Some Thoughts from my Visit to the 2009 ASAE Technology Conference
January 30, 2009
I attended the ASAE Technology Conference (http://twurl.cc/ei5) this week (January 26-28) to try and discern any patterns around new and interesting problems facing the Association community. I love innovation, and innovation begins with identifying pervasive and urgent problems that need to be solved.
I found that not much has changed. Since about 2004 I have done a fair amount of work with associations. Mostly in the areas of Internet and Web Strategy, Product Strategy, and Web redesign/CMS implementations. So I was a bit surprised that the AMS/CMS/Website Redesign triumvirate is still dominating the agenda.
There was some chatter around new issues like the bad economy and implementing the PCI standard, and of course the whole Social Media/Networking thing was a hot topic. But in general, it seemed that most Associations are still dealing mostly with fixing problems with existing technology infrastructure, managing major system changes/implementations (AMS/CMS/Website), or just struggling to deal with complex technologies given limited budgets, skills, and time.
I expected to detect a sense of urgency around the need to change the status quo, given all the ongoing change in how people connect, associate, and interact today. But I sure didn’t get that feeling. I wonder why?
But after listening to Chris Sacca (http://twurl.cc/ei9) General Session talk on innovation and Goggle, it occurred to me that the way forward for Associations is to begin to shift their focus from technology to innovation. Sacca talked about Google’s laser focus on user problems and user experience, and he demonstrated how disruptive innovation can be incredibly powerful. I think Associations can transform themselves by embracing these concepts.
Because this post is already getting long, I will continue this conversation over the next several days to expand on this idea. Stay tuned for more on disruptive innovation for Associations, moving from surveying member needs to understanding member “jobs to be done”, and the power of a discovery driven approach to technology implementation for Associations.