What's Next for Association Events?

Amid all of the negatives in 2020, including canceled events and disappearing revenue streams, there is encouraging news for associations. Not only have associations retained their value in the eyes of most of their members, the forced shift to digital has given many new channels for engaging members, according to a study of nearly 1,000 association members and staff conducted by the software company Personify. When it comes to association events, the survey showed, members value in-person, digital, and hybrid meetings equally.

Staying Relevant

Although organizations had worried that the travel bans and economic hardship created by the COVID-19 pandemic might result in a drop in the perceived value of association membership and in-person events, neither of those things happened, the research report found. When surveyed in December 2020, 93 percent of association members said that it was important to be part of an association, and nearly half — 44 percent — said that belonging to an association had become more, not less, important in the preceding year. Members also reported that their interest in in-person events remained high: Two-thirds of members said that that they would have attended an in-person event in 2020 had they been able to do so, the same percentage that had attended an in-person association event in 2019.