Concurrent Sessions for Wednesday, February 17
Wednesday, February 174:00 PM - 5:00 PM CEO transitions are an opportunity for an AMC to build relationships and offer support to clients, help relieve the pressure Boards feel during a high-pressure time and instill trust in the AMC model. Clarifying management models and AMC collaborations during a transition gives flexibility to associations, along with unique openings for AMCs to serve clients. Hear from an interim CEO and Search Committee chair for an AMC CEO search on navigating the recruiting process. This session will complement the research being released by AMCI and Vetted Solutions in January 2027 on what association leaders think of AMCs as resources in strategy making, succession planning, and CEO transition. The Client Is Happy. Your Team Is Drowning. Now What? A happy client does not always mean a healthy client relationship. In fact, sometimes the happiest clients are the ones receiving more than their contract, budget, or staffing model can reasonably support. For AMC leaders, the warning signs can be easy to miss. The work is getting done, the board is happy, and the account appears successful. Behind the scenes, however, staff may be overwhelmed, boundaries are disappearing, profitability is declining, and the AMC has shifted from strategic partner to constant problem solver. This interactive session will explore how AMC leaders can evaluate the true health of a client account by looking beyond client satisfaction. Participants will examine the balance between client expectations, staff capacity, scope, financial performance, communication, and the strength of the strategic partnership. Through real-world scenarios and an Account Health Scorecard, attendees will identify early warning signs and discuss practical ways to reset an unhealthy account before it reaches a breaking point. The Integrated Model, Up Close: One Case Study, Broader Lessons The integrated model is the fastest-emerging structures in association management, and one of the least documented. Both parties arrive with well-developed assumptions about how association management is supposed to work, and those assumptions don't always line up. This session brings both sides of one integrated relationship to the same stage. An AMC partner and the full-time executive director of one of their firm's integrated clients will talk candidly about how they built their working relationship: what each expected at the outset, where those expectations collided, what they had to renegotiate, and what they've settled into. Our co-presenter brings an unusual vantage point, having previously worked inside a different AMC before moving to the association side — she has seen this model from both chairs. We will be specific about the friction points rather than presenting a tidy success story, because the friction is where the learning is. Who Really Makes the Call? What Happens Before The Decision? For once, the industry gets to ask the questions. When an association needs a technology provider, venue, destination, or strategic supplier, who really makes the call? Is it the AMC? The Association Executive ? The board? A committee? Or does the answer depend entirely on the client, the governance structure, and the situation at hand? and does a Global AMC works differently? In this interactive Decision Lab, industry leaders turn the tables and moderate a candid conversation with AMC and association executives about how partnership recommendations are really made. Through live audience voting, real-world scenarios, and honest discussion, attendees will explore what happens before the decision: the conversations, trade-offs, competing priorities, and relationship dynamics that often shape the final outcome. Together, the panel will tackle questions surrounding trust, transparency, preferred partnerships, innovation versus familiarity, pricing pressures, client influence, and the ethical grey zones that can arise when making recommendations on behalf of association clients. Where does advice end and influence begin? How do AMCs balance established relationships with objectivity? And who ultimately owns the decision when multiple stakeholders are involved? Does operating globally make a difference when contracting suppliers?
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