Insights from a Future Association Executive

Two Great Fast Company Pieces Worth Checking Out

2010-11-26T14:38:00.004-06:00

If you don't read Fast Company magazine, what are you waiting for? It's a magazine that I have read since the early 2000s, and every issue has made me think about something I am doing in my life and career. In the November 2010 issue, which was the magazine's 150th issue, there were two really great stories that I think all association professionals should read.

1. Chip & Dan Heath's monthly Made to Stick column focuses on ensuring that you're focusing on what consumers (or members in our case) feel they need, not on what you might think they need. One paragraph captures the crux of their argument:

If entrepreneurs want to succeed, as venture capitalists like to say, they'd better be selling aspirin rather than vitamins. Vitamins are nice; they're healthy. But aspirin cures your pain; it's not a nice-to-have, it's a must-have.

An example: you might create an on demand education program series for your members, which is a great use of new technology that you think would be good for the members. However, what the members really feel they need is an in person meeting that would satisfy their desire to network with their fellow members, etc.

Is what you're providing a vitamin or aspirin for your members?

2. Nancy Lublin, who serves as the CEO of the non-profit Do Something, wrote a fantastic and timely piece about the importance of two little words - thank you. The reason I like this column so much is because she reminds us that it's important to remember to thank the people we often forget - the delivery drivers, mail carriers, interns, the repairmen, etc. that we interact with on a daily basis in our offices.

I think this is all too often forgotten, as we are so concerned with thanking our members and the people who bring in the revenue for our organizations. I found it interesting in her piece that in her organization, they did a test about the names of some of the people who regularly interact with their staff, and the average result from the staff was only 50%... I wonder what the results would be if we were to do the same in our organizations.

Giving thanks is important, and sometimes getting thanks encourages people to go above and beyond the next time they're giving you service. Think about that the next time the repairman comes in and fixes something in your office. Those two small words could go a long way the next time something breaks.

Giving Thanks...

2010-11-23T16:11:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year again, and in today's Association Twitter Chat (#assnchat) some of the time was devoted to talking about giving thanks and recognition to volunteers and members.

For me, giving thanks to volunteers should be an ongoing process, not a once a year project. How can we best do it? Here are my guidelines for giving thanks to members and volunteers:

Make it personal - don't just give them a certificate or something... Make it something they're really going to enjoy. If you don't know what your volunteers are going to enjoy, you're not working closely enough with them (or you haven't documented enough)...
Make it regular - Don't wait until the end of their service to thank them or give them something to show them how much you appreciate them. Send regular notes... Send regular updates about something you know they are passionate about within the organization... Etc.
Make it wide ranging - I try to send a regular annual thank you around Thanksgiving to everyone who has made an impact on my work throughout the year. I use a template but personalize each person's note for something specific they've done to help make my job easier or how they've made an impact on the organization. That list sometimes becomes more than 100 people that I personally recognize. Imagine if everyone on our staff did the same thing what kind of impact we could make...

As we think about thanking and recognizing our members and volunteers, we (and our bosses) need to realize it takes time and dedication. We MUST devote time and energy to keeping track of those who need/deserve praise and thanks, and our organizations must embrace that. If they don't, they won't see the positive things and continued engagement that comes from really energized volunteers - those who feel the love and want to give it back...

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to the readers of this blog. You have all made me a better professional with your comments and kind words of encouragement. Be safe!

When Passion Goes Overboard

2010-11-23T15:28:00.002-06:00

I was watching the Texas A&M vs. Nebraska football game this past Saturday evening, and I witnessed someone being probably as passionate about something as I have ever seen - Nebraska coach Bo Pelini... He was running up and down the field, screaming at referees and players, just showing his passion and exuberance throughout the entire game.

Problem was: he was penalized for his actions in chastising a referee over and over again, he nearly had one of his players quit because he screamed at him so much, and his team ended up losing the game after committing 16 penalties.

Here's the point - passion is important, but too much passion sometimes hurts a team or organization...

Have you ever witnessed an association volunteer or staffer show too much passion, which ended up hurting the overall effort? I'd love to hear some examples in the comments...

The Importance of Taking Advice from People You Trust

2010-11-22T19:53:00.006-06:00

An old boss of mine wisely once told me that there would always be a reason NOT to take a new position, and that it was always easier to stay in the comfy and stable place where I was.

His advice has always been that I need to be willing to take a chance, and take the not-so-stable course. A few years ago, I told him that I needed to stay in my position because I was getting married and needed the stability. I recall him telling me that the next thing that would keep me in my job was buying a house (which happened), then it would be a baby (which also happened)... He is a wise, wise man...

I'm happy to report that in the last few weeks, after over four years of staying in my stable position, I decided to FINALLY take his advice. I accepted a new position literally in the most unstable time of my life - a mere two weeks before my wife's due date with our first child.

I chose between stability and the unknown, and I am happy with my choice... I start on Monday, and am ready for what the unknown will bring. I'm sure this new position will feel stable at some point a number of years into the future. That's precisely when I'll take my trusted old boss' advice again.

Say Yes to Everything? No thanks.

2010-10-26T16:33:00.004-05:00

I'm back today after a little hiatus from this blog to take opposition to something you hear a lot of people say in terms of getting ahead - say yes to every opportunity that comes your way... I've heard it over and over and agreed with it for a long time. It got so bad that contrary to most people where "THE" is their most used word, I sometimes think that "YES" is mine...

Now, in certain instances, I think saying yes to everything makes sense. To someone who's just getting out of school and needs to make an impression on their new boss, saying yes to every opportunity to make that impression makes sense. In fact, in a story that we did in our about to be released magazine at my organization, one of our members who is giving advice to our undergraduates says, "Say “Yes” to everything, no matter how menial the task. If you complete it quicker than expected and better than expected, the requests from others will increase and your credibility will rise."

I agree for the most part to his analysis.

But here's where I disagree: what if you say yes to so many things that you don't get things done quicker and better than expected? What if by saying yes to everything, you actually stretch yourself too thin and aren't able to be the best professional you can be?

Not only that, but as someone who is now pretty established in my career and who is craving work-life balance, I think this advice to say yes to everything is flawed. As I said earlier, I have been saying yes to just about everything for a long time.

Because of this, I'm now serving on four committees for professional development and volunteer organizations, each with its own conference call and other responsibilities. I'm someone who likes to be involved and be seen as a leader in a lot of different things, and I don't want this to seem like I don't appreciate the opportunities to lead. However, saying yes to all of these things has really cramped my ability to be the best volunteer, employee, husband, and soon-to-be father that I can be... It's time for me to step back and learn how to say no.

So I guess if an undergraduate asked me what my advice would be to them, I'd say "Don't be afraid to say yes often, but learn how to say no, now. You can thank me later."

Thanks as always for reading. I hope you'll add your thoughts to the comments...

The Most Regular Question I Got at the ASAE Annual Meeting...

2010-08-26T15:23:00.007-05:00

I got back earlier this week from a fantastic 2010 ASAE Annual Meeting in LA - my third consecutive Annual Meeting. It was memorable for a number of reasons, some of which I will talk about in a future post. Today, I wanted to talk about the most regular question I received from fellow attendees who didn't know me at the event:

Why is a Fraternity attending ASAE?

My snarky response in my head has always been the Fraternity isn't here... I, a staff member who feels professional development is important, am... However, I have never had the nerve to say it to anyone!!

My real response has been - fraternities and associations are not very different. In fact, if my organization had the word "Association" instead of "Fraternity" at the end of it, people likely wouldn't even think of asking me about it. However, it doesn't, and I have answered the question for the last three years, often asked by someone who followed the initial question up with Do you manage the keg parties? I often give a chuckle, knowing the person likely just doesn't understand how similar our organizations really are...

So, I thought I'd use this blog to educate some folks who either have, or will in the future, ask me these questions...

The fact is that fraternities are complex membership organizations, just like associations.

We have engaged members ranging in age from 18 to 80 or 90, who work in various professional areas.
Our organizations hold events, many times with many hundreds of people attending.
We have member education programs like most associations do - many groups are beginning to host online education in a wide variety of topics for members from many different backgrounds, like any of the major associations.
We have print publications, use the web to communicate through social media tools, and have robust communications strategies oftentimes led by a single staffer.
We provide opportunities for our members to connect and network, again much like associations do...

Oh, and I forgot to mention that both my boss and I have volunteered for ASAE & The Center for the last three years - him serving as the Executive Management Section Chairman for 2010-11, and me serving for the third consecutive year on the Communication Section Council.

While I understand why I receive the question, I hope I can educate enough people, both through this blog and in my experience at the events moving forward, about why it makes complete sense for myself and my fellow Greek-letter organization professionals are attending the ASAE Annual Meeting.

Three Things I'm Looking Forward to at the 2010 ASAE Annual Meeting

2010-08-13T11:09:00.003-05:00

So the 2010 ASAE Annual Meeting is happening in just over a week, and there are really three things I am looking forward to most about the event.

Collaboration - The first thing I'm doing when I get to LA is attending our Communication Section Council in-person meeting, which will be an excellent opportunity for all of the new and old members of the council to collaborate on a shared vision for the year. Each and every time I am involved with these folks, all of whom are excellent communicators, I take something away that I can utilize personally or professionally. The collaboration that takes place in these meetings is always a highlight for me, and I'd recommend any Communication Section member to either attend the meeting on Saturday afternoon, or connect with one of us throughout the conference. We'll have ribbons on our nametags.

Community - One of the greatest things about ASAE as a whole is the community of like-minded (and sometimes non like-minded) people with whom you come into contact. I'm very much looking forward to meeting a number of folks I have yet to, as well as reconnecting with a whole host of great association leaders that I have met at past events. You all know who you are!! It's going to be fun!

In addition, this year myself and my boss are welcoming three new people into the ASAE Annual Meeting community - three of our co-workers who have never been to an Annual Meeting (or any other ASAE event) before. We're very excited for them to get a taste of the outstanding programming and community that is created at the event. They are all great, and will hopefully make a very positive impact on the sessions they choose to attend. I hope you'll take a moment to make them feel welcome if you meet any of them.

Content - As usual, the content that will be presented at the Annual Meeting is diverse and compelling, and at some time slots there are like four sessions I wish I could attend. It's amazing that there is so much good content that comes out of one event.

This year, I'm particularly looking forward to attending some of the meetings and events sessions to help round out my knowledge in that area. I think I have some things to learn in that discipline, and I'm looking forward to hearing the content leaders discuss their best practices there.

Lastly, I'm looking forward to the FUN! The crowd that attends the Annual Meeting is always such a fun and outgoing group, and I am looking forward to the many opportunities there will be to connect with my fellow association leaders in the down time.

I think I'm going to blog from the event much like I did last year (here, here, and here), so check back once the event starts for some of my random ramblings about what is sure to be a great event!

Traditions Can Change if You Lead

2010-07-28T11:23:00.010-05:00

Who woulda thunk it... Dez Bryant is a leader.

If you haven't been keeping up with what's happening in the Dallas Cowboys training camp right now, it goes like this... A rookie wide receiver on the team, Dez Bryant, refused to carry a veteran player's shoulder pads off the field after practice, taking a stand against the decades old professional sports tradition of rookie hazing. In reading the stories surrounding it this week, many people are saying that Bryant should have just gone with the tradition and dealt with it because "it's the way it's always been done".

As someone who works for an organization that has a lot of tradition (we've been around for over 110 years), my experience is that not every tradition is one that should be embraced or continued. Whether it's hazing of new members, an event that has worn out its welcome at an annual meeting, or even something as small as printing out membership forms when they come in online - some may call it tradition, but in reality, people are in the "it's always been done this way, and we don't want to change" mindset...

What people often don't realize is that just because something is a tradition today doesn't mean it will be in a few years... If you are willing to lead NOW and put a stop to some of the outdated traditions from the past, a few years down the road there will be all new traditions for your members/staff to embrace. In my organization specifically, where we work with college students, our turnover rate is four years (i.e. if something hasn't happened in the past four years, the undergraduate members we serve don't necessarily realize it ever did because their tradition is only what they've witnessed in the last four years...)

I don't claim that changing tradition or the "we've always done it that way" culture is easy or popular every time, but by thinking about the 'why' of something (i.e. what's the purpose of this tradition) before thinking about the what or how, it seems as though you might be on the right track.

Will you be the next Dez Bryant in your organization - standing up to the tradition that has lost its purpose? Here's to the leaders who are willing to lead change to make our organizations/associations better.

Do you agree with me, disagree with me, or have additional thoughts to share? I certainly hope you'll share in the comments (particularly if you have had success in changing traditions that no longer make sense)...

Social Media ROI

2010-07-20T13:22:00.007-05:00

I've heard a lot of talk about ROI on social media recently, and it seems as though a whole heck of a lot of executives are worried about whether the staff time being spent (or more accurately "invested") managing a Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. presence is wise.

I've heard people say that there are a lot of things that associations do where executives don't necessarily monitor the ROI regularly, so why are they so concerned with the ROI of social media? To me, those people are missing the point and aren't looking at the big picture. Executives are paid to measure how the resources of the association can best be put to use. They should be concerned that the time their staff is investing in social media makes sense for the association. However, I believe there needs to be a long-term view of the investment, rather than a short-term view.

When I hear people ask about the ROI of social media, I always say that they should ask the same question: Would our organization be better off if we were NOT engaged in social media? In most cases, I'd guess the answer most associations would give is no. While the return is hard to quantify, we MUST have a presence to meet our members where they're already engaging in conversations.

Case in point, in some recent statistics I read, Nielsen said that people spent 22% of their internet time on social media sites during April. More than 1/5 of the time spent on the web is spent on social media sites... That's a powerful statistic in my opinion, and speaks directly to the reason why having a presence is so important - they're there, we need to be as well...

Getting back to ROI, I personally believe in most cases, engaging with members on social media sites is more like investing in a retirement account (steady returns that yield a very positive result later on) than a highly volatile stock (you might see amazing immediate success that might not be sustained). Thinking long-term on your investment in social media is the right way to go about it.

Also, in my opinion, determining ROI by how many followers or fans your organization has doesn't make a lot of sense. Yes, it's quantifiable, but it takes someone two seconds to become a Fan (or to be more accurate and current "Liker") of your Facebook Page. Does getting someone to say they're a fan really create the return? I don't think so. The return comes with continued and regular interaction and engagement through these channels, creating opportunities for your followers and fans to help your organization succeed.

Social media is a set of powerful tools that help you create a return by utilizing them to help engage and inspire your association's members to action. How you measure that return is up to your own organization, but remember that it's tremendously hard today to engage and inspire members to act without having a presence in social media...

ROI is a hot topic that is sure to be continued at the ASAE Annual Meeting later this summer. I'm looking forward to the conversations that will happen there to hear what others have to say. In the meantime, what do you think?

It's an Investment

2010-07-19T19:46:00.005-05:00

I think I have investments on the brain tonight...

I was just sitting here VERY excitedly thinking about the fact that I'm about to pay off my student loans from college!! Only one more payment, and the large investment in the outstanding education I received at my alma mater will be fully paid for. It was a great investment, and one that really has helped me become the man and professional I am today.

As I think back to my time in college and in joining the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter on campus, I recall our advisor continuously mentioning that joining the organization was an investment in our future. He was right, and that statement had really stuck with me...

It's interesting, because I often forget that when our members are joining and volunteering, they're actually not only investing in their future success, but that they're also investing in the future success of our organization, much like my investment to join PRSSA back in college.

Do you sometimes forget about that investment that your members are making? I'm challenging myself to think in those terms as I think about our members and volunteers, and will challenge you to do the same. How can we more effectively and personally recognize the investment our members are making? I think that's a key in continued engagement and involvement of our members. If they're not feeling enriched, or that they're enriching the organization, their investment will not be seen in their eyes as a good one.

As I have gotten more and more involved in the association community, and with ASAE, I continue feeling as though the investment has already, and will continue to pay off in the future. I'd like to thank all of you who have made that investment a good one, and who continue to make it more and more enriching for me...

The (Sometimes Costly) Consequences of Using Social Media

2010-07-08T11:29:00.003-05:00

So I'm sure some of you heard the story about the CNN Editor who was fired because of something she tweeted... Essentially, her tweet was seen by CNN, and apparently a lot of viewers, as being supportive of a founding Hezbollah cleric from her native Lebanon.

After she tweeted it and there was some backlash, she wrote a blog post (which seemed reasonable and well thought out) to expand on her meaning in her original tweet. However, she was still essentially fired by CNN, though the post says she "resigned"...

I think this should be a wake up call for all of us, and especially those new to social media. Twitter's 140 character limit is just that - a limit. You cannot create a great deal of context within that limit. So, while we should be authentic in our dealings on the social web, we also must be well aware of that fact when we go to post something on our social media outposts...

I know a lot of us have little disclaimers in our Twitter profiles that say something like "These opinions are my own and do not represent my employer." While I think those are great, I don't know that would have saved Ms. Nasr in this situation. This is where CNN was right in that it has a crystal clear social media policy.

Nicole Provonchee over at the Parthenon Publishing Blog stated it well: "The reason behind the tweet apparently did not matter to CNN. Nasr broke CNN’s strict social media policy and the result is the termination of her employment. Among other things, CNN’s social media policy states: “CNN EMPLOYEES ARE TO AVOID TAKING PUBLIC POSITIONS ON THE ISSUES AND PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS ON WHICH WE REPORT.” The policy is clear."

Last thing: there were a heckuva lot of folks who really spoke loudly a few months back when an organization that we all know "censored" a blog post that was written by one of its employees. I guess my question is: should CNN have fired this woman for expressing her views, and if you say yes, isn't this is the same thing (i.e. her expressing her views and having consequences from them) as what happened with the aforementioned association and the blog post heard 'round the association social media world? Or is it very different since in this situation, the actual post/words are not being removed from anything, but rather utilized to illustrate an important point? Would love your feedback!

Communicating about the Elimination of Programs or Services

2010-06-27T15:44:00.004-05:00

So my wife and I were planning to go to a movie on Friday night... I went online to find out the time of the movie at our favorite theater, and was met with a number of dead ends. I couldn't figure out what the issue was, and finally after calling the phone number found out that the theater was closed.

I couldn't believe it... The theater was never less than full when we went, so why in the world was it closed? I guess I hadn't been paying attention to the local news closely enough... We still wanted to see the movie, so we decided to go to a competitor and see it.

This experience immediately made me think about our work in associations... Often, decisions are made to "sunset" a program or offering that isn't measuring up... However, do our members get the message? If not, when they try to go get the product or take advantage of the service the next time, they have a similar situation to mine...

I think it's imperative as we make decisions on our offerings, that we also think about how we're communicating about them to help members understand what's happening... I think we need to answer (at least) the following questions in our communication:

- What the reasons are for removing the product/service...
- When it's happening...
- What our plans are to take the product or service's place...
- Where members can provide their input/reaction...

The fact is that we won't be able to ensure everyone gets the message, but we really need to be very strategic in how we plan to ensure that the most people know as possible.

I think the communication needs to start with the association's volunteers and the members who have already decided to take advantage of the product/service... Additionally, another important group is the segment of members who you've already marketed it to. Finally, the membership at large... There are probably more segments of the membership who are important, but these are just a few.

What it comes down to is that communicating openly and effectively the reasons why and what the future plans are will hopefully help alleviate members' frustration when they're trying to find a product you have decided to take away...

Embrace Those Who Are Good at Executing Big Plans

2010-06-21T17:35:00.004-05:00

So here's how wild and crazy my Friday nights are these days - I spent last Friday night watching PBS' Newshour with Jim Lehrer... Wild? Probably not. Instructive and interesting? Absolutely. This past Friday night especially...

Newshour's regular columnists, Shields and Brooks, who spar with one another each night, were discussing the disgustingly sad situation happening at Arlington National Cemetery... Brooks, who's also a New York Times columnist, said the following (at 11:29 of the video here):

"...Vision's important. But actually executing properly, getting the proper computer system there, even after millions have been spent, executing in the Gulf, executing on an oil platform, that is underplayed in a society that likes something fancy, something oratorical, but actually executing is tremendously important, upon which everything else exists. And we have a failure of execution on BP, a failure of execution I think now in the Gulf, and certainly at Arlington."

While it's not perfect grammatically, I agree with Brooks' comments wholeheartedly. To me, execution is an oft overlooked aspect of our work in associations as well. We can have many great ideas, a bold new vision or a shiny new plan, but if we don't execute those things very well, they're worth nothing more than the paper upon which they were written.

An example: The organization for which I work has a bold vision for what we're going to be in 2025. It talks about how large we're going to be, what kinds of offerings we're going to have, etc. Essentially, it's a number of bold aspirations that will guide our path as we move toward it. However, unless we execute the intermediate sets of metrics and goals that will help us get there, that bold vision will be a nice thing to point to, but won't accomplish much. That's why execution is so important...

Now, I don't want you to get the wrong idea - I do believe that big things can be accomplished by thinking bigger than the status quo. I respect the big thinkers out there who are leading our associations to new heights, and hope to be someone who does so someday.

At the same time, there are a lot of staffers out there executing the big plans that are being developed by those big thinkers. Embrace those people! They are as important to the success of our associations as we move forward as those who are coming up with the ideas themselves.

Now, back to my regular Monday night ritual - watching Shields and Brooks battle it out again... Maybe I'll gain another tidbit that I can use here soon!

Becoming a Championship Association

2010-06-10T19:57:00.007-05:00

Blackhawks WIN! Blackhawks WIN!

If you follow me on Twitter, or are a friend of mine on Facebook, you probably saw me LEAP onto the 'Hawks bandwagon as they entered the NHL Playoffs. Who watches the NHL regular season anyway?!?!

Anyway, while watching a team in the town where I live win a world championship was AMAZING, and I actually took away a few lessons that we can take from the Blackhawks' run as we strive to become championship associations...

1. Having the right organizational leadership means the world - Four or five years ago, the Chicago Blackhawks franchise was in shambles. People were not going to the games and the team was a joke in the city... The leadership team was failing miserably. Then came Rocky Wirtz, the current chairman/owner of the team who vowed to bring winning back to one of the original six NHL franchises... He developed a plan, hired the right management team (including a successful team President who came from one of the city's baseball franchises), and made his vision well known - he was going to bring a championship back to the city. In just a few years, his vision became a reality... As we think about becoming a championship association, having the right leaders in place (both on staff and on the Board) is extremely important.

2. Don't overlook young leaders - When Wirtz first took over, the first two players he brought in were Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who were the young guns he was going to build the new transition around. In associations, we often have young members who are interested in getting involved and engaging in leadership positions early on, and we need to be willing to let them take the lead and bring a different kind of leadership to the table.

3. But don't forget about your old leaders - One of the greatest things about the Blackhawks' run was how they embraced their leaders from years past... Men like Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito, all of whom were leaders on the last team that won the Stanley Cup, were front and center throughout the team's championship run... The lesson for associations here is while it's important to embrace young leaders, keeping high profile past leaders in the loop and visible is extremely important...

4. Your fans love to cheer for a winner - When things weren't going well, the fans went away from the 'Hawks... When they started winning again, the fans came back in droves... Being a championship association means keeping your fans engaged and empowered at all times. How can they help you reach your vision/mission? How can they help you get your message out further? If they can see your vision, they'll be invaluable!

It took the Blackhawks a long time (49 years to be exact) to once again become the Stanley Cup Champions. It might take your association some time, but by keeping some of the tips in mind directly from this year's NHL champions will help you focus on some things to get you back to championship-caliber!

Oh, and GO 'Hawks!

The Future of Magazines?

2010-06-03T14:18:00.004-05:00

So I happened to be going through my tweets, and happened upon one by Chris Uschan from OmniPress sharing the video below.

It got me thinking - is this how magazine content will be widely consumed in the coming years, and if so, how can we get in on the bottom floor now in creating this kind of interactivity and user defined experience?

Many of us are using Nxtbook and other products like it to move our magazines to online platforms, and that's a step in the right direction. However, what's shown in the video below seems more like a giant leap from where many of us in associations are right now. Can we develop this kind of product for our members? Should we?

I think now is the time we begin thinking like Wired and Time (which also has an amazingly interactive iPad app for their magazine), and get ahead of the curve in our publishing capabilities, because Lord knows that our members and readers are only becoming more technologically savvy the more time goes on...

Quitters Never Win...

2010-06-01T15:59:00.003-05:00

We all heard this line growing up from our parents when we decided we no longer wanted to play the clarinet (or whatever geeky thing you decided you wanted to quit)... Well, there were a few things that I almost quit recently, but I decided to heed my Mom's advice and stick with them - this blog and Facebook.

As you might be able to tell, my last post to this blog was in March. Throughout my hiatus I had thoughts to share, but just didn't sit down and actually write them into posts... I always found something else to do instead, but I have decided that I really need to rethink that and get back to writing. So, get ready for more regular posts and thoughts about everything from blogs I have read to things I've seen that I can relate to associations somehow...

The other thing that I alomost quit was Facebook, and I almost decided to do it yesterday on Quit Facebook Day. I had friends who decided to quit for their own reasons, but I decided to stick with it... My reasoning - I think if you want to create change within a company (or even an association), quitting isn't the way to do it. I think that building your coalition from within and going to the leadership with sound reasoning is the better way to create the change you desire.

I understand that there are concerns about privacy. I understand that there are concerns about Facebook selling your information to advertisers who then use it... If you feel as though these are things you cannot deal with, then by all means, quit. Make your small statement that doesn't help fix the problem.

To me, the bigger statement that you can make is working with the company/association/organization to craft a more meaningful policy from within to create the change you desire. By quitting, you're giving up. By working to create the change you seek, you are making the culture better for everyone, thus creating a HUGE statement that is worthwhile to everyone.

Now, some people are probably going to say that those who quit Facebook were the ones who caused them to change their privacy settings last week. I don't think that's true. I think the ones who helped convince them were users who were not happy with what they saw, and decided to let Facebook know about it.

Now all of those who quit seem to have lost, while all of us who stuck it out seem to have won with the new privacy settings. Who says parents aren't right?

Saving Your Job by Doing Something New...

2010-03-02T16:24:00.005-06:00

My brother is in the newspaper business. That's right, the business that is slowly losing readership and paid subscribers because of the rise of the internet and free online news sources. He's seen the closure of newspapers across the country, the many layoffs that have happened in the industry, and understands that this is not a great time to be in the business... Or is it?

By trade he is a writer and page designer - two positions that are being cut quite often as the newspaper business shifts online. But while those are his main roles, he's also carved out a nice niche where he is a blogger about the business of sports, and is the host of their newly created podcast detailing their biggest stories of the week.

In other words, he is not being hamstrung by the title that he has, but rather is utilizing his skills to build himself a role as the landscape of print shifts online. He has been able to understand that the newspaper business is about content, and while the content might not be delivered in print for much longer, it is still valuable in some form.

I guess the whole point of this post is that even in associations, some things that we currently do might not continue to work the same way they have in the past. As staffers and executives, we need to think ahead as to how the landscape might shift, and then as individuals figure out how we can have a hand in making the shift seamless to ensure long-term job security.

It's the Time of Year for the Gold Circle Awards!

2010-02-25T20:18:00.003-06:00

ASAE & The Center's Gold Circle Awards are back, providing you and your organization opportunities to be recognized for outstanding efforts in communications. Sponsored by ASAE & The Center's Communications Section Council, the 2010 awards reflect the best in association communications during the 2009 calendar year.

So why should you enter? There are really six reasons...

Gain recognition for your organization’s communication excellence
Receive a stunning crystal trophy
Use of the 2010 Gold Circle Award logo to promote in your award-winning communications
Have your entry showcased in ASAE & The Center’s Online Knowledge Center
Demonstrate your communications effective practices
Have a chance to win a Council's Choice Award.

There are a number of categories for you to enter: Annual Report, Blog, Feature Article, General Association Web Site, Innovative Communications, Issue-Specific Web Site, Magazine, Media Relations Campaign, Newsletter, Peer Reviewed Journal and Podcast.

It only costs $100 per entry, but be sure to enter by the deadline of March 31. Oh, and if you're planning to enter, be sure to attend a best practices session led by the Gold Circle Awards Committee of the Communications Section Council that is being planned for March 18 in DC. More information will be made available in the coming week or two.

As a member of the Council, I hope that you take a few moments to enter today!

How NOT to Fundraise...

2010-02-16T19:19:00.003-06:00

So I was on my way home earlier this evening from a quick trip to the store, and I saw an odd number on my phone with my old hometown's area code. I answered reluctantly, and heard the following:

"Hi Bruce, this is (INSERT NAME HERE), and I'm calling on behalf of the (INSERT COLLEGE NAME HERE) University volleyball team. I wanted to see if you wanted to donate money to us."

That was it. Literally... That was the pitch. Couple problems with it though...

1. I didn't go to said university (although I do regularly give to their Foundation to a specific fund named for a friend of mine who passed away)...
2. I am not a huge volleyball fan, nor have I ever gone to one of this university's volleyball games.
3. Aside from the fund named for my friend, I have no affinity to this university...

So, here are a few recommendations I have for associations on how to avoid such issues:

1. Ensure There's an Affinity - If trying to raise money, be sure the person you're calling has some semblance of an affinity toward what you're raising money for. (i.e. if it's for your leadership programming, they should have received some kind of leadership training already...)
2. Train Your Fundraisers - Be sure the people who are asking for the money are trained and know what they're doing. The girl who called was a member of the team, which while more personal, was just not someone who should be doing it. She likely had little training, and what if I had asked her about a very specific part of the university I WAS interested in supporting? She wouldn't have been able to effectively answer me.
3. Be Careful of Your Data - I wonder if the Foundation of the university provided my information to this team with knowledge of what they were doing? It seems as though the Foundation would not want to potentially lose a regular donor because of something like this...
4. Mine the Data - If the university would have done its due diligence, they would have known I had no interest in supporting a volleyball team of a school I never went to.

All in all, I'm still going to support the very specific fund that I do every year since it holds a very dear place in my heart. However, I have lost some respect for the institution because of this episode. Will your members lose respect in you? I think if you follow the tips above, they won't...

This May be Blasphemy, But...

2010-02-05T14:15:00.004-06:00

I don't get Foursquare. There, I said it. I know it's the big thing these days, but I just personally don't see the value in it for me. Everyday on Twitter I see that everyone is unlocking all these buttons, becoming mayors of places, and developing their own online kingdoms or whatever... For me, it's noise.

A usual complaint I hear from non-Twitter users is that they don't understand why you want to know what someone had for lunch today. As a Twitter user, I know that's not what people who get followers tweet about, but to me, this is almost the same thing. Why do I personally care that Joe Schmo who I'm following became the Mayor of Starbucks in Timbuktu? Why do I personally care that Jane Doe frequents Kroger in Islamabad? I don't...

Now, while I don't personally find value in the tool right now, I was thinking about how associations may be able to use it to their benefit, and as far as my sometimes small brain can tell, there may be some potential uses. Here are a few that I thought about:

Gathering Data on Members - Perhaps you find out through Foursquare data collection that one of your volunteers is the Mayor of his local Starbucks. You are able to then provide that person with a more personalized recognition (like a Sbux gift card) if necessary, than you would if you didn't have this information...
Gathering Members Together in a Regular Location - I don't know... Perhaps you are able to find out by mining the data collected from Foursquare that a large number of your members frequent the same location in NYC. Perhaps you have a networking event there since you know they're already congregating in that specific location...
Annual Meeting/Expo Usage - Perhaps you can use Foursquare to have members visit certain parts of your Annual Meeting or Trade Show floor by allowing people to become Mayors and unlocking buttons at specific vendor booths or rooms...

Now, the first two uses would only be good if you were easily able to gather and then mine the data from Foursquare. I don't know how easy that would be, nor do I think that many associations have the manpower (or womanpower) to do this at this point. What other potential uses are there for associations that I'm not thinking about?

So, my questions to you...

1. What am I missing about this phenomenon?
2. Why do you use it/like it so much, and what is the value add for you?

Help me understand!! Thanks as always for reading...

Some Tips on Streaming an Event Live

2010-01-12T13:00:00.002-06:00

So my organization recently beta tested streaming video using Ustream.tv for a state of the organization speech at an event. We asked three members to sit and watch the stream from home while it happened, and then provide us with feedback - both positive and negative.

I also had left the event midway through, and watched it with a critic's eye from home. Here are a few tips I have for those of you wanting to utilize it:

1. Know the Exact Layout of the Room - So we had seen the room in the hotel walkthru, and had what we thought was a good idea of how it would be set up. However, the morning of, we found that the screen was not next to the stage as we had thought it would be, and thus was out of the shot. The streaming would have been MUCH more useful with the Powerpoint slides easily seen by those watching from home.

2. Test, test and test again - We tested the internet connection when we did our walkthru to make sure it would be strong enough, etc. However, we did not have the A/V hooked up to see how the sound would be in the room with the mic. While it worked out ok for us, we should have also tested this beforehand. In addition, we should have tested with the actual people who would be speaking to ensure that it was ok.

3. Prepare and Plan for Ambient Noise - If you're live streaming, be sure that there aren't people right next to the webcam coughing, typing loudly on their computers, whispering, etc. The microphone on the camera picks all of that up, and it can be distracting for those watching at home.

4. Prepare Your Speakers for the Online Aspect of the Presentation - At times, I think the speakers forgot that there was an online audience, and said things that people in the room would "get" but perhaps not those online. When doing something like this, speakers need to be prepared for that and adjust their remarks accordingly.

Going along with #4:

5. Engage with your online audience early - When welcoming people and introducing the session, your speakers should also welcome those who are in the online audience. In addition, they should include sayings like "if you're speaking, please be sure to speak up so our online audience can hear you", etc. The person who is at the computer (i.e. the chat moderator) should also provide some nuggets about the room, who's there, how many, etc.

6. Q&A - If you are taking Q&A from the audience, be sure to repeat the question for the online audience, as well as engage the online audience by answering some of the questions they might have. Solicit this when you solicit the questions from those in attendance (i.e. I'd now like to open it up to questions from those in the room and those watching us online.)

7. Provide online-only interaction - In the future, we will likely try to engage the speaker with the online-only audience following the talk in a question & answer session specifically for them. So, we'll ask the speaker to spend 10 extra minutes following the session sitting down in front of the webcam, and answering some of the online generated questions from the Q&A. This will make the experience special for those watching at home.

As I close, I think we'll likely integrate streaming events into our efforts. However, there are a few things we'll do differently to ensure a better experience for those watching at home. We'll probably only live stream events in smaller rooms, with limited Powerpoint/visual aids, and perhaps with smaller crowds. We'll carefully pick and choose what we stream, and when we do, it will be exciting to those of our members who are unable to be there in person. I'm excited about its possibilities for our future!

Addendum to my Big Idea Post...

2009-12-11T16:15:00.002-06:00

So I posted yesterday about the Big Idea that essentially talked about empowering people at the lowest level.

Well, today, I saw on Twitter a Guy Kawasaki post that linked to this really interesting post talking about 50 ways to foster a culture of innovation within your organization. I especially liked #s 8, 11, 35, 37, 41 and 50. These speak to the fact that Kristin Clarke's original big idea that she proposed is in fact a good idea in terms of empowering those who might be at the lower level. Those people often have great ideas, but might not feel as though the culture is in place to allow them to get them into the right hands.

I'm going to think about how we might be able to incorporate some of these ideas into my organization. I'd encourage you to do the same...

Big Idea Month: Empowering the Lowest Level Staffers

2009-12-10T15:16:00.006-06:00

December has been deemed Big Idea month by Acronym, ASAE & The Center's blog. They've asked association bloggers to either come up with big ideas and write about them, or write about some of the ones that were posted by readers in the comments section of the post linked above.

One big idea I'd like to discuss and write about was proposed by Kristin Clarke: "What if associations promoted all of the lowest-ranking staffers to VPs for a week--what changes would they immediately make?"

My first thought - WHOA! That's a big idea, and a radical one at that. However, I'd like to put a little twist on it... I think an even more radical idea would be to make the VP and the lowest-ranking people change places for a week (not just put the lowest ranking people in the VP's chair)...

It would be instructive not only for those at the lowest levels to see the different vantage point, but it may also be incredibly valuable to the association for the VP to see life like it is for those at the lowest levels for a week. What are members frustrated about? Why are the processes at that level so tedious? Why is it so hard to get my voice heard by those at the highest level? All of these things would be beneficial for the higher level staffers to see.

As another aside, I have always said that I would LOVE for the members of my current organization to spend one day working at the office to see life from that vantage point. I think if that happened, there would be a different level of understanding between the membership and the staff about service, responsibilities, and just the overall aspect of how the organization runs on a regular basis. I guess they call what I am talking about an internship program, so perhaps we'll need to start one!!

Back to Kristin's original idea, I really think empowering the lowest level employees to make their voice heard about what changes need to be made is a great idea! But my question is - shouldn't this already be happening without having to make them a VP for a week? Shouldn't we already be soliciting this feedback on a regular basis if we are to be a great association? I would think if you could build that kind of culture, a culture where every staff member no matter what their level was confident to make their voice heard, you'd be in a pretty good situation. You'd also be better prepared to make change that the rest of the staff supports and understands.

Blogging on the Forum Effect

2009-12-03T16:57:00.002-06:00

Over the next four weeks, I am going to be blogging on the Association Forum of Chicagoland's FORUM Effect blog relating to something I have been doing for the last three + years: working from home.

I wrote a story in their November/December issue on this topic, and am expanding on it in my posts over the next month.

My first post talks about the first of the five D's of working from home that I developed - dedication. As you can see, I talk about how you must be dedicated to your craft, your association, and your co-workers to make working from home a positive experience.

I'd like to thank Heather and the folks at the Association Forum for giving me the opportunity, and hope that you'll take a look over the next few weeks at my posts.

As always, thanks for reading...

Speaking Up for the Extroverts...

2009-12-02T16:50:00.000-06:00

I read an interesting story on Forbes.com recently called Why Introverts Can Make the Best Leaders. It's an interesting story that talks about five traits that make introverts great leaders.

I think that all of writer Jennifer Kahnweiler's points are well written and make sense, but I'd like to speak up for extroverts to talk about some of their leadership traits by commenting on what Jennifer used as traits of introverts...

1. They Think First, Talk Later - I think this is a good trait for a leader, but I think even extroverted leaders understand that you have to be in control of yourself to be seen as credible. Credibility comes from knowing what you're talking about and being able to articulate your point when needed - i.e. being measured and thinking about your response as it relates to a situation. Every leader that I have ever met has understood this, whether they were an introvert or extrovert.

2. They Focus on Depth - No argument here. Depth is important when considering issues. However, I think that leaders need to be willing to trust those who work with them to focus on the depth (i.e. the weeds), while the leaders focus on the overarching mission, future vision, and goals of the organization. If they get caught up in every little minute detail of a specific project, that might cause some of their employees to not feel empowered, and thus not feel as though they are being led...

3. They Exude Calm - I think calmness in the times Jennifer describes is again, a positive trait for an introvert. However, I want someone leading my association or organization who is going to rally the troops to meet goals, be the loudest cheerleader for the association, and inspire others to act in betterment of the organizational mission. I think that understanding when calmness is needed is obvious, but you have to be willing to also exude passion to be a great leader.

4. They Let Their Fingers Do the Talking - I understand that documentation is necessary, and I also understand that being able to articulate your points in writing is important. I think when leaders embrace social media tools like Jennifer points out, that's a great thing... However, when a leader sits in his/her office and shoots off 100 e-mails instead of picking up the phone to call an employee or member, I'm not sure that inspires people to follow them. I'm not sure that a leader who only blogs and sits on Twitter all day is seen as credible. Knowing when to write and when to communicate more personally should be common for all leaders - not just introverts.

5. They Embrace Solitude - Leaders need to clear their heads - get away from it all every once in a while. But, I want a leader who is visible - someone who inspires me to be better by the fact that I can see their dedication. Occasional solitude is fine, but embracing it too much to the point of being a recluse is not my idea of a great leader.

I guess to close, I believe that in many cases, inspiration is what employees and members are looking for in a leader. If someone inspires them to be a better employee, general member, volunteer, etc., that is a positive thing for an association/organization. Can that person be an introvert? Absolutely. Are they the only ones who can do so? Absolutely not.

Advice for People Looking to Get into Association Management

2009-11-09T19:22:00.008-06:00

This week, the national unemployment rate went over 10%, just another example of how the economy is still in its recovery phase. It's tough for people out there, and it just seems like it's hitting every aspect of the job market, including associations.

However, in taking a quick look at the job board on ASAE's web site, and on the Association Forum of Chicagoland's web site, there are over 200 open positions looking for qualified people to fill them. The job market in associations is certainly not as barren as some areas.

So, as I was thinking about the job market and the association world, I thought about the career advice that I have received in the past. As I've come up, I have received a lot of great career advice, and have tried my best to provide some good advice to current students who are trying to find jobs as they are entering the workforce.

So, my question to you is: what's the best career advice you've ever received, whether it's specific to association management or your chosen niche within the field? If someone asked you today what are the three biggest qualities that they need to be successful in finding a job with an association, what would you tell them?

Looking forward to your comments.

Quoted on CNN.com - A great piece, but context is needed

2009-11-05T11:19:00.004-06:00

So a few weeks back I was contacted by a writer from CNN.com who had seen an old post on this blog about Defriending and whether it was generational. She was doing a piece on defriending using social media and the different ways people reacted to it, and wanted to know about my experiences with it.

The story can be found by clicking here. I think it is a good piece that definitely gives a well rounded view of how a number of different people handle defriending on social media sites, how people feel, and it even has some science included in it with the research that was done.

As you scroll about 3/4 of the way down the piece, you see a few quotes from me, and I wanted to talk about the context in which they were made. (One of the positives of having a blog, right? The ability to give context to things you've said!)

Throughout my conversation with the writer, who as I said did a great job with the finished piece, I talked about value. The fact is, I want to receive (and provide) value in my interactions within the social web. I don't necessarily think the quotes that were used reflect that fact, so here's my context.

My first quote, which talks about the people whom I defriend, was in the context of me not necessarily receiving the value I had expected from my connections with those specific people. There are many, many people I do find value from, but my litmus test is whether someone is providing me value. That is how I have made my decisions on the people I have defriended (which is a pretty small number honestly).

Moving onto my second quote about ending online relationships, I think it comes back to value. What I said is the way I feel - if someone decides to no longer follow or connect with me on the social web, they obviously weren't getting the value that they thought they were going to. That's OK with me... I don't want someone hanging on just because they don't want to hurt my feelings, and I would expect that would be how most people would feel.

This experience being interviewed was an interesting one... I was torn on whether I wanted to participate, and after deciding I wanted to and seeing the story, I think it was a worthwhile experience.

Oh, and by the way, my fellow ASAE Communications Section Council Member, Cecilia Sepp, was also quoted and did a nice job of getting her position across. While she and I differ in how we use our social networks, I think we both agree that this experience was a fun one!

The Rise of Webinars - Too Many, Too Fast?

2009-11-03T16:27:00.004-06:00

Ok, I get it... Webinars are the new fad in education, both within specific associations and across industries. They seem to be a cost effective alternative to in person meetings, and provide an opportunity for more regular and frequent education for people who are often spread across many different time zones and areas of the country/world. They are really a positive when done correctly, but I have a question for all you association folks out there...

Are you getting a little webinared-out (i.e. worn out by webinars)?

In watching Twitter regularly and seeing the promotions, it seems as though if I really wanted to, I could sit in on an hour webinar each hour during an eight hour day about say, social media...

Some of these webinars might be from people who legitimately can do a great job in educating people about certain things in the industry - industry experts so to speak. However, I often see promotion for webinars that are nothing more than veiled sales pitches for a specific company trying to get into the association space, thus just causing cyber noise for me.

Am I the only one who is seeing this trend, and beginning to get a little tired of all of the webinars? How do you make your decisions about which webinars you sit in on? Have you personally sat in on any really bad webinars? If so, tell us about it...

Again, I'm not against webinars per se if they're done correctly by a respected professional, but this incessant rise in the frequency of webinars seems to be getting under my skin for some reason...

Interns - If You Use Them, PAY Them...

2009-10-23T15:40:00.004-05:00

It's been nearly two months since I have posted something, and for some reason, I haven't been that upset about it. I've actually been enjoying sitting back and reading others' thoughts, just taking it all in.

However, in reading something today at lunch, I felt compelled to write a post about a topic about which I have a lot of passion - internships. Specifically, paid vs. unpaid internships.

I was reading a post by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban on his blog, and it almost made my blood boil... Cuban is frustrated that he can't hire a bunch of unpaid interns to produce videos, compile statistics, etc. that could then be distributed widely to news outlets and bloggers across the world. I actually like the idea he has here in terms of developing the content and providing it to people, but I REALLY don't like how he was trying to make it happen.

Personally, I believe interns should ALWAYS be paid, even if they're getting college credit for their internship. Why? It's simple. If someone that you decide to hire (whether they're an intern or an employee) is doing work that is benefiting the organization, they deserve to be paid for the work they're doing.

Many times, interns are college students who are taking a summer to get experience leading up to a career in a chosen field. They're dedicating their summer to working for your organization/company, building their skills for their future, and foregoing the opportunity to have another job to make money for their upcoming school year. They're dedicating themselves to you and working hard to make sure they're getting the best experience (and a good reference), thus helping your organization succeed. Yet, all too often, companies and organizations don't pay these people. It's just wrong.

A couple other observations: how engaged can someone really be at work if they know they're not getting paid? How happy can they be? How much real productivity can you expect from someone who's not getting paid? Imagine that you had to go to your office for a full week and knew you weren't getting paid anything. Would you put as much effort into your job that week? Now, imagine 12 weeks of 40 hour work weeks not getting paid, but being expected to work hard and benefit the company/organization... Yeah, not real appealing is it?

You want the people who are interning for you to be inspired to do good work, right? You want them to enjoy coming in and feel as though they're having a positive experience, right? Then pay them.

Relating this back to associations, I know many non-profits and associations don't have a lot of excess money lying around to pay interns. I get it. However, I also get that there usually is enough to pay them something, even if it's a monthly stipend for their housing and meals... Do something for these people who are dedicating themselves to making your organization better for 12 weeks. Be an advocate for them. They deserve it.

So, no matter whether you're like Mark Cuban and have a lot of money, or are a small association and don't have much at all, I urge you to think about the interns you're hiring and how you'd feel working for nothing for 12 weeks...

Ok, my blood is back to a simmer, so I'm done.

Lesson Learned: Trust is Key in Volunteer Management

2009-08-26T19:05:00.002-05:00

So I was lucky enough this past weekend to serve as a volunteer for the Solheim Cup, the women's golf equivalent to the Ryder Cup where the US takes on Europe to see who's best in women's golf. (US won 16-12!! GO USA!)

Now, by no means was I a top level volunteer - I was on the Programs committee. In fact, I never saw a staff member during my entire volunteer experience. With 1,600 volunteers as a part of the event, I was not surprised by this. I was managed by another volunteer, who did an admirable job for someone who doesn't manage volunteers on a regular basis.

As usual, I tried to pull something that I could use in my future from my current experience, and what I really learned this time was that TRUST is paramount! There are times when the staff, even with all of their preparation and experience, can't account for all of the intricacies of what might happen.

Here is just one example:

We were told to hang out at the entrance ready to sell programs until when people came in. Well, with only two of us at the main entrance and hundreds of people in line, we were going to get slammed when the people began piling in. So, instead of waiting until people came in and crushed us, we decided that we were going to walk down the middle of the crowd and sell as they were waiting. We ended up selling a number of programs, and weren't slammed when the crowd was finally allowed to enter. It was quick thinking and just a bit of common sense that made that experience more palatable for us volunteers, and the staff had nothing to do with it.

It was a real lesson for someone who often works with volunteers and at times, is a little more territorial than I should be.

To close, here are a couple of questions to consider:

How can we as associations encourage innovation with our volunteers?
How can we ensure that they feel empowered to make decisions that are going to make the experience better for them and the association?
How can we learn to TRUST our volunteers more, and allow their contributions to be celebrated when they do something that makes the experience better?

Thanks for reading...

Still Think Social Media is a Fad?

2009-08-26T13:18:00.001-05:00

Watch this:

Special thanks to co-workers Beau Hanger and Kyle Libra for turning me onto this. Very interesting!

Twitter and Its Reach...

2009-08-24T17:11:00.004-05:00

I saw an interesting story on the web site for The Chronicle of Higher Education today, called Teens Don't Tweet. It talks about a new piece of research from the Nielsen Company that says Twitter's surge in popularity and growth is not being fueled by young people.

The second paragraph was extremely interesting to me:

"Twitter’s footprint has expanded impressively in the first half of 2009, reaching 10.7 percent of all active Internet users in June. Perhaps even more impressively, this growth has come despite a lack of widespread adoption by children, teens, and young adults. In June 2009, only 16 percent of Twitter.com website users were under the age of 25. Bear in mind persons under 25 make up nearly one quarter of the active US Internet universe, which means that Twitter.com effectively under-indexes on the youth market by 36 percent."

If you recall, I posted on this blog back at the end of July about the infatuation with the younger generation on texting as opposed to Twitter. Texting is a tool that they are already using, and one that we are underutilizing as a means of communicating with our members.

But, what I really want to get at is all of the conversations at the ASAE Annual Meeting that related to "focus on the strategy, not the tools." I think too often (my own organization and myself included), we are experimenting on different tools without a real strategy in place to start with, which is not the right way to do things. A strategy needs to guide us to which tools we will utilize.

As much as Twitter is the phenomenon right now, it may not be a long-term tool to accomplish the strategy that should be in place. Looking at what the younger generation is talking about (or not talking about in the case of Twitter) now, will allow us to have a better understanding of the types of tools that we should be utilizing as a part of our strategy.

So, how can we develop a strategy that will allow us to not have to reinvent the wheel every time a tool goes away?

I'd love to hear your comments on this post below. Thanks for reading...

Day 3 Recap of ASAE 2009

2009-08-18T22:11:00.002-05:00

I talked about what usually happens to me on Day 2 of conferences in my post yesterday. I think that finally happened to me on the third and final day of the event. It was a bit lackluster for me, really because of the closing general session.

Sadly, what was my most anticipated session didn't go as planned... It featured Fareed Zakaria from Newsweek. Unfortunately, due to the length of time it took for all of the business that was crammed into the session, I had to leave to head to the airport to make my flight. In new ASAE chairman Velma Hart's speech, she talked about not sitting on the sidelines and complain about what was happening. Instead, be involved to make the change. This post is not meant to be from the sidelines, and I have some ideas as to how to fix the final session...

1. The opening "entertainment", who were dancers and a guitarist, could be cut. First off, that started about ten minutes late, and then that took up about ten minutes itself (i.e. 20 minutes of time in all...) Eliminate that stuff and you'd get to the keynote a little quicker.

2. How about having the new chairmen of ASAE and The Center give their keynotes at the OPENING session, to key up the members for their vision of what the association should be doing? I think the last board meeting of the previous board happens before that opening session, so that would be logical to me. Perhaps I'm missing something though...

3. I didn't get why the person from the Ontario Tourism Board was included in the closing general session. Why would they not be in the opening session talking about what there is to do in the city, etc.? She talked about things we should see while in the city. Umm... We were all leaving either later in the day or the next morning.

Anyway, I think the ASAE 2009 Annual Meeting was absolutely great, but that final session left a bad taste in my mouth. I sat there for an hour and a half waiting for Zakaria to speak, but instead of hearing him, I was just overwhelmed with too much content that seemed like advertisements. I hated having to leave, but with the way the event was scheduled, I would have been in Toronto rush hour trying to get to the airport for my 7 pm flight. Just wasn't something I could risk, and so I missed what would have been a real highlight for me.

I hope these tips are taken for what they're worth - constructive criticism on what was otherwise a really great event!

Thanks for reading...

My Day 2 at ASAE Annual Meeting '09 - Full of Hits!

2009-08-17T16:51:00.002-05:00

After a great first day at the ASAE Annual meeting, I was prepared for a slight letdown. It's just something that usually happens to me at conferences for some reason - a great first day full of excitement at being there, and then a lackluster second day without all of the adrenaline from Day 1.

However, to my pleasant surprise, this year that did not happen! I had a fantastic second day, and am really jazzed for everything that is still to come!

A Recap

The day started with a bang, as Charlene Li, author of the book Groundswell, took the stage and did a great job at talking about utilizing social technologies to enhance community. As I have talked about on this blog in the past, having raving fans is important, and with the social technologies that are out there these days, building that groundswell of support from those raving fans is easier than ever. It was a thought provoking session on how we can put her ideas to use in our own organization. Letting go of control is a key to this, which is something that we need to embrace!

Following that session, I was lucky enough to get a seat in the standing room only session led by Jamie Notter on dealing with conflict in a constructive way. He gave seven practical tips on how to effectively deal with conflict in your organization and with people, and I think it was an outstanding opportunity for me to gather some insights into an area where I know I need some work. Thanks a lot Jamie!

I was able to have lunch with a former co-worker, who is having a fantastic experience in his post-fraternity career. I enjoyed catching up with him and hearing about the fun things he's been up to.

This afternoon, I sat in on a session led by Francie Dalton that talked about Motivating the Unmotivated. It was the standout session of the conference thus far, talking about the seven different types of people you are likely to have as bosses or subordinates, and how you need to handle them in your management up or down. I thought this session provided a great deal of very practical information, and was done in such an exciting and invigorating way that I stayed engaged throughout. I am looking forward to reading and listening to all of her resources that she provided to attendees as we left. Outstanding session!

As I finish this, there is still more fun to come. I am meeting up with a group of fun fellow professionals for dinner in about an hour, and then heading to the YAP Party a little later on. It will be fun to hang out with the group of folks that will be there, many of whom I will meet for the first time in real life.

That's the great thing about social media tools - you are able to develop real relationships with people who live hundreds and thousands of miles away, and when you meet in person, it's like you've known one another for years. I am excited about this opportunity, and about what's still to come tomorrow on Day 3!!

Thanks for reading...

First Day of ASAE 2009 in the Books

2009-08-16T20:16:00.002-05:00

What a day today! I woke up at 3:15 am to catch a flight to Toronto, and am running on fumes now at 9:15 pm after an exhilirating day at the 2009 ASAE & The Center Annual Meeting & Expo.

Upon arriving at the Convention Centre, I was able to take part in the Expo and meet a number of vendors for a very specific thing that is coming down the pike for my organization - online elections for one of our Board members... It was interesting to talk to them and hear about their strengths and in some cases, weaknesses.

There were a number of additional highlights for me:

1. The session about Associations Now's crowdsourcing experiment on one of their recent issues really was outstanding. They highlighted a lot of great things that they did, but also laid out a great deal of ways in which they felt they could have improved their experiment. I really find that the real jewels and lessons for others come from the mistakes that were made that people are willing to share. I appreciated Lisa, Joe and Samantha's willingness to share the few areas in which they felt they could have been more successful.

2. The awesome impromptu tweetup following the first bank of educational sessions allowed me to meet a great deal of people I knew virtually, but not IRL (in real life). It was great to spend some time with an alumnus of our organization, Eric Casey, as well as all of the others. I love that there is so much social media being integrated into this year's ASAE Annual meeting.

3. I sat in on an interesting session called 10 Steps to Use Social Media to Engage Volunteers, which was led by a Communications Sections Council buddy Jennifer Ragan-Fore. She and her co-presenter really did a nice job of explaining the concepts behind engagement of volunteers using social media, without getting bogged down in the vehicles. I thought that was a really great aspect of their session. Not all platforms work for every organization, and by not talking about specific platforms too much, I think they held my attention a lot more than if they would have talked about Second Life the whole time... I just don't think that we would be successful using that tool... The concepts were really great though.

4. The Gold Circle Awards Ceremony was great, as outstanding efforts in communications over the last year were recognized with awards. I believe that there were a number of very deserving award winners, and I congratulate each and every one of you.

The evening ended with a quick dinner, and me heading back here to the hotel to get some work done for tomorrow. I am looking forward to a GREAT Day 2 (for me, Day 3 for everyone else.)

Until then, it's now B.E.D.T.I.M.E.

Thanks for reading...

The Future of Our Communications - Texting?

2009-07-31T11:31:00.004-05:00

Just saw that this is my 100th post on this blog. Pretty cool, but I wanted to get into something that is hopefully a little more interesting - whether we should be doing more to get our arms around texting and its importance in today's culture... Here's why I started thinking about this...

My wife came home from work the other day (she works at a therapeutic day school with kids ranging from age 6-15) and told me a story. She said the students asked her about whether she was on Facebook or any other social netoworking site, to which she replied no. She then asked them which one she should join and their thoughts on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. They told her the following:

- MySpace is out. No one uses MySpace anymore.
- Facebook is awesome.

Both of those answers were pretty obvious... However, their answer to Twitter was what was interesting... None of them knew what Twitter was, and when she explained it, they said that they didn't understand the point and that they all text to accomplish what Twitter does.

I also just read Joe Rominiecki's great story in the August issue of Associations Now called Make the Move to Mobile (you probably have to sign in to read it...), which talked about texting in great detail. The most interesting line in my opinion - "Nielsen research shows that, as of the second quarter of 2008, the average mobile user sends more text messages per month (357) than places calls (204). Text holds the advantage in age groups up to 44 years old."

Also, check out this article from CBS News. The last paragraph has some really interesting stats. They include: "The surge in text messaging is being driven by teens 13 to 17 years old, who on average send and receive about 1,742 text messages a month."

Whoa! Those two pieces of information are big news in my opinion, and I don't know that most associations or companies really understand the prevalence of texting in today's youth culture (who will be our members in less than ten years in some cases). Looking at myself, I don't text much at all, but looking at people younger than me, that's their preferred method of communicating.

How can we as associations and companies do a better job in getting on board the train that is already moving - using text messaging to hit our future members with our messages today?

How can we use text messaging to engage potential members and communicate about our benefits without turning them off?

How can we engage our current members for their help in utilizing texting to hit younger potential members?

I'm asking, because right now, I don't know the answer...

Social Media is Great, but Face to Face Still Trumps All

2009-07-27T16:48:00.007-05:00

The title tells the story, but I'll give you the back story of why I thought about this post.

I recently returned from my organization's biennial Convention, a five-day event in which undergraduate and alumni members come together to do the business of the organization, learn new skills and have fun. This year's event was the largest in ten years, and it seems as though everyone had a great time.

We had many brothers taking advantage of our Twitter hashtag, reading our blog, and checking out our photos that we posted on Flickr to get a sense of what was happening. Our use of social media was pretty successful for our first try at it.

However, those who were tracking the event on social media tools were not getting the actual Convention experience. They were not involved in all of the one-on-one conversations that were happening in the lobby. They weren't able to network with some of the really outstanding brothers who were at the event who are looking for potential employees. They weren't making their voice heard in our business sessions. They weren't even able to celebrate with those who were presented with awards. Instead, they were getting very small blips of information from watching our social media presences.

To me, social media is great. I use a great deal of tools to enhance my experience on the web. However, when there is a chance to be in person for something, THAT is where the real value lies. That's why I don't necessarily agree that associations will be doing all of their meetings in the future online, as some people have suggested. There is an experience being AT the event that you just don't get through social media.

As always, if you think I'm wrong, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!!

My Experience on the Other Side...

2009-06-21T20:19:00.007-05:00

As some of you may know, I recently began volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters in my local area. It has been rewarding on a number of levels, and I think the experiences that I've had over the past couple months can be instructive for other associations and non-profits when working with volunteers.

As a volunteer, the three most important things that BBBS has done to make my experience memorable and make me want to continue are:

They show me how the time I'm spending is making a difference - Each and every time I meet with my little brother, it is evident that the time I am spending is making his life better. I am also able to see how MY life is better because of the experiences we are sharing. People want to be able to understand and see the value their time is having, not only on others but also themselves...

How is your organization showing its volunteers how their time and effort is making a difference? It's an important aspect of making your volunteers understand their importance.

They make it easy- BBBS provides me with the support I need when I need it. For instance, I don't know all of the events happening each month in my area. But, each month, our match support specialist provides me with ideas for events that are happening in which my Little Brother and I can participate. That makes my volunteerism easy, which again makes me want to continue helping.

What are some ways in which you can make the volunteer experience easier for your members?

They connect me with like-minded volunteers - BBBS allows me to interact with other volunteers through monthly events. They include picnics, bowling get-togethers, and other fun events where not only the kids can get together, but also the adult volunteers. In the events that I have attended thus far, I have been able to talk with some of the other volunteers to pick their brains so in the future, I can be more prepared for things I am sure to face.

Are you deliberately putting your volunteers in positions where they can learn from one another? If not, how can you make sure to make this a priority?

I think that as we think about the experience of our volunteers, these three simple ideas can really enhance the experience of the folks who make our organizations go.

Why not be more deliberate in making sure these are happening with your organization? Who knows, you might even get some of your satisfied volunteers writing blog posts raving about their experience...

Moving Away from the Status Quo

2009-06-15T16:10:00.002-05:00

So I was pointed to two YouTube videos recently of Brad Delson, lead guitarist of rock group Linkin Park, giving UCLA's keynote address at its Commencement Ceremony. You might be thinking like I was - really? Brad Delson gave the keynote address at one of the country's top schools? The guitarist of a rock group?

If you watch the funny, heartfelt, witty speech, you will come to find out that he was a summa cum laude graduate from the school in 1999, and was planning on going to law school before following his dream of being in a band.

You'll also come to figure out that he was not the school's top choice to speak at the event (James Franco), or even their second choice (Conan O'Brien), and that he was asked six days prior to the speech to do it.

Delson's speech was FAR from the status quo. He stripped from his robe and cords into a UCLA basketball jersey halfway through it, and played a Britney Spears song on a guitar. He talked about plagiarism, spoke of his late-night meals at one of the "establishments" in Westwood, and made fun of the two people who declined the invitation to speak prior to his call.

While the speech was far from the status quo, you can see that the students LOVED IT! They will never forget who their college graduation speaker was, and likely will remember his words of wisdom for a long time, because it WASN'T the status quo.

I also think that UCLA deserves a great deal of credit for being willing to go outside the box with their choice, and to allow him to give a speech that was not the usual... When they received the text of his speech, which I am sure they did a few days prior to the event, they didn't freak out and cancel him. They embraced that this speech was going to be different, and their students benefited.

As I close, I think this is a perfect example of how doing something that is far from the status quo can benefit the audience. All presentations don't need Powerpoint, and they don't need to follow the exact same script that everyone has seen in the past. Why not encourage presenters to think differently, and allow them the freedom to do something that isn't the status quo?

Your audience will appreciate something different, and your message may stick with them a little longer!

Positioning Yourself as the Next...

2009-06-10T19:46:00.005-05:00

Reading my favorite blogger Seth Godin usually provides me with a lot of satisfaction. If you don't read his blog, do yourself a favor and start.

When I read his post here, I think he hit the nail on the head. Being "the next" isn't nearly as important as being "the other", "the changer" or "the new". How can you differentiate yourself from the top dog and offer something that the others don't or that they can't easily replicate? Differentiation is the key and innovation is what helps make that differentiation happen.

I don't know what's going to happen with the Bing vs. Google battle, but my guess is that is Bing sticks with their current efforts to try to be the next Google, they will fail miserably and waste all of that marketing money that they're throwing at it. If they'd put that $100 million to use to innovate and offer something different than Google, they may have more success...

What's all the Buzz About?

2009-06-08T16:46:00.002-05:00

It's about Buzz2009, a one-day social media conference for associations that is taking place July 9 in DC. It's being put on by my blogger buds from SocialFish, and promises to be a really great event.

When I checked out their awesome lineup of speakers, which includes Andy Sernovitz and Guy Kawasaki, I was blown away. Just having these two at the same conference should be worth the cost to attend - $495. The rest of the program is also worth the price of admission, and will be a great opportunity for association professionals to learn more about the social web and how it can be utilized more effectively and efficiently.

The other cool thing in my opinion is that it's going to be a small, closely knit group of people attending - there are only 70 spots available for it - which should make the learning and interaction that much better.

Unfortunately for me, with my July travel schedule and professional development budget being used for other conferences this year, I won't be able to be there for it. I am TOTALLY bummed...

But if you're so inclined, which I'm sure you will be after you check out the program and the speaker lineup, you can register by clicking here. Have fun, and be sure to report back about how awesome of an experience it was!

Get this badge.

Something Cool Coming Down the Pike...

2009-06-08T16:31:00.003-05:00

So I inadvertantly came across the demo from the Google I/O Conference that took place recently. Although it is very long, check it out up to the 40 min. mark to see some really neat things that will be available later this year.

There are SO MANY possible applications for associations. From editing and collaborating on documents in a live environment to utilizing the wave for sharing real-time comments on a blog or on photos, the capabilities that will be made available are endless.

So often we hear that associations are behind the for-profit world in embracing technological advances and social media tools. We now know this new awesome platform is going to be coming later this year. Let's figure out how we can make the most of it and share it with our fellow association professionals!!

Awesome Use of Twitter

2009-05-22T11:49:00.004-05:00

I am a HUGE fan of Southwest Airlines, as if you couldn't tell by this post. Not only is their company culture a beacon for people who love to be in a fun and exciting workplace that fosters innovation (see the rapping SWA flight attendant on YouTube), but the company also really gets social media.

They have an awesome blog called Nuts About Southwest, and I just noticed that they have created an "Emerging Media" department with the company. Awesomesauce.

They also regularly use Twitter with the name @southwestair, and recently in conjunction with National Travel & Tourism Week, did a photo hunt in which they used Twitter's photo site Twitpic to solicit photos of travelers with very specific things. One day they requested a photo of someone with a SWA flight attendant in uniform. Another day, it was someone next to the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign.

They awarded two free airline tickets to the first person who sent a photo to Twitpic using the #SWAPhoto hashtag with the very specific thing. It was SUCH a great way to involve their followers in something fun, and provide them with rewards for doing so. I know I was always watching for the request to see if I could win. They always tweeted the winner's name to give them the recognition, and are always interacting with their followers and non-followers who post about the company in Twitter.

I guess the moral to this story is that when you can create an experience using Twitter or other social media tools where your followers are engaged, excited, and know that you're authentic, you have created something with stickiness that you may not be able to get in the offline world. Social media tools make interacting with your public so much easier, and companies like Southwest have really taken that to heart by creating engaging and exciting ways for people to connect with them.

How is your association going to follow this lead?

Clearly Communicating the Message

2009-05-19T20:43:00.005-05:00

When thinking about messages that you're trying to convey, make sure they're crystal clear... There are numerous examples out there about how people have gotten it wrong, and sometimes, it's something so simple that would make it better and clearer.

I was in a hotel recently on one of my trips, and I saw this sign as I was getting off the elevator:

Ok... So I guess they are assuming that everyone will look at the sign and think that the Ice and Beverages are the same way as 402-430 (which was correct). When I saw this, I thought, "why didn't they just add one more arrow to make it clearer instead of having Ice and Beverages floating without any direction?" It would have been so simple, but for some reason, they thought that having people assume would be the better option.

I guess my point is that when thinking about how you're communicating something, think about ways to make it as clear as possible. The people on the receiving end (or who are getting out of the elevator looking for a cold beverage) will thank you!

Personalizing Membership

2009-05-12T12:56:00.002-05:00

It's not everyday when you have something crystalize as clearly as what I am thinking about today - personalizing membership. I've seen it at work in my own organization, as well as a professional development organization of which I am a part, during just the first four hours of my day.

My first example is in my own organization. We having our biennial convention this summer, and are in the recruitment mode for additional attendees. We have a great deal of folks already registered (which is really great with this economy), but now it's time to really hit the phones and reach out to the people we know are regular attendees who have yet to register. So how have we decided to do it? You guessed it - by finding that one person who really has the pull with the people we are targeting in order to ensure that they are going to attend.

We talked about with whom our Board members should connect, thus mobilizing our volunteers. We discussed who we know are regular attendees that we on the staff have personal relationships with, and have begun making our calls. Our undergraduate chapters are receiving continued outreach from their specific staff contact to encourage them to attend. It's all in an effort to really put a personal touch on our recruitment efforts.

I believe it really makes the member feel as though they're wanted there as opposed to receiving the bulk marketing materials that we usually do that aren't necessarily so effective. We have communicated through mass outreach efforts for a long time, but with today's culture and member, we know that we need to adapt to take advantage of the fact that making the experience as personal as possible is really needed.

The other example that I ran into this morning was with one of professional development organizations. They were doing their annual renewal drive, and while I did get three letters reminding me that my membership was expiring, what really got me off my butt was the personal phone call from the staff member with whom I work regularly. I immediately renewed after his call.

If it would have been a call from some random staff member, I don't know that I would have been so eager to renew, especially since I hadn't gotten the go ahead to use my professional development money for it through my office. With the economy, we have really been trying to save, and professional development is an area where we're trying to do so.

I guess I just think it was a nice touch to know that the staff member with whom I work regularly wanted me to renew. Even for someone who knows that it was something that they had done just like we had (i.e. divided up the list by who they had personal relationships with), I thought it was good to get that personal call. The innocuous letters letting me know of the impending expiration hadn't done it, but the personal call did the trick.

I guess the lesson here is not that new - people like to be treated as though they're the only member of your association. By making the experience personal, they will be more engaged, appreicate the association's efforts more, and be the raving fan that you need in your corner when something happens and you need them to be there!

"I Never Knew... All You Do"

2009-04-25T21:24:00.008-05:00

One of the people in the American Cancer Society commercials running on tv says this, and I can't help but think that ASAE & The Center is trying to make sure people aren't saying this about associations with their "The Power of A" campaign.

My question - couldn't the organization have actually shown what associations are doing in this commercial that will be run tomorrow (Sunday) in the DC area, as opposed to essentially closed captioning what the person is saying in it?

I like the message that it gives - that associations and their millions of members will be invaluable assets to solve this nation's problems. But, an opportunity was missed to actually show it. The great thing about the American Cancer Society ads that I mentioned earlier is that they have what are supposed to be real people who have been helped by the Society telling the story. It's compelling, and gets the message across.

My hope is that there are more pointed commercials that are developed and run that actually tell the stories of associations making a difference. That would show their power. Granted, if people actually decide to make it to the web site, there are a few stories there, but even the site is pretty sparse in showing how associations are making a difference. (I see six stories there right now.)

Again, I LOVE the message that ASAE is trying to get across AND that they have taken this effort on... I also know that it's easy to criticize from out here in the cheap seats. I hope this is seen as constructive criticism! I just think that the implementation missed the mark a bit, and perhaps it would have been valuable to reach out and ask what some of the members (communications professionals specifically) thought about the campaign's commercial before launching it.

If this did happen and I missed it, I go back to my original subject "I Never Knew... All You Do!"

Going Above and Beyond: Overcoming "That's Not My Job" Thinking

2009-04-22T08:14:00.005-05:00

As you probably know if you regularly read this blog, I am an avid television watcher and fan. I was recently watching a rerun of the West Wing, and I saw the president's body man Charlie Young go above and beyond in finding a man who had written a letter to the president when he was a young child. The man had originally written the letter to FDR, but it was never delivered until his building was torn down and the letter was found. He requested a picture with the president, and because of Young's work, he got that picture, albeit with a different president and some 50 years later.

What that one scene really brought home to me is the need for people to have a desire to go above and beyond in their work. All too often, it seems as though people are only out to get a paycheck these days. I regularly ask myself 'why' when I encounter it. Why is the "that's not my job" mindset so prevalent?

As association professionals and executives, I think overcoming that mindset with our fellow employees is essential to having a top notch association. How can our members feel as though they are getting exceptional service when staff won't do something that isn't necessarily their job? Members can see it. They know who is willing to go above and beyond, and who is not.

I guess I had a couple thoughts on how to help this situation, and I hope you'll add your ideas in the comments:

1. The organizational culture must support going above and beyond, and leadership must lead the way. Why would someone decide to go above and beyond if everyone else isn't? We in leadership roles need to model the way in going above and beyond in our daily interactions and work. Coming in at 8 on the dot and leaving at 5:01 isn't going to change the culture. It's exhibiting the exact behavior we don't want.

2. Recognize staff who go above and beyond. People like to be recognized by their superiors, and if the recognition is something that they value, they're likely to change their behavior to model what the recognition warrants.

3. There has to be skin in the game. If staff don't understand the mission or direction the association is trying to take, they aren't likely to go above and beyond for the members. Helping staff see that the association's success is everyone's job, even if something isn't necessarily within their narrow job description, is another important way to overcome the "not my job" mindset.

Anyway, again, I hope to hear some of your ideas in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Celebrities on Twitter - What they Have/Have Not Realized about it...

2009-04-20T16:32:00.005-05:00

Like many other people, I have been inundated with stories about celebrities and their use of Twitter. Some people say it's going to ruin the tool. Others say that it's going to get more people to use it, thus potentially increasing the visibility of early adopters (including some associations) to more people.

In thinking about this, I tried to compile a few things that celebrities have and haven't yet realized about this tool they're flocking to, which will hopefully help some associations who have yet to try it out or get on the bandwagon.

The things most celebrities have yet to realize include:

Twitter is not a toy like Ryan Seacrest mentioned a number of times in a recent Larry King Live interview. It can and should be a powerful engagement tool to more closely align what you're doing with what people want you to do.
Twitter is not a popularity contest, a self-promotion avenue (i.e. if you get more followers than someone else, you're better). The fact is, Twitter is more of an interaction tool as opposed to a "let's see how many people I can get to listen to me" tool...
That leads me to this fact - the REAL value of Twitter is listening... Most celebrities have not grasped this concept, nor will they likely in the near future. If they did, I would potentially think about following some of them.

The thing that some celebrities HAVE gotten include:

Twitter is a great tool at creating a bond with someone or something. By creating a way for people to see a more real side of you (or your organization), you are developing a more loyal fan base.
Twitter can serve as a real-time feedback mechanism. If you need to know what people think right now about something, turn to your Twitter followers to see their immediate reactions. They've chosen to follow you, and are likely to give you good feedback.

I guess in closing, my thought about the hubbub about celebrities flocking to Twitter is - who cares?!? It doesn't matter. If you don't want to read their tweets, don't follow them. You have the control here, not them.

The Leadership Meme - Three Tools to Become a Leader

2009-04-12T21:41:00.004-05:00

I am following up on Jamie Notter's post, which was followed up by Jeff De Cagna's, Maddie Grant's, and Dierdre Reed's. There's a good little meme going here!!

I've had a pretty unique opportunity to be around and interact with a lot of leaders in my current position. It has been great, and I have gleaned a few pieces of advice from them that are the three things I believe make up a good leader:

1. Be transparent - As a leader, you are responsible for steering the ship. If you want to have people trust that you're able to do so effectively, be open with the data you're using to make your decisions. As one of my contacts, a university president once told me, he makes every decision they come up with in their meetings public, so people don't feel as though they're being left out of important decisions. It shows that you are confident in the way you're conducting business, which should provide needed trust from your members.

2. Get a Mentor - Having someone from whom you can learn the ropes is an important aspect of becoming a leader. Someone who can help you through the questions you have, let you know where you can improve your skills in a trusting environment, and be there as you struggle in your efforts, should be welcomed by up and coming leaders.

3. Learn that It's NOT All About You - As a leader, it shouldn't be all about you. A leader needs to be able to surround him/herself with capable people who can do their jobs effectively, and then allow others to take the spotlight when they do something great. The goal is to have a successful association, not to feed the leader's own ego.

These are my thoughts. The others did a good job in explaining some other great ideas. I'm planning on taking them all into account, and taking their ideas to heart as I hope to move up the ladder in my career. Thanks to everyone for sharing!!

Why, Social Media? Why Do You Tease Me So?

2009-04-08T14:53:00.008-05:00

I have gotten on the bandwagon, drank the Kool-Aid, (insert whatever similar phrase you want to here...) I love using social media tools, can completely see their relevance and positive traits, and think they are great ways to engage members and align them with an association's goals and objectives. I am on a high!

Then, earlier today I came crashing down when I took a look at a story called "Economic Strategy for Associations: A Benchmarking Report on Priorities, Challenges and Strategies" in the April issue of the Association Forum of Chicagoland's Forum magazine. The crash happened specifically when I looked at Table 2 on Page 20, and Key Finding #5.

Table 2 asks the question "How effective are each of the following methods in helping your association achieve its goals?" and has a number of goals like "Improving Member Retention" and "Engaging Younger Members" that were rated with a number of different methods like "Database Marketing" and "Member Get a Member Program". Whew - taking a breath after that long sentence!

As you'll see if you take a look at the table, the method called "Online Media" (which are really social media tools) ranks the lowest in all but two of the categories, in many cases being closer to the "Not at All Effective" end of the range than the "Very Effective" end.

I was shocked that even with the goal of "Increasing Participation Among Younger Members", online media was tied as the lowest rated method to accomplish that goal. That just doesn't jive with what I have found in my organizational use of social media tools, nor does it jive with what others have talked about over and over again at association conferences.

A couple personal examples are that of our organization's 3,800 Facebook Page Fans, probably 3/4 of them are our younger members. Of our Twitter followers, 3/4 of them are our younger members. Do these stats mean that we are necessarily engaging them in achieving the organization's goals? If we're using the social media tools correctly we are. Have we actually measured that? No we have not.

In closing, my questions to you are these - are the people who took this survey just people who haven't tried these tools yet? Are they just not using them in ways that could be beneficial to them? Or, are they actually seeing that online media tools are not effective in helping them meet their association's goals? What have you been seeing, and does what you are seeing and understanding jive with what the survey answers say?

Thanks for reading.

Lesson from Southwest Airlines

2009-04-06T12:32:00.002-05:00

So by now, you have probably seen the "Rapping Southwest Flight Attendant" either on your local news station or on YouTube.

You may have even read Bob Wolfe's great post on the Young Association Professional blog that asks the question "Are You Taking the Mundane and Turning it on its Head?" It essentially an embed of the aforementioned video.

For me, this video and its viral success leads to a few points that I want to delve into here - culture and differentiation.

As I look at the video, I can't help but think about the culture that Southwest has created that allowed this to happen in the first place. They have a culture that rewards innovation, which in turn provides value to their customers. Their employees are able to be themselves, using their skills to more effectively get their message across and make it fun and exciting for the traveler. They try new things without the fear that if they make a mistake they'll be in trouble. This in turn has led to a resounding success in getting the company a GREAT DEAL of free media, thus helping to extend their brand to people who might not fly regularly.

Just think... Which airline is the average non-flier likely to choose for their next flight - the boring, stuffy one, or the one that shows it has people with personality running it (and oh by the way, has cheap fares).

I often hear people talking about the need for associations to innovate if we are to be successful as we move into the next decade - that if we think we're going to be using the same business model and doing things like we do today, we will be way behind. So my question is - why can't we be more like Southwest?

Why can't we create a culture within our organizations where not only the ingenuity of our employees is celebrated, but also that of our members? We can differentiate ourselves by being THE association that is truly open to innovative ideas, no matter where they come from. We can develop rewards for the the most innovative employee/member/non-member whose ideas we can implement to redevelop ourselves as we move forward. We can essentially use innovation to drive our business models, thus providing more value to our members.

I guess I feel as though this ONE LITTLE YOUTUBE VIDEO really crystalizes the fact that a culture of innovation is something that not only benefits the employees of an association/company, but also the association/company as a whole through the amazing outcomes it can create.

Why aren't we embracing the innovative ideas that come from our employees and members by creating a culture that supports it? It seems easy, but as we all know, changing the status quo rarely is.

Perhaps we need to have an association executive rap about developing a culture of innovation at the next ASAE Annual meeting. Maybe that will get people thinking more about it...

A Lesson from Fundraisers

2009-04-04T20:03:00.004-05:00

I had lunch today with a friend who is a fundraiser. In this economy, what job could be more difficult than someone who relies on raising money from people who are hurting financially?

I think something that he said can be really instructive for all of us in the association community, even those of us who are not responsible for raising money from our members. He said that right now, while he and his fellow major gift officers are having some trouble raising funds, they are using this difficult economy for relationship-building.

They are meeting people. They are enhancing their already established relationships. And most importantly, they are galvanizing their support while times are down, which will put them in prime position to take advantage of the economy when it recovers.

I think that now more than ever, we should be following my fundraiser friend's lead and try to develop as many meaningful relationships with our members as possible. This will benefit the association in the long run, giving it an amazing core of evangelists that will be even more engaged in its success than before the economy turned sour.

Do you make time in your schedule to reach out and develop relationships with the members of your association? If not, why wait? Now is the perfect time to step up and devote some time to an important aspect that oftentimes gets taken for granted.

My Recent Twitter Thoughts...

2009-03-10T15:50:00.006-05:00

Has anyone else found that recently they have been trimming the people they are following on Twitter? I have to be honest - I have...

I joined Twitter and have been using it for two main purposes:

to connect with people and organizations to whom I feel a close connection
to try to build connections with people that I feel I WANT to connect with for selfish reasons like professional development and networking

I have found that in many instances, instead of connecting with people through my Twitter presence, I have chosen to follow people, companies and organizations who are ONLY pushing information out about themselves - not building meaningful opportunities for me to connect with them. Notice I said "I have chosen..." I chose to follow them, and now I am choosing not to...

Who I am following has turned more into an RSS feed of the latest news and blog posts that people are doing, as opposed to a place where I can connect with real people who want to build connections with their followers. Some of the people/organizations/companies that I follow only want to promote their cause or product.

My solution - trim the fat. No more news feeds like AP's @Breaking_Newz or CNN's @politicalticker... No more random organizations I followed because I thought I'd be interested in what they had to say... No more celebrities like @The_Real_SHAQ and @lancearmstrong... No more people I followed only because they followed me first... I am done with them.

I posted a while back about Defriending and whether it was generational... I guess in this instance, I am falling into the Gen X category as opposed to the Gen Y category since I am starting to want more value from my connections as opposed to MORE connections.

As I open my desktop Twitter app, Twhirl, tomorrow to take a look at the early morning Tweets, I hope that this trimming will do me some good and get me excited about using this tool to connect with people once again.

A Disclaimer: I don't want you to think that I am berating the aforementioned organizations or news feeds for having presences on Twitter. A lot of people probably like it because they can have a running news feed or can connect with what's going on in the lives of their favorite celebrities. It's just not the way I want to use it any longer...

Planning for Emergency

2009-03-07T08:29:00.003-06:00

I was reading marketing guru Seth Godin's blog recently, and found this post that I think really illustrates what we in associations need to be doing to ensure that we're looking to the future as opposed to just the crisis at hand. He talks about the fact that oftentimes, we are dealing with the emergency of today that we should have really been preparing for long ago.

My favorite line:

Why not shine a light on the holes we're digging today as opposed to the canyons we'll have to deal with years from now?

I think this ties directly to a session I was watching online recently that was taking place at the ASAE International Conference. It was being led by Jeff De Cagna, and I heard him say the following about an exercise you can do to help in your forward thinking:

What if your association could not collect dues any longer? How would you survive?

I think this is an interesting exercise to just get started in thinking in an innovative way. While this exact situation may never come to fruition, the exercise of thinking about how you would respond to that situation is a good thing.

The moral of the story that both Seth's post and Jeff's comment capture is that we need to be thinking about what we can be doing to prepare for the future NOW. Let's not wait until we're in the position of having to deal with something that you can foresee, when you can be planning for it today.

I know it's difficult to find the time with all of the fires that need to be put out now, but by planning and looking ahead NOW, you will be changing the culture of your organizational thinking and you'll be prepared when the so called emergencies happen.

Communicating About/Streaming Events Live

2009-03-05T15:58:00.004-06:00

In the past week, I have seen two fellow Association bloggers - Jeff De Cagna over at Principled Innovation, and Ben Martin from the Certified Association Executive blog - utilize a fun little web product called Ustream.tv to live stream a session that was occuring in lands far, far away from where I was sitting. (Don't worry boss, I was researching...)

The larger events that included these sessions, one of which was for Realtors and one of which was at the ASAE International Conference, really weren't things I even considered attending in person, but I actually enjoyed watching them on the web. I also think I found an awesome opportunity to enhance the visibility of sessions at our summer Convention for those who are unable to make it by using this cool tool.

So you're probably asking 'why did I watch if I wasn't really in the demographic of attendees?' I think there are a few reasons:

1. WOM - I had seen the WOM engine working with Ben on Twitter and others also talking about the fact that Todd Carpenter from the National Association of Realtors was talking about social media at this Realtor Conference. Had I not heard about it through WOM, I wouldn't likely have tuned in.

2. Curiosity - I decided to listen to see what the NAR was doing social media-wise, since they are one of the biggest national associations in the country. I was curious to hear what they were doing, and how they were talking about social media to their members to get them to understand its role in their business.

3. To Get the user's perspective - The main reason I tuned in was to check out Ustream.tv from the users perspective. I often think that people roll these new shiny things out thinking they are going to be amazing, but don't really look at them from the user's perspective. I was able to do that by watching these two sessions, and really liked what I saw.

So, as I continue to think about how we're going to integrate social media and technology at our summer Convention, I am seriously considering this cool new tool that I researched this week.

Perhaps Ben or Jeff can talk about Ustream's ease of use from the conference planner's end. Was it difficult to manage? What equipment is necessary? What if any issues did you run into with using it? I'm sure we'd all love to hear it!

ASAE & The Center's Gold Circle Awards

2009-03-02T16:05:00.004-06:00

As a member of ASAE's Communication Section Council, I wanted to be sure to get the following information out to my fellow association leaders.

The application deadline is coming up for ASAE & The Center's Gold Circle Awards - March 31, 2009 - so make sure to get your entries in today!

There are 11 categories and the competition is open to associations of all sizes and budgets. In fact, there are two divisions within each category – one for associations with overall budgets below $2 million, and one for those with budgets over $2 million.

WHY ENTER?

Gain recognition for your association’s communication excellence
Have your entry showcased in ASAE & The Center’s Online Knowledge Center
Demonstrate your communications effective practices
Receive a stunning crystal GCA trophy
Use the 2009 GCA logo in your award-winning communications
Compete for a chance to win the **NEW** Council’s Choice Award – one 2009 GCA winner will be selected as the most outstanding for this new award.

Online Entry Form (All entries must be submitted online this year)

Categories

Cost: $100 per entry (members) ~ $125 per entry (non-members)

Requirements: Communications submitted to the 2009 GCA Competition must have been created and/or distributed between January 1 – December 31, 2008.

Questions: Send an email to goldcircle@asaecenter.org or call (202) 626-2885.

Word of Mouth and Communications

2009-02-19T16:00:00.002-06:00

So I was recently tagged by Lindy Dreyer over at SocialFish to participate in the WOM meme that has been going around. I was excited that I was asked to participate, and hope I can provide some nuggets of wisdom below...

My example relating to word of mouth comes from something I am working on right now. We are integrating word of mouth into our communications efforts to help push and promote our upcoming Convention this summer.

We have developed a blog for our Convention where we are pushing people for the most up to date information, interesting thoughts about past Conventions, and even little tidbits about the events that we are planning this year. We have also asked a number of regular attendees to share "Why I attend the Convention" guest posts that we'll be using throughout the run up to the event. This is not only an opportunity for us to get some faces and well-known names out to potential attendees, but also an opportunity for them to hear firsthand accounts of things that these folks LOVE about the event - hopefully building the word of mouth buzz about it. We are then going to ask the people who are guest posters to pass along the post that they did to people they know in order to push that message out to additional potential attendees.

In addition, as an all men's organization, throughout the year we are mostly promoting our events and services to men. However, for the Convention, we also want our alumni to bring their spouses and guests. So, this year we have also asked one of our regular spouses who attends to provide a guest post to talk about why she LOVES attending hoping to hit the potential spouses of attendees. By having the potential attendees share that perspective with their spouse who might be hesitant to attend, it will hopefully be another way that we are enhancing the expectations and attendance numbers for the big event using word of mouth from someone like them who has attended in the past.

Anyway, we're compiling the guest posts now and will begin posting soon. Hopefully the word of mouth that this tactic creates helps as we push our registration for this exciting event!

Volunteerism Meme

2009-02-18T13:23:00.004-06:00

I as tagged by Maddie Grant for the Volunteerism Meme to answer the following question that was originally posed by Peggy Hoffman:

"...how can we create volunteer jobs that don’t require being on a committee, a long-term commitment or gobs of time? So, share five short-term, ad-hoc volunteer jobs you’d love to have and then tag five more bloggers".

Here goes nuthin':

1. Create content for an association's blog for a month
2. Facilitate a discussion at an event
3. Provide feedback on an organization's web site and publications
4. Collect tangible donations for a local non-profit
5. Coach a youth basketball team (a little longer term than the rest, but I think it'd be fun!)

I am someone who likes serving on committees with lots of structure, so this was a little hard for me! However, I think the five things above are all ways to volunteer that I would enjoy, and are things that could be useful to organizations/associations who need the help!

I am tagging the following:

Jeff De Cagna
Patti Digh
Mickie Rops
Julie Hewitt
Jeffrey Cufaude

New Look and Features

2009-02-17T21:09:00.002-06:00

Maddie over at the Socialfishing blog inspired me to change the look of my blog, and to add a few new features like the Feeds, etc. While my new look isn't as dramatic as hers, I think my old look was a little stale and needed something different.

Hope you like it, and that you are finding value in the content I am creating here at Insights from a Future Association Executive!

Cheers!

A Lot of Learning This Week

2009-02-02T21:32:00.002-06:00

This week, I am off work, a place where I usually learn a lot on a daily basis. However, that doesn't mean I am not learning.

I am actually working all week on my new house that my wife and I purchased late in 2008. My Dad is in town to help me paint every room in the house. Actually, it's the opposite - I am helping him!!

So what have I learned so far?

1. I am not now, nor will I ever be a very good painter. However, what I learned is that you need to know what you are good at. I am good at communicating with members, writing and editing our organization's publications, etc. I likely will never be a full-time painter because I know it is not something at which I will be happy or as proficient as is necessary... I hope the office doesn't ask me to paint our offices the next time it needs it!

2. At first, I was a HORRIBLE painter... I am still not very good, but I am learning and improving. The lesson that I have learned (once again in my life) is that even if you aren't good at something, practice makes perfect. Sitting there without taking action on something at which you need to learn doesn't help in the long run.

It's been three days, and I have already learned a lot. Perhaps I'll post again later in the week about what else I have learned... Perhaps it will help you learn something too!

Good to Great?

2009-02-02T13:00:00.000-06:00

So I was having a conversation with blogging buddy Ben Martin and ASAE Volunteer Relations Manager "DJ" Johnson on a recent trip to DC for an ASAE meeting, and we began discussing Circuit City and its demise. (Ben works out of Richmond where Circuit City is/was based.) He pointed out that they were actually a Good to Great company in Jim Collins' book, which took me a little off guard.

Really? A company that has begun liquidating was listed in this 2001 book as being one of the best companies in the country? It's amazing that it happened so quickly, but as Ben pointed out in our conversation, it wasn't that surprising.

Circuit City was slow to innovate and even slower to see that its competitors were beating its brains out by doing things more simply - having the merchandise on the shelves instead of in the back... You could walk up, pick up a DVD player, walk to the register and check out at Best Buy, while at Circuit City you would have to take a ticket, have an employee go to the back to find it, bring it back to you, and THEN you could check out. It was the convergence of convenience and simplicity, something that Circuit City FINALLY got, but it was too late.

So, I was thinking about that conversation, and about how we in associations should look at Circuit City's demise... Below are a couple thoughts I had:

Be Vigilant - If our associations are vigilant and see what we're up against in terms of competitors to our markets, we have a good chance of not meeting the same fate as Circuit City. However, being vigilant is not only about watching what our competitors are doing. It's also about knowing what our members are looking for, and figuring out how we can provide it simply and effectively.

Be Agile - Our associations need to be agile, which means that we need to be willing and able to change course if in our vigilance, we determine it's necessary. Agility is something that is not easy to master, especially with clunky strategic plans that are often five years or longer in length, but it is really a necessity.

Innovate Regularly - A failure to innovate is a failure to be great. The Circuit City situation is a bit of a cautionary tale of a once-great company failing to innovate and in the end failing to provide the value to its customers. It can also be a learning experience in that if we aren't innovating, we're essentially losing ground to our competitors.

Be Great - If your association is providing value, innovating in the right ways, developing new revenue streams while bringing in new members, all while being willing to change if you're not doing these things effectively, you're on the right track to being great.

I'm now off to the nearest Circuit City to buy up some of that inventory that they're selling at bottom basement prices... I hope your members will never do the same with your association's stuff.

Love Working in the Non-Profit/Association Community?

2009-01-30T21:56:00.003-06:00

Then read this article that appeared in the February 2009 issue of Fast Company by Nancy Lublin, CEO of the non-profit, Do Something.

For-profit practitioners beware, you that you may not have what it takes to work in our world!!

Gold Circle Awards

2009-01-23T15:15:00.002-06:00

Take a few minutes to check out Cecilia Sepp's post on the 2009 ASAE Gold Circle Awards! Hope you'll apply this year!

The Art of Defriending - Is it Generational?

2009-01-22T17:26:00.005-06:00

Earlier today, I read a post by Cecilia Sepp called "Defriending: Hot Social Media Trend or A Dose of Reality?" It got me thinking about this trend of quality or quantity in our social interactions on the web, and that I feel it's more generational than anything else.

Cecilia points out the following:

It seems to me that technology is making it easier to stay in touch, but also easier to hurt feelings or cause people to feel perplexed. Clicks seem to be leading to online cliques as people create their personal "in" and "out" lists -- or, just clean out all the names they shouldn't have added in the first place... We should know from our experiences with mailing lists, fax lists, and email lists that it's quality, not quantity, that counts.

Cecilia mentions that quality in interactions over quantity of friends is what she is looking for in her social media interactions. In working regularly with members who are Gen Y who add anyone and everyone who wants to be their friend, I have seen that isn't the case with a lot of Gen Yers... In many cases, they really are not so worried about quality of interaction like many Xers and Boomers. They crave interaction with as many people as possible, and are fostering and renewing relationships in cyberspace as opposed to face-to-face - the preferred way to interact of the earlier generations.

I am on the fence personally, both in the generational aspect being right on the edge of X and Y, and the way I feel about my social interactions. I have not defriended many people on Facebook or LinkedIn, mostly because I use those tools as my ways to get back in touch with folks who I am not in close proximity to. Since I am not actively talking to all 295 Facebook friends at once, it's less daunting for me and doesn't cause me to feel the need to defriend them regularly. I have and will defriend someone, but it would take a lot for me to do so since it's not hurting me to have them as friends.

Twitter on the other hand has been different. With it being such a moment by moment update and ongoing conversation, I find myself having a very short leash with who I follow. If I am not finding value or entertainment in what the people I am following are providing, I unfollow/defriend them. They don't even know it's happened, and I am finding more value and entertainment in my minute by minute interactions in that space.

So, is defriending going to be the hot trend of 2009 in social media? Personally, I think it depends on who you're talking to - a college student, an Xer or Boomer...

The New Obama Administration's First Impressions on Me

2009-01-20T16:22:00.004-06:00

Today was a historic day in DC. Nothing like stating the obvious right? I am somewhat glad I WASN’T there and that I was able to watch it on the television in the comfort of my home office. It was fantastic theater, and was really outstanding to watch.

One of the most interesting things that I found with the whole transition was the timeliness and forward-thinking of the Obama administration’s transition team as it relates to the White House web site. Just a few minutes after Noon, the site was already transitioned, and the first blog post announcing the change was up.

Another great thing that has happened is the Obama administration's embrace of social media with their blogging, use of video for his weekly addresses, RSS for easily being able to keep updated, etc. The fact that they have realized that social media is an important component of communicating with the people of the country is refreshing.

Lastly, Obama has made it a point to have a completely transparent government by posting his agenda loud and proud on the site, and by his announcement that they "will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment." Very cool stuff about being transparent, allowing the people to have a say, and showing that they were not all talk that there will be change in the way the country is governed.

Here's to hoping that these first impressions as the administration will be the positive change that we need to move forward as a country!

A Lesson from Personal Injury Lawyers - Understand the WHEN of Communications

2009-01-11T16:55:00.004-06:00

Let me first start out by stating that I don't condone many of the tactics of ambulance chasing personal injury lawyers... However, I do believe there is a lesson to be learned from them - getting your message in front of the right people at the right time is imperative...

I really hadn't thought much about this before my wife was recently in her second car accident within a month. She was recently rear-ended in her car, the police were called, and a report was made. (Don't worry, she's fine.)

What happened next was interesting... About three days later, she received two packages in the mail from personal injury lawyers saying essentially "we noticed that you were recently in a car accident in which you may or may not have been injured... Now is the time if you have been injured to get a personal injury lawyer."

I think the lesson here is that while chasing ambulances is not the way I would want to make my living, the fact is that had my wife been injured, having that message there at the time that it arrived would have been beneficial. They know their audience (injured people), know the right way to reach out to them (in the mail), and know the timing when it would be beneficial for their audience to have received the message (immediately after the accident.)

Our organizations should have similar planning and understanding of the "when" our messages are most relevant to our audiences. We do it with membership reminders, but do we do it well enough with our other communication pieces?

Take a lesson from the ambulance chasers out there - getting your message in front of the right audience at the right time is important. Who knows what might happen - you get a new member, a new volunteer or a new advocate because you were on the ball.

LinkedIn Groups - What to do once you have one

2009-01-10T11:45:00.001-06:00

So yesterday, we talked about the steps to take in managing the rogues within your membership who have started their own LinkedIn Groups using your trademarks without your consent. While those were some good beginning steps, I would love to have your thoughts on what I missed.

Today, I wanted to discuss an important topic also relating to LinkedIn Groups – important steps to take once your organization has one to make it work well.

1. Promote, Promote, Promote – Once your group is set up, be sure to have a promotion strategy in place to get the word out about it. This will not only give the group some visibility and legitimacy, but make the community larger and of more value to your members more quickly.

2. Pre-approve key members – Once you have set up your group, pre-approve a list of people who are likely joiners to take the step away from them having to request entry. That will let them know that you were thinking about them specially when the group was set up.

3. When a member joins, reach out to them – While this can become cumbersome when a lot of requests are made to join on a daily basis, it is a nice touch to show the members that you appreciate them joining and that you hope they will find value in the association’s group.

I have a pretty standard message that I send when someone joins: “Good afternoon (Name) – I have added you to (organization)’s Group on LinkedIn. I hope you can make some great connections! Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you as we move forward. Best Wishes, Bruce Hammond.” Short, sweet and to the point, and there are times that I will add other personal messages to the notes if I notice something in their profile that I think is interesting. That leads me directly to my next point:

4. Mine the Data in their Profile – Taking the minute or two to take a look at their profile to glean any necessary information is another very important element of having a LinkedIn Group. These members are sharing information with you that can be of a lot of use to you as you try to segment and personalize your communication efforts with your members. If you see from their profile that they received an advanced degree that you didn’t know about, that might be helpful. The profiles show their previous employers, which also may be beneficial in some cases. It also provides a great deal of additional information like personal web sites, widgets with upcoming trips and travel, a photo, etc. Mining this data that they are freely providing when joining your group is important.

5. Encourage Connections by starting and participating in the discussions area of the Group. – The group’s members joined for a reason, and in most instances it’s to connect with other members. Helping to make those connections happen is something that you on the staff can help with. Post discussion topics, comment on topics that already have been started, share other resources that you know about to aid in those conversations. If you show that you are a part of the community and the conversations happening within it, the members can see the tangible value of the association in its interactions within the group.

These are five tips that we are using in our LinkedIn Group. The group started in January 2008 and we have engaged nearly 1,500 members since. The connections are happening. The excitement continues to grow. And, the organization is benefiting from increased engagement, knowledge, and conversation with our members.

LinkedIn Groups - Managing the Rogues

2009-01-09T15:56:00.005-06:00

There has been a lot of conversation this week on the ASAE Communications and Membership List servs about LinkedIn Groups, and how to handle certain situations that arise with them. Instead of responding to the messages on the list serv, I thought I would do a post because I have a decent amount to say on this topic.

The Issue

The main issue in the discussions on the list servs was about how to "police LinkedIn Groups that are using your logo and representing the organization without the org's permission." Many people responded that the association should talk to their General Counsel about this.

There are a number of steps to take before you need to include your General Counsel:

1. Prepare your response and plan of action. - Do you want to take over the group and manage it in house? Would you like the person who has started the group to serve as a volunteer moderator for the organization who can serve as an extension of your office in this capacity? Do you already have a branded social networking site that you are pushing to members, and not want to have a presence on LinkedIn at all?

It really depends upon your association's workload and philosophy on how you handle social media efforts on how you want to handle this. If you are restricting membership in the group to only members, you may want to have a staff person managing the group so they can check the credentials before someone can join. If you are having it as an open group, having the member who took the initiative handle the group as a volunteer might be a great way to engage them in the organization. It's really up to your association's philosophy.

2. Reach out to the member who started the group. - There's a good chance that if you reach out to the person who started the group and engage them in conversation about how you'd like to handle the situation, they will follow your advice. It's my guess that in most instances someone has started a group in LinkedIn because a) there wasn't a presence for the organization on the site in the first place, b) they didn't know you already had a group set up, c) they just wanted to help get the name of the organization out and network with fellow members.

By reaching out to the member and explaining your reasoning for wanting to take the action you want to take, you are creating another opportunity to engage a member and explain how the association will benefit by taking your course of action. By going in guns a blazin' talking about the legal ramifications and that you have spoken with your General Counsel, you may lose that opportunity to educate your member, and may end up losing them completely.

3. If engaging the member doesn't work, contact LinkedIn. - LinkedIn has policies (see the bottom Note) about how to handle situations where someone is misrepresenting a group within LinkedIn. It is easy to handle, without having to bring in the organization's General Counsel.

One great idea that I read actually in the discussion on this topic in the YAP discussion came from Andy Steggles, who said about handling groups who don't want to fold in with the main group's presence:

"I would create a slightly different version of your logo with something like "Proud Supporter of" in front of it. That's what we've done at RIMS and then we ask all our "partners" to use it with a link to our site. This way it indicates they are not "RIMS" but are a supporter of RIMS which more accurately reflects what they are trying to do."

You can read the whole discussion here, which was actually about groups using your logo on Facebook. You may need to join the YAP Group to be able to access it, but we hope you'll join us anyway!

These are three easy steps to take to help when there is a situation that happens like someone using your logo or starting a group on LinkedIn before you can do it yourself.

I would echo many people who in the past have said that LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for not only the association, but for your members. They can connect with people for employment, for business purposes, and for networking.

Just think about it... They made those connections because YOUR ASSOCIATION made it possible by creating a group. What better PR can you get than that?

A Cool New Program to Provide Value to Customers... (Learning from the Corporate World)

2009-01-03T21:27:00.008-06:00

We association-folk always talk about providing value to our members, and what people value in these tough economic times are both piece of mind and stability, whether from their associations or the companies from which they buy goods. These two little-mentioned aspects of the psyche of our members should be something that all of our associations understand, and are always working to address in our efforts.

Perhaps we can learn something from the corporate world...

I recently learned about an innovative program that Hyundai, the Korean automaker, has instituted to help American car buyers during these tough economic times called Hyundai Assurance. Essentially, it is a program that allows Hyundai buyers who for some reason are unable to make their payments within a year after buying the car to return it with no obligation. There are some restrictions, but all in all, they make complete sense, and provide the buyers with the piece of mind they desperately want as they contemplate a purchase like this.

That's innovation, and just might allow the company to gain some market share because they are giving their potential buyers what they value - piece of mind in these trying economic times.

How can we look at this innovative program to help provide piece of mind to our members as they struggle economically to fulfill their membership payment obligations in this downturn?

Are there any good ideas/programs out there in the association world that addresses the piece of mind aspect of providing value to members in these difficult times?

Why I Blog...

2008-12-30T17:52:00.003-06:00

I started my blog in June of this year, and I have really enjoyed sharing my thoughts and ideas with my readers. How many of you are out there, I don't really know, but I appreciate you spending a few minutes reading my thoughts when I post.

As I was sitting here staring directly into the beginning of 2009, I was thinking about why I blog. Normal? Maybe not... Necessary? Absolutely... My reasons for blogging are probably similar to a lot of others who are already doing it, but hopefully this will shed a little light for some who are thinking about starting a blog of their own:

1. Community-building -- A major part of why I blog is because blogging builds community. The association blogosphere is a place where ideas and knowledge are shared, friendships are fostered, and engagement is enabled. I have read so many insightful posts by others that have really helped me in my work, and know that others who are blogging feel the same way. We all want to be a part of a community, and I am no different. The association blogosphere is a community of which I am proud to be a smal part!

2. Providing My Perspective - My perspective is valuable (if I do say so myself...), and my blog is a place where I can provide it easily. It might not be accepted by everyone, and some people may not think I am right, but there are things that my perspective brings to the conversation that others' don't. In addition, the perspective of an aspiring association executive is an important one for those who are in the leadership roles to hear.

3. Getting Out of the Routine - In my day job, I focus on one specific organization, in one industry, with its very specific goals and culture. I find a great deal of enjoyment in being able to blog about issues that are more macro in nature, and that are in some instances things that I am not doing regularly in my day job. That gets me excited, and allows me as an aspiring association leader to really gather my thoughts and opinions on areas of association management that I will need as I move forward.

4. It's FUN - The fact that blogging is fun is a HUGE plus for me. For anyone who likes to write, the opportunity to write what you want, when you want to, is really something that doesn't happen often!

So that's why I blog. Why do you? What do you love about the blogosphere?

An Ode to the Twelve Days of Christmas

2008-12-22T19:13:00.004-06:00

A fun little post to ring in the holidays... Hope you get a kick out of it!

The Twelve Days of Membership (for Association members)
Sung to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Membership, my association gave to me, a certificate that was very lovely…

On the second day of membership, my association gave to me, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the third day of membership, my association gave to me, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the fourth day of membership, my association gave to me, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the fifth day of membership, my association gave to me, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the sixth day of membership, my association gave to me, six professional mentors, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the seventh day of membership, my association gave to me, seven job bank referrals, six professional mentors, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the eighth day of membership, my association gave to me, eight fundraising solicitations, seven job bank referrals, six professional mentors, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the ninth day of membership, my association gave to me, nine monthly luncheons, eight fundraising solicitations, seven job bank referrals, six professional mentors, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the tenth day of membership, my association gave to me, ten social media applications, nine monthly luncheons, eight fundraising solicitations, seven job bank referrals, six professional mentors, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the eleventh day of membership, my association gave to me, eleven volunteer committees, ten social media applications, nine monthly luncheons, eight fundraising solicitations, seven job bank referrals, six professional mentors, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

On the twelfth day of membership, my association gave to me, twelve monthly e-newsletters, eleven volunteer committees, ten social media applications, nine monthly luncheons, eight fundraising solicitations, seven job bank referrals, six professional mentors, five CEUs, four quarterly magazines, three educational webinars, two member discounts, and a certificate that was very lovely…

Giving Members What They Expect...

2008-12-22T16:18:00.004-06:00

When you dial 411, what do you expect? I expect to receive information that I have called to ask them about, because that's their purpose, and the reason they exist...

In the past two days, I have called 411 twice (once was Vonage's "Enhanced 411" oooh aaah...), without any luck in getting the information I needed. How do you think this has made me feel? I have been extremely frustrated, especially when I have been able to go online immediately after calling and have found the information both times by searching Google...

I think this experience is instructive of how our members sometimes feel when they call our associations, and don't get the information they need when they are looking for it. They feel frustrated and annoyed, which could hurt our chances at retaining them as members when the time comes for them to renew - hurting the association's bottom line.

1. How many times have you heard about members calling and not getting a response in a timely manner?
2. Or, how many times have members been frustrated about the fact that they couldn't get the information they were looking for when they were looking for it?

How associations handle these types of situations is extremely important, and in this right this second culture, members expect to have their questions answered quickly. If they aren't getting what the expect, they may go elsewhere.

What has been your response as an executive to situations like #s 1 and 2 above? How have you helped your staff to understand the importance of member service and member relations? What are you doing to ensure that your staff is meeting the needs of your association's members and giving them what they expect?

The bottom line to me is that the effectiveness of an association is directly correlated to the satisfaction of members, and the satisfaction of members is directly correlated to the effectiveness of the association's staff in giving members what they expect when they expect it.

Am I wrong?

And oh by the way, I have learned my lesson with calling 411 - it won't be happening again. Have your members come to the same conclusion about calling/rejoining your association?

Associations in a Down Economy: Talking the Talk or Walking the Walk?

2008-12-16T15:41:00.007-06:00

So lately, it seems as though the doom and gloom has been everywhere! Ebeneezer Scrooge has multiplied by about a million, and they all seem to have a radio or television show...

However, in what should be no surprise to association professionals and executives, I am here to tell you that I (as well as many of you Association bloggers) believe associations are MORE IMPORTANT in a down economy than people/members may think. The problem as I see it is that we need to be letting our members know it and we need to be backing up this claim!

I posted a few months back now about things we should be doing to prepare for the down economy, and that there are many opportunities at which we should be looking.

As I re-read that post, I thought to myself "is cutting programs and outdated communication vehicles really an opportunity?" The answer is yes in terms of keeping the association viable, but not really in terms of providing tangible benefit to members in difficult times.

So in this post, I guess I wanted to try to come up with a few ways that associations can become MORE IMPORTANT to your members in these difficult times:

1. Make Networking Easy -- Networking is a HUGE benefit of membership in most associations, so how can your group provide ways for your members to find its value in this down economy? Are components offering local get-togethers? If so, promote them! Can you use social media tools like a group on LinkedIn to enhance networking? If you don't have one, start one!

2. Supplement Professional Education Offerings with Personal Development Programming - While your association might be more professional in nature and offer CEUs and other ed opportunities in a professional sense, there is always value in providing personal development programming for your members. Just think - your association offers a personal development program on "resume writing" for people who haven't updated resumes in years. They see the value, and have more loyalty because of it, which talks directly to a recent post by Ben Martin about being ready for when the economy turns around. You have kept a member by helping them when they needed it.

3. Communicate Regularly About What You're Doing to Assist - Members won't know what you can offer unless you are telling them about it. Promote the things you're doing on your web site and through your other regular communication vehicles.

What other ways are your associations stepping up and providing value to your members in this down economy? What am I missing?

What do you think about my not so bold claim above that associations are more beneficial during economic downturns? Are we talking the talk or walking the walk in helping our members through this?

Are there any associations out there doing cool programming that you can share with others?

As Mike Myers used to say on Saturday Night Live, "I'll give you a topic... Associations: talking the talk or walking the walk... Discuss..."

Deconstructing Thanksgiving...

2008-11-24T15:46:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving is a holiday about giving thanks (duh!), but how is your organization giving thanks to its members, vendors, leaders, volunteers, etc. as we near the holiday? I'll tell you how ASAE is doing it - by sending a blast e-mail from John Graham to all of its members (which sadly I have already deleted because I would have loved to link it here...)

To me, giving thanks to the groups of people I spoke of earlier needs to be done in more of a personal way. The contrived "let's send a thank you out to everyone in the association from its leader just because it's the right thing to do" doesn't serve the association well. Everyone can see right through it, and it doesn't really achieve its intended goal - to make people feel good about the organization by thanking them for their service.

Some of you reading this are probably saying to yourselves "this guy is such a curmudgeon. He can't even take a thank you and leave it alone." The fact is that someone saying thank you should mean something, and the person saying it should know why they're thanking me... I'll tell you what - if at the next ASAE function John Graham can come up to me and tell me why he was thanking me this week, I will be impressed.

Instead of the bulk thank you, I prefer that our organization's leaders and staff members take a few minutes to thank those people who have made a difference to them personally throughout the year. This makes the volunteers/members/vendors feel as though they are being appreciated by the organization, and especially by the person with whom they work closely.

I did this last year to the people I felt deserved thanks from me, and the response was outstanding. They felt as though they were truly being thanked for their hard work (which they were), and they knew that I understood what they did to derserve the organization's thanks. Now, as we get closer to the holiday this year and we roll it out with the rest of our staff, a number of people may get more than one note. How would you feel if you received heartfelt notes of thanks from three different people in an organization to which you belong? Would you feel as though it was contrived, or would you feel as though you were making a tremendous difference to that person and the organization as a whole? I know which way I'd feel...

So I encourage you to take a few minutes and thank the people who have helped you throughout the year in a personal way this Thanksgiving. You will be doing your organization a wealth of good!

By the way, if you receive a note of thanks from me this year, don't worry, you deserve it!!

The Volunteer Experience

2008-11-17T14:43:00.006-06:00

I was reading ASAE & The Center's Acronym blog today, and came across an interesting post from Nick Senzee called Is There a Volunteer Problem? My answer to this interesting question is kinda... How PC of me!!

I think in most instances, we have a volunteer management problem, not necessarily a volunteer problem. I think that all too often, our associations place people in a volunteer management role who have no idea the effort it takes to lead volunteers. This leads to mismanaged volunteer leaders, which leads to mismanaged committees, which sometimes even leads to mismanaged boards. This leads to an ineffectual organization, because in many cases, our associations depend on volunteers to do most of the work.

In one of my first posts ever on this blog, I talked about eight things to keep in mind to be an effective volunteer manager. I think that all too often, we don't think enough about these as tenets to live by in leading volunteers. The ideas are simple - listen to your volunteers' needs, communicate regularly, set expectations up front, and recognize their effort when they work hard.

As one of the first commenters of the aforementioned post by Nick mentioned, "There are many people who want to volunteer, however, in their past experience they probably weren't utilized in the manner they wished and thus got discouraged. Or, they felt those managing them were a bit inept." It's true. I have seen it with my own two eyes...

On the other side of the equation are the volunteers themselves, and the fact that sometimes, they take on more than they can handle. I still don't put all of the fault on them, however. As volunteer managers, we need to be able to recognize when this is happening, have a conversation with the volunteer, and diffuse the situation before it causes headaches for the organization through lack of follow through, etc.

If we make the effort to understand our volunteers' needs and desires, we can and will alleviate ourselves from having to deal with "a volunteer problem."

Am I right? Wrong? Thoughts?

Isn't it Ironic?

2008-11-05T18:00:00.000-06:00

So last evening, I posted about how I don't like how sometimes people use technology just to use it. I know, I sounded a little jaded talking about technology and social media...

It's funny, because as I was typing that post (on a blog which is a social media tool), I was also using Facebook (another social media tool) to see what my friends were saying about the election in their status updates, and Twitter (another social media tool) to get the results of races involving our members for the US House and Senate out to our organization's followers.

Does that make me a hypocrite for railing against technology and social media while also using three social media tools at the same time?? To steal a phrase from Alanis Morrisette - "Isn't it ironic?"

As much as I sometimes don't get the fascination surrounding social media, I find myself using it more and more... I am blogging in numerous places on numerous topics, Twittering, Facebooking, Flickring, etc. I am using it in my personal life more and more, and I didn't even really realize it because the culture of society these days is just expecting you to be using social media apps.

While I am using it personally more and more, I still think that we as association executives need to be thinking about how we're using the different tools and all of the technology out there. As I said in yesterday's post, using technology just to use it makes no sense. We need to be thinking about developing plans for how each tool can enhance our messages, our overarching communications strategies, and our organizational mission.

I was amazed at the ASAE & The Center Annual Meeting how many people came to the BloggerCon saying they were thinking about starting a blog for their organization, but didn't know what a blog was or how to set one up. That's an example of what I was talking about yesterday - using technology just to use it... I don't get it...

So to close up this post, I'd just say that I'm starting to see the prevalence of social media in today's culture, and am understanding how much effort is going to need to be placed in developing a strategy for how we can effectively use these tools in our organization.

Last night, I think I used one social media tool effectively to bring news to our membership in real-time, enhancing the overall mission of the organization. It was a good first step, but we need to go farther if we're to be successful in using it long-term.

Using Technology Just to Use it..

2008-11-04T21:38:00.003-06:00

As I am sure everyone else has, I have seen a great deal of posts about new technologies and social media recently. The posts all are essentially the same - social media is going to change the way we do business in associations. In some cases, it already is. The prevalence of Facebook and MySpace certainly are examples of this.

I agree that there are some very beneficial and worthwhile social media tools and other technologies available, but in some cases, are we just using technology for the sake of saying we're using it?

My impetus for this post came this evening as I was watching CNN's coverage of the election. They were showing the "Magic Map" and for some reason decided to develop and show a 3-D visual of the Capitol right next to Campbell Brown. I said to myself - "what purpose did that serve?" It was technology for the sake of saying they were using technology. It didn't seem to have much benefit for the viewers.

I have just seen them have a "hologram" of Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas beamed into the studio from Grant Park in Chicago to do an interview with Anderson Cooper. While it was something I had never seen, I asked "why?" What benefit did the hologram serve? It was just like any other remote interview that is done...

I guess I just think that as we're going to get on board with the technological advances that are coming down the pike in our associations, we also need to be sure that the technologies we're using are actually providing value and a tangible benefit to our constituents. We need to have a strategy. I think at times we get so enamored to say "we're using the latest technology" that we forget to think about its benefit.

I'm now of my soap box, but this is something I really think that needs to be examined as we move forward. Am I wrong?

The Economic Crisis and Associations

2008-10-21T15:14:00.003-05:00

While not many people can find much that is positive about the economic crisis that is happening, ASAE's blog Acronym had a great post about how associations are stepping up to assist members and others navigate the downturn. Very commendable on their part!

I also wanted to point out that as we in the association management profession are looking at this downturn and its impact on our bottom lines, I believe that there is tremendous opportunity that when things are going well, we don't always think about. You're probably asking yourself 'where does this guy think there is opportunity in a recession?'

I believe that this economic downturn gives our organizations a great opportunity to really step back and look strategically at our offerings, and become more lean and agile by looking at each of our programs objectively to see if they are meeting the original purpose of their existence. To steal a phrase that one of our presidential candidates is very fond of "using a scalpel" to trim the fat.

The questions that this should have us asking right now are:

Is this program or service really serving the membership? If no, why not and is there another way to accomplish what we're trying to do with it?
What are specific ways that we can make the dues money we get go farther?
What are specific ways to bring in more non-dues revenue?
How can our current offerings generate more revenue?

I hope these questions aren't news to anyone, and that you are all asking them a lot more often than when we go into recession. It just seems to me as though the economic downturn gives us an even more urgent need to ask them to determine if we are meeting our members' needs.

In my eyes, while it's not a great situation to be in, it's not all doom and gloom. It's an opportunity for us to re-prioritize and redevelop our plans to meet the needs of the everchanging association and economic landscape.

Where's the Leadership?

2008-09-30T17:00:00.002-05:00

I'm sure you all remember the Wendy's commercials from the 80s with the old woman asking "Where's the beef?" If she were still alive today seeing what's happening on Capitol Hill, she'd likely be asking "Where's the Leadership?"

I know, I know... This blog has mainly focused on association topics in the past. Don't worry, I'll tie this post back to associations at the end...

Back to leadership... In watching this whole "bailout" episode unfold, I have had a number of questions... How in the world did we get to this point in the first place? How in the world did the Secretary of the Treasury do such a BAD job in communicating about the plan to Congress and the American people to get consensus? How could Congress not understand that there is a big problem, and without swift action, there could be major economic issues?

I guess my answer to all of these questions is that there is a tremendous lack of leadership in Washington - from all parties. At the beginning of Congress getting involved, each and every one of them said that politics would be put aside and that a deal would get done. I don't believe that ever happened. In fact, immediately after the bill failed yesterday in the House, rather than getting back into a room to work on negotiating a new bill, each side went on television and blamed the other for the bill's failure. That's not leadership.

Then, with an economic crisis looming, the Congress took time off to go back to their districts for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. No offense to all of my Jewish friends, but our leaders should not have left. Heck, I would expect my leaders to be in session even on Christmas if an economic crisis like this was looming. It's not about what holiday it is, it's about being leaders and making something work to avoid what many people are calling a disaster.

I also find it interesting that the bill failed one day before they all were heading back to their districts, where they will likely campaign (since many Congressmen are up for re-election.) Those who voted against it could tell their constituents that they were listening to them, and that they should be re-elected. Those who voted for it can talk about how they were trying to do what's right for America in getting something passed, even though it's not the ideal bill... Using this bill as leverage in their re-election campaigns is not leadership.

Don't forget about the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the current President, and the Presidential candidates... Their lack of leadership also helped to get to where we are today. Paulson and Bernanke failed to convince the Congress that this was the right thing to do by showing them how this will not only affect Wall Street, but also Main Street. They also failed to put provisions within the bill to account for that. Our current president has been nearly mute throughout this, aside from his two or three speeches that he has made. Lastly, the Presidential candidates have both said that Congress needs to get something done. Guess what Obama and McCain? YOU ARE IN CONGRESS!! Go back and be the leaders that you're going to need to be when one of you becomes the president-elect in a little over 35 days!

Ok, so now I'm tying this back to associations... I think that we as association leaders need to realize that we need to be able to do a lot of things well - consensus-building, communicating, persuading, working when it's necessary, etc. In addition, we need to realize that something that is proposed might not be perfect, but if it is something that needs to get done to avoid a crisis, we need to have the guts to act. There are leadership lessons to be learned in this whole "bailout" situation, and if we as association leaders don't think about and understand them, our Boards might just step in and say, "Where's the Leadership?" and we'll be out the door...

Am I wrong on this? What do you think?

I'm a PC: Part 2

2008-09-24T13:54:00.003-05:00

Saw this on Fast Company's web site today relating to the "I'm a PC" effort by Microsoft. Looks like most people don't think they recaptured the tag line from Mac...

This relates to my last blog post, on which Lindy Dreyer had a great comment about the reason that Microsoft waited to launch this. I still think they waited too long, and am still wrestling with how we in associations can make sure that innovation is top of mind as we are moving forward!

I'm a PC...

2008-09-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

As you may have guessed from some of my posts on this blog, I am an avid television viewer. I have a lot of favorite shows, and try to catch most of them each week. Last night, I was watching a re-run of one of my favorites, The Office, when it went to a commercial.

At that point, I saw a clever new Microsoft ad called with the theme "I'm a PC", an obvious play on the Apple ads that are already out.

When I first saw it, I said to my wife, "what a great ad! Very clever!" She immediately shot back, "Yeah, it's great, but it's two years late!"

In thinking about her comment, I realized that she was right. We have been seeing Apple inundate the airwaves with their great ads with the two guys saying "I'm a Mac" and I'm a PC" for at least a year or two. The Mac always seems to win in those little duels. Apparently Microsoft finally had enough of it, and came back with this ad to counteract it. Why now? Why did it take so long?

It got me thinking about our work in associations and how many times there are great ideas that are developed on the staff or volunteer levels that just take so long to get off the ground because of the approval process or bureaucracies that are evident within our associations. I'm sure you know what I am talking about - the great non-dues revenue ideas that are developed, the new volunteer structure that would streamline the organization's work, etc.

How can we as leaders help to move the process for innovation forward so it doesn't take so long? Do we have processes or bureaucracies in place that limit the creativity and innovative ideas from our staff because the process takes so long? Do we have policies in place that hinder our abilities to move things forward quickly to respond to the needs of members?

For two years, Microsoft has let a competitor take market share while they seemed to be just sitting there. Now, they have come up with a creative and innovative campaign to get that back, but is it too late? I guess time will tell...

Succeeding a Legend

2008-09-19T10:34:00.004-05:00

So Associations Now had a story in August about Succeeding a Legend, which was a very interesting read. I think it could be a difficult thing to have to succeed someone who was extremely successful in a position. That has become evident in something I have been watching unfold outside the association community.

As a devoted viewer of NBC's Sunday morning public affairs show Meet the Press, I was deeply saddened when Tim Russert passed away. Russert was a leader who asked the right questions even if they were uncomfortable for his guests, was completely down the middle never showing his own biases, and was altogether well respected for his preparation for each show.

Since Russert's passing, the show has been led by Tom Brokaw, well respected himself for his excellent career as a television journalist. However, as the leader of Meet the Press, he is struggling mightily to replace Russert. The show has lost its hard edge. It's as if Brokaw is lobbing in slow pitch softballs and allowing his guests to hit them out of the park. He doesn't ask the hard questions like Russert did. He doesn't push the guests when they stick to their talking points without answering his questions. In essence, I just think he's struggling to fill the shoes of the last leader of the show, a man who was the face of it and gave the show its reputation.

Perhaps my opinion of Brokaw's struggles is because Russert WAS Meet the Press... I think it's a good lesson for us as leaders to not allow our associations to become that dependent on one person. It is bigger than just us, and we need to be stewards of it while in leadership roles - leaving it better than how we found it.

The story referenced above gets it right for legacy leaders - make a succession plan before it becomes necessary, be welcoming but not overbearing to your successor, and leave gracefully without causing issues. You have given the association much over the years - make sure you're not handcuffing your successor in continuing to move it forward!

By the way, I still will watch Tom Brokaw, and I hope he will begin to be more like his predecessor in how he handles the show. At the same time, I realize that he shouldn't be tied to those expectations. I guess I need to work on my expectations, just as some of our Boards and members need to work on their expectations of leaders in their associations succeeding legacy leaders!

Working Remotely – The Positives and Negatives

2008-09-18T12:00:00.000-05:00

In the September 2008 issue of Associations Now, Keith Skillman wrote a story about Successful Telecommuting, and did an excellent job writing about some of the things associated with working remotely.

As someone who has been doing so for the past two years, I wanted to add a few things to Keith's excellent story:

1. Handle the Four D's of Telecommuting

Discipline – The first ‘D’, discipline, is essentially knowing what needs done. If you can have good discipline and understand what needs to be done at which time, you are on the right track to having a successful situation. Discipline and time management go hand in hand to ensuring you're able to get your work done.
Diligence – This relates to getting your work done no matter what comes your way. If you work diligently, with all of the distractions that sometimes are there while working at home, you're all set.
Determination – If you are determined to work hard to complete the work, you are going to be able to effectively work remotely with little problem.
Distractions – As was discussed in the "diligence" point, there are going to be distractions while working remotely. It is all about limiting and managing the distractions that come your way to get your job done.

2. Be Sure the Folks at Home Support Your Telecommuting

Make sure expectations are set up front with not only the office, but also your roommates, spouses, kids, etc. Certain hours are your work hours, and laundry, dishes, and other household chores are not going to be done during those hours. The expectations need to be there so it's as if you are actually in an office as opposed to being in your home.

3. Leave Work at Work

As Keith mentions, it's important to have a designated place to do your work. After you're done working, leave that room and don't return! It's very tempting to continue to go back into the "office" to finish something up after the workday is over. Are your non-remote fellow employees doing this? Not likely, so it's not something you should be expected to do, nor should it be something you do regularly.

If you're thinking about telecommuting, and your organization allows it, think before you jump. After reading Keith's story and these few additional thoughts, be sure that you are someone who will thrive in this experience.

Remember, at the end of the day, it's YOU who has to be able to get the job done effectively no matter where you are working.

Born After 1980? If so, You're Not Dumb!

2008-09-17T12:00:00.002-05:00

An interesting follow up to my late-August blog relating to Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants, and my Gamers Galore post from yesterday following up Jeffrey Cufaude's. Check out the video below from CNet.com.

In the video, Palfrey talks about a web site with a wiki where you can help to shape the discussion on this topic, and a blog talking about it as well.

Gamers Galore

2008-09-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

I read an interesting post today on Jeffrey Cufaude's blog about the research he had read about kids and gaming. Apparently, according to Pew, nearly every teen and adolescent aged 12-17 are playing some sort of game - whether it be on the computer, on a console, or on their cell phone.

Jeffrey pointed out that because of this, there is some definite need to examine how we're providing the training and development experience to members in this age group.

At my organization, people of this age group are very close to many of our newest members, and are getting to the very close to age range of our potential members. Over 4,500 of our members are collegiate members, so this is something we really need to be paying attention to. As I see it, there are five major questions to think about:

1. How can we use the knowledge in this research to enhance our opportunities at reaching these potential members?

2. After recruiting the members, how can we continue to engage them in the same way to provide them the value that they're looking for?

3. How does our current experience translate to these needs that are incredibly evident with this research?

4. How will engaging this strategy work with other members who aren't in this age range?

5. How will we evaluate the effectiveness of engaging in this strategy of recruiting members?

These are questions with which we're going to need to grapple sooner rather than later. I'm game...

Providing Exellent Customer Service

2008-09-16T17:47:00.002-05:00

You may remember me writing recently about employees who seem to sometimes be handcuffed by the policies that are in place at their place of employment. If they were empowered to be able to handle a situation as it arises instead of being bound to the policies in place, the customer experience would many times become much better. However, policies are necessary in certain cases - I just wish people would know how to articulate them!

I had a situation today with my apartment complex, where I called to have service completed on my place. I told the woman who answered the phone that I needed to make a service appointment, and that I was leaving right then, and needed them to come this afternoon instead because I preferred to be there while they were working. I was told "I'll make sure they call before the come, no problem."

Well, as you may have guessed, 5 pm came and not a soul had come to my apartment to work on it. I went to the office to talk to them to be sure that the service appointment was made, and the woman said "our policy is 24 hours for a service call, and I never told you that they would be there this afternoon." I gently told her that I was under the impression that they would be since she said they would call before coming, since I specifically said I needed them to come this afternoon instead of in the morning. She essentially said "I put in the appointment." and stopped talking...

How could this situation have been avoided? All the woman had to do was tell me the policy when I called originally. Sometimes, policies are in place for very good reasons. I get it - if they didn't have a 24-hour policy for the service calls, everyone would expect their work to be done right then. However, this situation did not need to happen. All she needed to do was react to my comment about leaving and that it would be better if they came this afternoon. She could have made the point to say "I'll make sure they call before they come, and by the way, our policy is 24 hours for service calls, so they'll be there sometime tomorrow."

That would have satisfied me. Instead, I'm now hoping they stand by the 24-hour policy she told me today, which would mean someone will be here by 9:30 am tomorrow. Perhaps I'll have another post about that tomorrow!

Are there times when we in our associations don't articulate our policies effectively, and thus cause more hardship than there needs to be? Is there a policy in your association relating to good customer service? How do you assure that your employees are doing well?

The Emergence of Self Forming Groups

2008-09-12T19:22:00.004-05:00

So I was reading an interesting post today on Maddie Grant's blog about whether ASAE is dying.

In a nutshell, Maddie quoted someone who said that they were getting more value in reading blogs and using Twitter than they were getting from ASAE, due to all of the vendor-related e-mails that they are getting from ASAE. I don't personally agree, and I guess I really haven't seen THAT many vendor-related e-mails from them. Perhaps I am missing them though.

In answering Maddie's question, personally I don't think ASAE is dying at all.

I actually think that the fact that people are willing to express their displeasure about what they're seeing means that ASAE is actually something they care enough about to talk about what they think (positive or negative.) It would probably be more constructive to tell ASAE what they like or dislike, but either way, it shows that they are invested in the organization.

Maddie also talked about YAP. For me, YAP doesn't take the place of ASAE. It is an added opportunity to engage with association professionals, but it is a different engagement opportunity with people in a similar age and experience range. It's a great supplement to what ASAE offers, and having it I think helps ASAE members get more for their money... (I'm guessing you aren't finding too many YAPstars who aren't members of ASAE also.) I think ASAE also gets a great deal from the unofficial relationship.

I also hate to point this out, but I would guess that the majority of people who are ASAE members are not like the person who was quoted in the original post... Most association executives who are ASAE members likely are not reading these blogs on a daily basis, nor are they using Twitter religiously. Heck, in looking at Principled Innovation's AST Executive Summary, only 51% of associations have any monitoring or some involvement in the blogosphere... That is a relatively small number, which I would guess correlates to the number of ASAE members who are engaged in the actual reading and monitoring of blogs regularly. Perhaps I am wrong, but that's my guess.

While I say that, I do think that associations like ASAE need to be looking at what may happen in the future and prepare for it. More of us younger professionals are monitoring blogs more often, using Twitter, and engaging in different ways. We want to be able to easily comment and provide feedback on stories that we read. We also are not necessarily excited about being inundated with vendor-related e-mails and solicitations. ASAE needs to take this into account as they determine the future of how they are providing service.

As Maddie said, I am a big fan of ASAE. I don't want to see it go away, die, be swallowed up by self forming groups, etc. I also am not going to sit here and bad mouth it on this blog. It's something from which I find value, and I hope that you do as well!

Newest Volunteer Gig

2008-09-10T18:02:00.002-05:00

Check out the description of my newest volunteer gig...

Check out the roster of fellow professionals...

How Policies are Perceived...

2008-09-10T13:08:00.004-05:00

Am at our office this week, and had an interesting conversation at the lunch table about one of our staff members' dealings at the dreaded DMV. All of us have these stories of going there to get new plates and having to sit there for hours and hours...

The story that I was told went a little something like this:

He went in to renew his antique plates for his old car that he owns. He had the registration and everything he is required to have to get it taken care of, but when he gets to the counter, he is told that a State Patrolman needs to go to his house to "make sure it is actually a 1963"... He told them that he had never had this happen, and that all she had to do was look up the registration that he had in his hand that THEY PROVIDED in the first place, to make sure it was a 1963. However, she said that her hands were tied by the policy. Now, is it just me, or in this case, does the policy not seem to make sense, especially when the woman could easily figure out that it is in fact a 1963 that they have already registered and are just renewing? Seems like a faulty policy to me, and gives the impression of bad customer service...

So, being the good aspiring association executive that I am (ah hem), I said to everyone sitting around the table "makes you think if any of our members think some of our policies are as ludicrous as we think the DMV's are..." It got people talking, and we identified a few that are likely in this situation, and we thought and talked a little bit about how the members feel about them. The consensus was that the ones we came up with are really constitutional issues and things that would need to be changed by our Convention, but I think the conversation was good to have and identified a few things that might make for good topics as we head into our Convention.

I think a lot of times, in the case of the DMV and in our own situations, there are policies in place to help the workflow and for other reasons that outsiders don't understand. So my question is, why aren't we trying to help them understand so they do feel empowered, and so they do understand the reasons that we have them? Why aren't we communicating about our policies so there isn't the negative feelings and connotation out there about them?

My questions to you are: do you have situations like this where the policy says something that in some instances just needs to not be followed? If you do, how have you decided to handle them or change them? Are your employees bound by the policies, or do they have the opportunity to do as they see fit to provide excellent customer/member service?

Transparency in Association Work

2008-09-05T12:00:00.008-05:00

Personally, I believe that continually providing value to members and unabashed transparency are two areas that are EXTREMELY important in association work.

Does any association do a good enough job at either or both? I don't know the answer to that question. However, I do know that as I try to work my way up the ladder for a future career as an association executive, these are two areas that I would insist upon moving forward, while continuing to enhance and move forward the strategic plan of the association...

Speaking about transparency specifically, I once interviewed the president of a college in North Carolina who is a member of my current organization, and he had a tremendous answer to a question about his leadership style:

"I don’t believe in hiding the ball. My philosophy is, if you’re not open with the data, people are going to start speculating, and usually speculations are worse than the reality. They always think that if they’re not in a meeting that they think is important “I wonder what goes on there…” For example, in senior staff, we deal with the annual budget, the strategic plan, feedback from parents and students, what we’re going to have for lunch that day, and whole variety of big and little issues. A lot of what we discuss is boring, but folks on the outside don’t know it until they can see it. The other reason I do it is that, if I am make a decision after looking at a certain set of data or facts, and if I let those facts out to everyone else, people on campus should come to the same conclusion I did. And, if they don’t, I think there needs to be a discussion, because I could be wrong, or they could be wrong."

If you didn't know that it was a college president making that statement, you might think it was an association executive. It is so applicable to our work, that I think it is worthy of putting some thought into. In many instances I think that we aren't as transparent as we ought to be because we think of what the negative consequences of something will be as opposed to thinking in terms of what is best for the members that we're trying to serve. In the quote above, he is looking at the decision from the eyes of his constituents - what will they think? How do these decisions affect them?

Transparency is important, and by being open with the data and information, we are allowing our members to be involved in the process - a very positive way of doing business.

Anyone have different thoughts?
Have you seen or worked in associations that are completely transparent with their work? What has been the result?

Salary Requirements/Human Resources Question

2008-09-04T00:00:00.002-05:00

I was reading another blog recently, Newly Corporate (for new professionals in business), and they had a post about salary negotiations, and when it's appropriate to bring up salary in the interviewing process. I have always found this to be an interesting topic.

One of the questions in the comments that arose was "what do you do when a company says that you MUST submit your salary requirements with your resume?" An interesting question indeed that talks about a recruiting practice that puts the applicant at an immediate disadvantage by having to be the first to name a number...

I find it interesting that many times when an organization or company puts that in their position description, they will not provide a salary range within it so the applicants know whether they're in the same ballpark. To me, that is not a good practice due to the fact that in some instances, the applicant will put in a lot of time honing their message for their cover letter and tailoring their resume to the position (if they're smart), and it will end up being a waste of time because they didn't know that they were nowhere near the range of the position to which they were applying...

I posted in a comment to the post that if a company or organization is requiring you to provide your salary requirements, they should also be willing to provide you the salary range for the position if you ask.

Now the questions that will hopefully bring it back to associations:

Am I right?
Has anyone recently pursued a position in which you were required to provide a salary requirement in your application materials but didn't know the salary range of the position?
What did you do?
Is this practice appropriate?
Does your association or organization use this practice in recruiting talent, and if so, how does it work?

When is Too Much Social Media Too Much?

2008-09-03T18:00:00.003-05:00

I read an interesting post on a cool blog called Blogclump asking where people draw the line on social media. Like the post's author, Matt, I sometimes feel like my blogging, Twittering (@brucehammond), Facebooking, MySpacing, LinkedIning, and commenting on other blogs that I like, get to be a lot...

My personal answer to his question is that for the most part, I go to places and am engaged on tools where I know someone, or tools that I have heard will be beneficial to me. Since most of my friends are not on Friendfeed, or since they aren't using Digg or StumbleUpon, I just don't use them... I haven't figured out how they will benefit me, so I have yet to take the leap. My guess is that a lot of people feel the same way.

I have met people on Twitter, and that's the reason that I am engaged on that tool. As for Facebook and MySpace, all of my friends are there and we are able to easily keep in touch. As for LinkedIn, I am professionally networking with many people, some of whom I already knew.

As to Matt's final question about how to get out - I'd say don't, unless you aren't finding value in the tools you're using... If the tools, as Lisa points out in her comment, don't enhance your capability to act or give you value, they're not worth your time. Why feel as though you're behind, when you aren't necessarily getting value from the tools you're concerned about? If you were finding value, you'd find time to keep up with them.

As we in associations talk about often, stick to what gives you value and you'll be alright!

Your Association's Messaging and Channels

2008-09-03T12:26:00.000-05:00

I was watching HGTV the other day, and notcied an inordinate amount of commercials for Lowe's. I found it interesting that I hadn't really noticed that before - that Lowe's is being extremely smart in getting its message out on the appropriate channels where the people most likely to shop there are...

It's the same reason that the companies who exhibited at the ASAE Annual Meeting did so - they had a captive audience of the people who are the MOST likely to utilize their services.

I think this relates well to what we're doing in recruitment of members to our associations and how we are communicating with them.

When recruiting members, how are we developing our messages to get the most out of them, and are they being put on the right channels to get the most out of them? For recruiting newer young members, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social media tools might be the best channels to utilize.

For older members, perhaps hard copy brochures and ads in print publications are the most appropriate channels to recruit members.

My question - is there enough thought being put into the channels our associations are using to recruit and communicate with our members and potential members? If not, why? If so, who took the proactive steps to develop these messages and determine the channels that they would be "broadcasted" on?

It certainly seems to me that the Lowe's Corporation has it right in targeting their messages to the people who have the BEST chance of acting on the messages they're trying to get across.

Handling Today's "Right This Second" Culture

2008-09-02T12:29:00.003-05:00

So with technology, we all live in the "right this second" culture. In the September issue of ASAE's magazine, Associations Now, Amy Blagriff talks about handling this culture in the A Day in the Life column.

Specifically, she asks the question: How do you handle this "everybody wants it right this second" culture, while at the same time moving forward on projects and programs that your board and members want to do?

As someone who in my early career used to be completely affected by hearing the "ding" of Outlook when a message appeared, I now turn off my sound and Outlook as a whole for much of my days when I am working on specific projects that don't require me to be utilzing e-mail. I have decided to use e-mail right when I get into the office to clean up my box from the night before, as I am preparing for lunch to clean it up from the morning, and for at least a half hour before leaving for the day to clean it up from the afternoon. If it takes longer than that, I stay at work a little longer...

My opinion - I have a job to do just like everyone else, and if someone needs something urgently, someone should give me a call. I have let my boss know that it is important for me to do this so I can get my work done, and he is fine with it. I have also let others know my way of working as they e-mail me and need something.

I LOVE Amy's idea that if an e-mail is going to take longer than 5 minutes to write, she picks up the phone. I plan on using this idea as I move forward since likely, if it takes more than five minutes to write, it is too complicated to put in an e-mail anyway...

Just as an aside, one of the most interesting blog posts I have ever seen relating to e-mail is this one from Seth Godin. He gives 36 ideas on e-mail, and thoughts to consider when writing your e-mails... Very good ideas...

Anyway, that's how I would answer her question... How would you?

The CAE Designation - The Journey Begins

2008-09-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

I know I am a little late to the game in talking about the ASAE & The Center's Annual Meeting, but it's better to be late than to never show up!!

For any of you who attended the Volunteer Breakfast on Saturday morning, did you feel the air kinda go out of the room and the blood begin to boil when the guy stood up who said he was a member of the committee who writes the questions for the CAE Exam? He stood up and talked about that committee's accomplishments, and I just couldn't help but hear a few people cursing that committee under their breath!

It wasn't me... yet!

However, it very well could be a year from now, because I am beginning to develop my study plan for sitting for the CAE Exam next year. I attended an event put on by the Association Forum of Chicagoland that talked about the CAE, and gave some background and tips to help us pass the exam. I have to be honest, it scared me a little...

The exam seems very thorough, which is a good thing to command the respect that a professional accreditation deserves, but perhaps not for someone who has only a little over five years' experience. They recommend reading a number of books to get the primer that you need to understand some of the topics you'll be tested on. One of them, The Association Law Handbook, is 592 pages... That's not a typo... 592 is the correct number... I have not read a book that has 592 pages perhaps ever. (Don't comment on what that says about me please :-)) It's a huge assignment, one that will take a lot of dedication, and a lot of money.

However, I personally feel as though professional accreditations are essential to showing your dedication to your chosen profession, and help you develop and retain your knowledge in many different facets of that profession. That's why neither the time reading and studying, nor the money that I'm going to have to spend, are going to get me down.

I am ready to begin this prepartion - wish me luck (and give me any advice you can)!!!

Why Do YOU Work for Associations?

2008-08-30T12:00:00.002-05:00

So I was communicating with my brother recently by text message, our new preferred way of communicating now that I have a bigger cell plan, and I was telling him about an exciting interview I had just done with one of our very high ranking and important members who is a high ranking executive for a professional sports team.

He texted me back "why don't you use all of these connections you have to work for a professional sports team?" (shocking considering he is a sports writer and blogger...) I texted him back saying "because I work in associations, and I WANT to work in associations for my career."

I cannot type his expletive-laced response here for fear that it will turn off my earliest readers, but I'll just say that he let me have it about my assertion that I want to work in the association world for my career.

I guess I just don't get it... I have a love for association work. He has a love for writing, designing newspaper pages, and talking about sports. To each his own, right?

Personally, my reasoning for working in associations is that I get tremendous satisfaction out of knowing that I am making a difference for the members, for helping to develop the next batch of leaders through my words that I write on paper and in cyberspace, as well as the work I am doing elsewhere in the association. And I think I'm darn good at what I do... What's wrong with that? Plus, the added bonus is that I have been able to make personal connections with some of our highest ranking members, AND made personal connections between those members, which enhances their positive feelings about the association. These are things I am passionate about - helping people find the value in the organization for which I work, and feeling like I am doing something that is bettering others.

Have you ever had anyone ask you why you're working in the association or non-profit world? What has been your response?

Great Blog post

2008-08-28T18:19:00.002-05:00

Very interesting post on one of my favorite blogs. The woman who wrote this is a former leader in the PRSSA Chapter at my alma mater, and her continued success is outstanding to see.

The quote is what I was really interested in - "Entrepreneurship is living few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't."

Very interesting to think about, and I think Jamie really encapsulates what the thoughts are about being an entrepreneur.

Bringing this back to associations - what are we doing in our associations, or as individual association professionals, to move beyond the 9-5, watching the clock attitude? Are we taking enough chances? Are we empowering our employees to understand that success means not necessarily working the normal 9-5 hours? Are any of us taking advantage of the potential of being entrepreneurs?

Amazingly Interesting...

2008-08-28T15:22:00.004-05:00

...and very forward thinking. I just saw this video that was posted on PITV that is by Susan Fox talking about Digital Immigrants vs. Digital Natives (thanks for posting Maddie).

What an interesting topic, and an interesting way of looking at the generational differences that are evident in our memberships. How are we communicating and interacting with our members who are in these different categories and life stages? Is there thought being put into the medium of our messaging to account for these potential issues?

In my own organization, I am seeing the Digital Immigrants really acclimating themselves into the culture of the natives, as they continue to use digital more and more. At the same time, I don't think we can confuse them beginning to use it as a necessity with being as comfortable with it as the natives. So, we have kept our print publication as a bridge between these different groups. We haven't gone all digital, but that's the future and we continue to inch that way.

I certainly think that we in associations should be cognizant of the differences in our Digital Immigrants vs. Digital Natives in their needs. Digital Immigrants will likely never become as proficient as the Natives, so we shouldn't force them to be with the way we are communicating and with the programming we are offering.

Again, very interesting topic.

Renewed Interest and Excitement

2008-08-28T11:52:00.003-05:00

So after attending the ASAE & The Center's Annual Meeting, and attending the BloogerCon session, I have a renewed excitement and interest in getting back into the swing of blogging. I have taken my hiatus from posting to develop some ideas and plans on how I am going to manage this, I am back and raring to go.

It also didn't hurt that Maddie, whose blog is one of the top 5 association blogs out there, mentioned Future Association Executive in a recent post. Thanks a lot for the mention - you're a super cool dudette!

So, after a short hiatus, I am back and will begin posting again over the weekend. I hope to hear what you like/dislike through the comments area!

You'll hear from me soon!

Hiatus

2008-08-07T11:53:00.003-05:00

I am planning on taking a hiatus from posting on this blog. The reason - I am going to take the advice of many bloggers that I have come in contact with recently and sit out from writing a bit...

I saw something recently in a Twitter Tweet from Ben Martin that said "Good Social Web Advice: lurk before you leap"... I didn't do nearly enough of that, or even really have a plan for this blog prior to just getting on here and starting to write down my thoughts, and to be honest, I think I have suffered because of that, and haven't really been able to build any type of audience or have a good sense of where I am trying to go with this...

Will be attending the ASAE Conference starting at the end of next week, and will try to pick up as many pieces of knowledge relating to blogging and other social media tools, before trying to get on the bandwagon without a Google Map that tells me where I'm supposed to go!!

Until the next time...