Previous versions of “The SIG Chronicles” described my experiences as chair of the Healthcare SIG. This edition covers my experience in a July meeting of all the SIG leaders focused on improvements to our program.
Our new VP of SIGs, Rex Parsons, called a meeting of all the SIG chairs in July to talk about the program and make plans for improvements.
We kicked off the meeting with a short team-building exercise that I led using management tools from ADVISA.
In true marketing fashion we focused on research and communications. Rex shared some key research on SIGs that showed the primary reason, by far, for people to decide on attending a SIG was the speaker. Location, timing and networking opportunities were all much lower. This highlights the focus that the SIGs must maintain on developing topics and speakers of high interest.
Rex also shared research showing which SIG areas were of greatest interest to our audience – there was a long list but all I can remember from that slide is that Health Care marketing (my team’s focus) had the lowest number. Good thing I like a challenge!
Regarding content we discussed the growing importance of mobile technology and its impact on marketing. This is an area all the SIGs hope to explore more in-depth in the upcoming year. We also thought a day-long program focused on marketing involving all the SIGs might be a good approach to try – this would replace the regularly-scheduled morning programs for a time.
In the area of communications we discussed ways to improve the promotion of the SIGs. We plan to move the initial email blast earlier in the promotion cycle and increase the frequency. Martin is also looking at how to improve the interaction with the event registration program – currently there are very few people with the training necessary to effectively use the system. The website was another key topic – it needs a bit of help, for example the names of people associated with the SIGs (yours truly, included) had not been updated as of the time we met.
We also committed ourselves to goals to increase attendance and membership recruitment – which means we have to improve the content of the meetings, the speakers we include and communication of all this.
Next in “The SIG Chronicles” – Topic TBD!
About “The SIG Chronicles:” This blog series records Paul Dumouchelle’s experiences, impressions and insights gained as Chair of the Healthcare Marketing Special Interest Group for the Columbus branch of the American Marketing Association.
“The SIG Chronicles” blog series records my experiences, impressions and insights gained as Chair of the Healthcare Marketing Special Interest Group for the Columbus branch of the American Marketing Association.
In 2009 I ramped up my presence on LinkedIn, probably an indicator this technology had peaked since I tend to be a laggard when it comes to technology adoption. Using LinkedIn as a networking tool I noticed something called a “SIG” on Social Media was being organized by Sandy Blanquera and held at the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center (DEC).Since I’d met Sandy before, social media was of interest to me and the DEC is only 10 minutes from my home I decided to check out this thing called a “SIG.” It turned out to be an interesting gathering where I learned some tips on social media use and got a couple business leads. I also had to shell out $15 since I wasn’t a member of the American Marketing Association at the time (members pay $5).
This experience caused me to evaluate AMA membership and led to my joining the organization – that $10 discount on a SIG is SO COOL! My current work has to do more with general management initiatives rather than purely marketing but my early career was in brand management and I’ve always loved the creative challenge marketing represents.
The next time a SIG caught my eye it was for the Internet/eCommerce group – this time it was a panel discussion held at Mills James. At this point I decided to figure out what “SIG” stood for and invested the time into the two or three mouse clicks it took to learn it meant “Special Interest Group.” A curious name, since in politics a “special interest group” is just about everyone’s bogeyman, regardless of political ideology – no wonder SIG is always used, instead. This time I got to enjoy the special privilege of the members-only $5 entrance fee and the event was even more stimulating than my earlier experience.
After these positive SIG exposures I decided to investigate joining one of the committees that runs these programs. I saw there was an opening on the Internet/eCommerce group and “technology laggard” though I may be, I had run the consumer division of CheckFree and managed the launch of the first-ever web-based billpay product, so I had some credentials in this marketplace. Speaking with the VP in charge of SIGs I offered my services and he advised the Internet/eCommerce opening was filled but they did need someone to Chair the Healthcare SIG, was I interested in that?
Next in “The SIG Chronicles” – “What Did I Get Myself Into?”
The American Marketing Association Fall Membership Drive starts today!
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We are kicking off our Fall Membership Drive with a Social Media campaign and contest. Each week on Twitter, we will have a few repeating themes:
TwitPic Tuesday where participants post their best shot of the “Theme of the Week”
Random Wednesday where members tweet about their favorite fun fact or reason to join AMA
ReTweet Thursday where we saturate the world with RTs about AMA
Prizes will be awarded at the end of the campaign for:
Best TwitPic – this will be based on number of views
Best Benefit Tweet – will be based on our panel of judges. Extra consideration will be given to contestants that comment on an AMA blogpost about our Fall Membership Drive.
Most ReTweets – like the TwitPic contest, this is based on sheer volume.
In order to win, participants must be a current AMA member or join during the Fall Drive. Qualifying Tweets must use the hashtag #ColsAMA.
What’s your app? It’s becoming a common question as society embraces iPhones and Blackberry smart phones. But what will it take for one smart phone to dominate the other? That’s the question Columbus AMA President Nick Iannitto asked Berkshire Software’s Justin Munger at the E-Commerce/Internet SIG on Thursday, August 20th. Watch the video and tell us what you think it will take to make one smart phone superior.
