 It can be a huge expense and for some of us who have to pay for that on their own, we need to see the ROI before we start forking over the dough. I'm talking about membership in a professional association in the meetings and events industry. Stick around. Hey friends, it's Leanne and I recently received the renewal notice and invoice for one of my professional membership associations. And it's really at this time of year that I start to think about the ROI that I'm getting for all the money that I shallow for this professional membership. And at one point I actually did let one of my membership slaps. I did not see the ROI in the professional association. Now I have come back and since renewed my membership and I am seeing some ROI again, but it's important to do this checklist of benefits that you should be getting from your professional association. Because if you're not seeing the ROI, it is a lot of money to spend that can potentially be spent somewhere else. So today we're going to talk about some of the reasons that you should join a professional membership association. And of course some of the benefits you should be getting in return or else the ROI isn't there. So let's go through that list together. Benefit number one is networking. And this of course is the biggest one. We are in an industry that people meet face to face and business gets done. Meetings mean business. And so meeting face to face and networking with people in our industry is what we're all about. If you're not meeting people or having opportunity to network with people in your association, then maybe this isn't the right association for you. It's definitely a benefit and one of the biggest indicators of your ROI. Number two is education. And I did a blog post not too long ago about all the professional development options that meeting planners have. And you can find a link to that blog post in the description for this video. And as you go through that blog post, you may notice that a lot of those education elements can be offered through a professional association, be it webinars, magazines, online education, conferences, local events. An association will put out a lot of that content. So if you're not getting education in some way, shape or form from your membership association, then maybe it's not the right membership association for you because you need to be getting some education and need to be learning some skills through that portal. Benefit number three is recognition. And I don't think this gets recognized enough. When a professional membership association recognizes you for the things that you're doing above and beyond in your job, the volunteering that you're doing, that goes a long way for you to open new doors to new opportunities, meet new people. It feeds into your personal brand. There's a lot that goes with recognition and professional membership associations should be recognizing their members. And if they're doing a good job of it, then you need to recognize that as a big benefit of being a part of that community. Benefit number four are volunteer opportunities. Now you may think a professional membership association needs volunteers, but really it's us who needs to volunteer. We need a place to maybe exercise skills that we can exercise at work every day, meet new people, meet like-minded people as we work on a project together. For some of us who work on our own, sometimes volunteer committees are the only team project work that we get to do. So we really need those volunteer opportunities versus the association needing us to volunteer. And it is a benefit of being a member. So make sure you look at ways that you can volunteer and give back to your association. And benefit number five are career opportunities. And the four above benefits really feed into this one, right? So you're looking at meeting new people, you're looking at learning new skills, being recognized for your efforts and volunteering. And all of those go towards potential future job opportunities. You don't have to be looking for a job today to realize that you might need an open door tomorrow or a few years down the line. And your professional association will help facilitate that. So lean into those resources and into the ones, the other benefits that I mentioned, and that will help get you set up for success when you're looking for that new opportunity. I'd love to hear from you. What do you find to be the biggest benefits of belonging to a professional membership association? Will you comment below this video and share it with the community? I hope these benefits have helped you weigh the ROI of your professional membership association. And again, another benefit is having all of those great events. Steven and I keep a calendar of industry events on our newsletter and to be a part of our newsletter distribution, simply go on over to our website at conference source.net, find a contact, get in touch with us and sign up for our newsletter. Alternatively, if you download our events trends resource, you get added to the bi-weekly newsletter that way as well. Here's hoping I see you out soon at an industry event. Thanks for watching this week's video. Have a great week. Bye for now.