As IAMC prepares to convene its 10th Professional Forum, it's worth noting that the upcoming record-breaking attendance at Amelia Island, Fla., did not occur by accident.

How did IAMC go from zero dues-paying members in August 2002 to more than 460 today? How did the IAMC Professional Forums go from 145 attendees in October 2002 in Savannah, Ga., to more than 330 on an island near Jacksonville this month?

The answer comes in two words: member satisfaction. The IAMC Member Relations Committee recently conducted a survey of the membership in an attempt to find out why members join and — more importantly — why they stay.

The results were quite telling:

• When asked to name the primary reason for joining IAMC, 75 percent of the respondents said "contacts and networking." Among Active members, 45 percent said "contacts and networking" and another 45 percent said "professional development and education opportunities."
• 88 percent of all respondents said they planned to renew their membership. The remaining 12 percent said they were "not sure yet."
• 73 percent said that IAMC had enhanced their professional career. Among Actives, it was 79 percent.
• 67 percent are currently conducting business with other IAMC members. Among Actives, it is 70 percent.
• Among both Actives and total respondents, the four most valuable benefits of IAMC membership are new contacts, camaraderie with colleagues, professional development and Site Selection magazine.
• 35 percent of respondents are involved on a committee; 65 percent of Actives said they work on a committee.
• The survey group, which consisted of 55 respondents, reflected the makeup of IAMC: 20 respondents were Actives, 20 were economic developers, 12 were service providers, and three were retired Actives.

As IAMC embarks on its fifth full year of operation, that value proposition will not change. In fact, at staff headquarters, our job is to deliver greater value. One way we are doing that is by adding even more member-driven resources on the association's official website, IAMC.org.

Two relatively new services — the Surplus Property Clearinghouse and the IAMC Career Center — have quickly established themselves as two of the most popular and useful features on the Web site. They are a big reason why visitor traffic on IAMC.org is up 87 percent from January 2006, going from 4,103 visits to 7,693 visits in January 2007.

Look for those Web site numbers to increase in the months to come as IAMC.org adds even more interactive, online features. Among them will be a downloadable version of IAMC's first-ever Webinar, organized and hosted by the IAMC Southeast Region on Feb. 7. The topic of that web conference, the challenge of insuring coastal properties, is also discussed at length in the Florida Spotlight inside the March edition of Site Selection, IAMC's official publication.

If you were not one of the 55 respondents to the Member Relations Committee's survey, please send me an email (ron.starner@iamc.org) and give me your thoughts on why you joined IAMC and what value the association delivers to you. And if you have recommendations on how we can improve IAMC, we'd like to hear that too.

Thanks for helping bring IAMC to record levels of membership and Forum attendance. I hope to see you soon on sunny Amelia Island.

Ron Starner