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Lisa Campo

By: Lisa Campo on July 17th, 2015

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Five Observations from a CESSE 2015 First-Timer

Association Industry Commentary

mailto:demo@example.com?Subject=HighRoad Solutions - interesting article
CESSE 2015's closing dinner and gala
Here's the thing about the Council of Engineering & Scientific Society Executives Annual Meeting: I had no idea what to expect. I knew, at least, that it'd be filled with smart, technical society/association staff. Other than that, I hadn't been to a non-marketing/tech-specific conference before, so here are a few things that surprised or amused me.
  1. There were more women than men. I'm talking 60/40 or 70/30 split. I expected, perhaps naively, that this would be a male-dominated meeting, and I was pleasantly surprised. There were still lots of male executive directors, but other than that, it was diverse. 

  2. Everyone was warm and welcoming. It truly is a networking conference for people who want to learn a bit ... but have fun while doing it. I mean, there was an event that started at 9:30 p.m. at a winery. CESSE takes networking to a new level.

  3. No hardcore sales pitches. I attended some sessions that were given by sponsors (partners) of CESSE, but there was no outright "buy this, and here's why" sales-talk going on. Unless you count all the cities that sponsored the events, but that was more fun than anything else. And now I know so much more about Des Moines & Wichita than I did before!

  4. There was a distinct feeling of progressiveness. The attendees I spoke to all wanted to move their societies or associations forward using technology. They seemed to want to embrace change, even if it would take some time to do. There wasn't anyone who said, "Oh, we can't do that -- it's too much for our members." At least not that I heard.

  5. As usual, the session on cross-generational workplaces was jam-packed. It's obvious that people want to know more about how to work with people who are not like them. I love this trend, and it's something we at HighRoad find endlessly fascinating. The fact that people are taking action to try to understand their younger or older coworkers makes me hope that communication within companies and associations will become more open and fluid one day.