Associations during COVID19: organised, solution-oriented and visible. Part 3

Associations during COVID19: organised, solution-oriented and visible. Part 3

Associations stand up for the interests of their members. They are visible and seen as the expert, or in marketing terms a 'thought leader' in their field.

In a series of several articles, association managers, relationship managers, project- & communication managers and office managers of Lejeune Association Management tell their story. They talk about their own role as interest representatives, the relationship with policymakers and media, the various projects, communication and secretarial support. But also how they personally experienced this role during the changes needed in the Corona crisis.

In part 1, Hans Koning and Astrid Lejeune talk about their experiences.
In part 2, we talked with Hans van Schaik and Jules Lejeune.

In part 3 Barbara Ginter, Elke Verbaarschot and Jakovina van Haeringen talk about their experiences in their role as a relationship manager with a focus on project management and communication.

Barbara Ginter
Project management and communication for ECMA, EuroFM, ECSPP, EMPHA, ILP Vegetable

Mid-March, right after the announcements of the measures from the government, I initially thought that in a week or two I would be finished with the work planned and that after that things would calm down. However, the opposite turned out to be true.

For ECMA we converted all meetings to conference calls. Each country could share its experience on topics such as Sales & Logistics or Health & Safety. We moved the annual ECMA congress to 2021. Operationally, that's a bit of a challenge. My role in the entire process is mainly to inform the members, Mike Turner, Managing Director ECMA is responsible for the content. In order to keep members optimally informed, we have created a separate section on the website with the latest news or important developments. We also converted the LinkedIn group to a public page, so everyone can easily find the information needed. In the meantime, the membership continues to grow as we welcomed three new members in the last three months.

The judging for our annual European Carton Excellence Award always is a physical meeting, in The Hague. We have now turned this into full online judging. The judges log into the system where the entry forms and photos of the entry have been uploaded. The list of 80 entries will be reduced to a shortlist of 20. These 20 will be asked to send us four samples of the packaging. We will send these samples to the home address of the judges for evaluation. In a ZOOM meeting the results are discussed and the winners are chosen. How we will organise the final award ceremony will be discussed shortly.

Since early 2020 EuroFM is new in the portfolio of Lejeune Association Management. In the middle of the Corona crisis. A new customer requires extra attention and consultation in the beginning. It turns out that this onboarding process also can be done online. The annual congress that was planned in Barcelona at the beginning of June was converted into an online event. Also the recent research sessions were online sessions. The Students' Festival will also be held online in June. This includes the competition in which the association has asked Facility Management students to pitch innovative ideas for their field. For the award ceremony we are looking, just like other associations do, at the possibilities we have because of the Corona restrictions.

Elke Verbaarschot
Project management and communication

In the past period I have noticed that there was a need to meet regularly and exchange experiences. Not only to discuss market forces and challenges in the field, but also to get together to discuss the work in general and hear how everyone is doing. The regular webinars that we organize since the beginning of the crisis for a number of associations are still well attended. The situation is changing so fast and there is constantly new information to share. In this way you can also brainstorm together and look at the future perspective. You notice that gradually people have become more accustomed to virtual meetings (although you are now also getting knocked around the ears with all Zoom meetings). That's nice, because seeing someone while you're talking to them, even if it's virtual, is more personal than a telephone conversation.

This is also a good time to pick up the personal contact in this way and speak to members individually to ask what they expect from the association next to the package we already offer and how we can help them now and in the future. Members appreciate this very much, doing this you give an extra boost to the association activity at a time when you can't physically meet the members. In this period we have actually discovered an extra dimension in communicating which we will soon be able to continue in addition to the usual events and even combine them in the form of hybrid events.

Jakovina van Haeringen
Project management and communication for FINAT, the European label industry association

At Lejeune we can't escape the effects of the coronavirus either. Social distancing also applies to us for the sake of staff safety. As Relationship Manager and head of the internal Working Environment workgroup, I have the task of making our office corona proof or rather ready for the 'new way of working'. This includes: placing workstations at an appropriate, safe distance; depositing disinfectant gel at the entrance, on tables, and in communal areas and drawing up a guideline of measures according to the standards of RIVM (the Dutch public health and environment institute) so that staff and visitors are informed and know how to act.

For FINAT we keep a close eye on developments and inform members via the newly developed Covid-19 webinars. I myself pour the information into the newsletter (Labelling News Online) which is sent every other week to more than 3,350 addresses around the world. In addition, the execution of the daily activities also continues as usual. I eagerly await the Technical Seminar originally scheduled for the beginning of March, for which I had set up an extensive programme in collaboration with the Seminar Programme Committee, to take place in Barcelona on 2-4 December next. Same for the jury meeting of our annual label competition. Unfortunately, it is guessing what is coming and that complicates the planning.

In the meantime, we will continue to work undisturbed on our service, communication, and connection with our members.

Read part 1. With Hans Koning and Astrid Lejeune
Read part 2. Hans van Schaik and Jules Lejeune