An intriguing post showed up in my RSS reader this morning under the ‘public relations’ tracking tag: Ten things to manage in a recession: 1 – memberships.

The writer, Paul Wilkinson, says:

[…] if you are a marketeer, what can you do to help your business survive (and – perhap more importantly – keep your job!)? […] Number one: “Cut association memberships”

That’s a worthwhile thought whatever your profession. I ask the question this way:

What does membership offer me that makes my annual subscription an indispensible investment?

It’s a bit of a selfish view – it certainly doesn’t look at reciprocity as in “what do I offer my professional association?” – but we’re in tough economic times and, in this post, looking only at judging the maximum return from a direct investment in a professional association.

Wilkinson offers six suggestions. Here they are as headlines (visit his post to read the detail):

1. Get your association to enable and encourage online involvement.
2. Look at low-cost alternatives to the big associations.
3. Look at online networking groups and communities of practice.
4. Establish a new network, or a sub-network.
5. Build your own informal network.
6. Several, or all, of the above.

They’re good suggestions, valid to apply to the professional association you belong to, whatever your profession.

I did that for my membership in IABC (the International Association of Business Communicators), the only professional association I belong to and have done continuously for 20 years.

A no brainer – I’m very happy with the return IABC gives me, not only in the obvious things from the suggestion list (eg, items 1 and 3) but also the open framework that lets me do things like items 4 and 5.

And, by the way, IABC just launched the IABC Marketplace last week – if you’re a communication consultant (as I am), it’s a terrific free resource to showcase what you offer to your fellow members.

How does your professional association measure up?