Business Development

It’s time for associations to move from transactional revenue models to ecosystem-based value creation. In fact, it’s the most important shift associations can make today, says Teri Carden, COO of Insight Guide, a technology company founded in 2022 to help associations generate new revenue through supplier and member engagement.
“I’m talking about shifting the mindset from ‘What can my association sell to my members?’ to ‘How can my association create value exchanges across the entire industry?’” Carden tells PAR.

Association sales teams are under pressure to grow sponsorship revenue with fewer resources. In her RevUP 2025 session, “AI-Powered Sponsorship Sales: Driving Revenue Through Intelligent Automation,” Amy Michalski shared how she transformed sponsorship sales at the Association of Intelligent Information Management by integrating artificial intelligence and automation into her daily workflow.

When it comes to business development, many associations are leaving money or influence on the table. Whether they’ve been strapped for time or resources, narrowly focused, pulled in too many directions — or just plain don’t know what they don’t know — missed opportunities of the past could be an association’s possibilities of today. PAR’s four new Leadership Advisory Board members reveal where the biggest missed opportunities lie and how associations can start capitalizing on them now.

Major shifts are happening today in how leading associations and nonprofits are generating revenue and delivering value to members and partners. Here are some insights from PAR’s four newest Leadership Advisory Board members on what successful associations are doing differently and how you can keep up.

When it comes to expo and sponsorship programs, cost-cutting is part art and part science — and you can conquer both. PAR has tapped the experts to break it down into manageable steps.

Most event leaders assume their biggest challenges are attendance and exhibitor/sponsor revenue. They aren’t. Those are surface indicators. The more meaningful shift is happening underneath, in the economics of events themselves: who creates value, who captures it, and how success is actually measured. For years, the model was straightforward: Organizers built platforms. Attendees came for connections and learning. Exhibitors invested for visibility, access to buyers, and measurable business outcomes. Growth followed scale. That model is now under pressure — not because interest in events has declined, but because the assumptions that once defined value no longer hold in the same way.

Association leaders face unique revenue challenges that require more than one-size-fits-all answers. Many professionals are turning to coaching for focused, one-on-one support tailored to their urgent needs — helping them move beyond insight and into measurable action. That’s why PAR recently launched its new Growth Coaching program led by Lewis Flax, president of Flax Associates.

PAR’s Greatest of All Twenty Twenty-Five association revenue producers gave out transformative, practical advice during the 5th Annual PAR GOAT Awards on Jan. 21. In case you missed it, we rounded up the top priorities that associations should set for 2026 to boost short- and long-term growth, according to GOATs Dan Cole, Krystle Kopacz, Carrie McIntyre, and Brittany Shoul.