Many association members are directors, VP’s and CEO’s. At their company or organization, there is just one of them. Which means they are lonely.
They are lonely in the professional sense. There is no one to benchmark against. There is no one to share best practices with. There is no one with which to feel a sense of collegiality.
They are also lonely in the personal sense. There’s no happy hour crowd to join. They are no longer part of the lunch crowd. They are a “them”, no longer an “us”. There is no one to share stories with, joke with, or commiserate with.
While we would never market it like this, another huge value for some associations is addressing member’s loneliness, helping members cope with loneliness and helping them find others like them so they can be less lonely.
Onward!
Related:
- Improve the member experience with curated networking
- A big opportunity: associations can help members with emotional support
- Intentionally designing member experiences