Dario Betti, the Chief Executive Officer of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), is a distinguished figure with over 20 years of experience in spearheading initiatives within the mobile phone industry. Betti's comprehensive knowledge of the mobile ecosystem, coupled with his strategic vision, has been pivotal in shaping MEF's influential role in addressing the multifaceted dynamics of the industry. Renowned for his expertise in mobile entertainment, consumer safeguarding, and fostering...

In this episode Heather Lishman, Director of the British Professional Conference Organisers, talks about the changing face of association events.   One of the most stressful jobs, the professional event organisers role has changed considerably over the years, with them having to grapple around event tech, sustainable events, tighter and tighter budgets and more demanding sponsors.  One of the areas we talk about is the growth in event legacy and Heather cites some great examples of what...

The law hasn’t stopped discrimination misogyny, homophobia, prejudice and sexism it has simply gone underground. This has made it more difficult to prove. Why concrete evidence is needed if the law is to step in. The problem that discrimination, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder; can you as a reasonable person, know whether a raised voice and/or aggressive action is aimed at you because you are gay, a woman or of ethnic origins? A personal story to illustrate this; the word of one...

Simon joined the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) as their Head of Asset Finance in 2014. In 2021 he became Director of Advocacy. He is responsible for the FLA Asset Finance Division and the cross-organisational advocacy work that the FLA undertakes. This includes representing asset finance members to government and the regulators, developing relationships with stakeholders, overseeing the FLA’s asset finance policy work and ensuring that they have a joined-up advocacy programme that...

In this episode we talk about the power of working with volunteers for your membership organisation, with the CEO of the Scouts movement. Matt Hyde is Chief Executive of the Scouts, the UK’s largest youth movement. Formerly Chief Executive of the National Union of Students (NUS), he’s undertaken a number of leadership roles in the charity sector and as Chief Executive of the Scouts has contributed to a period of record membership growth since joining in 2013.  He has led award-winning...

The British Orthopaedic Association has over 5,000 members throughout the UK and overseas and is the special surgical speciality association for trauma and orthopaedics. Annette Heninger is the director of communications, and in this episode shares her insight about how they communicate and engage with their members and how they are even exploring a new membership tier for their retirees. For more information on the BOA viist https://www.boa.ac.uk/   This podcast has been sponsored by...

In this episode industry veterans Russ Magnusson, CEO and founder of RD Mobile and Membership digital agency founder Alex Skinner talk about the some of the trends facing the membership sector post Covid. Skinner commented, one client had 70% of income from physical training accounts so were motivated to make decisions to move online very quickly. Culture played a big part to do something different. How do you managed a large remote distributed team, this was new ground for a lot of...

The Regional Studies Association is a learned society - there are about  26,000 learned associations around the world. The RSA has membership from all over the world and its members range from academics, geographers, political scientists, planners, journalists, and rise from students  up to professors . The society was established in 1966 and the current CEO Sally Hardy is coming up to her 37th year.  Members love the networking most, says Sally. What they are looking for are those...

Richard John has spent over 30 years in the industry.  In this episode we discuss why taking on a university “event” apprentice can be a great thing to do.  His turnover has gone up 400% since the Pandemic and all of which has this has come from online events.  People will dip in and out of sessions from an online event, whereas at an exhibition you tend to go for the day.  Consumers and members are very keen to look at more snackable content. Education has been one of the benefits for...

In this episode we talk about the Friends model of the membership society and in this case it’s the Membership Officer of the Royal College of Music Siti Osman. The RCM is a top conservatoire in the UK and Europe attracting local and international talent – with students coming from 56 nations; they have approximately 900 students studying at one time.   The Friends and Family loyalty membership is aimed at attracting friends and family members of the students.   There are lots of talks...

CEO of the National Hairdressers Federation, Richard Lambert talks about how a campaign to find the top 100 influencers in the industry drove phenomenal engagement on social media. An industry hit massively by the pandemic, this initiative run by the NHBF achieved so many amazing results across all social media, and helped drive membership.  Richard talks about the whole campaign from inception through to the livestream event to launch some of the winners.  It has been such a success that...

Maria Franzoni is an experienced speaker booker. She has held senior positions with 2 of Europe’s leading bureaus; CSA Celebrity Speakers and the London Speaker Bureau – named by the New York Times as “the only international speaker bureau”. In 2007 she founded her own multi-million-pound international bureau, Maria Franzoni Ltd. (MFL), and in this podcast Maria talks about how associations can find the right speaker for conferences, awards evenings and training events. Maria also talks...

In this episode, host Gordon Glenister talks with Adam Donnan, the CEO of the Institution of Environmental Science.  The IES represents individual consultants, academia, those working for Natural England, The Environment Agency and local government. This gives them the opportunities and the tools to create real system change, by having a strong purpose at the core of what they do. Adam says membership bodies need to have a sense of purpose at the heart of the organisation. CEOs want to...

In this episode James Thorne CEO of the Institute of Quarrying is joined by head of membership  and marketing Sarah Fry, to talk about how the introduction of an app has made a huge difference in member engagement. Whilst it was always part of a longterm strategy to encourage members to use the app, Sarah commented on their goals have been reached in their first phase. As more content is shared on the app, so adoption is growing. Find out how they did it.   This episode is sponsored by...

In this episode Gordon Glenister talks with the author of "The Social CEO", Damian Corbet and the vice president of global marketing at Onalytica, Alicia Russell.  A recent survey conducted by Membership World and influencer marketing platform Onalytica looked at the social profiles of over 50 CEOs of membership bodies and trade associations.    Original content performed so much better than shared or branded content on Linkedin. 'Don’t create content for content's sake and know what your...

Inspiring CEO of England Athletics, Chris Jones, talks about his challenges but optimism of running a governing body with 190,000 members.   In this episode Gordon Glenister talks to the head of England Athletics, Chris Jones about what its like to manage a sport governing body in a Pandemic.   While there are approximately 7 million people that run every month, not all are members of the 1800 licensed running clubs, many are social runners. England Athletics Run Together campaign has been...

John Newcomb CEO of the Builders Merchants Federation talks about his personal journey steering an industry body through the Pandemic and the tough decisions he had to make. The organisation needed to relocate to the midlands and in doing so had a profound impact on the organisational success. John talks about how lobbying government was an essential part of keeping builders merchants opens and how online education has helped engage members.   This episode is sponsored by leading event and...

Podcast expert Christina Moore talks about the winning formula for a successful podcast, from the tools you need, the length of a typical  episode, how to monetise your show, how to market your podcast and which of the best presenters to follow..  Christina has a wealth of experience having previously worked at Apple and the BBC World Service. She is also a judge at the Podcast Awards. This episode is sponsored by leading event and community app platform RD mobile 

Gordon Glenister in conversation with Lee Davies, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Patent AttorneysIn this episode we hear about how a professional body has been able to keep its membership engaged through Covid-19 by offering relevant content, chargeable webinars and events.  With online conferences making it easier to access global experts, the value to the community has been greatly enhanced. Membership has been growing year on year, and CIPA boasts a retention rate of in excess of...

Gordon Glenister talks with Glenda Parker the CEO of leading NFP consultants Hart Square.In this episode we discuss the impact of technology in the membership space and why even in a Pandemic, lots of tech projects are still going ahead, as membership bodies want to get smarter and better connected to their members.Gordon also talks about some of the highlights from the membership research conducted in the summer of 2020 about the impact of Covid19 to the sectorThis episode is sponsored by...

In this episode Gordon Glenister interviews Andy Burman the CEO of the BDA, the association for dietitians.   Faced with the challenges of the pandemic the BDA became a central point for advice around diet and particularly for diabetes sufferers. The organisation saw an increase in its web traffic of close to 400%. The message here is about the importance of keeping your members engaged, and communicating to them on a regular basis; and how that helps drive greater engagement. Their...

In this episode Gordon Glenister talks to Peter Ward the CEO of the UK Warehousing Association, and finds out how introducing a new benefit for their members during Lockdown helped stimulate membership growth, because it was both timely and relevant. Sponsored by RD Mobile.

In this launch episode Gordon Glenister meets Debbie Hockham of Memcom, and Maarten Vaneste, CEO of The Meetings Design Institute to discuss how the events industry has reinvented online itself during the lockdown. Sponsored by RDI mobile.