ASSOCIATIONS ARE DOT.COMS.

At the Strategic Leadership Forum in San Antonio, I was reminded that the phenomenon of the Internet is really about bringing people with like interests or knowledge bases together as a community. The association world was started for that purpose years ago. Indeed, associations were dot.coms before dot.coms were cool.

The Retail Merchants Association of Greater Richmond (RMAGR) represents 1,200 local, regional, and national retailers in the metropolitan Richmond, Virginia, area. If ever there was a group of businesses being impacted by new technology, it is the retailers. So the association is constantly challenged to stay relevant and be of value to all levels of technically challenged companies. Much of the Strategic Leadership Forum conversation was about maintaining relevance by offering what the marketplace demands.

I have always heard that if you bring back just one major "call to action" from a meeting, then it was worth your involvement. From the forum I brought back an entire legal pad of "calls to action," but I'll mention only three here.

* AFFINITY PROGRAMS/DISCOUNT SERVICES. Endorsed services are the backbone of many associations' nondues income. The vast majority of RMAGR's endorsed services are, or will be, commodities and therefore available to savvy retailers on the Internet. Said another way, our members will no longer need their association to seek out and negotiate the best values because they now have global access themselves. As a result of the SLF, we are going to offer to members a menu of vendors and suppliers with pre-negotiated offerings on our Web site (www.retailmerchants.com) and hope to become the portal or source that members can go to first for access to a multitude of opportunities.

* DEPOSITORY OF KNOWLEDGE. Our members appreciate getting information from us, but what they really want is to hear from their peers. They want to understand how other (noncompeting) retailers have dealt with situations and opportunities. They also want to contribute to the association's database of knowledge and be able to respond directly to another retailer's inquiry. Remembering that RMAGR is local, this might seem to be a problem, because most of our members are competing for a share of the same customer's discretionary income. The Strategic Leadership Forum helped me to see beyond this preconceived notion and sparked the idea of creating a new Web site dialog area, where discussions can be facilitated among members. By serving as the knowledge bank from which members can deposit or withdraw from each other, RMAGR will be perceived as the facilitator of that information--which again justifies the association's continued existence.

* E-VOTE. Our membership is local (within a 30-minute drive from our headquarters) and has traditionally wanted to hold meetings face-to-face--or so our board and staff assumed. Historically, we have given members no options. As a result of the Strategic Leadership Forum, I asked several members about holding meetings and voting on issues online rather than in person. They unanimously welcomed the opportunity. As a result, RMAGR has created "e-vote" on our Web site, which allows the board and the membership to read the details of an issue, read other members' comments and see their votes on the issue, and then vote and make specific comments themselves.

While holding fewer face-to-face meetings, member involvement has increased beyond our expectations--and with less physical wear and tear on our board, staff, and headquarters facility. Again, we are continuing to be relevant and show the value for members' dues dollars, while also being a technological leader in the association world.

By implementing these three pieces, our association will meet the demands of the new marketplace. Technologically we are sound and accessible; service-wise, we are molding programs to fit the new association member; and, lastly, we are continuing the age-old tradition of "bringing communities of like interests" together--from a fresher and more efficient perspective than ever.

William H. Baxter, CAE, is president and CEO of Retail Merchants Association of Greater Richmond, Virginia.