This July, four AMC Source Team Members, along with over 350 other association professionals, traveled to Bonita Springs, Florida to attend the Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE) 2023 Annual Conference. This year’s conference, themed as “Rooted in Discovery,” equipped association executives to cultivate change, fertilize their minds, and find the “miracle grow” for their professional growth.
This year’s attendees from the AMC Source team included Co-Presidents Debra S. Nolan, CAE, IOM and Gregory Brooks, as well as Association Executives Laura Caputo, J.D. and Christina Stephens, M.A. Our team greatly values opportunities to learn and grow together, in-person, especially in beautiful and hospitable venues like the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, where this event took place. Connecting with our own team wasn’t the only valuable connection that was happening, though. “Attendance at the recent FSAE conference reinforced the value of connecting in person,” said Nolan, “While there is much to be learned from presenters in the sessions, I also learn from those in attendance through casual conversations in addition to facilitated group discussions.”
In addition to the opportunity to network and connect, our team found significant value in the content of the event. Brooks noted that the CEO Roundtable was especially helpful. The format of the CEO Roundtable session included canvassing participants prior to the session to maximize on the relevance of selected topics. The facilitator invited participants to contribute and brainstorm on a number of topics, including HR, MarCom, Membership, AI and Board/Governance. Going into even greater depth, the discussions covered changes in membership personas, communicated value for effective engagement, legal and ethical ramifications of AI, new recruitment and retention methods, and cyber security. Meanwhile, Stephens was particularly appreciative of the session she attended where she learned “ten steps to creating a marketing plan in an hour,” presented by Charla Lucas and Abigail Bayer. Stephens also noted that Lori Zoss Kraska and Teri Carden’s session on activating DEI strategy was valuable to her work with associations.
As if connecting with colleagues and learning from experts was not enough, our team also had the amazing opportunity to participate in the event by means of committee membership. Particularly, Brooks and Caputo served on FSAE’s Awards Committee, in addition to Caputo’s participation in the Education Committee, which helped develop educational programs for the conference. Learn more about the work Brooks and Caputo did on these committees in our recent blog post on the topic.
