Five Leadership Imperatives from London’s Memcom 2025 Conference.
On 1 May the Memcom community filled Bishopsgate with one big question: what will it take for membership organisations to flourish over the coming decade? After a full day of debating data, demographics, income, technology and trust, Intercloud9 identified five clear imperatives for UK leaders in the membership sector.
1. Build Gen Z loyalty before someone else does
In the opening panel “From Broadcasting to Engaging” – chaired by Anne‑Marie Leech (GS1 UK) – the data point that stuck was that Gen Z already represents 27 per cent of the workforce. Sofia Lypiridou (CFA UK) and Lucas Morais (BVCA) argued that winning this cohort means abandoning long‑form, one‑size‑fits‑all messages. Short video onboarding, location‑aware event invites, and user‑generated success stories are the new basics.
Gen Z’s selective sense of belonging resurfaced in the Closing Plenary when Ruth Stuart (AAT) reminded us that under‑30s show a higher propensity to join professional bodies than 30–40‑year‑olds, provided the value is obvious and personal. The lesson: design segmented journeys now, because purpose‑driven young professionals will join – but only those communities that feel built for them.
2. Fund the mission while costs and compliance rise
Money dominated the ‘Ask the Finance Experts’ clinic run by Haysmac. Kathryn Burton, Louise Veragoo, Stephen Patey and Nick Bustin were frank: audit fees will not fall because regulation, complaints and technology keep pushing them up. With training and event income sliding, many bodies are now more than 50 per cent reliant on subscriptions.
Their advice: sharpen reserves policies (see Charity Commission CC 19), explore salary‑sacrifice to offset National Insurance rises and map VAT exposure before you run events overseas. That financial vigilance echoed the State of the Sector survey led by Ruth Bolle, Ben Harris and Catherine Whitmore. Seventy‑one per cent of CEOs expect 2025 to be tougher financially, citing staff costs, US tariffs and essential tech upgrades. In short: diversify revenue or risk mission drift.
3. Stop worshipping member counts – start designing for impact
“Change or Die” may have been the most candid session title of the day. Moderator Adam Sampson (Association of Optometrists) challenged a cross‑sector panel to name practices they must abandon.
For Jane Pritchard (Royal College of Podiatry) the answer was vanity metrics. Head‑counts alone do not measure professional impact, she argued, urging leaders to recast organisations around purpose and collaboration – even with “competitors”.
Dawn Howard (NOAH) sold the office, went fully remote and reinvested in skills. Gary Waltham (FSRH) found that 98 per cent of members join for education, so he rebuilt the model so that learning now funds 40 per cent of revenue. Chris Weavers (NASUWT) added that active volunteers, not mere sign‑ups, are the real engine of a movement.
The message is stark: prune activities that do not advance the professional mission and free resources for what does.
4. Master data and AI – but keep ethics and people at the centre
Technology cut across almost every session. In “Harnessing the Power of AI”, Alan King (IMechE) chaired a panel featuring Damien Watson (Layercake), Adam Richardson (Smart Impact) and Jason Turner (RCPsych). Their blueprint: start with culture not code, map real member pain points, fund cross‑functional learning and write an AI policy that embraces staff and volunteers. RCPsych’s 24/7 chatbot shows the upside; but every panellist warned against assuming AI is infallible.
That caution re‑appeared in the Keynote Sector Response where Tom Bowtell (British Coatings Federation), Sara Robertson (ITI) and Victoria Hills (RTPI) stressed professional ethics as the human differentiator in an AI world. For translators and planners alike, judgement and empathy remain irreplaceable.
5. Turn fleeting encounters into lifelong communities
Membership bodies still rely on events to seed loyalty, but the “Passive to Engaged Supporter” panel reminded us that post‑pandemic delegates expect more than a lecture theatre. Kate Sargent (Society for Endocrinology) hosted Hannah Capstick (Wonderly), Sinead Burke (CIPD) and Tanja Munro (ECPR).
From festival‑style conferences with wellbeing zones to targeted speed‑networking, the goal is consistent touch‑points that map to each career phase. Digital badging and satellite special‑interest groups keep momentum once the lanyards come off.
Implementing that experience requires watertight data foundations, which is why the “Digital Transformation Ask‑the‑Experts” clinic was packed. Louise Pritchard (BDA), Joel Trotman (Oomi), Matt Adams (Baringa), Emma Wilcox (SocEnv) and Nej Gakenyi (GRM Digital) labelled poor data one of the most common reason CRM projects fail. Their mantra: start with the outcome in mind (strategy), review your business processes and select best of breed technology products that supports the delivery of your strategy. Ensure senior sponsors own the business case and that measurement of return on investment (ROI) is embedded on an ongoing basis – not just during the project.
Looking to 2035 – community first, business model second
The final panel peered a decade ahead. Humayon Pramanik (APM), Sarah Atkins (CIPD) and Robert Gofton (Nuclear Institute) predicted hyper‑personalised, pay‑as‑you‑go membership tiers plus social‑value metrics that prove public good. Dynamic pricing and freeze options may sound radical, yet the underlying aim is timeless: people join for personal progress and stay because they feel part of a tribe.
What this means for leaders now:
- Segment relentlessly. One message never fitted all, and Gen Z will call you out.
- Sweat the numbers that matter. Purpose, reserves and engagement trump raw membership size.
- Invest in trustworthy tech. AI is an accelerator only if your data and ethics are solid.
- Design events as journeys, not gigs. Measure advocacy, not footfall.
- Tell the story daily. Accuracy is everything, as Tom Bowtell reminded us, but so is amplification.
Memcom closed with Julian Smith thanking a sector that remains surprisingly optimistic despite geopolitics, cost pressures and digital disruption. If leaders act on the five imperatives above, that optimism feels justified.
