60 ROUND TABLE Professional Organisations
FEED: What are the biggest challenges facing professional organisations today? BARBARA LANGE, SMPTE: The most significant challenges originate from the evolving industry landscape. Every time there’s a merger in the industry, it affects us by reducing our membership and possibly our income. We must mitigate these outcomes by developing new business models and programs that support our members’ evolving needs. I am sure that, over the Society’s 102 years of existence, this is not the first time it has experienced a shifting landscape and survived. Still, it is vital that we have a plan to ride out this change and smartly prepare for the future. To that end, the SMPTE board of governors is undergoing an aggressive three-year strategic planning effort that will continue to help us navigate these inevitable changes. MARK HARRISON, DPP: For professional organisations in general there is a commercial challenge. I do believe that many companies in media receive a value in having formal opportunities to be brought together, but budgets are very tight and people just don’t have the money to pay lots of membership fees to lots of different organisations. In that context, there is a challenge for industry organisations to be clear precisely what the value proposition is that they’re presenting to members, if they’re going to retain the membership model. PETERWHITE, IABM: The biggest challenge is the speed of change, which demands ever-increasing agility from IABM in ensuring that we deliver business- enhancing, authoritative information to members faster than ever before. IABM membership has nearly doubled in recent years, which I think indicates that we are getting it right and providing a genuinely useful service to members. The new, collaborative way of doing business also demands we build platforms that engage our customers in conversation with IABM members on the widest possible front. IABM is approaching this in several ways – we are in the process of launching regional Industry Advisory Boards, which give the end-users a hotline to the supplier community, ensuring that needs are listened to, understood and met in the shortest possible time. We call it creative collaboration and it is the only way to ensure the continuing success of the broadcast and media industry as it faces more and more challenges, including from Big Tech.
I AM SURE THAT, OVER THE SOCIETY’S 102 YEARS OF EXISTENCE, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME IT HAS EXPERIENCED A SHIFTING LANDSCAPE AND SURVIVED
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