around your mission (your purpose) first, then worry about what form of membership (if any) serves that purpose best.
Golden's Rules for Associations 