Forum - April 2012

Monday morning and the executive director has just called you into her office.

“We need a mobile
app.”
“OK, what’s the plan?” you respond.

“Well, let’s figure that out. It was
brought up to me by two different direc-
tors at this weekend’s board retreat that
they think we’re going to be behind if
we don’t have one.”
Sound familiar? Many associations
understand they need to adopt mobile
technology to stay relevant, but don’t
know exactly where and how to start.
Others may have one department try-
ing a mobile app for an event or a text
campaign without the knowledge of any
other department. At larger organiza-
tions, departments often work in silos,
pursuing their own mobile projects with
little or no thought for the greater orga-
nization — often because they don’t
want their mobile initiatives put on hold
while the rest of the organization plays
catch-up.

Mobile is an attractive proposition. It enables associations to interact with their members when, where and how their members choose. When employing mobile technology, associations often are creating new types of engagement, generating non-dues revenue and ultimately improving member retention.

Reggie Henry, chief information offi-
cer for ASAE, says in a TMA Resources
video that he sees many associations
experimenting piecemeal with mobile,
but hasn’t seen many associations
implement strategies around this tech-
nology.

What’s the Potential?

“Given the relatively low cost of mobile
devices and their convenience, the
number of people doing things on
mobile has skyrocketed,” says Richard
Blacklock, director of marketing for
the American Society for Cataract and
Refractive Surgery. “It is dramatically
changing the way people work, play,
learn, communicate, acquire and pro-
duce information.”
Blacklock sees mobile technology as
one of the best opportunities to grow
ASCRS’s membership. In his associa-
tion’s industry, ophthalmic medicine,
moving content to mobile devices seems
like the next logical step given the way
doctors are rapidly adopting the tech-
nology. “One of the significant advan-
tages [of mobile] lies in the new ways
this technology allows us to serve our
members in new and different ways with
an expanded bundle of services and
benefits,” he says.

Blacklock also notes that mobile
technology could pose a serious threat
to associations. He says they may face
new competitors from non-traditional
sources that are leveraging mobile tech-
nology to build industry communities,
publish magazines and journals, and
offer many competing products to the
traditional association.

Where Do We Start? (Mobile Technology 101)

Here’s a primer for some common mobile technologies:

• Mobile Apps: Small computer programs that provide a rich mobile experience because they can use the functions of a smartphone like GPS, camera, microphone, recorder and accelerometer (measures the orienta-tion/ vertical and horizontal positioning of the phone). Mobile apps need to be created for each smartphone platform (iPhone, Android, Nokia, etc.) and are downloadable only from each of the platform’s app stores.

• Mobile Websites: A website accessible from any mobile Internet browser that is designed to be viewed on the physical constraints of a small mobile device screen. There often is limited content and lots of white space (for “sloppy fingers”), and they do not require different builds for different platforms.