NUCLEUS ANALYTICS BLOG

Back in July, we responded to the waves of client interactions we were having regarding the entirely new types of member data that were being generated by virtual events - things that can be known about attendees of virtual events but not live ones. 

Julie Sweet is the CEO of a 500,000-person consulting firm with thousands of clients, all of whom rely on her to be focused on changes, trends, and opportunities for the future.

In an interview on Oct. 8th, she made the following remarks, all of which we at Gravitate believe directly apply to our beloved association space:

For associations offering courses and certifications, having basic metrics on things like participation counts and revenue are critical - but just the start. To grow your education business, you need to take advantage of the sophisticated metrics now available through modern data analytics – trends, behaviors, preferences, popularity, geography and much more.

The Nucleus data analytics platform has two dedicated and ready-to-use packages for precisely these types of analysis: Learning Management and Certifications.

2020 is providing member-based organizations with opportunities as well as challenges, and the technologists at DelCor and Gravitate teamed up on September 15th to offer something that many associations will find most welcome – insights into how to make meaningful improvements to your processes and your member offerings in this very unusual year, presented by those that are actually doing it.

When executives and data analysts think data analytics, the vision that likely pops into their heads is an executive dashboard. An executive dashboard is a collection of metrics and trends that shows the current state of a department, an initiative, or an organization overall. A common analogy is an airplane's cockpit array (which have also improved dramatically). When used effectively, Dashboards can be invaluable in identifying changes, monitoring progress, timely decision-making, and even strategic planning.

John Egan, Growth Engineer at Pinterest, believes that it is critically important to only track metrics that you are going to use. He says, “Don’t build metrics that aren’t going to be part of your day-to-day operations or don’t have potential to be incorporated as such. Building reports that no one looks at is just activity without accomplishment and is a waste of time.”

Having worked in the association space since 1992, I have attended my share of ASAE Annual Meetings – Detroit, Dallas, LA, Hawaii – too many to list. This year, I took part in more than a dozen sessions, some live and some on-demand, with most of my focus being on those sessions that were dedicated to the actual business of an association and better serving membership (as opposed to individual leadership improvement or similar content).

While the specific aspects of association business were varied, ranging from Non-Dues Revenue, Content Marketing, Increasing Member Value, Chapters and Components, Member Engagement, or Association Technology, a thread running through each and every one was....

Live Events, Virtual Events, Online Conferences... no matter what you call them, they are here to stay. If you have been following the American Society of Association Executives’ (ASAE) online communities, virtual events are the hottest topic – and for good reason. Most associations have been running their annual conference the same way for years but have had to swiftly move on-line and run their meeting virtually. Fortunately, our CAE training kept us from panicking!

Published by SAS, May 2020 - Data Scientist Kirk Borne on the value of universal understanding of data and its effect on society.

InformationWeek just ran an interesting article titled “Why Everyone’s Data and Analytics Strategy Just Blew Up”. They sum it up starkly: "Customer behavior has changed and company operations have changed. If your data and analytics strategy isn't keeping up with what's happening, then you have important work to do, quickly." We couldn’t agree more – you need Fast Data.

On April 14^th, Associations Now published an article titled “How the COVID-19 Crisis Is Accelerating the Shift to Online Member Engagement.” In putting forth these ideas, ASAE is emphasizing to the member industry the fact that trends towards online member engagement are not new and not subtle – just that they are accelerating in response to the pandemic.