What good are association awards? Part 3

One final post on the subject of awards...

Before I wrap this up, as an aside, those who work in public relations and magazine publishing seem to be the most obsessed with awards. Actually, I can see some sense in it from an advertising perspective. When you win something, you can write about it in communications to members and prospects: "Our award-winning magazine..." But still, I have to believe members use association programs because they are valuable, not because they have won awards from some association they've never heard of.

I was recently sitting in an association board room in which an engraved plaque (ironically, very much like the awards I'm writing about) hanging on the wall read "How does this make our members' lives better?" The $50 spent on the plaque probably didn't make their lives any better, but hopefully the decisions made by keeping that simple principle in mind did.

It comes down to a value judgment. Here's the crucial decision: Is the fierce loyalty of a small group of members brought on by giving out awards as important, or more important, than 1) The commitment of time and money to the awards process, 2) The opportunity costs of ignoring other value or money generating programs, and 3) The possibility that you may actually disengage the majority of your membership over an awards program.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive