---
title: "Membership Hack: Trial Memberships for Meeting Attendees"
id: "41720"
type: "post"
slug: "membership-hack-trial-memberships-for-meeting-attendees"
published_at: "2018-03-02T23:21:23+00:00"
modified_at: "2018-03-02T23:21:23+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/03/02/membership-hack-trial-memberships-for-meeting-attendees/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/03/02/membership-hack-trial-memberships-for-meeting-attendees.md"
excerpt: "One recruitment tactic that’s proving to be effective for the American Booksellers Association—a free trial membership for each Spring Forum attendee."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Membership"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "Membership"
  - "Networking"
  - "trial offers"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "Association CEO / Executive Director"
  - "C-Level"
  - "Director"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Association Professionals"
---

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 » Membership Hack: Trial Memberships for Meeting Attendees

**How to hack it?**This spring, the American Booksellers Association is giving meeting attendees a test drive on the membership experience with a [free trial offer (opens in a new tab)](http://www.bookweb.org/news/aba-offers-free-trial-membership-spring-forums-103210)
. Attendees will receive an event program code that they can use online to receive a complimentary membership through August 31, says Membership and Marketing Officer Meg Smith. “We are trying to both incentivize people to come to the live meetings and encourage new joins,” she says.

**Why does it work?**ABA’s [Spring Forums (opens in a new tab)](http://www.bookweb.org/events/spring-regional-forums)
 are presented in conjunction with other regional bookseller associations and serve as prime opportunities to make face-to-face connections and to recruit new members. “We’ve run free trial offers in the past in connection with fall regional tradeshows and have always gotten some takers,” Smith says.

**What’s the bonus?**This year’s meetings will have an educational component that [focuses on (opens in a new tab)](http://www.bookweb.org/news/spring-forum-education-focus-%E2%80%9C-year-bookstore-profitability%E2%80%9D-102971)
 the issues independent booksellers face in staying profitable. By getting more event attendees to sign up for trial membership, ABA is hoping to continue that conversation beyond its meetings.

(andipantz/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

[Tim Ebner](https://associationsnow.com/author/tim-ebner/)

Tim Ebner is communications director and press secretary at the American Forest & Paper Association in Washington, DC. He is a member of ASAE’s Communication Professionals Advisory Council and a former Associations Now senior editor.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/tim-ebner/)

Tags: [#Membership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/membership/)
 [#Networking](https://associationsnow.com/tag/networking/)
 [#trial offers](https://associationsnow.com/tag/trial-offers/)

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