Before your sponsorship deck reaches a prospect, before a potential member visits your website — a conversation has already happened. A partner asked AI about your credibility. A prospective member asked whether your credential is worth the dues. The AI answered without your input.
Seventy percent of Google searches end without a click. Fifty-one percent of B2B buyers begin research in an AI chatbot before Google — up from 29% one year ago — and the pre-contact favorite wins 80% of deals. Associations face a vulnerability others do not: paywalled content is invisible to AI, and most have never invested in SEO. GEO requires rethinking that posture.
This session draws on APRO’s GEO initiative as a case study — how CEO direction, marketing, and BD aligned to close an AI narrative gap. Participants complete an AI Visibility Audit, draft a prioritized action plan, and leave with frameworks from Smitherman's recent book: Reclaiming Authority: How Institutions Teach Truth in the Age of AI.
