Your association’s annual meeting is likely your biggest event of the year, but are you leveraging it to recruit new members?

Terry Ibele at Wild Apricot reports on one association that was able to quadruple its membership numbers within five years thanks to several smart recruitment tactics at its annual meetings.

The Collegiate Information and Visitor Services Association (CIVSA) gains hundreds of members at its conferences each year by taking an “all hands on deck” approach. All board members are tasked with promoting the annual meeting through cold-calling, social media posting, and even handing out flyers to reach potential new members.

CIVSA also changes the location of its events each year to reach more people in different regions.

Check out Ibele’s post for recruitment keys to success.

Keep Your Content

Friends don't let friends give away their content on 3rd-party platforms #sm #eventprofs #assnchat https://t.co/umMT9EEYc0 via @ASegar

— Executive Oasis International – Team Building (@executiveoasis) January 13, 2017

Adrian Segar presents a strong argument for why publishers should keep total control over their content. Segar points to a few shifts in recent content-distribution platforms that may be causing publishers to reach fewer people in favor of “pay-to-play” models.

“Posting your original content exclusively on someone else’s platform puts you at their mercy. Don’t do it!” he says.

So, what should publishers do instead? Segar provides a few pointers on how to invest in your own website and content to build an audience.

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