success storyACC Customer Success Story

Company overview:

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is a global bar association that promotes the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel through information, education, networking opportunities, and advocacy initiatives. ACC celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022. Founded in the US, ACC has expanded its worldwide network of legal professionals to over 45,000 people in +90 countries – and is continuing to grow rapidly. In recent years, the association has expanded into Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The challenge:

ACC is dedicated to supporting legal professionals with their mandatory requirement to receive continuing education credits in order to maintain their bar status. ACC not only offers high-quality continuing legal education options but also wellness education, professional development, and specialty credits programs. Every year, ACC hosts multiple conferences, and there are opportunities for members to present in sessions and participate as speakers.

ACC’s primary goal for this partnership was to offer a compelling professional development program to its network that tied into its mission of providing career resources while fostering a sense of community amongst members. The association’s secondary goal was two-fold – they were looking for a program to help members improve their public speaking skills, as well as to cultivate a TED-trained cohort from which it could recruit speakers for future ACC events.

The solution:

TED Masterclass checked all of those boxes for ACC. The fact that TED is a globally recognized brand and the popularity of the TED Talks format helped to foster excitement within the ACC member community for this program. ACC recognized pitching and creating awareness for a new service requires buy-in from all stakeholders, thus choosing a company with brand equity was a crucial component of their solution.

Furthermore, ACC was drawn to the micro-learning format and the proven methodology of TED Masterclass. The association found this type of professional development course valuable, and it was something ACC members had expressed a need for. TED Masterclass’ short learning modules filled that need for ACC.

The results:

Using TED Masterclass, ACC was able to expand its pool of speaker candidates, cultivating a host of new candidates, both US- and globally-based. The overall quality of talks increased, and ACC published the TED-style content on YouTube and featured those embedded videos on the ACC website as well. ACC is even using some of the new speaker content in its new learning management system. One of ACC’s goals was to add 30 new videos to its platform – the association exceeded this goal by adding 32 new videos!

All of the resources TED Masterclass provided were made available to members on a resource webpage. The resources also helped the ACC internal professional development team create presentations for learning and networking events.As part of its quest to build a sense of community, ACC hosted 4-5 networking sessions related to TED Masterclass. Members connected over learning tips, their progress in the program, and collaborated on each other's talks. The association received great feedback from its members -- participants loved the program. The membership greatly appreciated the opportunity and was impressed with the quality of the materials and the program. In fact, ACC and its member community were so happy with the program, the association signed on for another year!