CEO to CEO: Open-Access Versus Member-Only Content

C. James Trombino, CAE

Executive Director/CEO, Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, New Jersey
Member-only content is restricted to items which a nonmember might use to their advantage, such as market statistics, surveys, minutes, and member publications. On the other hand, agendas for management meetings, though limited to member attendance, show speakers and can be useful as member development tools. We try to keep those open to let nonmembers see what they’re missing.

Avhapfani Tshifularo

Executive Director, South African Petroleum Industry Association, Sandton, South Africa
Our approach is that everything that we discuss, all our documents, if they were to appear on the front page of a major newspaper, they should not embarrass the association. There is nothing confidential in our information, but we are careful about sharing irrelevant information with the public that would confuse them instead of contributing to their understanding of the industry.

Steven R. Jones, CAE

Executive Director, Association of Cable Communicators, Washington, DC
We strive to keep most information on the Association of Cable Communicators website available to members and nonmembers alike. We feel members should have easy access to most materials created by the association for their use as well as others in the cable industry who may be interested in joining or supporting ACC. This includes information on our events, research reports, and white papers created by the association on industry topics.

Dale Singer

Executive Director, Renal Physicians Association, Rockville, Maryland
We try to put enough rich content in the public domain to entice individuals who aren’t members to want to join the association. All advocacy materials are on the public portion of the site, but deep-dive analyses of policies, regulations, and legislation are restricted for members. Since more and more information is publicly available on the internet, we have decided that the unique content that we develop utilizing volunteer and staff expertise has a premium value and should be restricted to members.

(Illustrations by Monica Hellstrom)