Kim just left her club's spring networking event. Instead of feeling excited and alive, she feels flat.

"What went wrong?," she wonders. "The meeting room was cozy. The meeting itself well-organized. Food was great."

Then it hits her. Her cousin Theresa's wedding last summer! Kim had the same feeling then.

First, start off by asking yourself questions like:

Einstein has been quoted as having said “if I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes. In other words, he would spend significant time figuring out what the problem is.

This week’s blog is re-posted with permission from Aaron D. Wolowiec, MSA, CAE, CMP, CTA. Aaron is the founder and president of Event Garde, a professional development consulting firm based in Grand Rapids, Mich. Website: www.eventgarde.com.

Although still relatively new, online communities are quickly becoming popular platforms for engagement, discussion, and membership.

The response rate for web surveys is 8 to 12%. Why so low? One of the biggest reasons is poor design and execution.

So how do you increase participation?

Has your association conducted a communication audit within the last three years? More specifically, are your meetings and publications teams working together to ensure your association’s events are effectively marketed?

Member engagement doesn’t happen randomly. Associations with increases in overall membership are “also more likely to have a strategic initiative in place for increasing engagement,” according to the 2015 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report from Marketing General.

Those that have been most successful – according to this study – cite participation in public social networking as the engagement strategy that has been most effective for driving engagement – more than young professionals programs, webinar attendance, and members-only website areas.