This weekend, association professionals from across the country will come together for ASAE Annual. There will be plenty of conversations about AI, technology, member engagement, new platforms, and what comes next for our industry.
We’re interested in all of those conversations.
But as the AMS Geek team heads to ASAE Annual, there’s one question underneath them that we think deserves even more attention:
Are we building association technology around the people we serve or around the way our organizations happen to be structured?
For years, associations have invested in AMS platforms, websites, learning systems, online communities, email and marketing tools, event technology, analytics platforms, and now AI.
Each system serves a purpose.
But members don't experience those systems individually.
They experience one association.
Think about a typical member journey.
Someone joins an association and creates a profile. Later, they register for an event. They attend a webinar, participate in an online community, open an email about a certification program, and eventually enroll in a course.
Internally, that journey might touch five or six different systems and several different departments.
To the member, it's one relationship.
They don't know which system holds their membership record. They don't care which platform powers event registration or where their learning history lives.
But they absolutely notice when those experiences don't connect.
They notice when they're asked for information they've already provided.
They notice when recommendations don't reflect their interests.
They notice when one part of the organization seems to know them and another doesn't.
That's why we think the technology conversation has to become bigger than individual platforms.
The question isn't simply, “Does our AMS work?”
It's: “Does our technology ecosystem create the experience we want our members to have?”
Those are two very different questions.
When systems work well together, members shouldn't have to think about the technology behind their experience.
They should be able to find what they need, register for something, update their information, participate in the community, learn, volunteer, and engage without wondering which system they're currently using.
Making that happen isn't always about replacing technology.
Sometimes it's about integration.
Sometimes it's about simplifying a process.
Sometimes it's about cleaning up data.
And sometimes it's about stepping back and asking whether a process that made sense five years ago still makes sense today.
Technology should support the member experience, not define its boundaries.
Of course, one topic will be nearly impossible to avoid at ASAE Annual this year: AI.
And for good reason.
AI is creating exciting possibilities for associations. It can help teams work more efficiently, make organizational knowledge easier to access, personalize member experiences, improve content discovery, and create entirely new ways for members to interact with their association.
But AI also reinforces something we've believed for a long time:
What's underneath the technology matters.
AI layered onto disconnected systems doesn't automatically connect them.
AI working with incomplete or unreliable information doesn't magically make that information trustworthy.
And adding another tool to an already complicated technology ecosystem doesn't necessarily make the member experience simpler.
The opportunities are real. But realizing them requires more than choosing the right AI product.
It requires understanding the ecosystem that product is joining.
That's the lens we're bringing to ASAE Annual.
We're excited to see new technology and hear how organizations are experimenting with AI, automation, integrations, and new approaches to digital member experience.
But we're even more interested in the questions behind those investments.
How are associations designing technology around the member journey?
Where are disconnected systems creating unnecessary friction?
When should an organization replace a platform and when can it get more from what it already has?
How are teams deciding which AI opportunities are worth pursuing?
And what problems do association professionals wish technology could solve that it still hasn't?
Because the next chapter of association technology probably isn't about finding one more platform.
It's about making technology work together with a clearer purpose behind it.
ASAE Annual gives our community an opportunity to have those conversations together, compare experiences, challenge assumptions, and learn from what others are trying.
That's what we're looking forward to most.
If you'll be at ASAE Annual, come find the AMS Geek team.
Tell us what's working. Tell us what's frustrating you. Tell us what you wish your technology could do.
And tell us what question you think the association technology community needs to be asking next.
We'll be listening.