Concurrent Sessions

Tuesday, July 28

1:15 PM - 2:15 PM 

From Transactional to Transformational: Building Ownership-Driven Teams in Modern AMCs
Presenters: Valerie Smith & Gjergi Ndoja, The Solution Association Management 
The next era of Association Management Companies will not be built on transactions. It will be built on ownership.
As client expectations rise and talent markets tighten, AMCs must intentionally develop professionals who think, act, and lead like owners. Not owners of the AMC, but rather owners of their roles, their clients, and the firm’s long-term success.

This interactive panel session features a multi-generational, diverse leadership team sharing real-world practices for cultivating an ownership mindset across an AMC. Together, we will explore how relationship-based leadership outperforms transactional management, how to align team members to both the AMC’s mission and client success, and how to intentionally develop professionals who see themselves as long-term strategic partners, not task managers.

Attendees will engage in live scenario discussions, peer exchange, and guided reflection to identify practical shifts they can implement immediately within their own firms.  This session is not theoretical. It is built on tested systems and lived experience inside a growth-oriented AMC.

Rich Professional Development on a Budget
Presenter: Karyn Nishimura Sneath, FASAE, Synergos
It’s often said that employees are an organization’s greatest asset. If that’s true, investing in their growth should be a top priority. But how do you offer a full menu of professional and organizational development opportunities when resources are limited? This session explores a holistic approach to staff development that balances structure, creativity, and time investment to deliver meaningful results without breaking the bank.

Learn how to design programs that address the needs of both local and remote teams while fostering engagement and collaboration. Discover practical, budget-friendly strategies to enhance skills, build morale, and support career growth. Attendees will leave equipped with actionable tools and ideas that can be immediately implemented to enrich their teams and create lasting value for their organizations. Empower your employees and maximize their potential with thoughtful, cost-effective development initiatives

Engagement Without Exhaustion: Preventing Burnout in High-Demand AMC Roles
Presenter: Kim Paugh, CAE, Raybourn Group International

Association Management Company professionals are wired to deliver. They juggle multiple clients, competing board priorities, compressed deadlines, and a steady stream of shifting expectations. High performance becomes the norm — but so does quiet exhaustion.

Burnout in AMCs doesn’t usually look dramatic. It looks like your most reliable team member going quiet. A manager who is constantly reacting instead of leading. A team that’s working incredibly hard but still feels behind. Over time, that pressure impacts morale, retention, and ultimately client service.

In this session, we’ll focus on building resilience as a practical skill — not a buzzword — for AMC teams operating in high-demand environments. Participants will learn concrete strategies to help staff manage competing deadlines, shifting priorities, and multiple stakeholders without becoming overwhelmed. We’ll explore how leaders can design work in ways that reduce unnecessary stress, set clearer expectations, and model behaviors that strengthen resilience. The goal is to equip AMC leaders to help their teams stay engaged, adaptable, and effective — even when the pace is relentless.

Wednesday, July 29

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM 

AI for the Work You Actually Do: Practical Applications for Membership Professionals in AMCs
Presenter: Kristin Miodonski, CAE, MCI USA
AI is everywhere, but for membership professionals working across multiple clients, systems, and communication styles, the real challenge is cutting through the noise to find what actually works. This engaging session combines live demonstrations, interactive polling, and practical examples to show how AI can support the work you do every day. Participants will gain clarity on which tools are worth their time and how to apply them in ways that improve efficiency, consistency, and confidence across diverse membership environments.

Together we will explore real workflows for streamlining communications, synthesizing information, preparing for meetings, and managing competing priorities, along with an introduction to building simple AI agents that can extend your capacity. Attendees will leave with a practical toolbox of platforms, prompts, and strategies they can use immediately to reduce administrative burden, enhance the quality of their work, and create more space for strategic thinking and member impact.

Working Genius: Aligning Energy, Roles and Results
Presenter: Donna Kelly, Veritas Association Management
Why does some work give your energy while other tasks drain you even when you are good at them? This interactive workshop introduces participants to the 6 Types of Working Genius, a practical model for how people experience work and why teams often struggle despite good intentions.

Standardize or Customize? The AMC Dilemma No One Can Avoid
Presenters: Avital Rosen & Louise Gorringe, Kenes Group
Every AMC team lives with the same daily tension, standardization promises efficiency, margin protection, scalability, and clarity for staff whilst customization drives client satisfaction, differentiation, and retention — but at a cost.
For senior managers or operational leaders, this debate isn’t theoretical. They’re the ones:
  • Managing inconsistent scopes across clients
  • Balancing staffing models that don’t quite fit
  • Explaining why “this client is different” — again
  • Deciding whether to deliver a workaround or escalate to leadership
This interactive debate puts real AMC realities on the table. Participants will hear two opposing viewpoints — standardize aggressively vs. customization as the AMC value proposition — and then weigh in themselves through live voting, Q&A, and facilitated discussion. The goal is not to declare a winner, but to help managers leave with clear decision frameworks, language they can use with leadership, and practical ways to navigate scope, staffing, and client expectations.

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM 

Why is Everyone Freaking Out? Understanding Team Needs During Change
Presenter: JJ Colburn, CAE, Strategic Association Management
AMCs and the organizations we support are navigating rapid transformation - from shifting member expectations and economic uncertainty to evolving workforce dynamics and organizational restructuring. For AMC leaders, these pressures are often magnified as teams balance the priorities, cultures, and expectations of the AMC and multiple client organizations, volunteer leaders, and boards.

In times like these, how leaders show up and how they support their teams while guiding clients and boards through uncertainty can determine whether organizations and individuals move forward with resilience or get stuck in resistance. A leader’s own self-awareness and ability to recognize how they respond to stress and uncertainty can significantly shape how others experience and navigate change.

In this interactive session, JJ Colburn, Partner at Strategic Association Management (SAM), explores how leaders can create the clarity, stability, and motivation their teams need during periods of significant change. Drawing on real-world experience in the association and AMC environment, JJ will share practical frameworks for understanding how people respond to uncertainty, along with tools leaders can use to build greater self-awareness and quickly diagnose what their teams, clients, and boards need in the moment—and how to respond effectively.

When Service, Systems, and Strategy Collide
Presenters: Kim Gill, MA, CAE, & Ashley Motoya, Civica Management
There was a moment when we realized something difficult: The clients we were serving were quietly reshaping our culture. Revenue was steady. Relationships were long-standing. On paper, everything looked healthy.

But internally, the signs were clear — stretched leadership, blurred ownership, reactive workflows, uneven labor-to-revenue alignment, and subtle cultural drift.

We pride ourselves on service, partnership, and loyalty. But we had not paused to ask whether the clients we served were reinforcing the way we wanted to work — or eroding it.

This session shares our ongoing journey of stepping back, examining culture and portfolio alignment holistically, and making intentional — and at times uncomfortable — leadership decisions to realign.

Reading the Room Before the RFP: Early Warning Signs in the AMC-Board Relationship
Presenter: Christina Becker, MBA, Becker Associates

Every AMC has been there: the RFP arrives, and only then do the earlier warning signs become clear—shifts in board behavior, unusual questions, or subtle changes in engagement and budget conversations.

This session helps you spot those signals sooner, while there’s still time to respond. Using real-world insights and current industry trends, we’ll introduce a practical framework to identify three stages of board dissatisfaction—early, active, and committed—and what they look like in everyday interactions.

You’ll learn how to respond at each stage, from repairing and resetting relationships to knowing when it’s time to let go. We’ll close with a candid peer discussion on a critical question: when is the board right, and when is a transition the best outcome?