When Did Your Association Last Review Its Education Program?

Somewhere in an association’s certification program, there is an exam question about fax machines.

It was necessary and even forward-looking when the question was written. At some point since then, knowing how to manage fax-based communications has become an obsolete skill (for most professions). The profession has moved on, but the exam hasn’t kept pace.

That’s the thing about education programs—they rarely fall apart all at once. There’s no obvious moment when things suddenly become outdated. Relevance erodes quietly, revealing one gap at a time until a program that once felt essential feels like it belongs to a different era.

The biggest concern is that members are more likely to notice before association leaders.

Education Programs Don’t Go Stale Overnight

The gap between a strong education program and an outdated one isn’t obvious at first. It starts small—a topic on emerging tech from five years ago or a format that no longer matches how members learn—from there it becomes a body of knowledge that reflects a profession as it was instead of as it is.

Association education programs are built thoughtfully and launched well. But without a deliberate review process, even the best programs can drift, and it’s particularly easy to miss from the inside. That’s in part because staff are close to the program, but members looking for education are close to the needs and reality of their profession.

Professional development and education consistently rank among the top reasons people join and renew association memberships. According to the 2024 MGI Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, associations that see increases in professional development registrations are more likely to report membership growth and higher renewal rates. When that benefit isn’t obvious anymore, professionals will look somewhere else.

What Members Are Comparing You To

Your association education shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. Your members have access to professional development in multiple areas—industry podcasts, employer-sponsored training, and on-demand platforms. This is what your education program is being measured against.

The good news is that associations have an advantage: context.

The data you’ve collected about your members—their professions, regulatory requirements, relationships, and specific challenges—is what other generic offerings can’t replicate. You have all the information needed to create (or update) an education program. The question is, are you using it?

How to Keep Your Association Education Program Relevant

Almost no one skips the review process on purpose. Most of the time, the original owner has moved on, or there’s no natural cadence, or a trigger hasn’t been decided. A program will get built, launched, and then maintained. If you have a car, a house, or even a computer, you know that maintenance is not the same as staying current.

A review doesn’t have to be extensive, but it does have to be deliberate. A good place to start is asking who owns the program. If that’s not clear, it needs to be resolved right away.

From there, a few things that make a difference:

Involve volunteers, not just staff.

The members closest to the work are best suited to spot what’s outdated or missing. A volunteer committee brings the perspective that staff may not be able to replicate.

(It may also be possible to use time spent on this as credits towards certification renewal if members need some incentive.)

Revisit your body of knowledge.

A job task analysis can help you see if your program still covers the necessary information. This matters especially if your content references tools, regulations, or practices that can shift quickly.

Set a review cadence.

For accredited programs, organizations like the NCCA require a formal review every five years. If you do not have a required timeline, set one that makes sense for your profession.

The fax machine question is a good reminder of that. It’s not there out of negligence. It’s there because no one has stopped to ask, “Does this still belong here?” It’s a question worth asking when you review your educational program.