At VAB, we recognise our community is diverse: in terms of geography, board-level experience, professional experience, etc. So, as you enter 2023 with us, you have the opportunity to take part in a wide array of activities that best fit your current needs. These different styles of meetings, training sessions and networking and/or connecting opportunities will help you get the most from the knowledge, insights and skills amassed in our community of 500+ members. So let’s look at how we structure audiences for VAB services and activities and how you can best benefit from them.
Where do I fit in as a VAB member?
This is a question you may have asked yourself in the past, or perhaps as a new member you have posed this query now as you try to navigate and understand our wide array of services. Our traditional breakdown of member types (and please bear in mind each member’s board journey is different, so you might not fit a specific category or you may find yourself somewhere in between) is as follows, but please bear in mind that all members are encouraged to take advantages of all the services we offer:
You’re Board curious: This means you’re a member who is perhaps still in an executive role and you have extensive leadership experience. Yet you’re interested in what types of board or board advisor roles you might be able to take on. You’re curious about what board operations are like, how do meetings work and play out, how could you possibility contribute in a board, board advisor or NED capacity? In this case, some of the best VAB activities for you include our VAB Academy (a series of deep-dive MasterClasses led by our VAB Chair Mark Hamill, along with guest board experts, that focus on teaching specific board-related skills in each instalment). Or you can join a VAB webinar. These events give you insights into current trends and allow you to learn from, and pose questions to, board-level experts. In addition to those learning activities, you will also want to take advantage of our connecting opportunities. Join one of our small-group VAB CONNECT! session where you can get to know your fellow members in a more intimate setting and discuss topics that are timely for today’s board leaders.
You’re a Board learner: This member group usually includes members with some initial degree of board knowledge. Perhaps you have recently left an executive position and you may have served on board for an NGO or a not-for-profit group, or even done some informal advising for start-ups. In this case, you’re ready to hit the ground running as you engage with the VAB community. Perhaps you want to spread the word that you’re Open to Board Roles/Work as the LinkedIn jingo goes. So you can leverage our newsletter VAB News to share your own thought leadership content or also articles that we help you develop. You will definitely want to join our VAB Academy sessions at times, but you may also be ready to sign up for a VAB Board Tribe group. You can always consult with David and the VAB team to gauge your readiness for this service. Plus, in your board learner phase, you can use our other tools to share your insights and also contribute to VAB’s knowledge- and leads-sharing structures. Check out our VAB Speed Connect! meetings and learn how you can trade tips and leads on board and business opportunities through these member-to-member conversations. Also, join our Needs-and-Leads group on Telegram so that you follow and respond to the opportunities we list there on a daily to weekly basis. Finally, make use of VAB’s ever-growing VAB partner ecosystem. Our partners offer a number of services for participants across varied levels of board-readiness and expertise that help you learn and grow in your ability to serve impactfully on boards. Explore our partner listing here to learn more.
You’re Board ready: Many members of our community have extensive board or NED experience and VAB provides them opportunities to find new assignments or board-level challenges. Members in this group really help enrich the VAB experience for their fellow VAB colleagues as they often lead our VAB webinars, our Board Tribe groups and our VAB CONNECT! sessions. They contribute, in lecturer roles, to providing content for our VAB Academy programme. You will find their expert articles in VAB News and some of them are active in businesses that provide trainings and teachings via the VAB partner ecosystem. Still, they also #connect, #learn and #network in VAB through active participation in our Advisory Board Network (ABAN) structures (available to members with any level of board experience) and by helping in local and regional leadership roles. Specifically, our VAB Face-2-Face meetings provide an opportunity for our board-ready members to shine and lead these popular networking events. And, of course, our Needs & Leads service and VAB Connex member-to-member contact-building programme enable them to gain access to targeted, future board member, board advisor and NED roles.
How to get BANG for your buck from your VAB investment! Follow some of these tips:
Network: explore the community, do planned outreach (do a 1:1 member meet each week);
Connect: be vocal about your needs and wants - sign up to Needs & Leads, join a CONNECT! session and tell members where you are in your board journey and what support you need. Also, don’t forget to let other members know how you can support them;
Connect/Network: use VAB’s copywriting services - contribute articles, do the new member Q&A, etc. Use expert commentary to show the board world your knowledge and skills. And post and share this information on LinkedIn.
Network: leverage VAB’s partner ecosystem (use our partners’ discounted services and access to their events to expand further your board search network);
Learn: VAB has an amazing collection of resources (both VAB-designed and partner-owned), use these tools (all of them stored on our LinkTree page) to build your board-level knowledge and skills.
Remember! The bulk of our VAB services and opportunities are member-driven. You get out of our community as much as you’re willing to put in. So please don’t hesitate to contact your member experience manager (MEM) or anyone you know in our team. We will point you in the right direction service and event-wise and do our best to help you thrive from your VAB experience.
