Membership matters more today
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report December 2020
Associations are on your side in tough times.
STLE will remain member-centric and continue adapting to your needs as we head into 2021.
A major national organization that tracks trends in the association field has reported that 51% of individuals holding a current membership consider it to be more important in today’s disruptive environment.
One of the association profession’s experts on membership strategy and growth, Sarah Sladek, attributes this to the fact that people measure value in two ways: emotion and return on investment.
“When a membership is valuable, it’s because the membership helps to solve an immediate need, and it provides a sense of community and belonging,” according to Sladek, the author of five books and 10 research papers dealing with organizational membership strategy.
In STLE terms, three examples illustrate how an association can fulfill members needs and provide a significant ROI. The first is in professional development, an important association service that’s been limited by the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of face-to-face activities. STLE has responded with an expanded mix of virtual opportunities.
From February through October of this year, STLE presented 48 webinars and online courses. Attendance totaled 5,868 people for averages of 122 per event, or 652 per month. A portion of the webinars were on commercial topics, filling a gap for those members that need to keep up with new product information and for companies that need a safe and cost-effective alternative to face-to-face meetings.
Just last month, STLE conducted its first virtual technical conference. The Tribology Frontiers Conference (TFC), which is normally an in-person event, shifted online and set attendance records with an increase of 40% compared to 2019. The TFC virtual event also allowed for increased international and student participation due to the lower attendance cost because the meeting did not require travel or hotel stays.
Finally, TLT continues to be the MVP in STLE’s lineup. Readership surveys and conversations with individual members point to the magazine as a trusted source for expertise and perspective on what’s happening in the tribology and lubricants industry.
The second value point, a sense of community and belonging, could be characterized as a soft or emotion-based benefit. While it’s true that professional connections made through STLE fit this description, there’s also evidence of an organizational support network.
Only a community of experts like STLE can produce a membership service as unique as the STLE Learning Pathways. It’s an online professional development tool that guides self-evaluation of knowledge and then offers resources to fill those gaps. Many people use this tool to prepare for the Certified Lubrication Specialist™ (CLS), Oil Monitoring Analyst I & II™ (OMA I & II) or Certified Metalworking Fluids Specialist™ (CMFS) certification exam.
Earning an STLE certification puts individuals into an exclusive group of experts. In this case, it’s a community of more than 1,600 certification holders that have a portable credential of technical competence that’s invaluable when interacting with employers and customers.
Thanks to efforts like these, the rolling average for STLE membership in the first three quarters of 2020 was up slightly (2.5%) from the same period in 2019.
STLE will remain member-centric and continue adapting to your needs as we head into 2021. Stick with us, and you will continue to find value from your membership investment. If you’re not a current member, join and see for yourself why membership matters more than ever.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.