It’s been several years since I was last an AMA member. At some point I did not renew, because I did not feel the membership nor the educational programs were benefiting my career.

I recognized the irony in this. Whatever you think of the AMA, it is still the name associated with the marketing profession. If the chapter was not delivering value, then we as marketers were failing at what we do.

Earlier this year, Luba Abrams took over as president and approached me about joining the Board. What was I going to do? Her former company was our client. So I smiled and said sure, as I was thinking, OMG, more work. AMA
chapters are all volunteer efforts. There are no paid staff. Yet it is in actuality, a small company, with the same demands of  any firm: management, marketing, sales, finance, product development, communications, and administration.

I must admit I was concerned. The economy had tanked, and the cost of membership is not cheap. There was a lot of work to be done to revitalize the chapter and create opportunities that made membership worth the cost.  Luba has achieved what a good leader should: create a team that brings in new talent, skills, energy and diversity. At the Board meeting last night, I looked around the table. There were two senior social media experts, a highly experienced Web/search optimization expert, a senior corporate,  marketer and ad agency owner, a special events planner, mobile marketing principal, marketing student advisors, and new from Chicago, a marketer experienced in doing business in China. AMA Baltimore is not the organization I remember.

There is a new website, blog, social media community, partnerships with other marketing groups, and a couple of big initiatives in the making.

Like everything, you get out of it what you put into it. If you don’t use it to network, to learn, to share, and to make new friends and contacts, then you’re wasting your money. But I can say with conviction that AMA Baltimore is back in its groove and on its way to leading, not trailing, the profession.

By: Marjorie Valin, AMA Board Vice President

Marjorie is president of Frank Strategic Marketing, a Columbia-based agency that helps organizations improve business performance through multi-channel marketing, communications and award-winning creative strategy. Established in 1995, the agency has helped nonprofits and corporations achieve record sales, penetrate new markets, define  more competitive positions and create brands in commodity markets. The agency’s effectiveness with prior campaigns earned them the Marketer of the Year Award from the AMA’s Washington DC chapter.

Ms. Valin received a Bachelors degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri and is completing a certificate in Inbound Marketing. She currently serves on the board of the Baltimore Chapter of the American Marketing Association, the board of the Cancer Support Foundation, and is teaching her 16 year old twins to drive. Stay off the streets.