Register by April 9

Building Blocks of Marketing

Crafting Strategies for Association Success

Transform your association’s marketing efforts and unlock new possibilities with VMAE ThinkWORKS 2025, a two-day virtual deep dive into the strategies, tools, and insights driving success for mission-driven organizations. This program is designed to provide actionable takeaways, interactive collaboration, and practical solutions to marketing challenges faced by associations of all sizes.

What You’ll Gain at ThinkWORKS 2025:

    • Proven Expertise: Kick off with Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President at Marketing General Incorporated, as he unveils the insights behind The Seven Deadly Sins of Membership Marketing. Learn how to sidestep common pitfalls and create sustainable growth for your organization.
    • AI-Powered Marketing: Discover cost-effective and accessible AI tools with Erica Salm Rench, designed to streamline workflows and improve marketing impact through enhanced content generation, email personalization, and more.
    • Versatile Communication Skills: Learn best practices for handling everything from targeted member engagement by career stage to crisis communications with AVMA’s Angela Roberts. These practical lessons will help you confidently manage any challenge.
    • Digital Marketing Mastery: Join Christine Saunders as she reveals how digital and paid marketing strategies can be used as long-term drivers for association growth. Gain tips on budgeting, content repurposing, and overcoming digital marketing obstacles.
    • Benchmarking for Success: Understand how your organization compares to peers with insights from the 2024 Marketing Benchmarks for Mission-Driven Associations report. Learn how to assess your marketing maturity and chart a path to greater effectiveness with Mighty Citizen.
    • Collaborative Innovation: Join the Member Mastermind Exchange for a unique opportunity to share your successes, swap tools, and brainstorm solutions. This interactive session is packed with rapid-fire ideas, breakout discussions, and inspiring peer stories.

Interactive and Engaging:
This isn’t just a conference—it’s a chance to connect, create, and grow. Engage in meaningful discussions with colleagues and VMAE Strategic Initiative Partners during a virtual social hour. Test your creativity with a LEGO set, delivered to your doorstep, symbolizing the creative process of building impactful marketing campaigns. Dive into fun icebreakers like the Mad Libs Marketing Campaign and the AI Marketing Assistant Challenge, designed to get you thinking creatively and collaboratively. These activities, paired with the conference’s key insights, will help you construct stronger, more strategic marketing campaigns.

Why Attend?
ThinkWORKS 2025 is your chance to sharpen your skills, explore new technologies, and connect with peers who share your challenges and aspirations. Whether you’re leading marketing efforts or looking to elevate your team’s approach, you’ll leave equipped with the tools, insights, and connections to drive success.

Register by April 9, to secure your exclusive ThinkWORKS Experience Box (a copy of Tony Rossell’s new book, LEGO set, and more) and build the foundation for your association’s marketing success. Don’t miss this opportunity to reimagine what’s possible—let’s build it together!

Featured Speaker

Mary Byers, CAE, CSP

Mary Byers, CAE, CSP, is co-author of Race for Relevance: Five Radical Changes for Associations and Road to Relevance: 5 Strategies for Competitive Associations. She’s the former director of communications and member services for the Illinois State Dental Society and served in that capacity for nine years prior to starting her consulting business in 1998. Since then, she’s worked with over 300 associations, including the Million Dollar Round Table, American and Illinois Farm Bureaus, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Association of Medical Society Executives.

Mary specializes in working with volunteer association leaders and chief staff executives to help define their roles and clarify their vision through leadership conference programming, facilitating strategic planning retreats and coaching. She’s a skilled listener and able to help initiate and manage difficult conversations and to articulate a preferred future.

Mary is a certified association executive, a certified speaking professional, and a certified virtual presenter. She is also the author of seven books.

 

 

Pricing

  • Member

  • $295/mo
    • Early-Bird pricing through 4/9/25.
    • Member Pricing is $495 after 4/9/25.

  • Non-Member Staff*

  • $395/mo
    • Early-Bird pricing through 4/9/25.
    • Non-member Pricing is $595 after 4/9/25.

Strategic Initiative Partners

Partners receive attendance opportunities to VMAE meetings based on sponsorship level:

Titanium: 8 per sponsorship year
Platinum: 4 per sponsorship year
Gold: 3 per sponsorship year
Silver: 2 per sponsorship year
Bronze: 1 per sponsorship year

* ThinkWORKS is open to any VMAE member and their staff