Association chapters operate in a unique space. They're volunteer-driven, resource-constrained, and tasked with building community across dispersed membership bases. Yet they're also expected to deliver compelling content, drive event attendance, and grow social media presence—all while competing for attention in an increasingly noisy digital landscape.
The IAEE Washington DC Chapter found a solution that transformed how they engage members: authentic video powered by Gather Voices.
Brendon Winter, Director of Communications and Outreach for IAEE's DC Chapter (and full-time employee at Freeman), knows the chapter communications struggle firsthand. As the largest chapter within the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, serving the exhibition industry with over 12,000 professionals globally, the DC chapter needed a way to create engaging content without the traditional production overhead.
"I have a rich history of video and production, and what that meant to me was scheduling and pre-production and building a script and showing up at the talent's site to be able to record them and light them and making sure that everything was perfect," Winter explains. For a volunteer-led chapter, that approach simply wasn't sustainable.
Most association chapters rely on volunteers who have day jobs, limited time, and minimal budgets. Traditional video production requires:
For chapters running quarterly education programs, networking events, and year-end receptions while trying to maintain an active online presence, this old model creates an impossible bottleneck.
Winter deployed Gather Voices across multiple chapter touchpoints:
Speaker Introductions: Before each of the chapter's four annual education programs, speakers receive a simple email link. "I've sent a Gather Voices recording link out to the speakers coming in for these events and asked them to record a short intro message just introducing themselves and what the audience can expect to see when they show up on site," Winter says.
Board Announcements: New board members introduce themselves via video, creating personal connections before members even meet them in person.
Member Spotlights: Monthly features that invite members to share their stories and become chapter evangelists.
Award Recognition: Recording video messages from nominees and winners, preserving the moment and extending its reach beyond the ceremony.
President Messages and Charity Appeals: Creating authentic calls to action that feel personal, not corporate.
What makes this work isn't just the technology—it's how effortlessly it fits into volunteer workflows. "They simply get that link, click on the one button to record their message. It's super intuitive. They record that message, and then when they're done, that video is automatically saved into the platform," Winter explains.
Perhaps most interesting is how Gather Voices evolved from a promotional tool to content in its own right. "Gather Voices has helped me to promote association content, but it has also become the content for Silver EPG," Winter notes, speaking about the Silver Event Professionals Group for which he is a founder. At Silver, they now produce short video messages from senior leaders in the event space—content that drives value independent of any particular event and can be published across the website and social platforms year-round.
Association chapters need content that works beyond event promotion and Gather Voices can help provide that. They need thought leadership, community building, and authentic member engagement that sustains interest between annual gatherings.
In 2024, Winter was awarded an IAEE Chapter Merit Award for growing the DC chapter's social media presence. While he's characteristically humble about attributing success to any single tool, the numbers speak clearly: "The over 350% increase in membership in 12 months was something that I attribute not only to the cadence in which I was sending out these posts and inviting people to follow us, but also that content and making it more engaging—and Gather Voices certainly helps me to do that."
The platform also provides reporting that helps chapters understand what resonates: view counts, engagement metrics, and insights into what content is catching on.
"Being that we're all volunteers, this helps to streamline, which saves time and energy and effort in getting this video content out there," Winter emphasizes.
For chapter leaders, that time savings is everything. It's the difference between posting sporadically when someone has capacity versus maintaining consistent engagement that builds community.
The platform's one-click workflow—from capture to branded editing to multi-platform publishing—eliminates the technical barriers that typically prevent volunteer-led organizations from creating quality video content at scale.
Winter recognizes that the unscripted, user-generated nature of the content is what makes it work. "Just being real and authentic, I think Gather Voices again would be a great tool to be able to provide that type of video content," he says.
In an era where Gen Z professionals expect video content and audiences are increasingly skeptical of overly polished messaging, authentic member voices create trust and connection in ways that traditional communications cannot.
The IAEE DC Chapter demonstrates what's possible when chapters embrace video relationship management. By making it simple for speakers, board members, and everyday members to share their voices, they've created an engagement engine that:
Winter's advice to other chapters considering a similar approach? "It's super flexible and I would encourage anybody to use it."
For association chapters struggling to create compelling content with limited resources, the lesson is clear: authentic video doesn't require production crews and expensive equipment. It requires removing barriers so your members' stories can flow freely—and giving volunteers the tools to amplify those stories without the traditional overhead.
When every member becomes a potential content creator and every story becomes an engagement opportunity, chapters can finally achieve what their volunteer model has always promised: a true community speaking with many voices, not just a few polished messengers at the top.
