Come the beginning of a new year, many resolutions are made to be better and achieve greater success. But it’s hard to do that without looking back to the strategies, activities, and behaviors that didn’t work the year prior. Callie Walker from the MemberClicks blog outlines mistakes from 2018 associations should avoid in new year initiatives, including:

Hopping on the bandwagon of every new trend. Not every trend will align with your association’s goals—and you might not have the bandwidth to explore it anyway.

Not trying anything new, period. “While it’s important to avoid that ‘shiny object syndrome,’ it’s also important to avoid not trying anything new at all,” Walker says. “Now you don’t have to make major changes, per se. But do try one or two new things per quarter—even if they’re minor. You’ll start to see what your members like (and don’t like), and you can then make adjustments from there.”

Clumping members together. “It can be tempting to clump all of your members into one big pool—to send them all the same email, to invite them all to the same event, etc. But long-term, that can actually have a negative impact on engagement and retention,” she says.

Setting unrealistic or vague goals. Setting unattainable or nondescript goals only sets your organization up for failure. Get specific with what you want to achieve so you and your team have a concrete target to work toward, and then can accurately measure success come 2020.

How to Keep Your Events Safe

Here are our 4 steps to help get started on building a formalized security plan.https://t.co/FQSPHHlpe3

— SmartMeetings (@SmartMeetings) January 3, 2019

With more than 300 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2018, security has become one of the biggest issues facing meeting planners today. If you’re re-evaluating your events’ physical security strategies, start with looking at what you already have in place, says Anil Chitkara in a post on Smart Meetings. “Before developing a formal security strategy, take the time to survey current security measures to get a sense of what is working and what isn’t,” he says. “To start, incorporate feedback from a variety of sources within the venue, such as customer service or guest feedback.”

From there, planners will have to look at each meeting individually to best understand security needs. “Event managers can no longer use a one-size-fits-all approach to security,” Chitkara says. “Tailored processes and protocols ensure security is properly deployed throughout an event.”

Other Links of Note

Content marketing can drive event awareness and attendance. Here’s how, according to Meetings Today.

Social media images must be shareworthy. This is how to tell whether they pass the test, says nonprofit digital marketing expert John Haydon.

Testing out member location mapping? Here are four tips on the technology, from the Wild Apricot blog.

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