Pre-conference Exploration Labs 

Kick off your Annual Meeting learning with one of five highly interactive and collaborative learning workshops. These timely sessions will help you put your organization and your professional development journey on the right path forward.

= Separate registration required. 

Innovating in Tough Times
Innovation for Purpose
Building Your Anticipatory Governance Capacity
The Association C-suite: Is it Really in Your Future?
Innovation and Generative AI
 

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Innovating in Tough Times: An Afternoon for CEOs  

Saturday, August 5 
1:30 - 4:30 p.m. 

In a time of economic challenge, contracting engagement, and tremendous political and social division, the temptation to hunker down and avoid potential conflicts can be strong. And yet these are the very times when innovation and the ability to lead change are most needed. However, mature organizations, including many associations, struggle to innovate as core audiences suffocate new projects, we try to scale projects too quickly, and innovation theater (as opposed to meaningful innovation) proliferates. The key to avoiding these traps is building a sustainable, integrated system for running business experiments at pace and scale, and, as leaders, mastering a new set of leadership skills.

In this interactive session, you’ll learn about the nonobvious causes of innovation failure, the principles leaders can use today to turn their organizations into apex innovators and why it is more important now than ever. Surprising and entertaining examples from Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, Harley-Davidson, Lego, and the US military are used to illustrate these principles. Safi will answer any questions you may have about how your association can apply these ideas in practice.

PLEASE NOTE: Included in your registration is access to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR) - which is a 5 block walk from the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC). ASAE will also provide transportation to/from for attendees who prefer not to walk. Please see the following shuttle bus times below:

• Depart GWCC to NCCHR at 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.
• Depart NCCHR to GWCC at 4:45 p.m and 5:00 p.m.

Safi Bahcall 

Safi is a second-generation physicist, a biotech entrepreneur, and former public-company CEO. 

He received his BA summa cum laude from Harvard and his PhD in physics from Stanford, where he worked with Lenny Susskind in particle physics (the science of the small) and the Nobel laureate Bob Laughlin in condensed matter physics (the science of the many). He was a Miller Fellow in physics at UC Berkeley (the school of the many). 

After working for three years as a consultant for McKinsey, Safi co-founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer. He led its IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years. 

Loonshots, Safi’s first book, has been translated into 21 languages and was selected as a best business book of the year by Amazon, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, Inc., the Washington Post and more. 

Safi advises CEOs and leadership teams on strategy and innovation, and has delivered keynote presentations at industry conferences, investor events, leadership retreats, medical meetings, and leading academic institutions around the world. He lives with his wife and two children in Washington, DC. 

 

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Innovation for Purpose: Strategically Engage Your Industry to Drive Social Impact!

Saturday, August 5 
1:30 - 4:30 p.m. 

In a discerning marketplace, your members and other stakeholders may be evaluating how your association meets their needs and delivers social impact to the industry, profession, and/or discipline your association represents. Strategically positioning your association as a leader in your industry and helping to navigate disruptions are crucial to delivering unique value and distinguishing yourself from similar organizations.

Framed by the ASAE Research Foundation study, Becoming an Effective Innovation Catalyst, this session will address “external innovation,” or how associations can help their industry effectively manage change and become more resilient to disruptors. To do so, associations must understand the role(s) their association plays, the necessary organizational culture and capabilities, and the effective strategies and practices needed.

Learn what it takes—the Culture, capabilities, strategies, resources, and tools—to innovate for purpose and leave with an implementation plan to propel your organization to the next level.

Preet Bassi, CAE, chief executive officer, Center for Public Safety Excellence Inc
Josh Goldman CAE, director, consulting services, Tagoras
Elizabeth Lucas, MBA, CAE, Alta Vista Group

 

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Building Your Anticipatory Governance Capacity: A Foresight Integration Master Class

Saturday, August 5 
1:30 - 4:30 p.m. 

You’ve heard about foresight as a critical leadership competency and understand the philosophy behind futures-thinking. But how do you move from concept to practice? Working from case studies, walk through practical exercises to lead your association from awareness of potential changes to actively engaging with your volunteer leaders, staff, members, and other constituents to create the positive outcomes you desire for your association. Explore where to begin your foresight journey, how to move through integration, and how to establish routines to drive regular future-oriented discussions to inform your strategic and operational planning cycles.

Kristine Metter, CAE, president, Crystal Lake Partners
Lindsay Currie, CAE, executive officer, Council on Undergraduate Research
Denise Roosendaal FASAE, CAE, executive director, Institute for Credentialing Excellence

 

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The Association C-suite: Is it Really in Your Future?

Saturday, August 5 
1:30 - 4:30 p.m. 

The past three years have resulted in significant shifts in the world of work, leaving many association professionals reconsidering their career paths. Have you considered finding a position in the C-suite? Careful introspection and networking with experienced leaders can help guide you to your next fulfilling and successful career move. Learn about the important questions anyone should consider before entering the C-suite by assessing your readiness to lead and pulse on your own social-emotional self-understanding. Uncover what you need to compete successfully, and understand how "know thyself" is even more important than knowing about the organization with whom you interview.

Content Leaders:

Tammy Dillard-Steels MPH, MBA, CAE
Richard Yep, CAE, client partner, Ocean Vista Advisors

Panelists:

Lynn Linde Ed.D., chief of professional practice, American Counseling Association
David Jackson MBA,CAE, executive officer, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
James Zaniello, president, Vetted Solutions
Wendy-Jo Toyama CAE, CEO, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Association Management Center

 

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PRECON: Innovation and Generative AI: An Immersive TEC Workshop

Saturday, August 5
1:00 - 5:00 p.m.

The intersection of AI and innovation opens up a wide range of possibilities and challenges. This pre-conference is designed to provide you with an innovation framework/methodology with which to evaluate and take advantage of those opportunities, an ideation session where you work with your colleagues to highlight specific areas in your association are ripe for automation and/or AI-infused innovation, and discussion of those use cases while addressing the concerns that Generative AI surfaces. You don’t want to miss this!