Six weeks into my tenure as CEO of the American Physiological Society, I walked into the American Physiology Summit. For a first-time association CEO, a major conference this early in the role could feel overwhelming. For me, it was one of the most valuable learning experiences of my onboarding so far.

If you lead an association, your annual conference is one of the most concentrated learning opportunities your calendar offers. For a first-time CEO, that is especially true. Nothing else puts you in the same room with your members, your board, your staff, and the broader field all at once.

Here is why the timing worked in my favor. Over the past six weeks I have been practicing what I would describe as call-and-response learning: I gather observations, share them with the people I am learning from, and then listen to their reaction. Their response either confirms that I am reading the organization correctly or surfaces something I missed. That cycle accelerates my understanding faster than listening alone ever could. It also signals to my community that I am working with them, not just arriving with my own conclusions. The Summit gave me the largest audience yet for that exchange. I was able to share my early impressions with groups ranging from trainees to senior members and watch how they responded. Across almost every conversation, the reactions told me I am on the right track. That kind of broad-based confirmation, gathered quickly and across different constituencies, would have taken months to accumulate through individual meetings.

Beyond confirming my working hypotheses, the Summit produced intelligence I could not have gathered any other way. In any large organization, the written record tells you what the organization does. Being in the room tells you how it works. Over the course of several days, I watched staff interact with board members, board members interact with each other, and members engage with the programming. Patterns that had only been described to me in conversations became visible. I can see where the energy is, where the relationships are easy, and where there is friction. I am also still processing cultural signals that are genuinely difficult to communicate in an onboarding document. My organization, I am learning, deeply values participation. People show up. That is not a small thing to understand about a community you are leading.

The other thing the Summit gave me was presence. I went to as many events as I could fit into the schedule, not to be seen, but because I wanted to understand what was happening and meet the full range of people my organization serves. What I did not fully anticipate was how much that would matter to the members themselves. The welcome I received was genuine and warm, and it reinforces something I already believed: people want their CEO to care enough to show up.

I was nervous going in. Walking into a culture you are still learning can be a risk. You do not yet know the unwritten rules. You are not sure which topics are live wires. But I think that uncertainty, handled openly, is actually an asset at this stage. I was not performing expertise I do not yet have. I was asking questions, listening, and learning alongside people who have been part of this community for decades. That posture, genuine curiosity paired with a willingness to share what I am observing, seems to be landing well.

If you are a new association CEO with a conference on the early horizon, do not treat it as something to survive. Treat it as the richest learning opportunity your calendar will offer. Go to the sessions. Attend the social events. Talk to the trainees and the senior fellows and the volunteers and the exhibitors. Pay attention to what you see, not just what you hear. And if you have been doing your listening work in the weeks before, use the conference to test what you think you know. The responses will teach you a great deal.