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Six reasons working for an AMC is different from working for a stand-alone association

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For over four years I worked for a stand-alone international medical association. It was a great group of people and volunteers and I enjoyed it very much. However, the association was growing and evolving and with a small staff of only five full time employees serving 3,000 members, our project capacity became limited.  The board eventually hired an AMC when the executive director retired. This was my first foray into the magic of association management companies.  

Boredom is never an option. There are always new projects and challenges. Never the same old same old. 

Expertise with industry best practices. Run into a jam?  There is a very high probability that an AMC has been confronted with this issue before and can easily navigate leadership in the right direction. They have seen and done it all before.

Technology and innovation. With a large staff working on multiple clients, AMCs are tech savvy because they must be. They are organized and up-to-date on the latest and greatest to benefit the needs of all clients and keep projects streamlined and efficient.

Negotiating. AMCs have more buying power, period. If one client needs a service, it is likely that a second or third will as well. Multiple contracts equal quality discounts.

Networking. AMCs have a lot of connections. They’ve worked with several vendors over the years planning meetings all over the country and beyond. They know everyone everywhere! 

Flexibility. The beauty of AMCs is customization. They are extremely adaptable to clients’ requests and can pivot as necessary to accomplish goals with as many team members on deck as necessary. Anything is possible!

I have learned so much already from my colleagues and am proud to be a part of the AMPED team!

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A day in the life of an AMC staff member

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Each week you read on our blog how we all “wear many hats!” While this is the case for many association professionals, I feel that it is particularly true for AMCs like AMPED. Between the various needs of our different clients, some days we can be all over the place! I thought it might be fun to document one whole day at work to get an idea of the wide variety of tasks we tackle. It would have been hard to capture it all, but I did my best. Enjoy!

7:25 a.m. — Kiss dog and husband goodbye. Yes, in that order.

7:25:10 a.m. — One more kiss for the dog - she’s so cute. Off to the office!

7:43 a.m. — Pass by my usual drive-through Starbucks. Running a bit late. Decide I can make it without caffeine today.

7:56 a.m. — Arrive at office. Spend a few minutes reviewing each of my in-boxes (six total). Respond to messages that have quick answers and prioritize my day.

8:00 a.m. — Laugh at self for thinking I could survive without caffeine. Grab a coworker and head to Starbucks. We are both named Emily and we both get iced coffee. That really throws the baristas off.

8:05 a.m. — “The other Emily” and I use the walk back from Starbucks to discuss a knowledge-sharing session my colleagues had yesterday that I missed due to a call with a potential member. I give her a heads-up that I need her help pulling a specific set of abstracts from a recent client meeting to add to the client website.

8:30 a.m. — Recurring calendar reminder: time to update a client’s member list in email marketing service site. This particular client has rolling membership renewals, so their member list is constantly changing. They use this service to send out weekly e-newsletters and upcoming webinar invitations, so it is vital that it is consistently up-to-date.

8:45 a.m. — Lynda will be in the office today. Write up a quick list of items to discuss with her, including an upcoming client Board meeting.

8:53 a.m. — Follow up with emails from members for a particular client regarding their membership directory listing. Make changes to the database if required.

9:30 a.m. — Come across a voicemail from last night for a client member who wants to renew their membership. The message is a bit hard to understand, so I spend a few minutes searching the database for partial phone numbers and names to see if I can figure out who this is.

9:35 a.m. — Find the company name and confirm the phone number. Review my notes from the renewal workbook. Oh, awesome! This was a company that previously told me they weren’t planning to renew their membership. My follow-ups had worked! *Pats self on the back*

9:36 a.m. — Pick up the phone to dial the member.

9:36:15 a.m. — Realize the company is in California, where it is only 7:36 a.m. Ugh. *Hang up phone and create myself a calendar reminder for 11a.m. to give them a call back.*

9:45 a.m. — Calendar reminder pops up to write AMPED blog. Already on that! *dismiss*

9:56 a.m. — Pop over to “the other Emily’s” office for her to show me how to find those abstracts. Turns out to be super simple. Spend the time originally dedicated to writing my blog to updating the client website. Web updates for this particular client aren’t typically in my job description, but I work closely with the volunteer leader who inquired about it and I know the person that would normally take care of this has a lot on her plate, so I don’t mind at all. (Reason #536 I love working at AMPED – we all do this sort of thing for each other.)

10:20 a.m. — Microsoft Word crashes. Luckily, both documents I had been working on saved.

10:25 a.m. — Website updates complete. It bothers me that previous entries on the page are inconsistent. Spend time cleaning up the format and notify volunteer leader that the page has been updated. Notice that one portion is completely missing. I assume the client will want it added in, so I send an email to a colleague to find missing info.

10:30 a.m. — Three email campaigns were scheduled to go out today to notify various groups for one of our clients about an upcoming webinar. Watch notification emails as they come in to make sure everything seems right. Notification emails end up in my clutter inbox. Give clutter a quick once-over to make sure there is nothing important.

10:33 a.m. — Review inboxes and respond where necessary. One question required a bit of research, so I spend a couple minutes searching through documentation for an answer. Not finding what I need. Send an email to the person who will have the answer.

10:41 a.m. — Office manager, Trisha, comes in to let me know that she ordered a Graze Box trial for the office. *Yay! We love snacks.* Speaking of snacks…

10:42 a.m. — Grab snack from fridge.

10:47 a.m. — Tony pops over to discuss a potential member for one of our clients and come up with a quick plan to keep them engaged.

10:54 a.m. — Jeanne asks me about award order for client Board member. Shoot. Should have filed original email in ”waiting for response” folder. Send reminder email to Executive Director to select the award.

10:56 a.m. — Process new member application and send email with invoice and payment instructions.

11:12 a.m. — Realize reminder had popped up to call member in CA from earlier. Dial number, but learn that contact is only in office on Monday and Friday. Get email address from secretary and send follow-up. Create reminder for me to follow up on Friday. Respond to other emails while in Outlook.

11:47 a.m. — Process continuing education reimbursement application for a client member. Members receive up to $50 reimbursement every two years, so I first check to make sure this particular member qualifies.

11:52 a.m. — *HR hat on.* Discuss staffing plans now that two of our interns are gone for the summer.

12:00 p.m. — Only halfway through the day? Hope people are still reading! Discuss onboarding/orientation plan for new volunteer leaders with outside Executive Director for one of our clients.

12:05 p.m. — Help Tony and Brittany prepare for meeting with a client partner member. Discuss 2017 sponsorship package, including membership, conference registration, marketing support, etc.

12:20 p.m. — Quick walk around the Square. Stop at local cheese shop to put together Wisconsin-themed gift basket for aforementioned partner member meeting. *These are the really rough parts of association management.*

12:40 p.m. — Catch up on emails while eating lunch. I normally try to eat outside on nice days like this, but I’m taking the afternoon off on Friday and want to keep things moving.

12:55 p.m. — Calendar reminder for member database training with new Latin America staff person for one of our clients. Pull up documentation, database and screen sharing software. Quickly finish lunch.

1:00 p.m. — Give high level overview of membership database to new Latin America staff. Thankfully I have all of the most common database procedures documented. Our cloud server allows me to share the documentation via a web link to ensure that our Latin American staff always has the most current version of the document.

2:15 p.m. — Reach out to account manager for VoIP service to follow up on a new phone order and inquire about headsets for some staff that share offices.

2:21 p.m. — Update membership and staff reports for upcoming client Board meeting. I’ve already had various staff members update their areas, so I just need to finalize my sections.

2:30 p.m. — Does it bother you when you ask someone two questions in an email and they only respond to one?

2:46 p.m. — Provide updated membership numbers to finance manager so she can update budget forecast for client.

2:48 p.m. — Receive answer to question from 10:33 a.m. Pass along response to member and quickly respond to other emails while in Outlook.

2:52 p.m. — The new member application I processed this morning has made payment online. Complete processing membership and send welcome kit.

2:55 p.m. — There’s someone with a megaphone yelling outside my window. It’s always something . . .

2:58 p.m. — Review graphic and member listing for publication in a client’s magazine. Doing so reminds me of some web updates to make. Create reminder to do so once I receive answers to a couple questions.

3:13 p.m. — Follow up with a few new client members for their logos and text for their listing on the website.

3:18 p.m. — *IT Person hat on.* Boot up former employee’s laptop to look for document. Not able to find it. Deliver bad news to colleague.

3:28 p.m. — Yep! I was right – the client asked about that missing portion of the website from 10:25 a.m. Good thing I’m already on it.

3:31 p.m. — *All hats on.* Catch up with Lynda: potential clients, potential employees, upcoming client Board meetings, client financials, life.

4:32 p.m. — Review inboxes. Someone requested a list from a recent client meeting, so I repurpose one that I already have rather than starting from scratch.

4:40 p.m. — I won’t get to a larger project that I had planned to work on this afternoon, so I move it to tomorrow’s calendar. One of our clients is implementing a complete Association Management System to replace several independent systems (event management, email marketing, abstract management, etc). Moving a client to a new database is a big project and takes lots of prep work, so I block off an hour or so on my calendar every couple days to chip away at it.

4:42 p.m. — There’s a line out my door since I’ve been away from my desk. Assist colleagues with a few questions regarding financials and where to find specific documentation.

4:53 p.m. — Prepare projects for intern to work on tomorrow.

4:59 p.m. — Check survey sent to a client board regarding their availability for an in-person meeting. Send reminder to members who have not responded.

5:01 p.m. — Review calendar and to-do list for the day to ensure there was nothing missed.

5:03 p.m. — Shut down laptop, lock up. Head home to my cute dog (and husband)!

5:06 p.m. — *IT hat back on!* I notice an email on my phone from a colleague who accidentally deleted a file. Unfortunately she hadn’t saved it at all yet, so I am unable to recover. Deliver the bad news.

5:50 p.m. — Send background information files on a potential client to a new employee. I can do this from my phone. *Cloud computing for the win!*

5:59 p.m. — Okay now I’m done working for the day. Heading in to the gym.

9:04 p.m. — Peek at inboxes on my phone one last time. I like to have an idea of what will be on my plate when I get in to the office tomorrow. I swear I’m done now.

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When your association moves to a new AMC . . . and so do you: Tips to stay focused, positive

NAFA team
No one likes change…or do they? Recently, our group, The National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) transitioned to a new management team — AMPED! Luckily, I was asked to join the AMPED team so I could continue to support NAFA, where I have worked for over 10 years [photo: Core NAFA team]. This is a great group of people, dedicated to education and professionalism in the air filtration industry.

Was I scared? You bet! But excited too. I was determined to make this change with a positive attitude, so I developed a mental check list:

Embrace new technology. It keeps you young! Learning new programs and apps is like going back to school. It increases your value and worth and, in the end, it usually does make your job easier.

Own up to your mistakes. Admit to them, fix them and move on. This is hardest for me. I don’t like to be embarrassed by acknowledging a mistake. But I actually found a comradery in having a team that can help you fix an error. You learn something new. Be thankful for the talented and educated team in your arsenal.

Never let them see you sweat. I knew some in the organization were concerned about my future. I let them know right away what a great team we were getting with AMPED. Projecting a positive attitude about a new situation is infectious.

Don’t forget the past, but don’t dwell in it. Explain procedures, listen to the team suggest new and better ways of doing things. Get the phrase “We’ve always done it this way” out of your head.

Jump in with both feet. I knew I had to do things I may not be comfortable with (writing a blog, for one!), but I took my nervousness, set it aside and plunged in. Sure the water was cold, but I soon warmed up and was able to start enjoying the swim.

Finally, appreciate your value. Stop focusing on all the ways things are changing and, instead, embrace the positive that you are getting from your new team. I had to set my ego aside quite a few times as more experienced people made changes and implemented new ideas. I focused on the positive comments. I found there were quite a few if I listened hard enough. I keep those in the forefront of my mind like a mantra; this allows me to keep from getting in a negative mood.

There will be bumps along the way, but negativity will affect the people around you. Give your team members the respect they deserve. Even if you aren’t feeling particularly positive, focus on the bigger picture. You’re a part of the team and your attitude matters. A little effort goes a long way.

If you project a positive attitude, chances are it will be reciprocated. Negative people see walls, but positive people look for and find solutions. Instead of seeing a problem, see a puzzle; move the pieces and solve it.

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AMCs help take the headaches out of running associations

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Lynda Patterson featured in InBusiness Madison magazine

The Great Recession and the tepid economy that followed left many companies and organizations looking for any financial edge they could find. That’s no less true among nonprofits and professional and trade associations, which often need to leverage small budgets while staying focused on big missions.

While it’s tempting to say that the recent recession sunk all boats, some associations hoped to gain an edge by calling on association management companies (AMCs) to handle their day-to-day operations.
Indeed, according to a study conducted by LoBlue & Majdalany Management Group, standalone organizations (industry speak for associations that manage their own operations) fared significantly worse than AMC-managed organizations during the recession. According to the study, 66% of AMC-managed organizations operated in the black during 2008, at the height of the recession, while only 47% of standalone organizations did.

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Association Management Partners earns AMCi Accreditation

Association Management Partners, LLC announces that the firm recently became accredited by the AMC Institute. The accreditation was granted following an in-depth, third-party audit of the firm’s management and operations.

AMP, owned by Lynda J. Patterson, FASAE, CAE, provides association leadership, event planning and management, member communications, public relations, financial management and other management services to multiple national and international trade associations and professional societies from its headquarters in Madison, Wis. Founded in 2008, the firm employs 10 people.

Of the more than 500 association management companies (AMCs) worldwide, AMP is one of just 70 firms that have achieved this prestigious accreditation, demonstrating that they operate with the highest level of professionalism and responsibility, and consistently meet or exceed industry standards.

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