Designed to provide IASA members with insight into their peers' strategies, the organization's Industry Pulse poll is beating even stronger this year, say IASA officials overseeing the process.

Recent modifications to the poll should expand input and drive up IASA membership, officials say. On the heels of the successful introduction of poll data in sessions at last year's national conference, poll data again will be incorporated in various sessions during this year's event.

While the Industry Pulse poll results do not generate scientifically valid measures of membership activity and opinion, that's not the intention, explains Scott McEntee, the new chair of the Industry Pulse subcommittee of IASA's publishing group.

“The intent of the polls is to get the heartbeat of membership on what is coming at them at any particular time and then kick that back to membership,” explains McEntee, the assistant treasurer at Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. of Iowa. “It's really information-sharing on how members are wrestling with [an issue] to give you some insight on how you might want to deal with it.”

The more poll responses IASA generates, the more information its members will have available to consider. To that end, IASA this spring began polling non-members in the industry, too, “in hopes that it will give up more perspective on the questions we're asking,” notes Tricia Stillman, director, member and volunteer services, at IASA.

IASA officials say they also hope this invitation to non-members encourages them to join the organization. The potential membership boost to the current 12,000-member roll could be significant, as IASA now is reaching out to about 6,000 non-members, according to Stillman.

It's not unusual for professionals to maintain ties to IASA without formally joining the organization, says Victoria Pruitt, a member and former chair of the Industry Pulse subcommittee. For example, some non-members are colleagues of IASA members, and some attend meetings at IASA chapters, which do not require membership in the national organization, says Pruitt, vice president, sales, at industry services vendor KeyMark of Liberty, SC.

The Industry Pulse also is expanding its social networking footprint beyond Linkedin and Twitter by reaching out to members and non-members on Facebook, McEntee notes. IASA's new Facebook presence, which at press time was expected to become active by June 1, is another move designed to draw non-members to the organization, McEntee says. In addition to the social media channels and email, poll participants can respond via the organization's website.

During IASA's annual national conference this week, attendees will be polled daily, from Sunday through Tuesday. Poll results will be available the following morning on social media channels. That is the same schedule followed two years ago, the first year conference members were polled. The polling schedule shifted to Monday through Wednesday last year, but the response rate suffered somewhat, Stillman explains.

The one-question polls will be issued through Twitter, Facebook and the IASA's smartphone conference application, which is back again this year by popular demand.

Tuesday's question, for example, asks attendees to explain their primary reason for attending the conference, such as networking opportunities, the keynote speakers, the continuing education credits they can earn attending sessions, the exhibitors or the host city. Industry Pulse polling results will be posted prominently at various spots at the conference as well.

Like last year, some sessions also will likely incorporate previously collected Industry Pulse polling data. Stillman notes that the roundtable chairs who used poll data last year indicated afterward that “they found it a valuable addition to the discussion.”

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IASA Keeps its Finger on the Pulse of Members

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