The Skills That Mean More than AI

For the most recent set of Associations Now Deep Dives, Mark Athitakis spoke with a few association meeting professionals about what skills they feel are most essential to the job today. He expected to hear a lot about artificial intelligence (AI), personalization and technology. Instead, he heard a lot about people.

For instance, Bonnie Stetz, CMP, senior director of event strategy at the Institute of Food Technologists, explained that there’s no shortage of tech-savvy pros who understand event logistics. But skilled negotiators who grasp the importance of engagement? That’s a little more rare. "When I was searching for someone for audience engagement and strategy work, there were a ton of amazing resumes for people who were very good at logistics, operation and negotiations, but few who had the strategy and audience work that I needed on the engagement side," she said.

That focus on people skills in the meetings department applies to leadership roles of all sorts. A new survey of corporate recruiters by the Graduate Management Admission Council found that, yes, companies want to know about a potential hire's AI savvy. But is it the most valued capability they're seeking? No. The second, the fifth? Try fourteenth.

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