Your annual congress lasts three days. Your members’ year has 362 more, and that is where most renewals are won or lost. A member who enjoyed the congress in May but heard little of value before the renewal invoice in December may still be uncertain about renewing.
The data shows why that gap matters for retention. Lack of engagement is the reason association executives most often give for members not renewing, cited by 47 per cent in the 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report by Marketing General Incorporated (MGI). So the question for your events team is not how to make the congress bigger. It is what members do together between congresses.
Small, regular events can help members build relationships between congresses. This guide covers formats for the year, planned 1:1 conversations, an orientation programme for the first 90 days of membership and three metrics to assess participation and retention.
What member engagement means for an association
Before choosing formats, agree what you are trying to increase. Member engagement is the degree to which members actively take part in the association: they attend, contribute, volunteer and, above all, connect with one another. It describes behaviour, not sentiment. Opening newsletters shows interest, but active engagement also involves participating and connecting with other members.
The distinction matters because members join for each other. In the MGI 2024 report, based on 696 associations, 67 per cent said members join mainly to network with others in their profession, the top reason across all association types. Information can be found elsewhere. Finding and meeting peers with relevant experience takes more effort. That is what your events have to deliver.
Why the months between congresses decide the renewal
If networking is why members join, the renewal depends on whether they actually met someone this year. The current benchmarks show how little room there is. MGI’s 2026 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, based on input from nearly 500 association professionals and published in July 2026, puts the median renewal rate at 82 per cent, a figure that has barely moved in a decade. First year members renew at only 72 per cent, and just 38 per cent of associations grew their membership last year, down from 45 per cent.
For an association with 300 new members a year, that first year rate means roughly 84 of them are gone twelve months later. Most of them never had a reason to come back.
Members join to meet peers, and leave when they do not
The same MGI 2024 data shows where associations can act. Associations that saw participation grow in special interest groups, webinars, in person professional development meetings and volunteering were more likely to report a rising renewal rate as well. That is a correlation, not proof of cause, but the direction is clear. The formats between congresses are not a side programme. They are the retention programme.
Picture the membership manager who presents the renewal figures to the board every January. She can report congress attendance to the last seat. What she usually cannot report is how many of the members who lapsed had taken part in anything since the last congress. The rest of this guide is built around her question.
Six formats that keep members active through the year
The answer to her question starts with the calendar. Associations that keep members active between congresses do not simply run more events. They establish a regular schedule: a few formats of different sizes, each with a clear job, each leading towards the congress.
| Format | Typical rhythm | Typical size | The conversation it should produce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional groups and chapter meetings | Monthly or quarterly | 15 to 80 | Members who work near each other |
| Special interest groups and committees | Monthly or quarterly | 6 to 30 | Experts working on one topic |
| Peer roundtables | Two to four times a year | 6 to 8 per table | Peers with the same role and problem |
| Mentoring and buddy programmes | Monthly, for 6 to 12 months | Pairs | One experienced member and one newcomer |
| Online sessions | Monthly | 30 to 500 | Members who cannot travel, and follow up calls |
| Annual congress | Once a year | 300 to 5,000 | Members across regions and sectors |
The rhythms and sizes are typical ranges from association practice, not fixed rules. Start with the last column: it tells you what each format is actually for.
Regional groups: the low threshold
Regional evenings are where many members take part for the first time, because they cost an evening, not a trip. Their weak spot is familiar. The same twenty regulars talk to each other, while a newcomer stands by the coffee with her name badge and leaves at half past eight. Give every regional meeting one structured element, such as two short rounds at tables sorted by sector, and ask a volunteer host to introduce each first time attendee to two people.
Special interest groups and committees: work that binds
Committees remain one of the most effective engagement tools associations have. In Naylor’s 2025 Association Benchmarking Report, based on more than 300 senior association professionals in North America, 76 per cent rated committee meetings as highly effective. People who work on something together have a reason to meet again. Open at least one working group a year to members who have never volunteered, with a defined task and an end date, so that joining feels like a project rather than a lifelong commitment.
Peer roundtables: same role, same problem
A roundtable seats six to eight members with the same role around one question, for example how heads of procurement in mid sized manufacturers are handling supplier risk this year. There is no audience and no speaker to hide behind, so everyone talks. Members leave with three or four peers they can call next month. Table size, moderation and seating are covered in our guide on how to run a roundtable discussion.
Mentoring and buddy programmes: first year members first
With first year renewal at 72 per cent, no format has a clearer target group. Pair every new member with an experienced one for the first six to twelve months, and give the pair three fixed occasions: a call in the first month, a meeting at the next regional event and a coffee at the congress. The newcomer then arrives at every event already knowing one person. A buddy turns a member number into a name.
Online sessions: reach without travel
Online formats reach members who cannot travel, and associations value them highly: 79.1 per cent of the 665 association professionals in Naylor’s 2026 Association Benchmarking Report rated webinars as valuable for engagement. Their weakness is that they run one to many. Add a short breakout or a follow up slot in which attendees can arrange a call with one another, and a webinar becomes the start of a relationship rather than a recording. How to design online formats that produce real meetings is explained in our guide to virtual networking events.
The annual congress: the peak, not the whole year
The congress stays the moment when the whole community is in one room. In a year built on regular formats, its role changes. Members arrive knowing some people already, and with a list of people they want to meet. A congress that only starts relationships has to work much harder than one that deepens them.
Planned 1:1 conversations: the step most formats skip
All six formats share one gap. They bring members into the same room, but they leave it to chance who talks to whom. Freeman’s 2025 trends report “Unpacking XLNC”, published in July 2025, shows what chance costs: 40 per cent of attendees say networking feels awkward, 30 per cent struggle to start conversations, and nearly half want curated recommendations on whom to meet before an event. At the same time, 51 per cent say effective networking alone is reason enough to return. For an association, returning is the renewal.
Planned 1:1 conversations close that gap. Members state what they offer and what they are looking for, the office decides which groups may meet, and short slots are scheduled around the programme. This works at the congress, but it works just as well at a regional evening with 40 members. One 45 minute block of three 15 minute conversations gives every attendee three new contacts and a reason to come next time.
Here is how that looks in practice. A trade association for engineering firms asks members, when they register for the spring regional meeting, to pick two topics from a short list such as apprenticeships, energy costs and exports. The office pairs members from companies that do not know each other yet and keeps direct competitors apart. On the evening, everyone has three short meetings before dinner. The regulars still sit with their friends at dinner. The newcomers do not stand by the coffee.
A 1:1 round at a member event in four steps
- At registration Ask what members offer and seek Two or three topics from a fixed list, plus sector and region. Short enough that nobody skips it.
- Two weeks before Set the rules Decide who may meet whom: newcomers with experienced members, across regions, no direct competitors.
- One week before Schedule the slots 15 minute meetings in a fixed block around the programme, with numbered tables so nobody searches.
- The day after Follow up Send each member their contacts, ask for a one line rating and record the meetings for the year view.
Converve brings this structure to association events. You map your membership with categories such as sector, region and membership status, and the rule-based meeting matrix defines which groups can request meetings with whom. Members get scheduled 1:1 meetings around the programme, and the reporting shows conversations and new contacts per event. With the optional 365-day community, profiles stay online after the congress, so the next regional meeting starts with completed profiles instead of an empty attendee list. See how this works for associations and chambers.
New member orientation: the first 90 days
Planned conversations matter most for the members who do not know anyone yet. A new member orientation is a short, recurring session in which an association welcomes recently joined members. It shows them how to use their membership and introduces them to other members. It is often the first event of a membership, and it can decide whether a second one follows.
Few associations run one. In MGI’s 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, 81 per cent of 567 responding associations sent welcome emails. Only 22 per cent held an in person new member reception or orientation, and 20 per cent ran new member webinars. Associations reporting rising new member acquisition were significantly more likely to hold such receptions or orientations. That is again a correlation, but it points to a gap you can close. An email explains the benefits. A meeting puts faces to them.
Picture a member who joins in March. She receives a welcome email, a login and a list of benefits. Without an orientation, her first contact with another member may be the congress in October. By then, the renewal invoice is only two months away.
Format: monthly, short and in small groups
Members join throughout the year, so orientation works best as a recurring date rather than a single welcome day. Three examples from 2026 show the common pattern:
- The Chartered Institute of Fundraising in the UK runs monthly 30 minute online drop-in sessions for new members. They can bring questions and meet other members who are just getting started.
- NABIP, the US National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals, holds a one hour online orientation every month. Its national membership chair, vice chair and membership manager host it together.
- The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce in California runs a monthly one hour online welcome on the last Thursday of each month.
All three focus on information. Your orientation becomes an engagement format when it also creates contacts. A 45 to 60 minute session can do both in three parts:
- Ten minutes on how the membership works: where regional groups meet, which committees are open and what the next event is.
- Twenty minutes in small groups of three or four newcomers with one experienced member, sorted by region or sector.
- Ten minutes on next steps: each newcomer picks one format to try and learns who their buddy will be.
Online sessions reach members wherever they are and suit a monthly rhythm. An in person reception before a regional meeting creates stronger first contacts. A workable mix is a monthly online session plus a quarterly welcome reception at a regional evening.
The first 90 days: a simple plan
The orientation is one step in a longer first quarter. In an ASAE article from June 2026, Jeff Spring of software vendor ASI splits the first year into phases. Days 1 to 14 confirm the decision to join, and days 14 to 90 demonstrate value. Translated into events, that gives four steps.
The first 90 days of a new member in four steps
- Days 1 to 14 Welcome and invite A personal welcome call or email, plus a date for the next orientation. Ask for region and two topics of interest.
- Days 15 to 45 Orientation and buddy The newcomer joins an orientation, meets a small group and is introduced to a buddy within a week.
- Days 46 to 75 First regional event Newcomer and buddy attend a regional meeting or roundtable together, with at least one planned 1:1 conversation.
- Day 90 Check in Staff or the buddy ask one question: whom have you met so far? Record the answer in the member record.
The day 90 question gives the membership manager an early signal. Members who have met nobody by then are the ones to call first. She can still act in June instead of explaining the loss in January. Ask whom they met, not whether they are satisfied.
Matching buddies to new members
The mentoring section above describes what a buddy does. The match itself needs written criteria, because pairing by whoever volunteers first tends to give newcomers the busiest regulars. Four criteria cover most associations:
- Same region, so that both can meet at the next regional event without extra travel.
- Related sector or role, but no direct competitor.
- At least two years of membership and attendance at a recent event.
- No more than two newcomers per buddy at the same time.
Match within a week of the orientation, and send both sides a short introduction with each other’s details and the date of the next regional event. Set the rules once, and the monthly matching takes minutes.
New member orientation is not the same as a first-time attendee programme. Orientation welcomes people who have joined the association, whenever in the year they join. A first-time attendee programme welcomes people at one congress, and some of them have not joined yet. How to run that programme, with its own buddy matching on site and a return rate the board can follow, we show in our guide to first-time attendee programmes.
Three numbers that show whether engagement works
Formats and meetings are half the job. The other half is showing the board that they work, and that is where many associations struggle. Leveraging data for strategic decisions entered the top three challenges for the first time in Naylor’s 2026 Association Benchmarking Report, cited by 47.7 per cent of respondents.
Self reported sentiment is not the place to start. In Higher Logic’s 2025 Association Member Experience Report (552 respondents, December 2025), 82 per cent of members said they feel engaged with their association. Yet executives still name lack of engagement as the main reason members lapse. Both can be true at once, which is exactly why you measure behaviour. Three numbers are enough, and most offices already hold the data:
- Participation rate: the share of members who took part in at least one activity in the last twelve months, counting every format, not only the congress. Divide unique participating members by total members, and report first year members separately.
- Returning participants: the share of this year’s participants who also took part last year, and the share of first time attendees who came to a second format within six months. This shows whether a format starts relationships or fills a room once.
- Renewal by participation: the renewal rate of members who took part in at least one format, compared with members who took part in none. Split it again for first year members, where the gap tends to matter most.
The third number is the one the membership manager can take to the board. Say participants renew at 90 per cent and non participants at 70 per cent. That comparison does not prove that events cause renewal, because committed members also attend more. But it shows her where the next budget should go. And if the gap narrows from one year to the next, she knows something has changed before the renewal season tells her.
How to set up event data so that these comparisons hold, we explain in our guide to event data analytics. If you are still building the calendar behind the numbers, our guide to association event management shows how to plan the annual meeting, the congress and the regional days as one programme.
Where software fits in
The three numbers need one thing from your systems: the same member ID across every format, from the regional evening to the congress. Member records usually live in association management software (AMS), while structured networking and scheduled meetings often run on a dedicated event platform. Which combination suits your association, and how the two should exchange data, we compare in association management software vs. event platform. If you are choosing the membership system itself, our ranking of the best association management software rates nine platforms on their event features too.
The AMS records engagement. The events create it.
Engagement also shows up in the budget the treasurer presents: members who stay active register for the congress again, and the congress funds much of what dues no longer cover. How registration, exhibition space, meeting packages and paid education add up, and which of them members would actually miss, we break down in non-dues revenue from association events.
Engagement also decides how full the next congress is, especially when it travels to a new host city. Members who stayed active through the year are the first to register, and how associations and convention bureaus reach the rest, from the previous edition to the final weeks, we describe in our guide to delegate boosting.
One group needs its own version of this year: members at the start of their careers, who will only move to the full rate if the association has become useful to them by then. How to give them a mentor above them, a peer circle beside them and a congress track that brings both together, we describe in our guide to young professionals programmes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is member engagement in an association?
Member engagement is the degree to which members actively take part in their association: attending events, contributing to groups, volunteering and connecting with other members. It is measured by behaviour, such as participation and renewal, rather than by how engaged members say they feel.
Which events increase member engagement between annual conferences?
Small, regular formats with a clear job: regional groups and chapter meetings, special interest groups and committees, peer roundtables, mentoring or buddy programmes for new members and online sessions with follow up calls. They work best when each one ends in planned conversations between specific members, so that the annual congress becomes the peak of a year rather than its only event.
How do you measure member engagement?
Start with three numbers: the participation rate (share of members who took part in at least one activity in twelve months), returning participants (share who come back to a second format) and renewal by participation (renewal rate of participants compared with non participants). Report first year members separately, because their median renewal rate is only 72 per cent (MGI 2026).
Why do association members not renew?
Lack of engagement is the reason association executives most often give, cited by 47 per cent in the MGI 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, ahead of a perceived lack of value. Because 67 per cent of associations say members join mainly to network (MGI 2024), a year without useful contacts undermines the main reason for joining.
How can associations engage first year members?
Invite each new member to a new member orientation in their first weeks, pair them with an experienced buddy for six to twelve months, bring them to a small regional event within 90 days and plan at least one 1:1 conversation for them at every event they attend. First year members renew at a median of 72 per cent compared with 82 per cent overall (MGI 2026), so early personal contact has the biggest effect here.
What is a new member orientation?
A new member orientation is a short, recurring session, often monthly and 30 to 60 minutes long, in which an association welcomes recently joined members, explains how to use the membership and introduces them to other members and a buddy. It runs online, as a reception before a regional meeting, or both. Only 22 per cent of associations hold an in person new member reception or orientation (MGI 2024).
What should happen in a new member’s first 90 days?
In the first two weeks, a personal welcome and an invitation to the next orientation. By around day 45, the orientation and an introduction to a buddy from the same region. By day 75, a first regional event or roundtable with at least one planned 1:1 conversation. On day 90, a short check on whom the member has met so far.
Does association management software improve member engagement?
Association management software records engagement: membership data, event attendance and renewals in one place, which makes the three key numbers measurable. It does not create engagement on its own. Engagement comes from the events and the conversations members have there, which is why many associations combine their AMS with an event platform for structured networking.
Conclusion: build the year around conversations
Give members regular opportunities to meet throughout the year. Welcome newcomers with an orientation and a buddy in their first 90 days, and include planned conversations in smaller events. Track participation, return visits and renewal to see which formats members find useful. Your annual congress can then build on relationships that already exist.
If you want to plan 1:1 conversations for your regional meetings, roundtables or annual congress, get in touch with Converve. You can also explore our B2B matchmaking for association events.
