In every association built around camaraderie, continuing education for members and professional development has a role to play. Every member is kept informed about the latest trends in the field your association supports.
A member is informed about the latest trends, developments, and knowledge about their industry through continuing education. A member gets to brush up on past knowledge, reinforce and support learning, challenge old notions, and add to what they already know.
An association helps a member through continuing education, reskilling and upskilling in an evolving work landscape. It keeps members competitive and informed. However, this depends on the timeliness and quality of a professional development course.
As an association, you can also provide support and resources for members. This will enhance your value to them and provide members with more motivation to maintain their memberships and stay engaged. Let’s learn more about continuing education and professional development in association membership.
Producing Continuing Education Courses
Any association needs to produce the right continuing education course. This should be done in a tone and style that appeals to members’ needs and interests. The content of such a course should be unique, relevant, and delivered in the proper presentation.
If quality is there, professional development resources from an association could be a significant factor in a member renewing their membership. Ensure your association management system like MemberNova can host high-quality continuing education courses.
Effect of Professional Development on Association Memberships
Associations that do professional development correctly boost member engagement. Members enjoy having these high-quality resources available. Numerous studies have shown how these courses increase member retention and loyalty. They are a turning point for some organizations in attracting new members.
Decide What Professional Development Courses to Offer Members
Always build resources according to group needs. The best way to find out this is to group similar members. Match courses to different segments of your membership base. Create classes tailored to each group. Segmenting your members is another way to categorize them by industry, experience level, location, or company size.
You can also conduct surveys to understand better what members are interested in collectively learning about. At that stage, all an association has to do is deliver the knowledge they are asked to provide.
Learning Methods or Continuing Education Can Be Difficult to Decide
After selecting courses to teach, you must decide which learning method to employ. Members may prefer in-class learning, while others want remote education. Some may like listening to lectures or video tutorials, while others learn better in groups.
Nowadays, associations should focus on offering professional development courses online, such as through a member portal. Mixed media and different learning styles are also highly recommended to reach as many members as possible.
Support the Use of an Online Portal
Imagine running a single platform where all your members can come, access their continuing education programs, and communicate with one another. What you’re thinking of is an online portal.
Via a portal, every member has a profile and access to self-serve options, such as renewing memberships, registering for events, and reserving their spot in on-demand or live-streamed continuing education courses. Utilizing a platform like Impexium for your association’s management can further enhance this experience, offering an intuitive interface and advanced features to streamline these processes.An online portal then facilitates more member engagement, connection, and bonds with other members, allowing your association to grow its interconnected community.
Promote Your Professional Development Resources
After creating a curriculum, don’t let it go unadvertised. No, you need to promote and inform members that it’s there. In some cases, especially with introductory continuing education courses, you may want to market it at certain times of the year. Make these lessons free of charge to non-members to demonstrate what membership offers.
A successful association’s continuing education program relies on advising members and marketing these resources effectively to members. Successful programs can move members to register for the course.
Evaluate How Successful Your Continuing Education Courses Are
Associations will quickly see whether a professional development course works. Monitor and assess. When members don’t engage with the content or sign up in high numbers, something needs to be fixed.
You may need to change how you market a course or restructure your continuing education program. You may even need to start from scratch. Judge completion rates, platform use, and even open it up to receive feedback from members on how they’re finding a specific professional development component.
Don’t be afraid to switch to new programs. Aim for constant improvement here, and you will be rewarded with stronger memberships.
Comments