Talking Tech: ReviewMyAMS.com

What has been your biggest challenge with ReviewMyAMS.com?

The biggest challenge in initially creating the site was making sure that I had a rock-solid, secure system that association executives could trust.

Now that I’ve jumped that hurdle, the hardest part of running this site is the day-to-day. I get multiple reviews and questions every day. It’s a very rigorous process getting the reviews ready from the time that they come in the door to the time that they get published. It takes time, and I have to vet every single review.

If you could go back and do anything differently, what would that be?

Hindsight is 20/20. I probably would have built up more resources to launch the site the way that I dream of it being. The user experience still needs a lot of work.

What advice can you share about starting a peer-to-peer review site?

I would initially say that you have to have heart and passion behind it. You have to go to the market with a true mission. I felt like there was a need and an opportunity, and I thought this would be a great resource to bring to association executives.

To be a little bit more broad, frankly, operating a review site comes with some political situations that I’ve had to deal with on a one-off basis. Some people who have been very comfortable with the way association management systems [traditionally] have been selected aren’t too thrilled about the idea.

There are also many AMSes that are supporting the site. They understand its value and take a stand for bringing clarity to our convoluted and confusing AMS tech world. Without the AMSes that are supporting the site, it wouldn’t exist.