Survey Results: Taking the Pulse of Associations Navigating COVID-19 & Event Cancellations

Download the full report on how coronavirus has impacted member organizations plus lessons learned—presented by ORI, Higher Logic, Association Analytics, U.S. Transactions Corp., and Aronson LLC.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ORI, Higher Logic, and Association Analytics teamed up to conduct an Association Pulse Survey to assess how the crisis is affecting associations broadly—at the organization and individual levels. Simultaneously, ORI also partnered with U.S. Transactions Corp. and Aronson LLC to conduct a COVID-19 Association Event Cancellation Survey examining how member organizations are navigating the repercussions of cancelling or rescheduling conferences during the pandemic.

In both surveys, we gathered association leaders’ personal experiences and stories—in their own words—and then used AI-driven text analytics technology from Clarabridge (now Qualtrics XM) to mine the open-ended comments to examine recurring themes, sentiment, and effort.

High-value insights. Download the full report to explore the top findings and themes, including:

73% of respondents are developing new products or services
54% of respondents reported increased use of their online forums
Working from home dominated conversations—with reports of heightened effectiveness and productivity mixed with work-life balance challenges and emotional impacts
72% of respondents are replacing in-person events with virtual events
42% of respondents cancelled 1 – 3 events, while 22% cancelled 10+ events
Many respondents encountered difficulties around insurance not covering pandemics, negotiating cancellation conditions, and needing to invoke the Force Majeure Clause
Reimagining what future events will look like, revenue loss, and a reduction in retention dominated the anticipated long-term effects of event cancellation

As the repercussions of COVID-19 continue to be felt across organizations around the globe, we hope that this report will help you gain a better understanding of how the crisis is affecting your peers—and inspire you with innovative ideas for pivoting and adapting during these trying times.

Download the full report COVID-19 Association Event Cancellation & Pulse Survey Results.