In my five years doing business as Red Beret Design, I've joined a lot of different groups: AIGA, AMA, BNI, Durham Chamber of Commerce. I've attended meetings of the IABC, meetups for web design and drupal, and gone to many a business networking social. But ICA is the association that has had the most direct and positive effect on my business. I currently have more jobs either in progress or in proposal than I've had since I started and business...despite the dire economic news overall. A significant percentage of that business is due to connections I made in ICA. Part of that has been my degree of involvement. Perhaps if I attended an AIGA meeting more than once a year, and volunteered as a board member, I'd have similar success with that group. But I don't think that's the whole story. ICA members have complementary skills. As a designer, I've worked on projects with ICA members who are writers and marketing consultants. And when a client of mine casually mentions "we're going to need a strategic marketing plan" or "I think some video testimonials would be a good addition to the website" I feel confident that I have a pool of top-notch talent at my fingertips. Some ICA members have the same skills as mine, i.e., there are other designers in the group. But I don't view my fellow designers as competition so much as backup. I know that I can pull other designers onto larger projects, or have someone cover my clients if I take a vacation without my computer (which hasn't actually happened yet, but I swear that one of these days I'll take an email-free vacation!). When people are considering membership in ICA, they are often most concerned about finding new clients from outside ICA. And the board certainly has big plans for marketing the association a whole to clients who can use our services. But don't dismiss the possibility that your best source of business in ICA could be your fellow members.