On January 6, 2010, from 2 pm-3:30 pm EST, I am holding a Principled Innovation Briefing webinar on “Top 2010 Trends for Associations.” You will find the event detail from the registration site below. P.I. Blog readers are invited to register at a 10% discount (until December 1, 2009) by using the link above. This is going to be a great webinar, so I hope you’ll join me on January 6 and help prepare your association for 2010! EVENT DETAIL FOR JANUARY 6, 2010 P.I. BRIEFING WEBINAR 2009 has been a very tough year for associations and their leaders. 2010 can be better, but…
Association Management
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Principled Innovation LLC
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Prepare your association for 2010!
1 Nov 2009 | 6:56 pm -
P.I. Podcast: Interview with Tim Brown of IDEO
17 Oct 2009 | 6:31 pm“We need new choices.” I’m thinking this is the perfect mantra for association leaders as we approach 2010. Associations face complex challenges, and the current options for tackling them don’t really inspire too much confidence in our ultimate success. Not only do we need to think about our problems in new ways, but we literally need different strategies for solving them. In other words, we need new choices. Tim Brown’s excellent new book, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, is all about how mindset and… -
What relevance isn’t
16 Oct 2009 | 4:26 amLast month, my friend and fellow blogger Jamie Notter wrote an excellent post on why relevance is not enough for associations. In his post, Jamie graciously mentions my continuing pushback against the relevance-oriented thinking (ROT) that is still framing the way most leaders in our community approach crucial decisions about the future of their organizations. We need to cultivate a fundamentally different leadership point of view, and this is what I think it should be: +Relevance isn’t a purpose–How will your association’s pursuit of relevance nurture an authentic… -
My Top Ten Favorite Things About #BIF5 Day One
7 Oct 2009 | 8:54 pmSitting in my hotel room in Providence, I’ve been thinking about the first day of the BIF-5 Summit. Wow, what a day! I missed BIF-4, and in my two-year absence, I think I forgot about the incredible richness of this experience. I’m inspired, and I’m thinking about even more new possibilities for my work. I’d like to share some of the experience, so here is my quick top ten list of favorite things from BIF-5 (#BIF5) Day One, with some help from my fellow Twitterers. (FYI, I’m @pinnovation) Thank you all for being so terrific. 10. We talked openly about… -
Live tweeting at #BIF5
7 Oct 2009 | 5:22 amI’ll be live tweeting for the next two days at BIF-5 in Providence. You can follow the hashtag on Twitter at #bif5…there will be many other people tweeting, blogging etc. so be prepared for lots of great stuff!
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Get Me Jamie Notter
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Don't Be A Tool
17 Nov 2009 | 8:20 amAt ASAE & The Center's Social Media Workshop, one of the participants asked a question that got a bit under my skin: how do we migrate our members out of the listserve and into these new tools? I responded in the session that maybe they don't need to be migrated. Jeff De Cagna had just made the important point that social media is not about the tools--it is about solving problems for members. So I suggested that if people are getting their problems solved using a listserve, then so be it! Now, I also think that some members may not be aware of the problem solving potential of some other… -
Simple but Not Easy
16 Nov 2009 | 6:02 amThank you, Maddie Grant, for posting a thoughtful response to my "Clarity is Hard Work" post. Everyone please go read it if you haven't already. As expected, her focus is on how to "just get crackin." She provides a random example of an association's mission statement and then boils it down to the "core business proposition" and uses that to illuminate how the association can begin to develop a social media strategy. She provides simple instructions for how you can do the same with your organization and its mission.So as much as Maddie and I push back against each other, let's be perfectly… -
Soft Skills are Hard
12 Nov 2009 | 12:45 pmSeveral people tweeted this week about a study that "surprisingly" showed that so-called "soft" skills like managing relationships and creating an environment of trust are important and valuable in the business world. First off, I'm getting a little bored of these new discoveries that trust and relationships are important. I suppose I'm being a little uppity about it, but com on! Covey's Speed of Trust? Collins' Level 5 Leadership? I feel like this is not news.On top of that, look how one author framed this study. The first paragraph reads:Corporate leaders need to know their business, know… -
The Hard Work of Clarity
11 Nov 2009 | 7:02 amLast Friday I had the extreme pleasure to present a session with Lindy Dreyer and Maddie Grant of SocialFish at ASAE’s first ever Social Media Workshop. The title of our session is "What Social Media Means for the Way We Work." Maddie has already completely summarized our session (perfectly!), along with the slides, so check that out first if you haven’t seen it yet. What I want to write about is the part of the session that no one saw—where Maddie and I went back and forth at the bar about one piece of our session (come on! I thought you knew the best sessions always happened at the… -
Trust, Advertising, and Search
2 Nov 2009 | 6:11 amHere's a quick follow-up piece to last week's interesting conversation about trust (and if you haven't read the comments on that post, check them out). Scott Brinker, a marketing guy, did a small survey about people's attitudes related to the paid search results in Google.You know what I'm talking about: when you do a google search you get a long list of possible sites to visit, but the ones on the very top and along the right are paid advertisements. They've guessed what you're going to search for and paid to be at the top of the list. In this screenshot I searched for "remodeling industry"…
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Ben Martin, CAE
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I just got a handful of Google Wave invites
23 Oct 2009 | 6:50 pm[You're reading http://BenMartinCAE.com. Yeah, you rock.] Been using Google Wave in a limited way over the past few days since a friend sent me an invite. I need more friends to play with. If you’d like one of the invites, just shoot me an e-mail: b (at) BenMartinCAE dot com and I’ll hook you up (while supplies last, some restrictions apply, please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery, offer not valid in Puerto Rico or Guam). -
Kinda sexy, in a Judy Jetson way
19 Oct 2009 | 1:55 pm[You're reading http://BenMartinCAE.com. Yeah, you rock.] Because checking your watch during a meeting isn’t quite as rude as checking your BlackBerry, the fine folks at RIM bring you the BlackBerry InPulse Smartwatch. Now, your Pavlonian teeth-grinding response to BlackBerry buzzes can be accompanied by repeated pulls at your cuff to glance at your “watch.” Me? I’m waiting for the BlackBerry ImPlant. Here’s a prototype photo of the control console. -
Association humor, thanks to FailBlog
13 Oct 2009 | 6:19 pm[You're reading http://BenMartinCAE.com. Yeah, you rock.] -
Tourism/meeting humor
29 Sep 2009 | 7:17 pm[You're reading http://BenMartinCAE.com. Yeah, you rock.] The body charged with attracting more visitors to the midwestern state will now be known as the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin (TFW), in an attempt to put a stop to the jokes. It seems that the federation was unaware of – or unconcerned by – the modern meaning of WTF until its acronym featured on a blog that compiles unfortunate corporate logos earlier this year. [sic] Read more: WTF? Wisconsin Tourism Federation changes name after internet jokes. I wonder if the Official Meeting Facilities Guide is next to change its… -
The Xer Meme: Have I sold out?
28 Sep 2009 | 7:49 pm[You're reading http://BenMartinCAE.com. Yeah, you rock.] Back in college I discovered this amazing acoustic guitar duo that toured regionally. My friends and I would drive all over the place following them into small music halls, bars, and college music festivals. The year before I graduated they put together a band and got even better. I followed them closer, was active on the fan listserve, and even started a Web site for the fan listserve. Then, shortly after I graduated, the band released an album on a major label, and, well you know how this story will end… Everyone’s…
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Thanks for Playing
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Friday Top 5
20 Nov 2009 | 11:40 amMy spouse and I are headed to New Orleans for Thanksgiving. The top 5 things I'm looking forward to:Being on vacation - last stretch of more than 3 days off (i.e., a long weekend) was in April.Thanksgiving dinner at Commander's PalaceBig Al Carson & the Bluesmasters at the Funky PirateGetting a Ramos Gin Fizz at Carousel Bar at the Hotel MonteleoneRebirth's late night show at the Maple Leaf -
Twitter Story: Broadcast
19 Nov 2009 | 7:57 amAlthough social media can facilitate conversations and relationships, it can also be used pretty effectively as a broadcast mechanism, Twitter included.One of the truisms of association management is that our members don't pay attention, don't read what we send them, and often don't know what's going on, even when it's something that *should* be really important to them.Twitter can provide an additional platform to get the word out.I'm going to call myself out here. I never seem to know when the ASAE calls for presentations for various conferences open and close. Yes, ASAE sends emails and… -
What I'm Reading
18 Nov 2009 | 10:17 amMore ideas about what will be required to fix US health care. This particular article focuses on evidence-based care (treatment by what works as opposed to by everything your insurance company will pay for). Some docs are tweeting from the OR to reduce stress for the patient's loved ones. How to write a mission statement that isn't dumb. You know who you are. Go read the article, and then get yourself a quantifiable goal and go do it.The harsh realities of social media marketing. Reality #1 - no one is reading your blog. Uh oh :) Follow up posts to #smw09. (That aren't on this blog.) There… -
Twitter Story: Member Engagement
17 Nov 2009 | 6:53 amWe all know that the Holy Grail of Associations is member engagement. Engaged members care, participate, evangelize, volunteer, and, most importantly, renew. There are LOTS of ways you can engage your members, and you should do as many as your level of staffing and organizational culture can support, but Twitter can be one of them.My favorite current example of member engagement through Twitter is the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Rather than having a faceless organizational Twitter account, they've chosen to have 3 staff people tweet officially for the association as individuals:… -
Twitter Story: Chat
16 Nov 2009 | 7:57 amIs your association using chat at all to reach out to members?NACHRI used chat, as embedded in Adobe Connect, rather successfully this past summer to host a discussion with a panel of experts on a critical, time-sensitive policy issue (for the curious, the idea of community benefit in hospitals and how it might affect their tax status). We were able to go from idea to hosting the chat in about 2 1/2 weeks, we had about 60 participants on the day, and the transcript was later posted to our web site (on the linked wiki that does require membership to access). All in all, a very successful…
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Association Jam
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17 Key Differences Between Social Media and Traditional Marketing | Microgeist
20 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am"There is a lot to be be gained by seeing what others think and how they themselves are interpreting the changes around them."3 Vote(s) -
Principled Innovation Briefing: Top 2010 Trends for... - Eventbrite
20 Nov 2009 | 10:11 am2009 has been a difficult year for associations and now, as we approach 2010, the reset economy is upon us. Is your association ready?3 Vote(s) -
Giving Impact Takes Donations Social
19 Nov 2009 | 10:27 pmMinds on Design Lab has taken its experiences working with fundraising groups to develop Giving Impact.3 Vote(s) -
Structuring Your Organization around the Value You Deliver
19 Nov 2009 | 10:27 pmFor many organizations the end of the year is a time to look and see if your strategies, tactics, and structure line up with your vision... 3 Vote(s) -
B.L. Ochman's blog: 10 Things Social Media Can't Do
18 Nov 2009 | 10:02 pm"Amid the endless pronouncements about social media... is the reality that social media is not a solution, or a sure bet." 5 Vote(s)
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Association, Inc.
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Ah, Associations … We Are Ancient
30 Oct 2009 | 6:20 pmPreparing for trip and skimming through “A Traveller’s History of Paris” I stumbled across this passage: “Two booksellers, Fust and Schoffer, brought printed books to Paris in 1463. Fearful of competition from this new art, the powerful scribes and booksellers guilds had the books confiscated.” -
That Thing You Do
29 Oct 2009 | 12:34 pmThe November issue of Associations Now includes a “Horizons” column I wrote wondering why completely different markets all just happen to need the same kinds of things, according to the associations that serve them. I don’t see the November issue online quite yet but through creative URL typing I was able to locate the article here. Thanks to Lisa Junker for the opportunity and, especially, the help! Update: The November issue is now online with a nifty new homepage design. -
More Forecasts
16 Oct 2009 | 7:12 amJudith Lindenau riffs on the little “predictions” from my last post with an eye toward what they may mean specifically for Realtor associations, to her usual straightforward and thought-provoking result. -
Your Ability to Predict the Future Does Not Improve with Experience
14 Oct 2009 | 6:34 pmLast week, I blurted forth a small series of tweets that, when stitched together, read as follows: “Assumptions we make today about 5 years from now are as wrong as assumptions we made 5 years ago about today. Your ability to predict the future doesn’t improve with experience, unless it teaches you that you can’t predict anything. Therefore, flexibility is a far more valuable skill than forecasting.” Well, um … that said, Association Trends asked if I would provide a few “predictions” for associations, and they are now online along with several others… -
Who Do I Want to Hear From?
8 Oct 2009 | 8:05 pmASAE, bless ‘em, has been pestering me like crazy with emails lately — well, not me specifically, I imagine many of you are getting the same ones. They want me to vote on who will keynote their Great Ideas Conference. I’m not going to vote because I’m not going to go to the Great Ideas Conference. That’s no swipe against the GIC, I’ve attended a few in the past and found them to be very worthwhile, it’s just not at a very convenient time for me. This attempt to “crowdsource” the keynote selection is an admirable experiment, though I…
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EDM Blog
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New Article Published: Eliminating Business Inefficiencies
19 Nov 2009 | 6:20 amMy latest article, entitled “Eliminating Business Inefficiencies,” has just been published in the November issue of ASAE’s Associations Now magazine. The article is available on ASAE’s site (click here). In the article I discuss how analyzing and changing your business processes can make your organization more efficient and more effective. Also, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the article to see the sidebar article entitled “Need a New AMS? Here’s How to Convince Your Board.” And be sure to rate the article and leave a comment on ASAE’s… -
Hear the Man!
17 Nov 2009 | 6:25 amYou’ve got THREE opportunities in December to hear me speak. On Tuesday, December 8, I’ll be speaking on NTEN’s Ask the Expert program, at 2pm Eastern. Click here to learn more about that program. On Wednesday, December 9, I’ll be presenting a webcast as part of Protech’s Expert Series. Click here to learn more about that program. On Thursday, December 10, I’ll be participating in a panel hosted by Marketing General Inc. on making the transition from association executive to consultant. You can email me directly for more details. I hope to “see… -
Ask the Expert - My Online Event with NTEN
3 Nov 2009 | 5:52 amI’ll be speaking for NTEN on Tuesday, December 8, from 2pm to 3pm eastern (11am Pacific), on NTEN’s Ask the Expert program. Details here. The program is free to NTEN members. I hope to “see you” online. -
Some Job Openings in the Association Market
29 Oct 2009 | 7:09 amGiven the current economic climate, I thought I’d take this opportunity to list three positions that are open at past clients of mine. The American Association of Museums is seeking a director of Information Technology. For more information contact Katherine McNamee at kmcnamee@aam-us.org. The American Dental Education Association is seeking a TEMPORARY Membership/Database coordinator. For more information, contact Sean Carter at carters@adea.org. The Visiting Nurses Association is seeking a Membership and Events Director. For more information on the position click here. Contact… -
Hard Work is Overrated
27 Oct 2009 | 7:19 amThis post on the Fast Company blog got me to thinking about managing databases (surprise, surprise!). The blog post discusses the idea that “lollygagging” may be the best way to find breakthrough ideas. That is, NOT working may help the creative process. A similar things happens when it comes to managing our database versus actually using the data. Simply put, when we spend all of our time working on getting data in and out of the database, we don’t spend any time thinking about how we might use the data in the database more effectively. For example, I frequently discuss…
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mizz Information
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Forget Traits--4 DSM Diagnoses of Social Media Mavens
20 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pmSocial media people love them some lists. 5 Qualities of a Good Social Media Manager. 3 Qualities to Look for When Hiring a Community Manager. Social Media Folks to Watch in 2010. Twitter lists...for chrissake--don't even get me started on Twitter lists. In short, there are LOTS of lists out there related to social media people...so I thought I'd add one of my own.Something I've thought about for a long time (and blogged about at least twice) is the connection between success and mental illness. No, I'm not being facetious--I mean it--I think if you really want to be scientific about… -
Association Social Media #Fail
17 Nov 2009 | 8:18 amThere's no shortage of buzz about what associations should be doing with regard to social media. Workshops. Webinars. Blogs. Tons of sources of information for crafting social media policies, setting up a Facebook page, using social media in conjunction with events. Somehow one association seems to have missed all these helpful resources, or else just ignored them. Because surely, had this association partaken of any of the above advice, they would never have dreamed of setting up a Twitter account, locking it, then offering to sell access to journalists for $10 each. Yet, that's exactly what… -
The Chicken and Egg Problem With Social Media Hiring
12 Nov 2009 | 5:53 amSome great posts this week about hiring for social media jobs: one by Amber Naslund and one by Tom Humbarger.My favorite quote from Tom's post:"There are only so many social media gurus and rockstars – If you specify that you are seeking a social media guru or rock-star, then expect to pay a premium as these people are rare and they have many options. If you are not willing to pay for this type of expert, then don’t use these descriptors in your job posting."And from Amber's:"Companies still don’t know why they need or want social media."Short and sweet and right on ; )Here's the thing:… -
A Third Sure Thing In Life: Death, Taxes and Facebook Page Admin Rights
9 Nov 2009 | 5:09 pmFacebook public profiles--they're a good thing, right? Why would your brand NOT create one? All those millions of Facebook users will be able to interact with your brand, your messages will go effortlessly viral via the every-improving News Feed feature...and it's free. Well, unless you want to run a contest on your page....but I digress. Creating a page is simple...but heaven help you if you ever want to transfer ownership of that page to someone else should you, say, leave that company. At this time there is NO WAY to transfer ownership of a Facebook page. Seriously. So that intern you hire… -
The Facebook Free Ride is Over
7 Nov 2009 | 12:36 pmRemember Facebook--the free platform you can use to post whatever you want, in whatever format you want, for free? Remember all the limitless possibilities for engagement it promised brands? Yeah, well stick a fork in that memory because it's done; Big Brother Facebook just announced some new rules that require you to get their approval before doing any kind of contest or promotion.Huh?I'm still wondering if I'm reading the post on Inside Facebook wrong because there seems to be almost no reaction anywhere to what I find to be absolutely intrusive and ridiculous rules. Since when do users…
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Insights from a Future Association Executive
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Advice for People Looking to Get into Association Management
9 Nov 2009 | 5:22 pmThis 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… -
Quoted on CNN.com - A great piece, but context is needed
5 Nov 2009 | 9:19 amSo 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… -
The Rise of Webinars - Too Many, Too Fast?
3 Nov 2009 | 2:27 pmOk, 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… -
Interns - If You Use Them, PAY Them...
23 Oct 2009 | 1:40 pmIt'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… -
Lesson Learned: Trust is Key in Volunteer Management
26 Aug 2009 | 5:05 pmSo 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…
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High Context Consulting
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Internet, Second Floor
19 Nov 2009 | 3:52 amI’m in Toronto kicking off a new client project. Last night I had to walk the last few blocks to my hotel due to a subway shutdown that had snarled traffic. As I lugged my luggage, I saw a small sign on a store front, saying “Internet, Second Floor.” I love that sign! Looking for the Internet? Second floor, please. I tweeted last night, “I always wondered where they kept it!”. The truth is, you no longer have to go to the second floor to access the Internet. It’s everywhere. Back in the day, you could go online via your home or work computers, maybe an… -
Social Media People: Less Agita, More Action
13 Nov 2009 | 9:37 amI’ve seen quite a few posts lately from social media specialists complaining about the lack of stature, engagement and respect they have within their organizations. Here’s the thing folks: respect is earned. No one is going to give it to you by dint of your job description or the number of followers you have on Twitter. They will give it you when you help them create value, when you help them to achieve their goals, when you make their job easier. If you spend all your time telling people they are ‘doing social media’ wrong, you’ll never get anywhere. Spend your… -
Lessons in New Customer Process
9 Nov 2009 | 7:40 amSeth Godin has a good post this week onupside vs. downside, looking at how much effort you put into preventing bad things vs. creating wonderful new things. He listed a hospital as one that does a lot of preventative work compared to the actual improvement of health. An art show, he says is all about the upside and very little effort expended on prevention of downside. I had a visceral experience with a telecommunications company this week that not only spends way too much time on the downside, it’s actually their downside they are protecting rather than mine, their customer. Verizon… -
Some Opportunities to Hear Me Speak
3 Nov 2009 | 11:22 amI have a few public presentations coming up that might interest you. From soonest to latest, they are: Creating the Complete Social Media Experience for Your Event A free webinar in the Avectra Academy series. Noon to 1 p.m. on Nov 16. Register here. Two sessions at ASAE’s 2010 Technology Conference: Integrate Your AMS, CMS and Website to Improve the Member Experience on February 11th. Online and On Mission: Work with Your Board of Directors to Formulate Online Strategy on February 12th. I am a panelist in the first and the sole presenter in the second. Online Marketing Mastery: The… -
The Growth Trap
23 Oct 2009 | 5:43 amI’ve written and spoken much about how associations and non-profits in general tend to have a hard time ending programs and services. You can read more about this here: Slaying Sacred Zombie Cows. I’m going to take this same idea in a bit of a different direction today. Many organizations innovate through growth. As membership increases or non-dues revenue goes up, they now have more resources with which to start new initiatives. Innovating new value is much easier for leaders when you have a healthy growing organization. You can just put that new money to work and let the rest of…
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Midcourse Corrections
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Predictions From Nonprofit Prophets
20 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amHave you read Carol-Anne Moutinho’s Playing the Not-for-Profit Prophet? Association predictions and trends. Canadian association professionals have been weighing in on what they think nonprofit associations will look like in five to six years from now. Bud Crouch, a speaker for an upcoming CSAE 2009 Governance Summit, shared his thoughts. Carol-Anne, the great association oracle that she is, follows with her six predictions for nonprofits: Customized Membership; New Revenue Models; Flatter, Less Hierarchal Structures; Evolution of Volunteerism and Engagement; Transparency No Longer An… -
Meetings And Events As Systems Thinking: The Community Ecosystem
19 Nov 2009 | 3:01 pmRecently I wrote Meetings And Events As Systems Thinking: The Contact Sport. I talked about viewing each meeting or event within the larger context of a system using the analogy of a sports season. Here’s another way to think about your annual conference, event or meeting: part of a community ecosystem. An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a collection of organisms and the environment in which they live. Ecosystems contain dynamic interactions between plants, animals, microorganisms and their environment. These interactions work together as a functional unit and everything is… -
Meetings And Events As Systems Thinking: The Contact Sport
16 Nov 2009 | 1:04 pmOne of my favorite bloggers, Valeria Maltoni, has an interesting article on Marketing As Systems Thinking. Valeria says social media and relationships are contact sports. If social media and relationships are contact sports, then conferences, meetings and events are the athletic fields, gymnasiums and playgrounds for player-to-player and player-to-object contact. Wow, that’s a powerful analogy. If social media and relationships are contact sports, then conferences, meetings and events are the athletic fields, gymnasiums and playgrounds for player-to-player and player-to-object contact. -
Who Says Social Media Doesn’t Have ROI?
13 Nov 2009 | 7:22 amOne of the most frequently asked questions today is “What is the ROI of social media?” Many have wrangled with this question. Some have developed their own ROI strategies. Eric Qualman, author of Socialnomics, says that when he’s asked that question, he often replies with “What’s the ROI of your phone?” Interesting reply right? Yet, Eric has gone one step farther and created another great video on the ROI of Social Media. Check it out: This quote stuck with me: “You can’t buy attention anymore. Having a huge budget doesn’t mean anything in… -
Connecting And Accelerating Serendipity
12 Nov 2009 | 10:40 amGo ahead and spend the next four minutes watching this video. Wow, it’s the 21st Century’s version of Esther Williams water ballet! Don’t you think? (If you’re too young to know who Eshter Williams is, that’s why I provided a link.) Chris Brogan says this video applies to Twitter. He describes Twitter as a serendipity engine. I like that! A while back Steffan Antonas wrote about how blogging, social media and Twitter created a culture of encouraging randomness and accelerating serendipity. Steffan got the phrase, encouraging randomness and accelerating…
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Membership Marketing Blog
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Structuring Your Organization around the Value You Deliver
12 Nov 2009 | 7:24 amFor many organizations the end of the year is a time to look and see if your strategies, tactics, and structure line up with your vision.One of the top resources that I have found in helping an organization focus is a book by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, The Discipline of Market Leaders. I read it many years ago and still refer to it today.They write, “The message . . . Is that no company can succeed today by trying to be all things to all people. It must instead find the unique value it alone can deliver to a chosen market.”[1]To help organizations do this analysis, they divide… -
Calculating Membership Lifetime Value
11 Nov 2009 | 11:04 amIt is nice to see that some things do not change – like math. I came across an article I had read many years ago that was originally written back in 1991 outlining how to calculate the lifetime value of a member.Understanding lifetime value (LTV) is a fundamental calculation that every membership organization should do. It let’s you know how much you can spend to acquire and keep your members. It is the foundation for a membership marketing strategy.There are some shortcuts that I use these days to get to the numbers a little more quickly, but the article is worth reviewing.The article… -
A Process to help Define Member Value
23 Oct 2009 | 11:12 amThe last couple of weeks I have met with a number of organizations that are re-focusing on defining their membership value proposition.It is a smart thing to do because it is so easy in life to get lost in the trees of urgent matters and not see the forest. When we are selling membership, stepping back and seeing the big picture is essential. That’s because members want a clear and concrete reason to join and continue their membership.So I wanted to share a quick three step group or team exercise that I use to help get re-focused on the big picture and big value that you deliver to your… -
Upcoming Membership Marketing Benchmarking Presentations
13 Oct 2009 | 12:21 pmFor readers who are located in the Washington DC metro area, I wanted to let you know that I will be doing three separate presentations on our Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report this month. The first session is at the Alexandria Brownbag lunch on Thursday, October 15, 2009. It begins at 11:30 and concludes at 1:30. The location is Marketing General Inc, 209 Madison Street, Third Floor, (corner of North Fairfax and Madison), Alexandria, VA. Admission is free.The second is at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington, Association Day Conference on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. The… -
The Growth of Loyalty Membership Programs
6 Oct 2009 | 12:51 pmThe other day, I received a question from one of the readers of this blog about the number of members in loyalty programs. I was able to access some excellent data and wanted to share it with you.For background, membership loyalty programs are marketing initiatives to retain and reward customers. They can be offered by major retailers or financial service companies or by your local barber shop. The goal of these programs is to move customers from a transactional relationship to a continuity relationship. Loyalty memberships are cousins to association memberships, sharing many of the same…
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Mission to Learn
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Where to Find Free Computer Programming Education Online
18 Nov 2009 | 3:15 amWith so many people looking to pick up new skills in a tough job market, now seems like a good time to offer guidance on where to find valuable training for free. Here’s a post from Karen Schweitzer with 10 places to find computer programming education. Computer programmers are employed by every industry imaginable. If you have been thinking about programming as a career, or if you simply have an interest in this area of technology, you can begin your studies online. There are many different universities and other education resources that provide free courses, lessons, and tutorials for… -
10 Most Popular Posts of All Time on Mission to Learn
17 Nov 2009 | 4:58 amEvery once in a while its nice to stop and take stock of what’s working and what’s not on the blog. There are many gauges for this, but one that is easy to quantify is which posts have attracted the most views on the site. The following 10 posts have attracted the most “unique page views,” according to Google Analytics, from November 15, 2007 to November 16, 2009. While these don’t really paint a complete picture of Mission to Learn, new visitors might find them a good starting point nonetheless, and long-time readers might find it fun to revisit some of them. -
Wrestlin’ with making sense of it all. You?
11 Nov 2009 | 3:15 amIf you are reading this, you are one of roughly 1400 subscribers (Thank you!) or one of the many others who stops each day. I’m really hoping you will take a minute to comment. I’d appreciate it greatly. Comment on what? Well, I’m pondering things like health care reform in the U.S., Afghanistan, BPA, the rise of the BRIC economies, global climate change, H1N1, and on a more local level, what the priorities of the Carrboro board of alderman should be. Truth is, if you were to stop me on the street, I’m not sure how coherently I would be able to talk about these and any… -
Two Brief Lessons from the Mile High Learning Club
5 Nov 2009 | 4:46 amI do some of my best learning when I am settled in at 35,000 feet. I read. I tap into the large store of iPod learning content I keep on hand. I think (although it may look like I’m sleeping). Sometimes I even manage to find a nugget of wisdom in the airline magazines. Here’s a couple from a recent flight from Raleigh to Baltimore, compliments of the Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine: Be Deliberate Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated and Eating Animals, says that his choice to be vegetarian is “one of my ways of being deliberate within my life.” Safran Foer… -
15 Online Resources for Book Lovers
26 Oct 2009 | 3:33 amImmersing yourself in a book or in the literary culture is a great way to get more out of the books you read. There are thousands of sites online created specifically for people who like to read. Many of these sites can be used to find, read, discuss, and share books online. Here is a list of 15 free online resources that any book lover will enjoy: Like what you see here? Even if you are just “stumbling” by, I’d truly appreciate it if you would consider subscribing by RSS feed or by e-mail. - Jeff AddAll – AddAll is a free book search and comparison site. It compares…
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Reid All About It
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Member Service vs. Staff Productivity
15 Nov 2009 | 10:03 amMy latest guest post is up at SmartBlog Insights. A random tweet got me thinking about how we balance good member service with our own productivity needs. I saw a tweet recently from a Twitter friend Jan Dobson (@j8nd) who was attending Tallahassee SAE’s Education Day. She was tweeting sound bites from a session by Dr. Jerry Osteryoung on time management. One said, “Telephone is a business tool. Let calls go to vm, schedule set time to return calls. Get on and off biz call asap. @TallySAE #EdDay09.” Jan later told me that Dr. Osteryoung advises having a precise voice mail greeting that… -
Sometimes You Know More Than You Think You Do
28 Oct 2009 | 9:28 amA few months ago Scott Oser asked me if I’d like to be a presenter for a webinar series for association staff who want to learn how to implement social media tools at their organization. I don’t consider myself a social media “expert” but I do know that since immersing myself in social media over the last year and a half, I do have a lot to share with others in my profession. Since I have never presented via a webinar before, and never even presented on social media in any format, I was tempted (for just a second) to pass, but I wanted to stretch myself, so I accepted. -
Upcoming Social Media Webinars for Associations
13 Oct 2009 | 8:31 pmI’ll be presenting a series of social media webinars for associations with Ted LaBarbera and Scott Oser for the College of Association Marketing. I’m leading two of them — Social Media 101 and LinkedIn 101 for Associations, and Ted will lead the ones on Facebook and Twitter. Here’s the schedule. They’re 50 minutes long, beginning at 12:00 pm Eastern. October 20 – Social Media 101 November 3 – Facebook 101 for Associations November 12 – Twitter 101 for Associations December 2 – LinkedIn 101 for Associations They’re not free but I… -
A Shift in Focus: Our Members’ Customers
30 Sep 2009 | 7:46 amMy latest guest post for the SmartBrief Insights blog was just published. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about providing real member value — “sticky” value, the kind that of value that a member couldn’t find elsewhere. And I’ve been thinking about revenue, how critical it is to have a diverse revenue stream — considering my recent experience, this is no surprise. This post touches on some ideas to ensure both member value and revenue. As I was studying for the Certified Associate Executive (CAE) exam, I came across some ideas by Bruce Butterfield in… -
Get Your Committees Off Life-Support
26 Aug 2009 | 8:37 amSmartBlog Insights asked me to be a monthly contributor. Here is an excerpt from my latest post, Get Your Committees Off Life-Support. On my flights to ASAE09 I read Cynthia D’Amour’s book “Lazy Leader’s Guide to Outrageous Results.” If you know Cynthia’s blog, you’ll recognize her bullet point style. This easy-reading format makes her book a perfect read for traveling. She says that it’s not about you, the volunteer leader, it’s about others, so stop being a martyr and empower others to become leaders too. It’s a shift in attitude and behavior. Develop others rather than…
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Acronym
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Quick clicks: A flower for you
20 Nov 2009 | 1:04 pmHappy Friday, folks! Hope those of you here in the U.S. are looking forward to Thanksgiving ... - Brian John Riggs shares an interesting visualization of social media he created for his volunteers. - Maddie Grant is launching a new series of interviews of association social media managers, and wants to know what questions you might recommend for her to ask. - At KDPaine's PR Measurement Blog, Katie Paine suggests that one way to measure the impact of something is to stop doing it and see what happens. - Anthony Tjan recently posted five mindblowing stats about the web. - Shelly Alcorn breaks… -
Social media staffing: Are we doing it wrong?
20 Nov 2009 | 12:04 pmSometimes, when you start a blog post, you can be overcome by events—or at least overcome by other bloggers. I recently started writing a post inspired by Lynn Morton's comments about a recent spate of turnover among association social media managers. Since then, Maggie McGary, Maddie Grant, and David Gammel have all added their thoughts. For me, the recent turnover brings back memories of working in a Northern-Virginia-based association in the late 1990s. We couldn't keep an IT manager on staff to save our lives. Someone would start, and two months later, they'd have a great offer from ,… -
A reminder for social media enthusiasts at associations
18 Nov 2009 | 7:54 amIn some ways, Mark Golden, CAE, beat me to the punch for this post when he commented last week on Scott's recap of the Social Media Workshop. He raised some concerns about the value of Twitter and the helpfulness of those who love it (and he started a great conversation; it's long, but it's worth your time). For context, Mark is an association CEO, and thinking about his perspective reinforced this idea in my mind: When a person fails to understand or agree with an idea that you've explained, it doesn't mean that person is unenlightened. It means you did a bad job explaining it, so try again. -
Are There Too Many Associations?
17 Nov 2009 | 6:51 amIn the industry our association represents, we are seeing a ton of consolidation. Many national corporate entities are looking for and finding efficiencies by hiring regional and national service providers, who then subcontract the work to local folks. This simplifies many processes for them, including billing/payment, bidding, and work allocation/reporting. It also saves them a ton of money. This consolidation is having dramatic impacts on local contractors in our industry (whose margins are shrinking because the national providers negotiate lower pricing). But it does make sense from a… -
Quick clicks: Ideas and excellence
13 Nov 2009 | 2:10 pmWelcome to this week's round of Quick Clicks. Lots of good ideas: - To tie into our social media theme for this month, a link to an interesting interview with "digital ethnographer" Michael Wesch (creator of the "Web 2.0: The Machine Is Us/ing Us" video) on the dark side of social media and the future of the web. - If social media is making you feel overwhelmed (raise your hand!), Rex Hammock has a prayer for you. - Rosabeth Moss Kanter blogs on the Harvard Business Publishing site about the power of the "15 minute competitive advantage." - Seth Godin encourages you to remember to ask "why."…
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Association Meetings
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Social Media Marketing Strategies for Event Panners
18 Nov 2009 | 4:39 amWhat am I reading today? A really great blogpost by Anne Thornley-Brown on the topic of Social Media Marketing Strategies for Events. She nicely lays out step by step how to develop a marketing campaign with ease. Social Media Marketing Strategies for Event Planners - Part 1 Enjoy! -
If You Have Attendees from Overseas, Get to Know ESTA
16 Nov 2009 | 5:46 amWhat am I reading today?As the meeting planner for many international meetings, I am always looking for ways to keep my attendees up to date regarding travel regulations. There is now a website that all planners should become familiar will to aid in answering questions and making travel to the US smoother!If You Have Attendees from Overseas, Get to Know ESTA -
10 Ways to get the most out of a meeting ....
11 Nov 2009 | 5:47 amWhat am I reading today?Reading Mike McAllen's blogpost - Meetings Podcast is always good! However today he has a really great listing of the 10 ways to get the most out of a meeting. Thanks Mike!
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SocialFish
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Doing Social Media for your organization?
17 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amWe’ve had some great discussions, feedback and interest around my recent interview of 3 new community managers and this post about hiring for social media roles, so I would like to do a series of interviews of people currently in social media roles for their organizations. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD, thanks! I really want to get a sense of what’s really going on out there. Surveys to me are pretty pointless (I know that’s just me). I feel like there’s been a bit of spreading of doom and gloom lately, about whether social media roles are really being taken… -
In Socialnomics we trust
16 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amThanks to Jeff Hurt for the hat tip on this fabulous follow up* video on social media ROI from Erik Qualman. This video has some great stats – check out the Socialnomics blog for a full list. * “Follow up” meaning to this, the Social Media revolution video you’ve probably all seen. This was played at the ASAE social media workshop, in case you were there and wanted to see it again. -
Social Impact Nonprofit Social Media Survey
14 Nov 2009 | 10:13 amSocial Impact Nonprofit Social Media Survey View more presentations from Weber Shandwick Social Impact. Beth Kanter has some good analysis of this and another recent survey. Check it out – and see the comments especially. -
On Hiring for Social Media Roles – Get It Together, People.
13 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amThere’s a lot of talk in the blogosphere right now about hiring social media managers – what the roles and responsibilities should be and how much current community managers and socmed managers are being paid. We have to tell ya, what we’re seeing is not encouraging. Hiring for Social Media: The Ugly Side (Amber Naslund) Hiring For Social Media: Good Moves (Amber Naslund) Amber’s two posts frame this issue quite nicely, I think. A social media manager role is really important for many reasons and she does a good job of illustrating why that is by looking at… -
Getting Started With Clarity: A Homework Assignment
12 Nov 2009 | 1:26 pmSo I was going to push back on Jamie’s push back of my original push back about whether getting clarity about what your organization is all about is hard work or not. LOL! But whether you think it’s hard work (like Jamie) or not (like me), we all agree it’s a place to start. You can do one of two things here. 1) be clear about your philosophy and core values from the get-go, and write it into your social media guidelines, or live it Zappos- or Netflix-style , or 2) start with your organization’s mission statement, no matter how crappy it might be, and use it as…
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Association Marketing Springboard
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Clarity and your social media team
29 Oct 2009 | 5:00 amFollowing up on Maddie’s 10 steps for building an internal social media team, and my little clarity over control post, here’s a little something for all you visual people. On the top, you see what happens when an organization sets up their social media team as the gatekeepers of all online social interactions. Below that is a depiction of the social media team as a service to the organization, providing the framework, structure, training, and clarity for the rest of the organization to run with. When you remember that the more people you know, the more you can do, one of these… -
Test post: Ignore this. Sorry.
13 Oct 2009 | 2:29 pm96k83t4jig -
Rant Alert: Forget Perfect
13 Oct 2009 | 5:19 amMy other half likes to say “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” He picked the phrase up from a senior executive in his organization. So here’s my little rant for the week. Forget trying to find the perfect technology tool for your organization’s social media needs–you’re procrastinating. When the tool finally comes around, you’ll be so far behind it won’t help. Stop trying to force your old business processes onto social media tools–we’re not handcuffed by fax machines and mimeographs anymore, people. And yes, some… -
5 Ways Clarity Can Replace Control
7 Oct 2009 | 5:00 amIt’s one of the things Clay Shirky said at ASAE09–control is a thing of the past. Clarity should be the goal for today. Clarity and control are not new topics among some of my favorite association blogs. Still, the way Clay Shirky framed the issue was, well, very clear. Scott Briscoe talks a little about what Clay said at ASAE09 on Acronym, and I wanted to think about the practical side of it here. Clarity takes courage. I just did what feels like my thousandth interview about the risks of social media. There is just so much fear out there. What if someone criticizes us? What if… -
Crowdsourcing ASAE Marketing Insights
30 Sep 2009 | 7:54 amFresh on the heals of the latest Associations Now crowdsourcing experiment, the ASAE marketing section is trying it for their Marketing Insights eNewsletter. Be among the first to suggest and vote on topics you want to see covered in Marketing Insights. Volunteer five minutes for the marketing section right now. You know you want to. Not familiar with Marketing Insights? Allow me to change that. You might have picked up that it’s the eNewsletter for ASAE’s marketing section. If you’re in the marketing section, you’re probably already getting it. Right now, it’s…
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Idea Center - Mariner Management
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Student Volunteering Breaks Records
20 Nov 2009 | 5:35 amThere's no truth to the statement that the next generation isn't developing their own tradition of volunteering. One group of students from 526 SUNY Potsdam have made their mark by putting in with more than 1,490 hours – an astounding 62 days – of volunteer service as part of the Office of Experiential Education's Make A Difference Week. SUNY reported this was an increase of 16 percent in student volunteers and a 70 percent increase in volunteer hours over last year.read more -
Building Engagement: PRSA MD Slowly but Surely
18 Nov 2009 | 3:49 pmIt surely seems odd that a public relations professional chapter wouldn’t be an early adopter of the new media. But we weren’t. Our members were – and are – curious though. It’s that curiosity that gave us the platform for entering into social media sphere.read more -
Five Minutes - Five Ways to Spread the Word
11 Nov 2009 | 6:14 pmI just ran across an older posting - a challenge sort of - on Acronym where Lisa Junker, one of the bloggers behind Acronym asked us to take 5 minutes to spread the word about our association. She was prompted by a very cool conversation with Andy Sernovitz of GasPedal who’s a word-of-mouth expert (and three-time association CEO) in which he offered up a few idea starters. It all started with the Lindy Dreyer’s feature in January issue of Associations Now “Get your members talking! Word-of-mouth expert Andy Sernovitz tells you how.” Catch more of Andy's WOM insights in his book… -
Building Engagement: ISES DC Follows Members’ Lead
10 Nov 2009 | 4:51 pmWe needed a new newsletter editor. The call was answered by an innovative, exciting member … who also happened to be a blogger. Our cumbersome e-letter morphed into a blog. A Facebook fan started up an ISES DC group. She was on Twitter but didn’t see the chapter so offered to be the ISES DC Twitter voice. Driven to organize the planning and execution of the chapter’s major expo, the chair opened a Google Group, loaded up the documents and ran the first meeting using those shared items. read more -
Tested Rules & Learned Truths About Online Community Engagement
9 Nov 2009 | 3:52 pmKiKi L’Italien, Delcor Technologies and I had a great conversation at ASAE Social Media Workshop. KiKi shared her awesome story about the Optical Society of America student chapters and I shared the ISES DC blog and story. Here’s a quick recap of our key points and you can check out our shared bookmark smw09 for more resources.read more
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Google News: Association Management
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Belvedere at Northgate Homeowners Association Chooses Massingham & Associates ... - PR Newswire (press release)
20 Nov 2009 | 9:37 amBelvedere at Northgate Homeowners Association Chooses Massingham & Associates PR Newswire (press release)As one of the first management companies to specialize in common interest communities, Associa is America's leading community association management and and more » -
Carlisle housing chiefs defend asbestos risk record - Cumberland News
20 Nov 2009 | 9:16 amCarlisle housing chiefs defend asbestos risk recordCumberland NewsThe review of services provided by Riverside Carlisle – formerly Carlisle Housing Association – says the association's management of the material had and more » -
Conrad Voldstad Appointed Chief Executive Officer Of International Swaps And ... - Exchange News Direct
20 Nov 2009 | 7:26 amConrad Voldstad Appointed Chief Executive Officer Of International Swaps And Exchange News DirectThe appointment, which strengthens the Association's management and brings to ISDA an accomplished industry leader, is effective November 30, 2009. and more » -
Laurie Stone leaving SBA in May 2010 - Chicago Daily Herald
20 Nov 2009 | 6:32 amLaurie Stone leaving SBA in May 2010Chicago Daily HeraldStone's devotion to excellence and her professional approach to association management helped create a high-energy association that provides business -
Virtual, Inc. Expands Staff to Serve Growing Needs of Association Clients - Earthtimes (press release)
18 Nov 2009 | 5:59 amVirtual, Inc. Expands Staff to Serve Growing Needs of Association ClientsEarthtimes (press release)Virtual, Inc. is an association management company that combines advanced technology, industry best practices and innovation to provide associations with and more »
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Condo Association Management Blog
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Can impeached HOA president run again?
19 Nov 2009 | 11:44 pmCan a President run for the office of board of directors of our condo association,or run for the office of President again after he has been impeached by the HOA once already? -
Not happy how condo association operates. What to do?
18 Nov 2009 | 3:36 pmI am a 5 year-long resident in 55+ free-standing condo association. 54 total condo units. We have a property management company. The condo association board does not notify us about anything until after the fact. There are no meeting notices; no condo board minutes; no agenda or parliamentary procedure at our annual condo association meetings; no opportunity to attend a board meeting because they are all private. Special assessments are levied with no hard evidence, just the Board Manager telling us how much we have to pay at an association meeting. No discussion, no proof of facts. I have… -
Deadbeat owner getting ride on condo association's back
17 Nov 2009 | 9:39 pmI live in a 10 unit condo building. One of the unit owners for the past two years has not paid his condo association fees and owes thousands. My question is how can the HOA get him to pay his past due fees and assessments? I believe that he is waiting for the condo unit to go into foreclosure, which is also not right. It is not fair that all the other owner are paying and not him. He is getting a free ride at our expense. What course of action can the HOA pursue? -
How to analyze condo association's financial health?
16 Nov 2009 | 9:21 pmAnalyzing the condo association's monthly financial reports -- balance sheets and statement of revenues and expenses. What are the standard ratios or formulas I should use to determine the financial health of my condo association or HOA? -
Looking for condo association insurance guidance
15 Nov 2009 | 9:36 pmI have been a member of the condo assocation board for the last 3 years. I find that, despite the fact that we are spending about a thousand dollars a month for condo association insurance, neither I nor the other association board members have near a real understanding of our condo association’s insurance needs; risks to be protected against, potential savings vs assumption of increased risks, etc. We have had talks with insurance agents but are aware that the more that we are insured against risks, the higher the premium and the more the agent stands to gain financially. The result is…
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HOAleader.com
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HOA Board Governance: A Model Code of Conduct for Board Members
We've asked our experts for their best advice on the conduct that HOA and condo board members should always follow, along with conduct boards should avoid. Here's that list. -
HOAs and Embezzlement: Divide and Duplicate Tasks to Identify--and Prevent--Fraud
To prevent embezzlement of HOA funds, it's very important that certain duties be split up. -
HOA Finances: Six Tips for Preventing Embezzlement of Association Money
A Florida condo association recently had $167,000 stolen from its bank account. The condominium's experience reinforces two truths about this economy: You can't afford to lose a penny of your association's money, and desperate people do dumb (and sometimes illegal) things. Here are six money-handling tips to ensure your association doesn't end up the victim of embezzlement. -
HOA Facilities and Maintenance: Everything You Need to Know about Building Exteriors
If you're like most people, you don't give much thought to the exterior of your buildings until something leaks where it's not supposed to leak. You can prevent that from happening with visual inspections and regular maintenance. Here's some basic information to help you understand how to maintain your HOA buildings' exteriors. -
The Fair Housing Act and Protected Classes: What Your HOA Needs to Know
This week's tip is taken from a new article that explains three areas of the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) that are critical for condo and HOA boards to understand. Here we'll cover just one area: protected classes.
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Google Blog Search: Association Management
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HOA Finances: Six Tips for Preventing Embezzlement of Association ...
20 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pmHOAleader.com provides practical advice on homeowner and condominium association management, laws, rules · Home | Browse by Topic | Discussion Forum | Tell a Friend | Text Size | Search | Member Area ... -
FMI Honors FIAE's McConnell
19 Nov 2009 | 8:58 amFIAE's primary purpose is the sharing of information and best practices among association executives on professional development, association management, and legislative and regulatory issues facing the food industry. ... -
Deadbeat owner getting ride on condo association's back
17 Nov 2009 | 9:39 pmCondo Association Management. Subscribe to Blog. Your email: Looking for answers? Can't find the answer you're ... Condo Association Management Blog. Current Articles | RSS Feed. Deadbeat owner getting ride on condo association's back ... -
How to analyze condo association's financial health?
16 Nov 2009 | 9:21 pmCondo Association Management. Subscribe to Blog. Your email: Looking for answers? Can't find the answer you're ... Condo Association Management Blog. Current Articles | RSS Feed. How to analyze condo association's financial health? ... -
Senior Operations Manager | Association Management Center
16 Nov 2009 | 2:24 amUS - Glenview, IL., Qualifications.
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Cynthia D'Amour on Leadership and Life
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A Rose is a Dandelion?
17 Nov 2009 | 6:23 pmWords matter. Arrived in Providence, RI. Excited to see an old friend. Lunching at a palace! In Rhode Island, who knew? Obviously I didn’t! Did a quick website check. Told my Facebook friends. Couldn’t wait! Expecting supreme coolness… Cambodian cuisine. Mama cooking. Culture galore. Instead I got a strip mall restaurant. Called a palace. Easy to drive by. (Thankfully it had fantastic food.) Was I confused? Or maybe it was the neighborhood? Check out the promise of the laundromat next door. Laudry done in four minutes. The marketer in me laughs… Makes me think of… -
Dancing Waters Soothed My Soul
16 Nov 2009 | 1:37 pmAhhh… I was a tad strung out by Saturday afternoon. It was a combo-stress. A night of attempted room invasion. A rocking two-hour program just delivered. I relocated to a hotel near LAX. Courtyard Marriott. A shuttle to the airport next morning. To make my life easy. I expected a typical airport hotel. Sterile. Noisy. A place of convenience. I was delighted when we pulled up to the door. Dancing water in the sunshine. In the middle of the parking lot. Made me smile. A bench nearby called my name. I checked in. Stashed my stuff. And relaxed on the bench watching the water. It was… -
Invasion of My Room
14 Nov 2009 | 5:16 amOr not. I’m staying in a lovely Santa Monica hotel. In the last 12 hours, four people have tried to get in my room. They didn’t knock. They worked the door over. I can understand an occasional mistake. Right room, wrong city. Happens to the best of road warriors. Including me. But four is a bit extreme. Especially when the last was at 4:30 AM. Did someone promote a party in my room? Is this happening all over the hotel? Luckily, I have good hotel habits. I always lock my doors. And flip the bar too. No one getting in my room without an invitation! Luckily, I also switch… -
Old Bone with New Twist
9 Nov 2009 | 8:47 amChop-licking good! Raindrop has a new toy. It is challenging. Tasty. And impossible to resist. Last week Raindrop was making me nuts. I had a ton to do. Including calls. I needed her to be quiet. Raindrop was bored. Wanted attention. Barked her demands. Nothing worked. I had inspiration due to desperation. Grabbed a boring old bone. Went to kitchen. Wedged one of her very smelly favorite treats in the center of it. Raindrop went wild for it. The treat was stuck just beyond her ability to reach it. She could smell it - and almost taste it. But couldn’t get it out. It… -
Just Trust Me…
5 Nov 2009 | 8:40 amNext! Got an email promotion for a webinar. Offered by an association I belong to. 90-minutes long. Almost $200 to attend. Hmmm… The headline grabbed me. The program description spoke my language. I was intrigued. The speaker was… Unknown. Not as in not famous. As in not listed. What am I supposed to do? Trust them to have someone fantastic? Competent? A canned program? Is this webinar is worth $200? A marketer wrote the description. Will the speaker deliver? It matters at this price. No speaker named was a deal breaker for me. I can’t trust I’ll be blown away.
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Drake & Company
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A Few of My Favorite Things ...
18 Nov 2009 | 7:02 amDon't worry - I'm not going to break into the score from the Sound of Music. (Although now I will have that tune running through my head the rest of the day.)Instead, I wanted to take a minute to share a few of my favorite things - those "tech" tools that make my job a little easier. Some of these are old news - ones that we, and probably many of you, have been using forever. Keep in mind though, that "forever" in the world of today's technology may mean less than a year. Others are ones that I'd heard about but have just recently found ways to adapt to our clients' needs.1) Delicious - This… -
Wings & Trees for Troops
12 Nov 2009 | 7:07 amFor the first time since my time at Drake & Company, we hosted a fundraising event for one of our clients, the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation to benefit the Trees for Troops program. The work put in to make the event a success came full circle last night at Buffalo Wild Wings from 6:30-8:30 p.m. With little idea of what exactly to expect, I entered the restaurant blindly with boxes of information to set up at our designated table. However, looking back, there was very little that I should have been concerned about.After initially hearing about Buffalo Wild Wings fundraiser nights, Steve… -
Think Like Your Client
9 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pmOne of my clients is getting a “face lift” of sorts with a new Web site, set to launch on January 1, 2010. As with any transition, we have run into a lot of questions, a lot of confusion and copious amounts of head scratching. Not that we thought transitioning all of our content would be a cakewalk – but as we move our Web site into the 21st century by having more online compatible functions (such as joining our organization, ordering merchandise, registering for a course, etc), we have run into some roadblocks.Some of the roadblocks are just par for the course of using a new online… -
Twitter Part III -- So what's the ROI?
31 Oct 2009 | 7:40 amThis is Part III about Twitter and other forms of social media.In response to an association colleague who was "resigning Twitter," I've written two posts titled "Twitter is More than 140 Characters."My colleague has asked and others have posted same question: "How much time and what's the ROI for Twitter and other social media tools?"To be honest: that is a tough question. I can share anecdotal information but at this point, I have no personal ROI analysis to share.Nevertheless, here are some thoughts about return on investment for social media.The ROI QuestionIn my early career (public… -
Don't Judge an Industry on a Few Bad Examples
29 Oct 2009 | 8:03 amI’m switching gears for this blog. I’ve been writing primarily about association management, but I heard a news story on the radio this week that really hit home for me. It was about the increasing attacks on animal agriculture, and the struggles these farmers are facing thanks to the misinformation and untruths that the media continuously circulate.The news story was about a hog farmer that was being investigated for mistreatment of his animals, according to an ex-employee that happened to be let go from the farm this year. This ex-employee has no proof or documentation of the…
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Frank Kenny's Blog
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Chamber of Commerce Member Marketing Packages that Include Social Media
15 Nov 2009 | 11:27 pmI have been really working the social media angle for my Chamber. I have recently created a package of marketing opportunities that includes Internet social networking and geo-targeting. I can't role it out yet publicly but I think it might be a big deal for associations.Stay tuned.The videos I have been shooting have also been a big hit. Here is one I posted recently. That is representative Fred Finn of Washington's 35th district being interviewed. -
Fun new tools to promote what we are up to
18 Oct 2009 | 3:18 pmI have been busy lately creating videos from still shots. It really is amazing what a lay person can do with some good software and quality photos.Your organization may have the best networking events around but if only a relatively small amount people know about it then you have a problem. Same with a beautiful area that tourists would love but nobody knows about it.Some months ago we hired a professional photographer to attend all of our luncheons, after hours events, grand openings, etc....Steve Zugschwerdt is that photographer. We also hired him to take tourism photos.This first video is… -
Chairman of the Chamber Council of AWB
28 Sep 2009 | 12:21 amI have been blessed to be nominated to Chair the Chamber Council of the Association of Washington Business (AWB), our state's Chamber of Commerce. This is a big honor for me as I have only been in Chamber work for three years.It is a testament to several things.First, my heavy and early adoption of Internet social networking has allowed me to brand myself as a leader. I am highly visible on many sites, teach association management and ISN widely, and love to share what works. It has contributed to our 92% membership growth in the past 18 months.Second, I have a first rate board of directors. -
How we grew our membership by 85% in 18 months
6 Sep 2009 | 12:59 pmI was recently asked about our membership growth and our Internet social networking strategy. Seems many organizations still haven't jumped in for various reasons. This is how I answered that question.Concerning launching Internet social networking (ISN) for our Chamber, what we did first was to decide that this is where the puck is going (reference to the Wayne Gretzky quote). Clearly this is a big idea that is only getting bigger. It is not a question of "if" your organization will be using these tools, it is "when".Once I knew that we would be doing this eventually, I kindly informed our… -
"One of Us"
2 Sep 2009 | 8:23 pmHat tip to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith for their book "Trust Agents" for this one.Our Chamber of Commerce has a member-only Internet social networking site at MyNorthMasonChamber.com. More than 25% of our members have signed up to use it. Not a bad adoption rate, in my humble opinion.One of the things I have noticed is that members need to become "One of Us" before they reap the benefits of belonging to the group. I think this is exactly what Chris and Julien were talking about in one of their chapters.For example, some of the new users jump right in with 50 friend requests, photos of…
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Acronym
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Social media staffing: Are we doing it wrong?
20 Nov 2009 | 12:23 pmSometimes, when you start a blog post, you can be overcome by events—or at least overcome by other bloggers. I recently started writing a post inspired by Lynn Morton's comments about a recent spate of turnover among association social media managers. Since then, Maggie McGary, Maddie Grant, and David Gammel have all added their thoughts. For me, the recent turnover brings back memories of working in a Northern-Virginia-based association in the late 1990s. We couldn't keep an IT manager on staff to save our lives. Someone would start, and two months later, they'd have a great offer from ,… -
A reminder for social media enthusiasts at associations
18 Nov 2009 | 7:55 amIn some ways, Mark Golden, CAE, beat me to the punch for this post when he commented last week on Scott's recap of the Social Media Workshop. He raised some concerns about the value of Twitter and the helpfulness of those who love it (and he started a great conversation; it's long, but it's worth your time). For context, Mark is an association CEO, and thinking about his perspective reinforced this idea in my mind: When a person fails to understand or agree with an idea that you've explained, it doesn't mean that person is unenlightened. It means you did a bad job explaining it, so try again. -
Are There Too Many Associations?
17 Nov 2009 | 6:54 amIn the industry our association represents, we are seeing a ton of consolidation. Many national corporate entities are looking for and finding efficiencies by hiring regional and national service providers, who then subcontract the work to local folks. This simplifies many processes for them, including billing/payment, bidding, and work allocation/reporting. It also saves them a ton of money. This consolidation is having dramatic impacts on local contractors in our industry (whose margins are shrinking because the national providers negotiate lower pricing). But it does make sense from a… -
Oh, boy! Another blog post about social media!
17 Nov 2009 | 6:53 amIn case you missed it, November started this week, and a new month means a new themed series of posts here on Acronym. (No, we didn't do a theme in October. We know.) This month's theme: social media. I can hear you all groaning now. But wait! Before you stop reading, let me assure you: we here at Acronym are well aware that social media has been blogged about to infinity and back in the past 2-3 years, and we know that the last thing you need from us is just more "rah-rah social media" banter. So, we have planned the month's posts with one goal in mind: to go beyond what's already been said… -
Quick Clicks: The quotable edition
17 Nov 2009 | 6:53 amWelcome to your first November Quick Clicks post! Here's some quoteable and noteable posts from the past week or so: - The Digital Now blog reminds us that "the fish out of water has no other fish to contend with." - Shelly Alcorn tells it like it is: "You are not Stuart Smalley and darn it, some people are NOT going to like you." - "We followed the best advice we found and marched confidently forward … right into failure." Get the full story from Peggy Hoffman at the Idea Center blog. - Jamie Notter asks, "As a leader, do you know if you are truly willing to trust your people?" Elsewhere,…
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Splash: A Blog from MemberClicks
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Making a difference
20 Nov 2009 | 8:24 amI wrote yesterday about the importance of giving back during the holiday season – no matter what religion you practice (if any) and despite the gloomy economy. Smaller chapters and small-staff associations especially have a great opportunity to help their local communities. Even a little bit can go a long way. But what are those of us here at MemberClicks doing to help our own community — Atlanta — to close out 2009? In addition to our traditional Thanksgiving potluck lunch next Wednesday, we’re hosting a food drive and giving donations to the Atlanta Food Community Bank. We’ll also… -
Energize your members by giving back during the holidays
19 Nov 2009 | 8:33 amBy Adam Kearney, MemberClicks Creative Director and Shannon Otto For many of us, this time of year is a season of celebration and thanks. We take time out of our lives to give gifts and show our appreciation for one another. Maybe your association takes part in the festive season by throwing holiday parties, holding potluck meals or encouraging gift exchanges between members. But another way to celebrate the season is to give back to our communities and help people in need. Despite the gloomy economy, your members are probably already in a giving mood, and even giving a little bit can go a… -
Canine Coworkers: A Huck of an Idea?
18 Nov 2009 | 8:01 amA day in the life of Huck As many readers and customers might know, MemberClicks has its very own CTO (Canine Technology Officer), Huck. Technically, he lives with our president, Thomas Howard, but he roams the office each day, keeping us in line and keeping us company. Huck is a pocket beagle and he weighs 15 lbs. He is almost 2 years old, and brings us happiness each day — it’s so much fun having a dog in our office! In fact, there are tons of human health benefits for companies that allow pets in the workplace, according to a 2008 American Pet Products Manufacturers Association… -
Beyond the Big Three: Delicious
17 Nov 2009 | 8:11 amThis is the second in an ongoing series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which will highlight social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The first installment on Flickr can be found here. Stay tuned. You know when you find a cool blog post, video or Web site and add it to your Web browser’s “Favorites” folder to reference later? What if there was not only a better way to organize your Favorites, but a Web site that let you access them from… -
Welcome to the family!
16 Nov 2009 | 7:17 amHappy Monday! I can’t believe we’re already halfway through November – where has 2009 gone?! I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. Who’s looking forward to Thanksgiving next week (if you celebrate the holiday, that is)? This girl sure is. To kick off the week, I want to welcome some of the newest members of the MemberClicks family. Our customers are our top priority, and here are just a few of the newest. The International Association of Front Line Managers helps leaders grow by offering resources to improve communication skills or improve employee engagement. The…
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GrowGlobally.org
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MeetingsNet Seminar Slides Nov. 18 on International Meetings
19 Nov 2009 | 8:51 amAmong the 160 who attended thanks for your interest. For convenience, I post the slides for your review at the end of this post. But first, as promised here are the macro regional strategy resources you can use to help build your regional analysis (PEST). I think I forgot to mention the third one which is Transparency International who issues great data on countries and their success at reducing corruption and associated barriers to business growth. As always any questions, please contact me at your convenience. World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010… -
International Meeting Strategy and Cost Saving Tips – MeetingsNet Webinar
17 Nov 2009 | 9:27 amPeter Turner, Director Business Development US Market, and Idoia Rodés Torróntegui, Managing Director MCI Brussels, will present tomorrow on two MeetingsNet Webinars on international meetings. Session 1 – LIVE at 12:00pm ET Things You Need to Know Before Launching an International Association Meeting Do you want to launch a meeting outside the U.S., but aren’t quite sure where to start? How do you find the right destination and venue for your group? How do you negotiate with a vendor from another country? How do you market to your potential international audience? And, most… -
US Health Care Association Builds Local Latin American Channel Sharing Latest Advances
22 Oct 2009 | 11:33 pmHere is another story reflecting the value of cultivating strong local partners in the business of delivering value within a region. In this case the region is Latin America. A US-based health care society cultivated a strong relationship with its Brazilian counterpart focusing on science, education and development of its field. This relationship offered a strong basis to form a partnership and embark on a joint effort to organize a showcase that would feature leading experts presenting unbiased analysis of the society’s annual meeting abstracts and sessions, evolving therapies,… -
So Long G8 Hello G20
25 Sep 2009 | 5:56 amIf you still needed proof of the power of the rising global economic impact of emerging markets, look no further than today’s announcement in Pittsburg, USA. The G20 has now become the global commerce coordinating body as we say good bye to the G8. Here is the Reuters story. -
MCI Launches E-Learning Services for Non-US Market
10 Sep 2009 | 7:24 pmBy now the vast majority of US-based associations have developed and deployed their own e-learning products with varying degrees of success. Until recently the demand within other regional markets in Europe among EU-based associations has been far less bullish. In this interactive on-line course, Pol Van de Perre, MCI’s director of Education Services and Consulting outlines the various technology options EU based associations can leverage as a cost-effective medium to offer education programs. The seminar explains how e-learning fits into your overall education portfolio and how it…
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Association Subculture
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I Will Choose Free Will - Executive Decision Making Skills a la Rush
15 Nov 2009 | 2:20 pmYou can choose a ready guide in some celestial voiceIf you choose not to decide, you still have made a choiceYou can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can killI will choose a path that's clearI will choose free will. Rush, Permanent WavesThe Short of ItDecisions, decisionsWe make them every dayBut some of us are better at it than othersWaaaaay betterGood decision making skills are a left-brain, right-brain thingAnd quality is always better than quantityThe Long of ItAssocation executives go to work each day and face the daily decision tree. Some climb slowly,… -
That's Okay Cuz I Got No Self-Esteem - The D-list Employees
2 Nov 2009 | 2:19 pmI wrote her off for the tenth time todayAnd practiced all the things I would sayBut she came overI lost my nerveI took her back and made her dessertNow I know I'm being usedThat's okay man 'cause I like the abuseI know she's playing with meThat's okay 'cause I got no self esteem Offspring, SmashThe Short of ItWhat's with that one employee?You know the one.The one that desperately needs to be fired.And escapes the hammer week after week.Get some self-esteem.And get it over with.The Long of ItIt is not a secret that I approach teamwork from a kind of radical point of… -
We Need More Executive Transvestites
23 Oct 2009 | 11:39 am“Cause if you're a transvestite, you're actually a male tomboy, that's where the sexuality is. Yeah, it's not drag queen, no; gay men have got that covered. This is male tomboy, and people do get that mixed up, they put transvestite there - no no no no! Little bit of a crowbar separation, thank you! And gay men, I think, would agree. It's male lesbian, that's really where it is, ok? Because… it's true! ‘Cause most transvestites fancy girls, fancy women. So that's where it is.” - Eddie Izzard, Dressed to KillThe Short of ItCongress just passed a bill to extend hate crimes protection to… -
Nothing You Can Do That Can't Be Done.....
14 Oct 2009 | 11:05 amThere's nothing you can do that can't be doneNothing you can sing that can't be sungNothing you can say but you can learn how to play the gameIt's easyThere's nothing you can make that can't be madeNo one you can save that can't be savedNothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in timeIt's easy - Beatles, The Blue AlbumThe Short of ItMan, I had hit on it this time.Members only sections needed to come down.Free and Fast Company (among others) are showing the way.After my post, I got a shout out from a fellow blogger.Who had posted the exact same thing and maybe even said it better,… -
Information? Give it Away Now.....
7 Oct 2009 | 10:58 amRealize I don't want to be a miserConfide w/sly you'll be the wiserYoung blood is the lovin' upriserHow come everybody wanna keep it like the kaiser?Give it away, give it away, give it away now - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood, Sugar, Sex, MagikThe Short of ItAssociations as "information brokers?" Yeah, we figured that out.We could see all of the information we've gathered if we could get behind those "members only" walls.They are kind of like levees built around lakes - and they are leaking.The rising tides of information on the outside will eventually breach the top.Therefore, the…
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Vanguard Technology
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Don’t Get Beat To The Tweet
10 Nov 2009 | 7:50 amDon’t Make The Same Mistake Twice Remember when you waited to buy a domain name for your organization because you wanted to see what was going to happen with this new-fangled thing called the Internet? Would this crazy concept ever catch on? Many thought it wouldn’t. Now those organizations have URLs for their website with words like “now” or “net” or “online” in them while the more savvy organizations have rock solid, memorable URLs for what turns out to be the most valuable marketing tool you’ll organization will ever have. Ad Age has… -
Association Social Networking Strategy Checklist: 10 Things To Do First
30 Oct 2009 | 1:14 pmWhat’s First? This blog post is meant to assist associations who are either just getting started with social networking or have a social network up and running that they wish was performing better. It’s not enough to simply implement social networking software and hope that your members figure out a way to make it work for them. Having the right software is vital, of course, but community building is all about creating and nurturing an environment that your members can thrive in. A place where networking is natural, influencers drive content and dialogs, and members take ownership of… -
5 Reasons Why Playing It Safe Is Dangerous For Your Association
26 Oct 2009 | 5:37 pmHere are 5 reasons why thinking safe and acting safe can be dangerous in these times more than any other. 1. Safe defends the status quo. There is no greater time to buck traditions and move outside your comfort zone. 2. Safe doesn’t equal success. Some of the greatest companies in the world started in a recession. Where would we get a Whopper if James McLamore and David Edgerton played it safe? 3. Safe is boring. How will you attract younger members, create an increase in non-dues revenue and establish a stellar online presence if you’re boring everyone to death? Better yet, how… -
Get A Behind-The-Scenes Look At What It Takes To Build A Community Online
21 Oct 2009 | 10:27 amI’ll be part of a webinar put on by Higher Logic tomorrow, Thursday, October 22 at 1pm Central. It will be a case study webinar on the building of a community from the eyes of the association and the vendor. PromaxBDA recently launched a new website, community and custom awards module. Come to this webinar to find out what it really takes to get a Web 2.0 project off the ground. This one promises to be full of useful, real-world insights. Don’t miss it. UPDATE: View the recorded webinar. -
7 Key Things To Look For In Your New Association Website Vendor
15 Oct 2009 | 7:01 amtoothpastefordinner.com Website redesigns are a reality for many organizations these days. With the dawning of social networking and with the coming evolution of mobile, we all need to rethink our web presence. It’s vital to get your new website right, of course, but to do that you’ll need to find the right vendor to build it for you. Here are 7 things to look for as you begin your search. Self-serving as this may seem, it truly is – based on years of experience and many conversations with associations and website vendors – a good list of things to think about as you…
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The ARC Blog for Not-for-Profit Associations
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Playing the Not-for-Profit Prophet
18 Nov 2009 | 4:38 pmI have been following a really interesting discussion on the CSAE Conference Group on LinkedIn over the past few days. Bud Crouch, who will be leading the 2009 Governance Summit, asked association professionals to weigh in on what they think associations will look like five-to-six years from now. His own thoughts (which I think are pretty spot-on) can be found in this article. I thought it would be fun to play the not-for-profit prophet for a moment and weigh in on what I think a successful association will look like in the not-so-distant future. So here’s my… -
The ARC's Canadian Not-for-Profit Social Media Pulse Survey
17 Nov 2009 | 8:22 amThere are only a couple of days left to participate in the ARC's Canadian Not-For- Profit Social Media Pulse Study - If you are a Canadian non-profit professional, please take a few minutes to participate by clicking on the link below: http://www.arcfactfinder.com/surveys/arc/09/november/socialmediasurvey.htm?survey=541 The survey should take approximately 5-7 minutes to complete. Respondents will recieve a free summary of the results at the CSAE Conference in Toronto on November 26. If you are not attending CSAE, we are happy to send you a copy of the results by email. -
Calling All Canadian Not-for-Profits to Participate in the ARC's inaugural Canadian NFP Social Media Pulse Study - FREE results for participants.
13 Nov 2009 | 11:51 amWhether you have a full-scale strategy in place, or don’t use it at all, social media is probably something that’s been on your radar. Because of its relative newness and the rapid rate at which it is integrating itself into the way we work, play and live, associations today have a number of questions about this growing phenomenon: Is the not-for-profit sector using social media? What online spaces are they in? How do they measure success?To help answer some of these questions, the Association Resource Centre is pleased to invite you to participate in the inaugural Canadian… -
Listen Up!Series on Member Needs & Satisfaction #2: Members Vote With Their Feet When it Comes to Programs and Services
11 Nov 2009 | 8:03 amAs promised, the next few instalments of the ARC Listen Up!Series on Member Needs & Satisfaction will look more closely at some of the different benchmarks we use here at the Association Resource Centre to help clients evaluate member satisfaction and determine needs. Today’s focus will be on Programs and Services. The average rating given by members in this particular area is 72%. This is one of the strongest benchmarks based on the results from 47 member needs studies for 37 Canadian associations. This number suggests that overall, members of Canadian associations who… -
The ARC’s Listen Up!Series on Member Needs & Satisfaction #1: The Bird’s Eye View
29 Oct 2009 | 5:30 amShhh!! Listen closely! Do you hear that? Meh. Could that be the sound your members are making with they think about their association? Over the past few years, we have compiled data in 47 studies carried out on member needs and satisfaction for 37 different associations in Canada.* On the whole, the trend among the associations we’ve studied suggests that association members are reasonably satisfied with the organizations that represent them...but they aren’t blown away. In each of these studies, we benchmarked member satisfaction and needs across a number…
