Member Shop Talk: AI Show & Tell (Free)

AI Show & Tell— Hosted by the Communications Committee

A free virtual offering for Associations West members, hosted by the Communications Committee

AI isn’t new. The real question is what you’re doing with it. Which tools are you testing, which experiments have paid off (or flopped), and where is your organization trying something new?

Join the Communications Committee for a casual, participatory Shop Talk where association professionals show and tell how they’re putting AI to work: streamlining day-to-day tasks, boosting member outreach and engagement, sharpening marketing tactics, and sparking creativity and productivity. This isn’t a session to sit back and watch. Come ready to share your own tools, tips, and lessons learned, ask questions, and swap ideas with your peers. Whether you’re an early adopter with a library of favorite prompts or just starting to experiment, your perspective belongs in the conversation.

Bring a tool, a trick, or a question. You’ll leave with fresh ideas to try at your own association.

Featured segment: AI for member engagement, presented by sponsor Blue Cypress. Most associations have plenty of member data, but it’s scattered across the AMS, LMS, email platform, and event tools. Blue Cypress will show how AI is making it possible to unify that data quickly, without a months-long integration project, and use it for closed-loop marketing, so what members actually do shapes what you send them next. Preview the tools that make it work and real examples of associations already doing it.

Moderator: 

Sponsor Rep: Elizabeth Crosby, AAiP, Account Director, Blue Cypress

About the Facilitators

Touda Bentatou, Director of Customer Onboarding, Novi AMS (and Communications Committee member)

I bring more than 15 years of leadership experience at the intersection of technology, operations, and customer/member experience, creating systems that work for people, not against them.

As Director of Customer Onboarding at Novi AMS, I’m refining onboarding strategies, streamlining workflows, and scaling processes that help associations implement technology more efficiently while keeping the customer experience at the center.

In my last role as Director of Member Experience at CITE, I focused on empowering education technologists across California. I led cross-functional programs, strengthened member engagement, and provided resources to help schools and IT professionals succeed.

Earlier in my career with the Irvine Unified School District, I transitioned from a creative role into operations and project management, developing team structures, implementing process improvements, and mentoring staff to lead confidently.

My leadership philosophy is simple: do what’s right, not what’s easy, fix broken processes, elevate people, and challenge the status quo. I believe in empathetic leadership, continuous improvement, and building cultures where people feel supported, inspired, and empowered to make meaningful change one conversation, one project, and one process at a time.

If you’re passionate about improving operations, leading high-performing teams, or creating customer and member experiences that drive real impact, I’d love to connect! 

Elizabeth Crosby, AAiP, Account Director, Blue Cypress

Over a decade in the association industry, I’ve worked with CEOs, membership leaders, and technology teams on strategy before software. What the organization is really trying to accomplish, what their data can support today, and which problem is worth solving first. Those conversations usually start with a strategic plan and a lot of disconnected systems, and they end with a sequenced plan the board can get behind.

As an Account Director at Blue Cypress, I bring that thinking to associations across our AI portfolio. Earlier in my career I led customer success and marketing at rasa.io, which is where I learned how associations really operate: board cycles, renewal math, and the annual pressure to prove member value.

The hard part is rarely the technology. It’s deciding what to do first.