You can already see what isn't working. What you don't have yet is the room to change it. This is that room.
Five working sessions for the people who run association growth day to day. First session Friday, September 25, 2026 · 12:00 p.m. ET
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
A join you paid for behaves like a subscription, not a membership.
Acquisition spend keeps producing joins that quietly leave within the first year. This session looks at why a bought join behaves like a subscription, and what has to change at the point of joining for growth to hold.
Retention isn't the opposite of growth. It's the engine.
Most growth plans spend at the front door and hope the back door takes care of itself. This session makes the case for retention as the real growth engine, and works through the math of keeping members versus replacing them.
The first ninety days decide whether a join becomes growth.
New members decide quickly whether they belong. This session covers what the first ninety days have to teach a new member, and why onboarding — not the next campaign — is the least expensive growth lever an association has.
Nobody refers a subscription. People talk about what they belong to.
The strongest acquisition channel an association has is a member proud enough to bring a peer. This session explores how belonging makes members bring the next member, and what gets in the way of referral inside most organizations.
Join counts flatter the report. Retention tells the truth.
Boards ask for growth and get join counts. This session takes on the numbers that actually predict durable growth — retention, referral, and depth of engagement — and how to report them so leadership funds the slow work.
The newsletter.
A weekly note on member organisations and the slow work of trust.
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The webinar.
A recorded conversation on what happens after someone joins.
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On LinkedIn.
Short field notes from inside the practice, published most weeks.
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A conversation.
Forty minutes with the team about whatever you are working on.
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