Where Is My Local Interactive Marketing Association?
20 odd people showed up for the panel "How Interactive Marketing Associations are Driving Growth One Market at a Time" and I think most of them were friends of those on the panel. I hate to say this, but I'm not really sure if there was anything to learn from this panel - other than that there is an association in my home city of Los Angeles that I've never heard of.
Moderator Brian Monahan, co-founder of SFBIG (San Francisco Bay Area Interactive Group) and panelists Jon Kaiser, also of SFBIG, Whitney Tipton representing thinkLA Interactive, Ryan Polley of the NWIAG (Northwest Interactive Advertising Group), and Jason Kleckner of MIMA (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association:) each talked about the formation and history of their associations, as well as their activities and focus.
Suffice it to say that most associations are relatively new, some formed from the ashes of previous groups that flamed out along with the industry back in the early part of the decade. There are maybe 20 associations around the country, most very hard to find because they seem to spread through word of mouth. I had actually heard of MIMA, SFBIG, and a few of the other regional associations before this session. Most are social and networking oriented, with the MIMA being in the minority with lots of education and outreach.
It seems that nobody has compiled a list of local associations, so here are the ones I know about: CIMA (Chicago), BIMA (Boston), SFIMA (South Florida), AiMA (Atlanta), TIMA (North Carolina), DFWIMA (Dallas), and more. Just use this Google search as a start, or type in your city and "IMA" into the search box.
In general it will cost you $125 to join your local association, assuming you can find them.
