Effective teamwork
Serving on a committee of a non-profit, all-volunteer organization helps you develop an ability to work as part of a team. Committee members quickly learn how to build consensus to achieve results. A spirit of cooperation, partnering, and resource-sharing permeates all ASNY committees. Committee members develop a trust and camaraderie that is as personally rewarding as it is professionally beneficial.


Negotiation
Committee members learn the fine art of negotiation in the process of organizing a seminar. They frequently work with vendors, including professional speakers, consultants, hotel conference facilities, etc., to arrive at a set of reasonable costs for seminar attendees. Senior members of ASNY provide insights into negotiation skills, and committee members come away with valuable experience in effective negotiation.


Organizational skills
Committee members learn about the logistical aspects of running a seminar, including coordination of the timing of speakers, available conference rooms, and the ASNY events calendar. Other logistics include coordination of audio-visual needs, registration, etc. Those who have undergone the process learn to manage multiple simultaneous tasks and to prioritize for effectiveness.


Presentation skills
Committee members who organize seminars often get practice speaking in front of an audience, typically of 30 to 40 people, by serving as moderators. Moderators introduce speakers and provide introductory remarks on seminar topics. Often, committee members visibly improve throughout their tenure as they gain comfort through practice.


Marketing skills / writing skills
A frequent educational benefit of committee membership is learning to effectively market a seminar. Committee members must do informal market research (often in a team environment during committee meetings) to identify topics of interest in the industry. They then must draft the seminar announcement, which is mass-marketed to ASNY members. Committee members quickly learn how to effectively market their seminars to the membership. They receive direct feedback, since the number of members attending a given seminar is largely a function of how well the topic reflects a "hot issue" in the industry and how engaging the announcement is. Committee members gain a sensitivity to the marketplace and a greater awareness of the importance of effective marketing.


Knowledge of industry activities
One of the rarer benefits of being a committee member is listening to and participating in discussions of industry activities and topics of interest. ASNY committees have representation from many insurance companies, both stock and mutual, as well as consulting firms. Committee members also represent a cross-section of functional areas (e.g., product development, pricing, senior management, etc.). Gaining a deeper knowledge of issues beyond one's own expertise is a rare and valuable commodity. Not only does it broaden the committee member's perspective, it often contributes to creative problem solving, as tools and techniques from one sector of the industry can often apply to another sector.


Networking / self-promotion
It is often said that actuaries would be more effective if we learned how to market or promote ourselves, our skills, and our profession. ASNY commmittee members have many opportunities to network with other actuaries via committee activities, ASNY-wide activities, and seminars. Being involved in industry activities makes committee members more visible and more credible.


Leadership and management skills
Being elected to lead an ASNY committee naturally develops leadership and management skills. Each committee chairperson must lead the activities of his or her committee, including developing a strategic direction and motivating committee members. Committee chairpersons must also develop tactical approaches for their committees, conduct personnel recruitment, and identify and budget resources. Much of the experience of leading a committee is analogous to managing a business.