More than 90 VSAE members gathered for SIG-a-Palooza last week, setting a new attendance record and filling the virtual meeting rooms with lively discussion, practical ideas and strong peer-to-peer exchange.

The annual program brought together six of VSAE’s Shared Interest Groups (SIGs), giving members an opportunity to connect with colleagues who share similar roles and challenges. Rather than traditional presentations, the sessions centered on facilitated conversation, allowing attendees to share what is working in their organizations, ask questions and learn from one another.

We’ve been hearing for some time that the pace of change is accelerating, and never has that seemed truer than these past 18 months. At times, the pace and the scale of change can make us feel like things are spiraling out of control.

To say that today’s buyer has changed would be a bit of a massive understatement. In fact, we’ve never seen such change in such a short period of time. When you consider how we’ve evolved since the advent of the internet (it became mainstream in 1996) and then throw on top of that all the digital behaviors that were catapulted by the recent pandemic, the results are stunning.

To name a couple:

• Today’s buyer, on average, is more than 70% through the buying cycle BEFORE they actually speak to a sales person. (Forrester)

What drew you to the association industry?

A $5 per hour paid internship at the VSCPA!