A Look Ahead to 2010: View from Educational Associations
Last night I had the opportunity to have dinner with colleagues representing a number of educational associations, both college and independent school focused. Each expressed concern that the outlook for the rest of this year and through 2010 is poor, predicting declines in conference attendance by as much as one-third, and anticipating declines in membership, training programs, and other areas that would require cutbacks in member benefits and services.
Today, the entire staff of IECA has gathered to plan for the next 18 months, setting in motion new developments to a members-only area of the IECA Web site, planning for enhancements to our social media capabilities, making improvements to the conference schedule, and much more, including our first study in five years on the state of the profession and a member-needs analysis that will guide both the staff and the Board.
As we look ahead we are encouraged, seeing a different landscape than these other educational organizations. We see a membership that will continue to grow by 5% or more. We hope to make specific outreach to Associate members who are now qualified and should therefore seek professional status. Today our membership stands at over 725–our highest ever. Our Summer Training Institute in Swarthmore, still two months away, has registered almost 50 attendees and seems likely to fill. Inquiries about our fall conference are up, and we have fully engaged members, schools, programs, and colleges throughout both North and South Carolina involved in the planning.
Rather than reducing efforts in the current economy, we believe that the best thing we can do for our membership is to INCREASE our commitment to marketing and public outreach, helping to spread further word of the good work and high ethical standards our membership represents. Our embracing of Facebook, blogs, Flickr and other technologies has aided this effort and has kept IECA ahead of so many other groups. In the year ahead we’ll train our members to better use these same technologies to help their businesses.
Where others see difficulties, we truly see exciting opportunities. Our best days lie just ahead.
posted by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA
Related posts:
- Looking Back and Ahead: NACAC and Educational Consultants
- 2010: A Transformational Year for Independent Educational Consulting Comes to a Close
- Working and NETworking with Educational Associations
- Live Vibe: Teaming Up To Tackle the Curves Ahead
- When Everyone Belongs to Facebook, LinkedIn, and more, Who Needs Associations?
