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#5: In Conversation with KiKi L’Italien, on Sharpening Your Digital Strategy and Building Member Trust

Jul 12, 2022

Today’s guest is KiKi L’Italien, the owner of the consulting firm Amplified Growth; she trains association staff and speaks on a number of topics, particularly trust, community and membership. She helps organizations develop stronger ties between their mission and their members, honing her approach to communications and strategy for many organizations—nonprofits and corporate alike—including Optica, American Red Cross national headquarters, QVC and the American Institute of Architects.

KiKi is also a senior consultant with Tecker International and speaks regularly about management strategy, including digital strategy, and cultivating communities of trust.

She is also the creator and host of Association Chat, an online community, blog and podcast. 

Kiki was featured in 2021 by Cvent as one of the 20 Event Professionals You Should be Following and in August 2021 as 30 Nonprofit IT Influencers to Follow in 2021 by BizTech magazine.   

KiKi has served on the membership and component relations section councils for ASAE and was recognized in 2019 at IMEX as a Hall of Fame recipient for Organizational Leadership by the Association for Women in Events. Other awards include BizBash Top 1000 People in the U.S. Event Industry (2019) and SURGE Innovation Pioneer (2018).

She is the current president of the Woman’s Club of Wenonah, New Jersey. 

Topics covered:

  • How she got started in associations. 
  • How the #AssnChat tweet chat and hashtag was created and how it has grown into a larger community. 
  • What associations need to be focusing on with their digital strategy. Hint: Figure out how important your legacy programs are and whether you should keep them around.
  • Should you keep those programs you created during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic? 
  • Why cross-training staff and keeping up with staff training is critical right now, especially during the Great Resignation. 
  • Why you need to capture and write down the processes for various roles. 
  • The importance of trust in associations—with members, with staff leaders and co-workers, with your content. 
  • Distrust has become exacerbated in times of uncertainty, such as the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter and the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • How to endeavor trust in member relations and content. 
  • How much trust do you have in yourself? Do you keep your promises to yourself?
  • How the pandemic increased local and regional member participation. 

Resources: