Old-line to Online.

The result of one organization's decision to rethink the traditional association business model: more options for members.

CONTENT, CREDIBILITY. COMMUNITY. COMMERCE. These are the four major competitive advantages of today's associations according to Bruce Butter field, CAE, president and chief executive officer of The Forbes Group, Fairfax, Virginia, in his article "Preparing for an Open-Range Future" (ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT, April 2000), which paints a stark picture of the future of associations that do not retain these advantages.

Many associations have lost their information franchises. Electronic content is exploding, and today's technology means new competition between for-profit and nonprofit organizations. The board of directors at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, Alexandria, Virginia, met in anyone could use technology to challenge the association's knowledge base, the members' enterprises, and even the membership itself. ACCE's leaders recognize that sharing power and information strengthens the sense of, community and loyalty to an organization.

To retain a competitive edge, the board directed staff to rethink ACCE's traditional association business model and create more opportunities for self-forming groups and open exchanges among members, as outlined in The Forbes Group modified organizational model.

The current organizational model--based on exclusivity, subsidization, and structure--risks stagnation, according to the article. By acting as catalysts, associations can facilitate user-driven interactions that allow members 'to share knowledge.

As communities form around interests, discipline's, constituencies, or outcomes, associations that master facilitation of networking have loyal members who are passionate about the success of their professional organizations. This is a wonderful characteristic of volunteer organizations that carries over to today's technology. Personal networking that was once only possible at association-sponsored functions now takes place on the Internet,

Assessing online capabilities

Although the ACCE board directive includes more face-to-face networking, it also prompts staff to take advantage of the resources available through the Internet. The board asked staff to examine the tools and processes currently used to conduct business and to make any necessary changes to maximize ACCE's value to members. The self-forming group strategy required a transformation: Going from old-line to online.

In the past, ACCE had used electronic bulletin boards, listservers, and online forums to facilitate networking. The most successful of the three was the listserver, which members joined by faxing or c-mailing a request. Once staff entered members' information into the listserver software, their personal e-mail programs became instant national networking tools. Their colleagues' questions and answers came directly to desktops daily.

Yet, as an online networking tool, our listserver program did have limitations. It did not support members without e-mail addresses. Participants could not attach documents to c-mails. The software did not build a Web-based archive for users wanting to search for relevant discussions they missed. It did not log users and their profiles to allow participants to learn more about each other. Although popular, our listservers stopped short of facilitating self-forming groups.

Implementing a new program

After considering several options, ACCE selected WebBoard, an online networking tool, to encourage communication among members. It has what the previous software lacked--options.

WebBoard allows ACCE to offer public or private hoards for conferences; has built-in chat rooms; allows file attachments; stores participant profiles; allows members to page other members using their e-mail; builds a searchable archive of discussions; and verifies users with a previously generated database.

WebBoard conferences host threaded discussions online or through e-mail lists. Avid listserver users can use this tool while their activity is organized in threaded discussions online for participants wanting to go to the site. The e-mail activity generated by the threaded discussions can he delivered as soon as a message is posted or delivered in digested form. (The user receives one daily e-mail containing all the prior-day activity in that conference.) E-mail users can reply to a message or start a new thread from their e-mail programs.

ACCE chose its special interest groups (SIGs) program to introduce WebBoard to members in April. SIGs are groups of members created for the different professional specialties within the chamber profession. The SIGs had used previous listservers with great success.

The first private board was set up for the SIG advisory teams, the volunteer leadership of each SIG. These members tested the product with typical listserver activity. With no training, advisory team members were able to use many of the WebBoard features by following simple directions. After the advisory teams met in person to plan their annual conference, they continued their planning discussions on their private WebBoard. This project collaboration included sending out attached files containing agendas and voting on the pending decisions.

Satisfied with the advisory teams' test, ACCE opened up a second board in May for all SIG participants. Following a trial period with these individuals, ACCE announced the launch to the rest of the membership with personalized e-mails explaining the new networking features and how to sign up. Faxes and newsletter articles also described the WebBoard benefits.

We still have members who prefer the listservers, and many who have not signed up for the WebBoard opportunity. Most members have yet to experience the improvements the WebBoard software has to offer. About 50 percent of WebBoard activity stems from member visits to the site, while the rest use the e-mail option only.

ACCE is considering a few strategies to involve the remaining members, including a weekly broadcast email that points members to valuable online conversations, as well as an online issues event with experts available to answer questions.

Addressing the challenges

ACCE's challenge is to use this virtual community tool to facilitate self-forming groups that develop from online conversations on issues or challenges. However, as The Forbes Group points out, this is sometimes difficult, as it is far from predictable.

ACCE's most successful self-formed group offline, the Metro Cities Council, is exclusive, offered only to members who meet the criteria designated by the group itself. In this case, the Metro Cities Council set criteria based on the size of the metropolitan area that the CEO members' chamber serves. The group has existed for about 20 years and has been cited as a service that ACCE should try to replicate online. However, some argue that the group's popularity is based on its exclusivity, which is more difficult to replicate online without ACCE's intervention.

By studying the benefits that exclusivity offers individuals within a group, we outlined an online self-forming group strategy. The exclusivity of the metro group guarantees members a chance to discuss problems and solutions with members who have similar responsibilities and are experiencing comparable challenges. ACCE plans to develop a searchable member profile database that allows members to identify others by community size, location of community, type of profession within chamber work, years of experience in chamber work, type of work experience prior to chamber work, interest in issues, and problems solved.

Members will build their own online profiles, so the level of participation is up to each individual. With the ability to locate specific members and invite them to exchange information online using the WebBoard virtual community tools, ACCE hopes to facilitate more opportunities for self-forming groups.

Creating an open-range future requires organizations that adopt self-forming groups to be ready to respond to the results. By encouraging the development of community, associations ensure their lasting relevance to members.

Tamara Philbin is vice president, management information services, at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, Alexandria, Virginia. E-mail: [e-mail].