Association Event Network September 2019 | Page 13

The Big Interview
Washington DC
they need to be close to where legislation
is being crafted. We want to be much
more proactive about selling that strength
to other associations that want to get
involved.
Singapore has been a leader in linking
its meetings strategy to its economic
development for decades, but is now
recognising the value of associations as
well. And Dubai realised there is virtually
nowhere in the Middle East region where
associations could even legally register and
operate, which it hopes to change.
Each of the four cities is committed to
the association market in a way none of
their competitors are, and yet each one is
quite distinctly different. Part of my job is
to explain this to the market, and help them
synergise with each other. My job is also to
champion associations as an essential part
of the mix for any city that is serious about
being a major player in the future.
What trends do you see going
forwards for associations?
“Young people are
not a monolith,
they're a very
complex mix of
people and we need
to start actually
asking them for their
views. It's going to be
a challenge."
Singapore
Brussels
One of the trends I’ve been talking about
for some time now is that they are facing
more and more competition. Associations
used to be monopoly providers of
specialised knowledge within their
region, but now those boundaries
are breaking down. We have private
companies that are looking for gaps in
the market, organising events and sucking
out the time of key people, as well as
information being freely available on the
internet.
We’re heading towards a period where
there are definitely going to be winners
and losers. Associations which are able
to offer the very best quality of content,
whether through live events or online
material, will come out on top. They will
squish other organisations in the same
field who have not moved sharply enough
– groups who only see themselves as
offering a local service.
To me, it feels that a lot of associations
are having to go global, or having to look
outside their geographical area, simply
because they risk being overwhelmed
with competition from outside if they
don’t. Knowledge is their currency, and
they have to utilise it effectively.
Our focus this issue is on young
people getting involved with
associations – what is your
perspective on this; have you seen
associations struggle to engage a
younger crowd?
I’ve actually just started a mentorship
project with Katrin Schmitt from CIM
www.aenetwork.co.uk
Dubai
magazine. She wanted to encourage
more mentoring throughout the
meetings industry, and I was brought in
as one of the ’16 over 60’ to volunteer.
It prompted me to think I wanted
more young people interacting within
the GAH cities, so I’ve asked each of the
cities to nominate a smart young person
to be my mentee. The project they’ll be
working on is to investigate what makes
a city attractive to millennials, from
an association perspective. If we can
articulate this, we can help associations
to address this question when recruiting.
There are so many clichés about
young people, and I don’t think most
organisations have really gone much
further beyond them. Young people are
not a monolith, they’re a very complex
mix of people and we need to start
actually asking them for their views.
It’s going to be a challenge. Young
people have been connected to each
other electronically from a very early
stage, so it’s more difficult to convince
them of the value of local communities
like associations. Things that my
generation think of as a marketing
activity, they think of as simply living
and breathing. Many associations have
not yet managed to come up with good
models that tie young people in.
The biggest issue is to give them
responsibility and trust them – to let
them come up with some solutions
themselves. Too often it’s the old
Greybeards coming up with things they
think millennials might like. But the
future will be invented by the people
who are going to live it.
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