What Topics to Expect from digitalNow 2022

If you happened to miss our not so little announcement yesterday, digitalNow 2022 is coming to you live October 4-6, 2022 and heading to our hometown of New Orleans. 

Now in its 22nd year, digitalNow remains the best idea generator for association leaders and is the place to look into the future of what the ongoing digital transformation will bring to our industry. 

Preparing for the Future is What We Do

digitalNow was founded with a commitment to tackling the most critical issues in the association landscape with action-based strategies, transformative technologies and an innovative community.

At digitalNow 2022, that trend will continue. 

We will lay the foundation for purpose-driven member organizations, associations and nonprofits to understand what those technologies are, but more importantly, how those technologies stand to impact their industry and the sectors they represent. 

While many of these topic areas are complex, we find that understanding the impacts of these technologies and their real-world applications matters more for our audience than the nuts and bolts of how they work. 

What We’ll Be Tackling

Through over 20 hours of conversations with association executives, including those on the digitalNow Advisory Group, and our annual digitalNow Content survey, we’ve identified an exciting blend of core focus areas for the 2022 conference: Web3 and Artificial Intelligence. 

While these focus areas will serve as the foundation of discussions at digitalNow, from which we’ll build engaging workshops and strategic discussions, our goal is to also provide association leaders with the information and strategies they need to begin moving their organizations forward. 

Web3

Web3 will reshape our entire online world by transferring and decentralizing power, creating new communities and financial ecosystems, redefining how we think about “trust,” and adjusting how we reach new and existing audiences.

Possible subject matter areas: 

• Blockchain: Fundamentals, Tokens, Smart Contracts, credentialing
• Community Building: Creator coins, NFTs, DAOs
• DeFi: Defining DeFi, its implications and where cryptocurrency fits in
• Decentralization: Transfer of power from owned media to individuals, and how that impacts the ability to reach new and existing audiences 

Artificial Intelligence

By no means is artificial intelligence new, but its use is being rapidly refined through an overwhelming amount of data collection. With recent improvements to artificial intelligence capabilities, we are making ever greater strides toward accurate predictions, language processing and data analysis. 

And these are key concepts for associations and the industries they represent: Over 90% of digitalNow survey respondents said it will be important to predict member behaviors in the next 12 months — and artificial intelligence is one avenue toward making that possible.

• Identifying opportunities for using AI and when to outsource vs. build in-house
• How AI can impact learning technologies
• What AI can and can’t do (and for how long it’ll stay that way) 
• Impacts on the labor market, and what skills will become more (and less) important
• AI integration in day-to-day operations for associations
• Impacts on data collection, privacy and the value of existing and new data

Association Management Strategy

The idea of “uncertainty” has become less of a buzzword and more like the only thing we can count on. Right now, we’re grappling with big-picture questions that will define the next era of association management. 

At digitalNow, we’re interested in tackling some of these questions and examining new association management ideas. 

• Holistic approaches to funding strategic plans and organizational goals 
• New association value categories or product lines
• Systems integration that can seamlessly weave together association tech stacks
• Next-Gen content management so members get what they need, when they need it
• How to use new technologies responsibly and ethically, especially in the context of DEI initiatives 

Applying Your New Understanding

Learning about a new concept is one thing, but that’s no use without identifying key takeaways and, even more important, essential action items. On Day 3, we’ll host a panel discussion with all of our keynote speakers to bring these ideas together, challenge each other and then help attendees identify how to answer the biggest question of all: What next?

• How to prepare your organization and your staff
• What skillsets does your organization need to hire for as you look to utilize new technologies? 
• How can your organization track ROI on technology investments?
• What industry-wide changes could result from these new technologies?
• What goals can you set for your organization to tackle in the next year?
• What is “The One Thing” your organization needs to focus on and work toward? And how do you get there?

Join Us in The Big Easy

So, that’s what you can expect at digitalNow 2022! Be sure to check in with our blog and follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates, including keynote speaker announcements, session specifics and all the fun activities you can expect in New Orleans! Registration is now open, with early bird pricing running through May 11, 2022. Be sure to visit our site for a full breakdown of pricing and explore how you can make the most of your experience.