Study to Associations: Get Smarter

The results are in: If you want to attract the smartest, richest, happiest attendees to your association show, you'll have to give them more of what they want.

According to a report recently released by the William E. Smith Institute for Association Research, association members tend to have higher incomes, better jobs and more professional satisfaction than non-association members. Consequently, it is vital that tradeshow managers who intend to attract and retain them offer high-level content.

“This is not just the cross-section of an industry,” said Arthur C. Brooks, Syracuse University Professor and the author of the study. “These are the top performers in their jobs. They're the winners, and you have to think about what winners really want: They want to be educated.”

According to the study, entitled “Where the Winners Meet: Why Happier, More Successful People Gravitate Toward Associations,” the groups themselves don't get credit for making these people winners in the first place.

The study indicated, association members make an average of at least $10,000 a year more than non-association members, and 72 percent are likely to be satisfied with their jobs, compared with 49 percent of non-members. However, there is little evidence to indicate that association activities themselves make anybody richer or happier. As a consequence, associations that plan meetings or tradeshows for their members have to approach them as an added value and make educational content as rich as possible.

“This is key,” Brooks said. “You're not going to be able to give them run-of-the-mill stuff. This is the brain trust of any particular profession and, the more you give them what they want, the more they're going to come back.”

SmithBucklin created the Smith Institute for Association Research in 2004, naming it after the company's founder, William E. Smith, who died earlier that year.