Membership Has Its Privileges

By Kevin Casey 

For many years, American Express used the slogan and byline: "membership has its privileges". Being a Platinum Card holder for decades, you might be surprised I still think about my "privileges" every time my statement reminds me with the annual “membership” fee. It’s not cheap and has increased over the years. So, I add it up. They pay my fee for TSA Pre, allow me $200 in airline fees, $200 in Uber Rides, membership in most airline clubs plus the AMEX Centurion clubs, not to mention points on dollars charged that can be used for many things. For a guy that travels a lot, it’s a no-brainer. Yet, I still pause each year to consider, is it worth it? 

I’ve been a member and participant in EDmarket (formerly NSSEA) even longer than I’ve had that Platinum American Express card. When I get that invoice for renewal each year do I think about what am I getting for the dues? I don’t. 

What I do think about is what my company wants and needs, and then, through participation, I work to make those things happen, improving my business/channels/knowledge. And those things only happen when they align with a consensus of others that also find value in those developments. I can only do that if I am involved and a member. More membership involvement equals better the experience - for everyone.

In the early stages of my career, I was very engaged, as were many others in my age group. We became life-long friends, comrades in the community and eventually leaders of companies in the school supply industry. That wouldn’t have happened without the community of EDmarket committees, counsels, and work groups within the association, that lending us the opportunity to serve and commune. 

I guess where my participation waned was in the 90’s, as the focus changed. Consolidation was happening on the full-service distributor side, and taking a second spin on the supplier side. The furniture and equipment folks wanted things at a different time than the rest of us. Retailers were strong and growing. The focus became more and more about a trade show, when should it be, who will it serve and how many orders will we write. The vision was never an education industry viewpoint, but a school supply outlook that became fragmented and myopic. 

Also, at the time, I was VP Business Development of Educational Insights and our viewpoint was educational products at all levels and channels. The association was now working inside a box that was becoming several smaller boxes. Don’t get me wrong, I was managing one of the largest footprints at EDExpo, however, membership was a formality and was not really valued because we were not involved. It worked for us and membership was not a question, just a toll. Oddly enough, many consider that time to be the golden age of EDexpo with large exhibit spaces and thousands of attendees. To me, the trade association was hibernating, sleep-walking as a trade show, and so my involvement, other than as an exhibitor, made little sense. 

I jumped back into participation in the association in the past 8 years or so.  Changes were taking place, the kinds of changes some of us pushed for 15-20 years earlier, starting with the re-branding of the association to better communicate the total education industry mission. The furniture & equipment sector had reinvented itself into EDspaces and awakened a trade association that now had an industry-wide perspective, evolving into an industry event involving all stakeholders, not just buyers and sellers. Architects, facility planners, superintendents, school business officials, etc. 

The EDspaces dialog and cross-pollination reached critical mass. Why else would Google send their Education Evangelist to keynote? As a result, the EDmarket Association is now expanding membership to these stakeholders.  EDspaces communities are thriving and new communities are seeking inclusion. The dialog is year-round within committees and conversations that begin at EDspaces. That’s the kind of trade association I want to be involved in and hopefully bring the instructional materials segment into that industry focus. Good things happen when all stakeholders come together.

I just came from an EDmarket board meeting in Memphis. Without a doubt, it was a meeting about going forward and not looking back. EDspaces participants are conveying to leadership how important curriculum directors are becoming as influencers of learning environments. They also realize the value supplemental materials and EdTech sectors can bring to the EDspaces conversation. Visions of a newly re-focused association over the next few years were dancing in my head by the end of the meeting. Exciting.

That’s why membership in EDmarket remains meaningful to me. It's truly an exchange: I learn a lot from many of the members of the board/councils and hopefully they get a few kernels from me. Having the opportunity to collaborate with others in our industry, related and unrelated, opens my thinking outside the box. Involvement that can lead to being a change agent. That is why I’m in. That is why I don’t question the value when the annual dues statement shows up. Every association or community with total industry viewpoint, the members that are involved see value.

My “membership” in American Express should not to be compared to membership in a trade or professional association. My annual AMEX membership is a fee, that is potentially offset by tangible benefits, to use their transactional device. That fee provides the motivation to use the card as my preference and the “privileges” are there to incentify me to keep paying my annual fee. I have little say in the policy or privileges they offer me. I am not really a member of anything. Not too dissimilar from being a member of a trade show.