Higher Logic
OCTOBER 29, 2015
Many people think that the Holy Grail for community managers is proving a community’s ROI. Wrong! In Rachel Happe’s Super Forum keynote address, she said that many people misunderstand this point. The Holy Grail for community managers isn’t proving ROI -- sometimes when you’re starting out, it’s negative -- it’s improving the value of your community to ultimately increase ROI.
Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 21, 2015
Learn how to safely and quickly process online payments; find out why non-profits and charities need protection against fraud; tips and tricks for saving money on transaction fees, setting up online donation forms and more!
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Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 26, 2015
I’m excited to share the launch of the seventh whitepaper in the ongoing Spark whitepaper series, Innovate the Lean Way: Applying Lean Startup Methodology in the Association Environment. The whitepaper addresses a simple (but not necessarily easy) concept. To quote my co-author, Guillermo Ortiz de Zarate , Director of Information Services for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards : “There’s no bigger waste than investing resources working on the wrong thing.
Socious
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Regardless of how talented your community managers are, it takes more than community professionals to create a sustainable community that provides consistent engagement and value. According to research from The Community Roundtable , “investing sufficiently in community teams so that the community is integrated across functional areas of the organization” increases both visibility with, and value to, the organization.”.
Speaker: Gareth Webb & Phil Selley, Founding Partners at Intouch Business
For many nonprofit organizations and NGOs, managing grants and monitoring projects with spreadsheets and manual processes feels familiar—but is it holding your organization back? As funding requirements become more complex and stakeholder expectations for transparency grow, relying on outdated methods can lead to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and compliance risks.
Aaron Wolowiec
OCTOBER 31, 2015
Tracy King, chief learning strategist, InspirEd LLC. Editor’s Note: This is our Thanksgiving edition of Event Gardeian of the Month! Q & A with Tracy King, chief learning strategist, InspirEd LLC. Q: For what are you most thankful? A: I am so thankful for my four beautiful children, family and friends – sharing love, laughter, good food and shenanigans!
Association Universe brings together the best content for association members and organizers from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Higher Logic
OCTOBER 9, 2015
How do you know what your customers or members are really thinking? That quest is easier than ever with the advent of social media, open online review sites and the rise of online communities. Customers’ and members’ voices are louder, easier to find and responsible for making organizations a lot more human. Customers and members have always been talking, but organizations haven’t always made a point to listen.
Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 29, 2015
October was a big month! We launched our new Wild Apricot Membership Academy + Rolled out new features with Version 5.6. Have a read and learn more about all that we've been up to.
Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 13, 2015
“There’s no bigger waste than investing resources working on the wrong thing.” Guillermo Ortiz de Zarate, Director, Information Systems, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Given associations’ tight resources, we can’t afford to waste time pursuing the wrong thing. Lean startup methodology (as opposed to lean six-sigma) has taken the business world by storm in the last several years, with businesses of all sizes and life stages experiencing success followin
Socious
OCTOBER 29, 2015
Recently we passed the milestone of Back to the Future Day. October 21 st , 2015 was the future day that Doc sent Marty McFly to in one stylish ride. There, McFly saw a lot of bad fashion and cool things like hoverboards, flying cars, and Jaws 19, the movie.
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Struggling to generate revenue beyond membership dues? You're not alone. Our free guide, The Ultimate Guide to Non-Dues Revenue for Associations , offers practical strategies to help your organization boost financial health. Inside, you'll explore creative ways to generate income, including: Educational offerings tailored to your audience Event-based revenue opportunities Job boards that drive engagement and income Corporate sponsorship ideas A checklist to evaluate and strengthen your current a
Aaron Wolowiec
OCTOBER 13, 2015
Think back to your college days. Remember those massively packed, overwhelming lecture halls? Was it hard to pay attention? Did you feel like a minnow in a sea of students swimming upstream? I did. Then, think back to your smaller classes (even if that only happened in high school). Wasn’t it easier to focus? Didn’t you feel a bit more important when the professor/teacher actually saw your hand…and called on you?
YourMembership
OCTOBER 19, 2015
We all know that change happens; staff leave, volunteers turnover, member interests and expectations evolve and technology will always bring new advances to the industry. Associations, and almost any membership organization, continue to be challenged by change management. Books are written about it and a lot of time and effort has been spent talking about how to deal with it.
Higher Logic
OCTOBER 20, 2015
These tactics don’t just bring new people into your community – they remind and prompt current members to check in and participate. Just because you get someone signed up doesn’t mean they’ll become a promoter or keep checking in. If there is enough activity – and you do a good job of highlighting top content – then members will keep going back to make sure they don’t miss out on an important opportunity.
Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 20, 2015
You’ll love how simple we've made it to create single registration, multi-session events through a new feature released in Version 5.6.
Speaker: Dave Sackett
Traditional budgeting and forecasting methods can no longer keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Static budgets, rigid annual forecasts, and outdated financial models limit an organization’s ability to adapt to market shifts and economic uncertainty. To stay ahead, finance leaders must leverage a future-forward approach—one that leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and continuous planning to drive smarter financial decisions.
Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 27, 2015
In keeping with what’s becoming a regular practice when I release a new Spark whitepaper, I recently had the opportunity to present a webinar for the Yourmembership.com Thought Leader series on Innovate the Lean Way , which I co-authored with Guillermo Ortiz de Zarate. The free recording is now available: During the webinar, I relate A Tale of Two Projects, Parts 1 and 2, showing the difference using lean startup methodology can make in your innovation efforts (spoiler alert: building some
Socious
OCTOBER 20, 2015
In the grand scheme of the digital age, thank goodness the 90’s and early 2000’s are behind us. Don’t get me wrong, we wouldn’t be where we are today without GeoCities, America Online, and MySpace. However, I’m very glad that we have moved away from the notion that every organization needs a website, just to have a website. Today, your website is your number one marketing asset.
KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup
OCTOBER 17, 2015
For the past few weeks Association Chat has been quietly testing a new platform for the weekly Tuesday chats. Blab is a livestreaming platform that enables a public video chat among four participants at a time. Viewers come in to watch the livestream and they can participate by leaving comments on the desktop application or below on the mobile version.
YourMembership
OCTOBER 2, 2015
Associations and member organizations must develop a robust virtual presence in order to succeed in our “on-demand” economy, and utilize technology to help serve their members more efficiently as the market continues to shift. Our September YourMembership (YM) CAE Thought Leadership Webinar, Becoming an 24/7 On-Demand Service Provider to Meet Member Expectations presented by JP Guilbault – CEO of YM, identified and broke down five shifts that currently drive the On Demand men
Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand
Do you really know your donors? Not just what they give, but who they are? 👥 In this interactive session, we’ll break down how nonprofits can use behavioral indicators (affinity, recency, frequency, and monetary value) to build prospecting segments that go beyond wealth screening and actually align with donor identity. You’ll walk away with practical strategies to move beyond basic demographics and cultivate supporters based on how they already engage with you!
Higher Logic
OCTOBER 8, 2015
There is a widening gap within humanity right now, between very few people doing a lot of interesting, productive and innovative stuff, and many people doing absolutely nothing. The thing is, everyone has the potential to affect change. This concept has recently been coined as cognitive surplus. We can’t simply ask everyone to start doing incredibly productive tasks all at once—a heralded concept of productivity and volunteerism is start small, ask small.
Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 5, 2015
Version 5.6 has been released! It brings in some significant improvements to the process of inserting files and images, resulting in a better user experience. We’ve also included yet another feature to our events module. Plus we’re proud to introduce two new fully responsive theme sets: Terra and Firma.
Jamie Notter
OCTOBER 8, 2015
I spoke this week at the Direct Marketing Association's annual meeting --twice actually: I did a "book club" session on When Millennials Take Over , and then I had a concurrent session on "What the Experienced Marketer Can Learn from Millennials." In the latter session I was able to talk in more detail about something that I don't always get to talk about: what exactly shaped the Millennial generation.
Virtual
OCTOBER 7, 2015
Here’s how I spent mine: This past week, we organized the PCI SSC North American Community Meeting. This annual event brings together over 1200 people in the payment security space—we’ll repeat it next week in Tokyo and in two weeks in Nice. The video says it all—it’s a pretty big production. When we’re pulling together an event like this, I have a few simple rules in mind: 1.
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KiKi L'Italien's Acronym Soup
OCTOBER 27, 2015
Today on Association Chat we are talking about the apps that are rocking association professionals' worlds. What are the apps that make a difference in your day-to-day life? We'll explore apps that impact your business, personal, spiritual, and physical lives. Here are some questions we'll discuss: Which apps are you using to improve what you do at work?
Association Adviser
OCTOBER 15, 2015
How buying a suit led to an epiphany about the power of consultative selling. For association media professionals, non-dues revenue isn't sold, it's earned. The post Power Suit, Power Selling. For more about this topic, click on the headline.
Higher Logic
OCTOBER 6, 2015
The internet is awash in resources and it can be overwhelming. Between blogs and books, Twitter feeds and LinkedIn influencers, it’s hard to know where to start for good community resources. Plus, in an age where everyone is a “journalist,” it’s hard to know what counts as credible. In the words of the wise President Abraham Lincoln, “ Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet …”.
Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 26, 2015
For our new themes, Terra and Firma, we wanted to mimic the serenity of calm, natural environments like, blue misty mountains, grey pebbly beaches, and flowing fields of golden wheat. So, grab your gear and take a hike!
Speaker: Jennifer Hill
Payroll compliance is a cornerstone of business success, yet for small and midsize businesses, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations. Mistakes can lead to costly penalties and operational disruptions, making it essential to adopt advanced solutions that ensure accuracy and efficiency.
Jamie Notter
OCTOBER 15, 2015
I spoke this week to a group of leaders from organizations that value "tradition" quite highly. I, of course, was talking about some of the big changes in society (social media, the Millennials, decline of traditional management, etc.) that will be challenging many traditions. These leaders are by no means blind to these changes, but they were unsure about when they should challenge some of the traditions in their organizations and when they should rely on those traditions as a strength, since t
Mariner
OCTOBER 7, 2015
I attended a session at last week’s Mid-Atlantic Marketing Seminar in Baltimore on reaching the media in a digital/mobile world. The main message was that while the media may be more accessible, it is also harder to get their attention. After all, there is so much information coming in from so many directions that our heads are spinning.
Virtual
OCTOBER 16, 2015
Last week I saw the coolest Facebook post from my sister-in-law, who works at EMC in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. It was pretty neat—Patriot tight end (and part time Superhero) Rob Gronkowski had come to EMC as part of a company celebration. She was pumped to see Gronk live and in person. Watch the clip! Turns out, that celebration was part of CX Day —an initiative of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).
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