Venturing Into Uncharted Waters: How to Innovate and Embrace Risk to Ensure Your Association Thrives in the Future.

Facilitated by Sheri Jacobs, FASAE, CAE
President & CEO, Avenue M Group

Whether you're a seasoned association professional or new to the field, this webinar series will inspire you to embrace innovation, take calculated risks, and achieve the membership growth your association deserves. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the association community's most dynamic and insightful leaders.

Join Sheri Jacobs, FASAE, CAE, an award-winning professional wildlife photographer and pioneering thought leader in the association community, in this three-part series as she shares her images and her insights on embracing risk and fostering innovation. Drawing from her remarkable adventures across all seven continents, Sheri will reveal the crucial lessons she learned throughout her career and provide specific association examples that will help you and your organization innovate and thrive.

Attendees of this program will receive a free, signed copy of Sheri's new book, Venturing Into Uncharted Waters! Books will be shipped after September 1 to the mailing address provided during registration.

Session Dates: September 19, September 26, and October 3, 2024 | 2:00 - 3:00pm ET / 1:00 - 2:00pm CT / 11:00am - 12:00pm PT) 

Registration: $199 for this three-part series

CAE Hours: 1 CAE Hour per session, for a total of 3 CAE Hours for the full program

Session 1: Membership Recruitment Reimagined - September 19, 2024 (2:00 - 3:00pm ET; 11:00am - 12:00pm PT)
During the first of three sessions, Sheri will guide you through a transformative process of reframing your approach to identifying and communicating your value proposition. With increased competition and a rapidly changing environment, it’s essential to provide members with something they will value and to do so, you need to think and act differently. And that takes risks.  

• Learn how to create a new member recruitment campaign by unleashing your creativity and generating fresh ideas to acquire new members.
• Develop a Member Value Canvas (MVC) that connects the dots between your members' problems/challenges and your organization's benefits.

Session 2: Transforming Member Engagement - September 26, 2024 (2:00 - 3:00pm ET; 11:00am - 12:00pm PT)
This session will incorporate fresh new perspectives on how to better utilize existing programs, products, and services, as well as how to develop new initiatives that engage and cement member loyalty, all while fostering a culture of creativity and bold experimentation.

• Learn grassroots outreach methods for onboarding new members.
• How to leverage social media channels using engaging content.
• Develop an ongoing engagement program for new and retiring members.

Session 3: Embracing Risk and Innovation to Create More Value - October 3, 2024 (2:00 - 3:00pm ET; 11:00am - 12:00pm PT)
By reframing risk as an essential component of progress and learning from failures along the way, you'll gain the tools needed to steer your organization through change with grace and assurance. Join us to unlock the power of innovative thinking and ensure your association remains relevant and thrives well into the future.

• Learn how to fearlessly navigate the process for developing offerings to increase member value.
• Discover how to generate 100 new ideas for growth opportunities, assess the viability of current offerings, and make confident decisions about your association's offerings. 

About Sheri Jacobs, FASAE, CAE

Long before Sheri founded Avenue
M Group, she questioned why so many associations spent their time (and money) pushing information out to its members rather than taking the time to understand and engage them. Over time, she thought, the lack of engagement could impact member recruitment
 and retention. She vividly remembers working on a direct mail campaign during the day and, that evening, moving a stack of promotional mailings from her mailbox to the garbage bin under her kitchen counter. It was in this moment that she realized
 how essential it was for associations to create a two-way street (or Avenue) between their organizations and their members (M) if they wanted to remain relevant in the future.

Sheri believed associations needed to understand what matters
 to their members, understand their stressors and challenges, and determine how to provide meaningful and accessible solutions at a price members were willing to pay. This would require listening to members and rethinking the value proposition, delivery
 channels, and/or pricing model. Sheri chose the name, Avenue M Group, because she had a strong desire to help associations engage their members (or create a two-way street) and achieve their missions.