Events Archives - InReach Continuing Education Management System https://inreachce.com/category/blog/events/ Advance. Practically. Anywhere. Mon, 05 Jan 2026 20:16:51 +0000 en hourly 1 https://inreachce.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cropped-IR-32x32.png Events Archives - InReach Continuing Education Management System https://inreachce.com/category/blog/events/ 32 32 Member Share: Flat-Footed Never Again https://inreachce.com/blog/member-share-flat-footed-never-again/ Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:07:23 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=13125 What is Your Organization's Member Share? For InReach partners that are associations, member share means the percentage of your membership that buy CE products from you. Knowing your member share is a good thing. First, you can define potential opportunity for growth, and second, you can quantify the number of members that take advantage of [...]

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]]> What is Your Organization’s Member Share?

For InReach partners that are associations, member share means the percentage of your membership that buy CE products from you. Knowing your member share is a good thing. First, you can define potential opportunity for growth, and second, you can quantify the number of members that take advantage of what is typically identified as the most popular member benefit.

Confirm Your Member Share

For those with access to CE regulatory data, you can easily confirm your member share. You can measure it by hours or by purchaser.
Both methods provide valuable information. Who buys from you, and how much do they buy?

For those without regulatory data, you can estimate your member share. You can compare purchaser lists with membership lists.
You can also include CE questions in member surveys.

Most associations see a 25–35% member share. There is often significant room to grow. However, you should not assume member share growth is always necessary. You need a precise assessment before making decisions. If you want more revenue, raising prices works better than increasing volume.

How to Grow Your Membership Through Member Share?

Most association executives and volunteer leaders want to serve as many members as possible, especially if the association is a voluntary organization. So, you might be compelled to grow member share without consideration of costs related to growing. Absent that mandate, you should analyze costs and balance any risk of growing member share against the benefits of growing your market share. While you normally profit when you increase member share, there are instances where that will not be the case. For example, more members might purchase CE from you if you lower your prices or begin to give away free content.   Be careful if you have challenging revenue goals.

A client recently asked me how to grow member share.  Admittedly I was tired and had recently lost an important football game, but I was left flat-footed. I suggested actions related to selling more CE and not selling to members that have never purchased before. Recognizing my weakness, I have drilled down and done research to provide a better answer to that specific client and to all of you!

Get Feedback from the Right People

You already know what your current customers think about your CE offering because you ask them almost every time they buy from you. “How do you like the program…?”  To increase market share what you need to do is ask those members that aren’t buying from you. Through surveys and focus groups find out how they are getting their continuing education, and what is the barrier for them in buying from you. As an aside, always ask them specifically about their educational needs. This feedback may give you information upon which to act in gaining member share.

Things to Try to Increase Member Share

Incentives

  • Reward members for referring a member that has never purchased from you. A discount?
    Incentivize members that have never purchased from you by providing a discount for a first-time purchase. Create a limited window of time with this opportunity to generate a sense of urgency to purchase. As an alternative, send an electronic thank you note with a discount to be used on a second purchase. Or do both!

Extras

  • Provide program extras without increasing prices: Pre- and post- programs on the same subject of the primary program; a supplement to supporting course materials like a tip sheet, e-book, or a checklist.

Valuable Content

  • Target members with valuable content you know will be helpful to your member. This doesn’t have to be a product, it can be a communication relating to their practice area. For example, let your bankruptcy practitioners know that there are Senate hearings this week on XY and Z bankruptcy law provisions. Notify litigators that the new procedural rules are effective in XX weeks, and you can find the new rules here. If you are offering programming on the new rules, let them know about that too. At some point, the member may begin to rely on you as a source of information that is important to them.

Be Personal

  • Be personal. Everyone wants to feel wanted. Ask program planners, speakers, and authors to reach out to people they know and ask them to attend their upcoming program or alert them to the release of a new book. Carrying on the bankruptcy example, if you have a program on bankruptcy CALL practitioners in that area and offer a personal invitation to register for the program. You’d be surprised how much a staff of five can do in 30 minutes to make an impact. (Make it fun. Make it a contest. Include food.) Thank first time purchasers by listing their names in a print ad for your association journal.

Leadership

  • Invoke your leadership to advocate for your department and the products you produce. Association leaders love to make a difference, and this is an easy task. Every time a president speaks to or meets with a member, ask for their loyalty to the association by promoting the quality and breadth of your CE offering.

Whew!  Longer than normal, but I’m not going to be caught flat-footed again.  If you have increased your member share, please let me know how you did it.

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]]> Volunteer Appreciation: Show Them You Care! https://inreachce.com/blog/events/volunteer-appreciation-show-them-you-care/ Sun, 13 Jul 2025 20:14:37 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=12444 Volunteer Appreciation Many InReach clients are professional organizations that rely heavily on volunteers to develop and deliver professional continuing education. Because of this, volunteer planners and presenters play a vital role in the success of continuing education offered by associations, law schools, medical associations, and other organizations. Although CE professionals recognize this symbiotic relationship [...]

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Volunteer Appreciation

Many InReach clients are professional organizations that rely heavily on volunteers to develop and deliver professional continuing education. Because of this, volunteer planners and presenters play a vital role in the success of continuing education offered by associations, law schools, medical associations, and other organizations. Although CE professionals recognize this symbiotic relationship and understand its importance, in practice, few have implemented measures to nurture, measure, or improve relationships with volunteers. As a result, most CE organizations limit volunteer recognition to a simple speaking gift — yet, there is so much more that can be done!

Broadly speaking, volunteer initiatives can fall into three main buckets: training them, working with them, and showing appreciation for them. With that in mind, here are a few ideas:

Training Volunteers

  • Welcome and provide orientation
  • Confirm expectations as a volunteer
  • Provide speaker training
    • Online and live
    • Address best practices in presentations, slides, and materials
    • Give out a certificate!
  • Create speaker mentoring program
    • Makes it easier to retire speakers
    • Creates a better prepared new volunteer

Working with Volunteers

  • Start out working with new volunteers on limited tasks
  • Provide a manageable workload with clear deadlines
  • Don’t waste your volunteers time
    • Be prepared
    • Provide support
  • Check in with volunteers during the timeline where deliverables are being worked on
  • Answer emails and return calls as soon as practically possible
  • Communicate with appreciation in all emails and calls throughout the period

Showing you Value Each Volunteer

  • Acknowledge success
    • Thank you notes
    • Thank you on social media
    • Thank your volunteer’s boss or superior
  • Provide evaluation summaries
  • Provide your volunteer with an evaluation of your staff: how was it working with us, and how can we improve? Implement appropriate changes
  • Celebrate National Volunteer Week!
    • Provide a pizza lunch
    • Post to social media
    • Solicit new volunteers
  • Provide and publish on volunteer contributions; data for leadership and organization’s members
  • Publish a thank you to your volunteers in a published ad or article in your organization’s professional publications
  • Create an annual award spotlighting one volunteer

Resources:

  1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitch-ditkoff/best-practices-volunteerorganizations_b_2624967.html
  2. https://www.energizeinc.com/how_tos_volunteer_management/recognition
  3. http://blogs.volunteermatch.org/engagingvolunteers/2010/04/22/ways-to-show-appreciation-during-national-volunteer-week/

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]]> Check Out Our CE Tracker! https://inreachce.com/blog/check-out-our-ce-tracker/ Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:20:27 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=12311 Benefits of Our CE Tracker Convenience: it’s an expectation we have in many aspects of our lives both online and in-person. We’ve grown accustomed to centralized online services where we can get everything we want or need and have it shipped directly to our door in two days. Want to watch a cat video [...]

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Benefits of Our CE Tracker

Convenience: it’s an expectation we have in many aspects of our lives both online and in-person. We’ve grown accustomed to centralized online services where we can get everything we want or need and have it shipped directly to our door in two days. Want to watch a cat video like literally right now? You can do that!  Imagine that kind of convenience 20 years ago! Now if only the DMV could catch up…

Streamlined Shopping with the CE Tracker

Continuing Education doesn’t have to be like the DMV and nor should it be! Your InReach powered catalog is designed to maintain those expectations of convenient shopping and content streaming (CE, not cat videos) and now we’re taking it a step further in giving your learners the ability to track their Continuing Education credits in the same place they’re purchasing and consuming them. Enter CE Tracker.

How the Tracker Helps Your Learners?

The InReach powered CE Tracker allows your learners to automatically track the credits they’ve earned within your catalog AND allows them to keep track of credits they’ve earned from other sources – making you their central hub for everything CE related. What’s more, if you have a Single-Sign-On with InReach, the self-reporting feature can be made available to only members, providing another benefit to help you meet your membership goals. Sounds simple, right? Convenient, even?

If you’d like to know more, you can see an On-Demand demo of the CE Tracker through our training catalog. Click here now!

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]]> InReach’s New Event Manager https://inreachce.com/blog/inreachs-new-event-manager/ Tue, 25 Oct 2016 01:09:01 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=12214 Event Manager 2016 is coming to a close sooner than we realize! For some of you, the last of the year means the busy season for you and your members; for others the busy season is a distant memory and planning for the next year is underway. No matter what point you are at, [...]

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Event Manager

2016 is coming to a close sooner than we realize! For some of you, the last of the year means the busy season for you and your members; for others the busy season is a distant memory and planning for the next year is underway. No matter what point you are at, here at the InReach office in Austin, we’ve been busy all year and will continue work in early 2017 to bring you a more modern, usable back-office suite of administrative tools to support you in 2017, 2018, 2019… you get the picture.

Access to the Tools you Need

But before we get too far into looking to the future, let’s take a step back. As you know, Google made the decision to drop support for NPAPI plugins in their popular browser, Chrome. Microsoft Silverlight is an NPAPI plug-in, so InReach’s administrative tools were affected along with many other applications using the same technology. While you can still use other browsers, it’s important to us that you have access to the tools you need to manage your continuing education program regardless of what browser you’re using. Enter HTML5.

Enhance Usability of the Product

Over the next few months, we’ll be converting sections of the InReach admin tools from Silverlight to HTML5, starting with Event Manager then moving on to the Customers and Products sections. Our primary goal is enhancing the usability of the product, while maintaining feature parity where you need it the most. Overall, moving to HTML5 is the primary goal.  We will make a few enhancements, but we are sensitive to not changing existing features and functions too drastically.

Almost Ready to Go

Our first module, Event Manager, is almost ready to go! Our internal teams have been testing it, retesting it, and testing it again over the last few weeks and we’re very excited to get it into your hands. If you use InReach to deliver webcast or webinar programming, you’ll see the impact of the conversion almost immediately. If you utilize us primarily for on-demand programming, you may not see much at first but know that our Production team has an even better set of tools to serve your production needs. All of the features in Event Manager are still there of course, but we’ve added some enhancements in the conversion process as well. Such as:

  • Single Slide Upload
  • Speaker Slide Management/Organization
  • Responsive Alerts/Messages
  • HTML5 Real-Time Slide Control for Speakers
  • More!

Look out for training on Event Manager and a reach-out from your Client Success Manager on enabling the new module soon. We’re extremely excited to get this in your hands and we are grateful for your patience in this process. Thank you for the opportunity to partner with you in delivering the highest quality continuing education programming, you are appreciated.

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]]> Jen’s Corner: Tips for a successful webinar https://inreachce.com/blog/jens-corner-tips-for-a-successful-webinar/ Wed, 26 Aug 2015 16:00:16 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=11714 Our stellar Webinar Manager, Jennifer Higgins, knows what it takes to give a great presentation. Here are a few pointers she’s gathered along the way that will not only bring a sense of ease to the process, but make the material much more relatable and interesting. • Remember it’s a team effort, your moderator/webinar coordinator [...]

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]]> Our stellar Webinar Manager, Jennifer Higgins, knows what it takes to give a great presentation. Here are a few pointers she’s gathered along the way that will not only bring a sense of ease to the process, but make the material much more relatable and interesting.
• Remember it’s a team effort, your moderator/webinar coordinator is there to ensure your success, so leverage their assistance from the beginning. Share your presentation materials early in the process and maintain an open dialogue with your coordinator as you make changes or tweaks.

• Think, software compatibility! Allow plenty of time to make sure your visuals are compatible with the webcast software and send your materials to your moderator/coordinator early-on. When rushing to get materials in at the last minute certain visuals like animations or videos can lead to glitches.

• Spice up your PowerPoints. While a clean design and professional font are key, don’t be afraid to add some pizazz and razzle-dazzle to make your presentation memorable. No one wants to sit through black and white PowerPoints.

• A picture is worth a thousand words. When speaking about a particular topic, it’s attention-grabbing to have a picture or illustration related to the subject matter to really drive home your point.

• Follow the 7×7 rule. Instead of miles and miles of text on one PowerPoint slide, remember the 7×7 rule: 7 bullet points of 7 words each. Following this rule will ensure a clean, digestible presentation. Also, your slides are just an aid! Resist the urge to jam a ton of information onto one slide. It’s not meant to be a crutch, but a helpful visual.

• Course titles should be logical and concise. Wordy, lengthy titles can turn learners off and reduce participation. The average human being’s attention span is quite short. Brevity is almost always more appealing.

• Be engaging! When it comes to the actual presentation, delivery is important! It’s difficult to see every facial expression via a webinar or webcast so it is really important to emphasize certain points with hand gestures and vocal inflection. Bring life to your presentation using your voice and overall presence.

• Have a great attitude! You’ve been asked to share your unique knowledge and attendees have taken time out of their busy schedules to absorb the knowledge you have to offer. The pride you take in your work and your enthusiasm will translate into a truly memorable learning experience.

For more tips from Jennifer check out her Huffington Post article, “8 Ways to Rock your Presentation”.

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]]> Ask a Webcaster – Audio https://inreachce.com/blog/ask-a-webcaster-audio/ Tue, 11 Aug 2015 17:29:36 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=11707 We asked our resident webcaster, Paul Meador, about some tips to follow for a successful streaming educational experience. Previously we posted his suggestions concerning an adequate internet connection. Here’s what he had to share with us about another important aspect of an online training or event: audio. Paul explained, “It’s very important to always remember [...]

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]]> We asked our resident webcaster, Paul Meador, about some tips to follow for a successful streaming educational experience. Previously we posted his suggestions concerning an adequate internet connection. Here’s what he had to share with us about another important aspect of an online training or event: audio.
Paul explained, “It’s very important to always remember that video simply enhances the course experience, but audio IS the content. Without good, clean audio, you have no content.” Here are some suggestions that Paul provided to ensure your audio is up to par for your event.
• Good audio is the second most important aspect of a live event. It must be clear, clean, and crisp.
• Test your audio source. Are you bringing in mics or depending on the facility’s mics? In either case it’s very important that you make certain your audio is perfect.
• Reach out to the venue’s Audio/Video personnel to schedule a good time to test the audio, giving enough time to eliminate buzzing and ensure you’re receiving a strong signal without interference.
• Try to test the audio (and internet connection) the day prior to the event.
• Make sure you have extra microphones in case one of them suddenly stops working.
• On the day of your event, make sure you build in time with the presenter to enable them to practice with a mic. If you use handheld mics this may not be necessary, but if you use clip-on mics or a podium you may need to adjust the position of the mic to ensure optimal audio quality.
So far, Paul has given us some great guidelines for ensuring top quality for your online content. Stay tuned for our next installation of the “Ask A Webcaster” Series where we will be talking in-depth with Paul about video.

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]]> Jonas Software Announces the Acquisition of InReach Continuing Education Solutions https://inreachce.com/blog/news/jonas-software-announces-the-acquisition-of-inreach-continuing-education-solutions/ Mon, 27 Jul 2015 21:19:04 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=11692 Austin, TX – July, 14 2015 – Jonas Software has announced the acquisition of InReach, a leading provider of online continuing education (CE) management solutions. Recognized as the premier supplier of software and services across all of the vertical markets it covers, Jonas Software focuses on identifying, acquiring and growing great companies. The acquisition of [...]

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]]> Austin, TX – July, 14 2015 – Jonas Software has announced the acquisition of InReach, a leading provider of online continuing education (CE) management solutions. Recognized as the premier supplier of software and services across all of the vertical markets it covers, Jonas Software focuses on identifying, acquiring and growing great companies. The acquisition of InReach serves as Jonas Software’s further expansion into the education market.

For over a decade InReach has provided a continuing education management platform that enables professional associations, educational content providers, non-profits, and businesses to bring continuing professional education and training online.

“Jonas is known for selecting only the best companies to acquire and grow, and we are pleased to add InReach, a noted market leader, to our portfolio. We know there is great potential in the continuing education market and look forward to expanding our presence with InReach,” stated Matt Otchet, Business Unit Manager for JonasSoftware.

“We are very excited to become part of the Jonas Software portfolio. This provides a great opportunity to continue to improve service for our clients and the market as a whole. Jonas Software’s dedication to growing and supporting InReach will enable us to continue to be a leader in the market,” stated Neil Ashizawa, Chief Executive Office at InReach.

About InReach

InReach is a leading provider of continuing education management solutions. The first and most widely used solution for bringing accredited continuing education (CE) online, InReach technology, services, and experience have helped hundreds of organizations expand their continuing professional education programs beyond in-person events.  For more than a decade, the leading providers of continuing medical, financial, and  legal education have successfully leveraged InReach to produce, manage, distribute, and profit from successful online CE programs. For more information contact us at Info@InReachCE.com or visit www.InReachCE.com.

About Jonas Software

Jonas Software operates over 50 independently managed software companies around the world, providing them with the strategic guidance and financial security required to be leaders in their respective markets. With our roots formed in the Construction and Club Management markets, our reach has grown extensively within the Hospitality and Industrial verticals, and today we are proud to supply industry leading enterprise management software and related services to 15 vertical markets. www.jonassoftware.com

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]]> How Innovative Are You? Attend the Upcoming Seminar to Learn More https://inreachce.com/blog/how-innovative-are-you-attend-the-upcoming-seminar-to-learn-more/ Wed, 06 May 2015 15:31:13 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=11600 We’re counting down to May 15th for the first Innovation Seminar exclusively for Association and Non-Profit executives focused on evolving your workforce, communications, technologies and budgets. These four key areas were highlighted in the 2014 State of Digital Marketing in Associations report conducted by Demand Metric where associations and non-profits are significantly trailing behind corporations. [...]

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]]> We’re counting down to May 15th for the first Innovation Seminar exclusively for Association and Non-Profit executives focused on evolving your workforce, communications, technologies and budgets.

These four key areas were highlighted in the 2014 State of Digital Marketing in Associations report conducted by Demand Metric where associations and non-profits are significantly trailing behind corporations. In an effort to bridge that gap, this seminar series brings together thought-leaders and executives to construct strategies to improve your organizations and identify growth opportunities.

You’ll hear great sessions on the following topics:

  • The Inbound Mindset: Aligning Your Not-for-Profit Offerings to the Modern Consumer
  • The Modern Workforce: Modern Jobs, Skills & Talent Identification
  • Learning for the Modern Adult: How Digital Has Changed Everything
  • Modern Marketing: How to Grow
  • Modern Events: Attracting, Engaging & Retaining Attendees
  • Modern Communication: Delivering Measurable Value

Join us in New York on May 15th for a day packed full of valuable, original content that comes from working with hundreds and hundreds of associations and non-profits. Hear statistically relevant data that can be used as a way to benchmark your organization and the opportunity to participate in the 2015 study. Lastly, you will experience a group of do-gooders who are real: authentic, well-meaning and huge believers in moving our industry forward.

Also, we’re taking this show on the road, you can register in advance for summer and fall dates in Chicago, Toronto and Washington, DC.

Click here to get more details and how to register for this fantastic event >>

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]]> NABE 2015 Annual Meeting https://inreachce.com/blog/events/nabe-2015-annual-meeting/ Thu, 01 Jan 2015 14:24:42 +0000 https://inreachce.com/?p=11541 2015 National Association of Bar Executives Annual Meeting Join us for NABE 2015 July 28th-30th Chicago

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]]> 2015 National Association of Bar Executives Annual Meeting

Join us for NABE 2015
July 28th-30th
Chicago

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]]> 2014 Conference of Metropolitan Bar Associations https://inreachce.com/blog/events/2014-conference-of-metropolitan-bar-associations/ Tue, 15 Apr 2014 20:10:13 +0000 http://dev.inreachce.com/?p=11220 2014 Conference of Metropolitan Bar Associations Join us for COMBA 2014 September 18th-20th The Westin Kierland Resort - Scottsdale

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]]> 2014 Conference of Metropolitan Bar Associations

Join us for COMBA 2014
September 18th-20th
The Westin Kierland Resort – Scottsdale

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