Laura Sparks

TRANSCRIPT: HERstory Laura Sparks

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
Hello and welcome to this edition of AWTC Presents HERstory, a video series where we profile our AWTC members. Hi and thanks for joining us. I'm your host, Cecilia Sepp.

I am a member of AWTC and I'm currently serving on the marketing committee. And I'm very pleased to welcome Laura Sparks to this edition of Her Story. Welcome, Laura.

Would you like to say hello and tell us a little about yourself?

Laura Sparks [Guest]
Sure. So my name is Laura Sparks. I'm the director of marketing and communications at the American Society of Appraisers.

And I'm also a member of AWTC as well as the chair of the membership subcommittee in the marketing committee. What I do at the American Society of Appraisers, I'm kind of that, like, I feel like marketing is like a mastermind behind the curtain a little bit. Similar to tech, too.

We can dream up fresh ways to tell stories. We rally our members. We make sure things look good.

We make sure everyone knows how valuable and vibrant our profession is. And I think one thing that's really cool is we're trying to keep a pulse on the market. So we're really trying to understand where the industry is headed and not just respond to change.

I think right now, especially we're in such a culture of change that getting ahead of that and anticipating it has been huge for our profession.

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
Oh, that's great. I love that you're proactive and not reactive. I think we need more of that.
So it sounds like you really enjoy working at your current organization. But can you share with us how did you get started working with associations? Yeah, of course.

Laura Sparks [Guest]
So I think like most people, my journey into associations wasn't exactly typical. I don't think anyone even really knows associations are there. It's such a challenge for our workforce development.

But honestly, that's been part of the fun. My first job out of college was in marketing and sales and business development for covert military antennas. Right.

How do you go from that to associations? So on top of picture, I had an opera degree and a background in journalism, suddenly talking tactical tech, signal strength, everything. But I think it's really cool.

My my journey took me to understanding how to sell and understand the market for just about anything, because I went from there to jumping into a marketing consulting department for a SaaS company where I was supporting. On around like 40 to 50 clients, and so I was pitching ideas, I was doing content marketing, I was trying to think fast to my feet. And it really opened my eyes to everything marketing was.

I think coming from a journalism background, I was like, OK, I can write and I can tell a story and that's what you need. And it really opened my mind to like there's so many angles of marketing. And so immediately there I shifted and was like, I want to specialize.

I have tried all the things I've tasted, all the flavors. And now I want to really jump. And so I joined and specialized into a digital e-signature company.

The whole idea was behind digital transformation. We want to take any time you sign for anything, cars, vacation rentals, break old habits, you know, kind of champion that fresh, agile mindset if we want it to be a digital record. And I think that in a way almost was like, you know, I fell into associations like everyone says, kind of by accident.

But what hooked me was like I was getting into that idea of being a change agent from that company and the idea of changing your mindset and changing exactly how you do things. And I really liked when I was at the e-signature company. I was I had completely figured out how to develop a marketing qualified lead and then I'd pass it over to sales with associations.

It's kind of like marketing is sales. You kind of see that end to end of your work. You you see that you get to like dive into the data.

You get to kind of understand and connect to the real people. You're not just churning through. OK, I'm trying to create the perfect formula to qualify these leads and hopefully sales connects them.

And I've given them enough information to develop them. And so it was really that ability to mix like the analysis with the creative probably ties into my opera degree. Right.

Like it's a little bit of the combination of everything that I think it just never gets old. It's fun.

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
Well, that's that is great. And I think you've started to answer my next question. You are so enthusiastic about your work.

Could you tell us about a time where you felt really good about what you do?

Laura Sparks [Guest]
Yeah, I so I stepped into my role with ASA in April, so it's a relatively new role. And I feel like for the first time, marketing is truly getting invited early, which is it doesn't always happen. I feel like a lot of times marketing is almost a replacement word for promotion.

Right. Hey, we need to market this, which a lot of people feel like is just throwing email out. And so I actually feel like I'm at an organization where I'm not just swooping in and kind of like making things pretty, putting lipstick on a pig.

Right. Like you don't really have a say. You just kind of make it beautiful.

And so it's that to me feels really good because we are getting out of that feeling like we're a tool or drive through window. And we're kind of pushing forward into that like driver of strategy and change that is really needed for associations like we to really push associations and challenge a dying membership across the board of our industry. And that's been so energizing because I think seeing leadership value, the power of marketing and technology and having that mindset early on from the start is huge because we're able to shape the programs.

We're able to say, like, oh, have we considered this or that? Does the tool that we're actually considering work instead of saying, hey, this department has an idea now, you know, marketing and technique to implement it. And so I am feeling really great just being part of that culture and really understanding that, like, it's a journey.

But the culture alone is such a big part of where you work and what you do and how you feel proud about it.

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
Oh, that's a great observation. So you just shared how you feel that things are evolving for you, especially in your new role at your organization. So what advice would you share with a woman who is in tech or who uses tech a lot in their work?

I would say be curious.

Laura Sparks [Guest]
I feel like it's a superpower. I feel like it's less about having the answer, right? Especially as you're evolving in your career, you feel like you have to have the answer, especially when senior leadership is calling on you and you're like, I need to know everything.

It's not possible. And so I feel like it's less about having that answer and more about loving the questions, wondering what's possible, poking holes in things, challenging that, like, it's always been done this way. Therefore, we need to do it.

It's say why and then ask why again and why again. Like, and so I think it's imagining new ways to solve problems because associations are so rooted in that deep member tradition. And we don't want to lose that.

But it's like being curious and how can we show up in new ways to honor that tradition and saying, like, well, let's give it a try. Let's have a postmortem and say, like, what's the worst that could happen? Right?

The worst that could happen is the thing bombs and it's fine. But what did we learn from it? Well, we learned that that idea doesn't work with our members.

So it's, for me, that, like, curiosity versus that set it and forget it mindset is huge. And I think it's just, it's so important because, like, we need to listen to what the data and the markets telling us. We need to understand what's missing from that data, too.

Because I think a lot of times we jump into, okay, we're going to dig into the data. The data is telling us these people are engaging with something. Therefore, it's success.

It's like, well, what about the people that aren't engaging in it? What can we be curious about them? Can we step back and say, what aren't we seeing?

What aren't we? I think curiosity just leads to more collaboration between departments, better results. And it's not listening to the loudest voices, which I think is huge in associations.

Because we have passionate members. We all have passionate members and they're great. But we need to understand kind of how to move the association and the profession forward.

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
And yeah, I agree. That was a really good observation. And you mentioned being curious.

And that's a great lead-in to my next question. Which is, where do you think technology is taking associations in the future?

Laura Sparks [Guest]
Yeah, I think it's hard. There are a million tools to do things better. And so technology is really going to springboard us forward.

But I almost feel like for technology shaping us, it's not introducing new tools fully. But it's enabling that deeper mindset into being agile and learning and understanding. I think the real transformation is almost coming when associations move away from, we've always done it this way, to lean startup mentality of a tech startup.

Rapid experimentation, iterative approaches, validating learning. And I see it a lot in my association, right? Like we have members coming to us saying, we need new courses.

There's new trends in appraising. We need this, this. We need new accreditation.

And that's a huge investment. And associations are risk adverse. And so what can you do to change that mindset?

I think it's like really leaning into what tools do we have? Because we can't, we are too small to be implementing the latest and the greatest. We just, we do not have the bandwidth.

And I think if we continue to chase the latest and the greatest, we might hit challenges. And so it's like, what can we do with the tools that enable us to shift our mindset and be agile and learn and then slowly implement, right? New tools are bad.

But taking that iterative approach to test and experiment, it's hard. I think for a marketer, right? Like we ensure brand promise.

So that iterative approach, it's like, where's our mark if we're constantly iterating? But we also love testing. And so I think it's going to allow us to kind of move beyond that comfortability.

And especially when we're kind of tight on resources and time, thinking how can we take what we have and just iterate to just make it slightly better and slightly better and slightly better versus, okay, we need a new tool. Let's kill it. Let's create a 18-month project.

It's, I don't think we'll move forward as strong as we want to as an association.

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
Yeah. Oh, that's good advice. I like that.

Very insightful. So as we move toward wrapping up this wonderful profile of you, what do you like best about AWTC?

Laura Sparks [Guest]
I love the spirit behind AWTC. I love why it started. I think it's, we get a lot of networking from it, but it didn't start as a networking group.

It really started as like a movement. And I think thinking back to, you know, it was a group of women sitting around drinking wine, talking about how, you know, too many decisions are made on the golf course and women just weren't invited. And I think even now, you know, we look at the data coming out of ASAE, only 20% of the C-suite roles and associations are held by women.

And we're still fighting that pay gap. And so I love that spirit that like, we are here to support each other. We're here to champion each other.

We're here to champion women who champion technology. Because it's such a need. I mean, I spent six years on the Marketing Professionals Advisory Council.

And like our big energy and part of what we've gone into is trying to find a seat at the table for marketing, to show off the value of marketing, to really help us prove ourselves in the room, you know, and to make space. And so you think about it, okay, well, if only 20% are women, it's really trying to find that space as well as a woman in that C-suite. And the conversation continues to happen.

I feel like it was the first year I was on the council. It cycled again now, you know, as my past chair role in the sixth year. It's just, it's a regular conversation that's happening.

And so I love that it's this movement that like, we need change. And every department touches technology. So it's not just the IT people.

It's the MarTech, the volunteer tech, the data, the communications. And so we're all working together. And like, I love that it's that movement that we can work together and we can support each other.

And we can genuinely swap ideas. And it's, it feels real. It feels authentic. And it's just that like sense of belonging that I think a typical networking group doesn't give you.

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
Yeah, oh, I agree. Wonderful. That was a great, great description of what we do at AWTC.
So as we wrap this up, Laura, and again, it's been a wonderful chat with you today. Why should someone join AWTC and then get involved?

Laura Sparks [Guest]
I think someone should join because there's so much opportunity. There's like, I think about, I attended Advance in DC last December. And yes, it had networking, it had education, it had a lot of things that you go to any other conference that has.

But I vividly remember sitting around in a group of probably five people. And we were talking about like what we wanted to change in our career and our lives and our work-life balance. And it just felt so authentic.

People wanted to help you. They connected after the fact to talk through, hey, how did it go? Can I give you this name that I mentioned?

You don't get that a lot of places. And so I think joining AWTC, it's a free membership. It's all about belonging.

You get that closeness and it makes the association community feel a lot smaller. Because you can learn new skills. You can kind of, there's meant, I mean, the programs alone, right?

There's mentorship, there's awards, there's education, there's networking. So you can join just to join. But I think like the conversations in the community that you get from it are so huge and worth it that it just makes everything smaller.

And I think in today's world, that's so important to have that core group of people championing you and really wanting to be alongside you.

Cecilia Sepp [Host]
Well said again. I think that is a wonderful description of why you should join and why you should get involved like Laura and I have done. And I want to thank Laura for joining me for this episode of AWTC Presents Her Story.

And Laura's already hit on all the high points of what we do from networking to events, to a membership that has no fee. And like I like to say, it's the most valuable no fee membership on the planet. So please check us out at our website, awtc.tech. You can find information about who we are, what we do. And our whole lineup of virtual and in-person events, we have several events every month. And they're easy to find, easy to sign up. And it's a great way to meet people and expand your network.

And before we sign off, we want to remind you, everyone is welcome in AWTC. You don't have to be a woman and you don't have to be an IT person. You just have to be a person who likes technology, uses it and is trying to make it work better for associations.

So thank you for joining us again for this episode. And again, please check out our website, awtc.tech. I'm your host, Cecilia Sepp, and we will see you next time.