The Qualified Association Specialist (QAS) Program
More than Individual Professional Development
An interview with ASMI President Beth Armstrong on her company’s plan for QAS
from the FSAE September/October SOURCE Magazine
FSAEs Qualified Association Specialist program launched nationally in December 2013. In the first two months, over 65 people had registered for the program – 15 of which were from Association and Society Management International (ASMI) with a very interesting plan for taking QAS.
ASMI had just received the AMC Institute Accreditation where the independent auditor found that the organization “invests as much or more in personnel than any other firm they had previously audited.” Beth Armstrong, President, was extremely proud of this finding and it encouraged her to do even more for her staff. Several employees were interested in participating in QAS and as Beth looked into the program’s content and cost, she found it comprehensive and affordable enough to use QAS as a group learning experience.
“We scheduled a day every few weeks when the majority of us could get together to watch a module and discuss it,” said Beth. “We all took notes on specifics that applied to our clients and new ideas we’d like to try.”
Examples include:
- adding the not-for-profit organization’s mission statement to every meeting agenda (from Module 1 on Organization Types and Management Structures)
- pinning cool aspects of a conference site, apparel and recipes of meals served at association events on Pinterest (Module 6 on Marketing and Communication)
- provide volunteers who are inviting new members with a short, introductory video (can post on YouTube) so that they only need to pass it along and use it as an entrée to discussion (Module 8 on Membership)
- apply crowd-sourcing to conference planning – ask members what they want to learn and provide speakers this guidance (Module 9 on Meetings)
Beth included a wide range of employees in the QAS program from staff who had only been with ASMI for a few months, to 26-year veterans. Staff who work remotely even called in to participate in the post-video discussions. “Everyone got something out of the presentations and the experience,” Beth said. “Several of our CAEs even felt like QAS was a good refresher and the staff got competitive about completing modules.”
“In the end, the discussions were as meaningful as the program’s content,” Beth continued. “Not only did we get ideas for our clients, we had the added bonus of great teambuilding. The process engaged staff at an intellectual level and encouraged us all to think about our roles in the organization as a whole.”
All 15 ASMI staffers earned their QAS certificate by mid-April, taking only 2 months to complete all 13 modules. Over 100 people have registered for QAS to date and the response from participants has been overwhelmingly positive.
Learn more about the QAS program at www.AssociationSpecialist.org.
Learn more about ASMI at www.asmii.com.
