I've had this discussion publicly and privately with a number of interested
people at ARMA. Full disclosure, I work at AIIM still. But I think most
association conferences share a similar profile.

There are 5 types of people that go to a conference (not including
exhibitors and conference staff):
1. New to the industry, need 100- and 200-level content. For ARMA this
would be things like how to do an inventory etc.
2. Experienced, looking for professional development on various topics OR
looking for a couple of sessions on a specific one.
3. Senior people, often speaking, some networking as well.
4. Experienced to senior, specifically looking for a product or solution on
the expo floor. *May not be a paid conference attendee.
5. The "tribe" - the people who go to ARMA because it's ARMA. Often not a
paid attendee, may not even hit the expo floor, primarily there to renew
acquaintances with others in the tribe.

There is some overlap of course, but the question goes to the mix: how do
you get enough of 1 and 2 who are willing to pay for the conference, AND
enough of 3 and 4 who are of value to the vendors that underwrite a
significant portion of the cost of the conference through sponsorships and
booth fees? And 5 is an interesting one because there's really no financial
incentive to focus on them....but they also tend to be the most vocal about
changes for good or ill.

The bottom line is that if you disagree with these sorts of changes it is
incumbent on you to communicate that to ARMA staff. No idea who the right
person is there anymore but maybe someone from ARMA or on the Board will
respond with a name/email address.

I do wonder how these changes are being communicated - I am still a paid
professional member of ARMA in good standing and I don't recall seeing
anything recently about these changes. Maybe I just missed it though....

-- 
Regards,

Jesse Wilkins, CIP, CRM, IGP
[log in to unmask]
blog: http://informata.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jessewilkins

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]