Building Community Through Relationships

Kris Williams is Membership Director for the International News Media Association (INMA), which has over 11,000 individual members from 123 corporate members, from nearly 70 countries. The Board has very broad international representation, with also regional boards to represent different regions of the world and help create community. The members are on the business side of the news operation, rather than on the journalism/content side. INMA also live and recorded webinars internationally, in addition to in-person meetings, to also help build community. The Association also connects news organizations from different areas with one another as a community-building effort.

Kat Shamapande is the Director of Professional Development for the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP), which has members from many countries and also has its own international podcast with information about the surety industry. A podcast is a great way to benefit the members, says Kat, but also those who need to learn about the surety industry, and ultimately to build an international community. One important focus of NASBP is helping members build relationships and trust, because it is a rather niche industry and relationships are very important to the businesses.

Arianna Rehak, CEO of Matchbox Virtual Media, which produces virtual events and conferences for associations. Virtual events began as stand-alone events, but the covid pandemic thrust Matchbox Virtual Media into the fray with so many meeting cancellations. Arianna says that Matchbox primarily helps associations have virtual conversations, which are not just webinars but live virtual events with attendee interaction and chats in real time. People can connect in meaningful ways to create community even if on a virtual basis.

Wan-Jung Wei is the Executive Director of the International Organisation of Scenographers Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT). Established in 1948, OISTAT serves those who facilitate and create design for live performance. OISTAT's Executive Committee and Governing Board members are from more than 10 different countries. The essential activities of OISTAT are undertaken by different commissions, including education, architecture, performance design, technology, research, and publication & communication. One example of OISTAT's international collaboration efforts can be demonstrated by its Digital Theatre Words (DTW) project, which focuses on new theatre terminology and currently has 24 languages online. You can download DTW at the OISTAT website.

Jefferson Glassie, FASAE, with the Whiteford Nonprofit Law Group, traveled to Delhi, India to participate in a a meeting of PangeaNet, a global network of law firms. It is a referral network for international law firms, but is also an association that is trying to build community and strengthen relationships. Associations come in all shapes and sizes, and PangeaNet provides a benefit to those firms that join be broadening their reach and helping clients by having strong legal connections in other countries. In addition, Jeff stayed in India and then traveled to Nepal to do a video interview of a musician in Kathmandu for a project of another nonprofit organization, the Planetary Gigs Society. While not a membership association, the Society seeks to build community of musicians around the world and conducting podcasts and video interviews with musicians internationally is one way to demonstrate make connections and demonstrate commonalities. Glassie says that, no matter what type of association, it is really important for association executives to give great emphasis and intention to the importance of community.

Mary Ward-Callan with IEEE talks about how to manage and provide content and networking opportunities for an association whose 420,000 members span over 160 countries. IEEE was initially a US based association, but now only 40% is from the US. Mary talked about creating community through global, but also local engagement through 1500 chapters world-wide. IEEE councils offer technical specialization communities on both global and local levels. One challenge is to coordinate literally a thousand educational and membership opportunities and meetings in different time zones across the planet. Ensuring appropriate cultural and social programming is also critical to the success of the organization in meeting its mission of technological advance for the betterment of humanity.

John Ganoe talks about how to administer a world-wide certification program for common interest community managers. CAMICB certificants are in about 15 countries. This necessitated an international examination form to test for the body of knowledge developed by a global group of subject matter experts that had to be applicable across the board and be appropriate in many countries. Success in community building for CAMICB is tied directly to having individuals on the ground in different countries who are supportive and promoting the program. CAMICB benefits from the global education reach of its affiliated associations Community Associations Institute.

Eileen McCarthy is with the Strategic Management Society, which consists of over 3,000 members representing a kaleidoscope of backgrounds and perspectives from more than 80 different countries. Membership is composed of academics, business practitioners, and consultants, focused on the development and dissemination of insights and research on the strategic management profession, as well as on fostering contacts and interchange around the world. The Society focuses on young scholars from different cultures and bringing them into the field. The SMS Board is quite diverse culturally and geographically, and uses the zoom technology (even before the pandemic) to communicate, manage governance, and maintain community. SMS is working hard to create community on new and innovative ideas and issues all over the world.

We sat down with David Dubois (virtually) with the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, which has members in 52 countries representing 1300 member organizations. IAEE has over 250 different communities/subgroups in different areas. David spoke about how IAEE organizes and manages these various culturally diverse groups around the world, with significant attention to being culturally sensitive. It is also very important to have local partners and experts in areas where the association has activities.

Most of the world has aircraft based rescue, and most of us just assume it's safe. Cameron Curtis, CMM, CAE, the chief executive officer of the Association of Air Medical Services, leads the association whose members go in to conduct rescue operations by aircraft anywhere in the world. AAMS is a global association of medivac companies, holding an international meeting with helicopters on the trade show floor. The AAMS has an international Board, and is working on outreach to ensure geographic representation. There is a very strong community in the association, because they have to work closely as teams in their important life-saving occupations. And the members also a strong desire to share resources globally to saves as many lives in dangerous situations.