IWPA’s World Of Wood Highlights Importance Of Connection

IWPA recently held its annual convention where historically, the Executive Director gives a speech on the state of the association. As I prepped my speech, I was tempted to rely on data; after all metrics are usually an essential part of any business or association. The number of people who choose what you have to offer (members for IWPA, customers for your business), the state of your bottom line, your staff retention… all of these are incredibly important, essential even. However, they don’t give you the full picture.

Any association’s success or failure is determined by its members. I don’t just mean that in the obvious way, where members joining or leaving will affect the association’s future. Rather, I mean to say that the character, the energy, the “vibe” (as the kids these days like to say) all form a cohesive culture that will determine success or failure.

I recently did a visit with a returning member who last attended a World of Wood convention many years ago, and they compared it to what they felt this year at our meeting. They shared how before, they had felt like since they didn’t know many people, they didn’t feel terribly welcomed, and ended up feeling like they would not do much business at the meeting. They ended up not renewing. They attended our meeting this year and said how it felt like a totally different association – they felt welcomed everywhere, they made great connections, and they did a lot of business. They shared how many people went out of their way to say hello, to make them feel like they had a place in the association. That feeling of community isn’t anything that shows up in a spreadsheet or an annual report, yet it is one of the make-or-break aspects of an association.

An association is more than numbers and statistics, it is the members who make it what it is. I have worked in a number of trade associations in my career and what drew me back to the wood products industry after a decade apart is the people, the sense of our voice being loudest and most effective when we raise it together in service of the good work our industry does to support jobs here in North America and all around the world.

Our association has so much good to focus on. Just this year IWPA rolled out new on-demand educational courses, created by industry veterans. We are once again holding our in-person due care training, this year expanded by half a day and taught by a deep bench of industry professionals. Since January we have done dozens of Capitol Hill visits, often with members of the industry on a variety of topics including AD/CVD issues, CITES implementation, GSP renewal, CNL reform, and Lacey Act improvement. Our committees are reinvigorated under the exciting leadership of IWPA members both on and off our Board, helping with input on regulatory comments, outreach to agencies, Capitol Hill talking points, and even suggesting speakers for our Convention.

As I look forward to the culmination of my first year as IWPA’s Executive Director this summer, I am struck by how so many dedicated professionals have come together to support me and the IWPA team as we work to accomplish big things for our members. If you are looking for ways to get involved in that work, I can’t wait to talk to you.