Fast data may be the next big thing, but what exactly is it, and how can it help your association?

What your staff should know about fast data—and how to train them

As associations become more cost-focused and revenue-driven, staff outside the finance department need to have knowledge that will enable them to make better business decisions.

To tap into voice technology and engage its readers on their smart speakers, the American Chemical Society has designed a daily news briefing specifically for Amazon Echo devices.

From 2006 to 2017, CareSource’s employee base grew 300 percent, and recently, its longtime CEO retired. To deal with this upheaval, the nonprofit turned to change-management coaching, which it says saved the organization millions of dollars and helped senior leaders keep employees engaged.

Because association CEOs must simultaneously manage the board of directors and report to them, working effectively with the board can be tricky. But it’s also a necessary part of their job.

An association can easily be considered a knowledge community. After all, it’s a community of members who share a profession or interest, and knowledge gets generated and exchanged within it.

The market’s ups and downs in the last year or so have left many investors anxious. But it’s important for associations that might be getting uneasy about their investments to understand that this is common in the bigger picture.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is a well-known, well-respected mentoring organization with more than 250 local agencies across the United States. But BBBS also has more than 33,000 youth (“Littles”) on a waiting list for a Big Sister or Big Brother.

To equip its members for the changes the future will bring, the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA) launched its Center for Innovation in November. It’s focused on two areas: technology and talent.

Utah Diné Bikéyah (UDB) is a nonprofit organization that supports indigenous communities in protecting their ancestral lands. Along with the five sovereign nations of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, UDB got the 1.3 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument designated—the first tribally led national monument in American history.

Brian Merrill is the CEO of Western River Expeditions and the Moab Adventure Center, but he started out as a lawyer. He talked with Outdoor Insider about going from river guide to lawyer to operations manager to COO to CEO, and about the ways he has expanded the business.

It seems as though everyone is hiring these days, and talented professionals have abundant job opportunities. Amid heightened competition for talent, smart associations are adjusting their recruitment strategies, increasing their focus on retaining the staff they have, and looking at new ways to harness an effective team—even if everyone isn’t on the payroll.

As industry leaders, how associations respond to sexual harassment matters—to the individual and to their community. Associations are facing challenging questions about how to set the bar for acceptable conduct in their field, enforce fair policies, and promote a positive professional culture that attracts the best talent.

The world of association learning is changing, with new types of content being delivered in new formats. But what are learners actually getting out of them? While the traditional lecture format is familiar, it allows only surface learning, experts say. And associations can do better.

This husband-and-wife duo runs the creative agency Distinct Life, whose work ranges from consulting and social media management for the social services agency Wolverine Human Services in Detroit to consulting for Comedy Central's show "Detroiters."

When DSM Engineering Plastics wanted to open an R&D center for its North American headquarters in Troy, it picked Juliana Bernalostos-Boy to lead the $2.4 million project.

Kimberly Hoyle has always had an interest in urban planning and commercial real estate and a passion for creativity and art. At Hamilton Anderson, she's been able to "connect all of my disjointed interests," she said.

Baby boomers make up the largest portion of many associations’ members. As they retire, associations aim to appeal to the millennials who are poised to take their place.