Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 29, 2013
'YAY! You just got a new member! Hopefully, she’ll acclimate and find her place and stay with you forever. Wait: “hopefully”? We can do better than that. Here’s the question you need to ask yourself: does your new member know how to be a member of your organization? Of course not, right? She’s new. She knows enough about you to have been willing to invest her money in joining.
YourMembership
OCTOBER 17, 2013
'Member onboarding — what’s your organization’s program look like? What happens when a new member joins? Do they receive an outdated form letter with a brochure? Or worse yet, perhaps they aren’t notified at all besides a receipt from their initial dues payment. Your member onboarding program sets the tone for the member’s (future) relationship [.] ( Read more. ) The post Three Steps to Successful New Member Onboarding appeared first on YourMembership.com.
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Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 4, 2013
'"All generations are not created equal" and they all have different charitable giving habits and behavior trends. Here''s a look at The Next Generation of American and Canadian Giving reports and insight that impacts fundraising strategies.
Aaron Wolowiec
OCTOBER 29, 2013
'Editor’s Note: This week’s guest post is from Samantha Moore, meetings and membership coordinator for the American Bakers Association in Washington, D.C. Before working full time for the association, Moore was an intern. What can associations offer interns? She explains. Samantha Moore, meetings and membership coordinator for the American Bakers Association.
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Virtual
OCTOBER 2, 2013
'What’s an eight-letter word for association management? Strategy. And even though it should be the driving force behind your professional association’s agenda, strategic plans are often lacking in their most basic elements—including the imperative to stay current. Meg Whitman once described the evolution of eBay’s strategic mission in observing that strategy meetings went from being held once or twice per year, to being necessary several times a week.
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Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 17, 2013
'“You have to spend money to make money,” is the first commandment of marketing. When budgets are tight – which in the association world, they almost always are – does that mean you’re out of luck, sentenced to a vicious cycle of declining revenue and declining membership? Not if you use some smart techniques to achieve your caviar marketing goals on a mac-and-cheese marketing budget: Barter – Seek out a complimentary organization or two, perhaps a closely allied group or friendly competit
YourMembership
OCTOBER 10, 2013
'As Shakespeare wrote, parting is such sweet sorrow. Or is it? Admit it. There are probably some members you would be glad to see walk out the door and take their problems with them. Assuming we are not referring to these people, how do you keep retention numbers high and disenfranchised members low? We have [.] ( Read more. ) The post 5 Tips for Successful Member Renewals appeared first on YourMembership.com.
Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Here is a round-up of 27 free non-profit webinars for November 2013.
Aaron Wolowiec
OCTOBER 22, 2013
'Allison McClintick, founder of FlightLead Consulting. I can’t imagine how scary it was for Allison McClintick, founder of FlightLead Consulting , to move across the country without a plan. A single mom at the time, she left her daughter with her father to start graduate school at the University of San Diego. No job. A few thousand dollars. And hope.
Speaker: Jessica Bonney from VICA and Jeff Horne from Wicket
What does delivering an exceptional member experience mean in today's world? With the right insights, tools, and strategies, you can identify what truly matters to your members, drive meaningful engagement at scale, and continue to meet the ever-evolving needs of your members. Join association experts Jessica Bonney from VICA and Jeff Horne from Wicket who will share practical insights on how to build an exceptional member-driven experience by gaining a deeper understanding of your members and d
Virtual
OCTOBER 30, 2013
'The world is filled with bad training programs. I see them all the time in my inbox. And based on so many flawed examples, I’ve compiled this list—the seven deadly sins of professional association training programs: They’re created by people who don’t understand education and training. There’s a reason education schools exist—teachers learn something about learning modalities and how to communicate material in a way that it can be retained.
Jamie Notter
OCTOBER 31, 2013
'Maddie pointed me to this great post by Stowe Boyd on the GigaOm blog, which is in reaction to this great post by Chris Heuer over on Brian Solis’ blog. They are both fairly long posts, but here’s the gist. Chris Heuer declares the term “social business” dead. He says the C-suite just doesn’t resonate with the ideas and the proponents have not been successful in describing just what social business is.
Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 15, 2013
'I have to preface this by saying that I kind of think the concept of “personal branding” is BS. What was wrong with “reputation” as a descriptor? But this slide deck does offer some good advice on the topic, whatever you choose to call it: Personal branding – do it yourself from Shivam Dhawan. Best points include: Brand is the sum total of feelings, thoughts, and recognition someone or something inspires and is about perception as much as reality.
YourMembership
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'A few weeks ago I wrote about perceived member value – the idea that it’s not valuable unless your members perceive it as valuable. But how exactly do you get there? 1. Listen. You can’t introduce value without knowing what someone finds valuable. You can ask directly, you can listen to member conversations online, you [.] ( Read more. ) The post The Marketing of Value for your Organization appeared first on YourMembership.com.
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Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 9, 2013
'What role should your board play in ensuring your executive director is motivated and energized instead of burnt out and disengaged?
Aaron Wolowiec
OCTOBER 15, 2013
'I continue to be amazed at the response from readers on the topic of internships. My colleague, Aaron Wolowiec , founder of Event Garde , posted on Collaborate , a private social network for members of the American Society of Association Executives , that I was looking for examples of successful internship programs. And examples I got. Lots of them.
Virtual
OCTOBER 24, 2013
'Ever get handed someone’s business card that has an “alphabet soup” of letters after their name? CISSP? (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) CFP? (Certified Financial Planner) CAE? (Certified Association Executive). Aside from wondering what the heck each of these acronyms stands for, have you ever wondered where they come from? If you haven’t, you’ve already read too far.
Eric Lanke
OCTOBER 14, 2013
'image source Two weeks ago, in From Flipcharts to Initial Draft , I continued writing about the process I used to create my association''s values statement, despite some misgivings about the value of values statements I''ve previously shared and still hold. From the flipchart paper on which we had recorded the output of a staff retreat on the subject, I had created an initial draft of a full values statement.
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Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 28, 2013
'One Today , a new app from Google and Network for Good (sadly, only for Android operating systems) allows you to “give a little – change a lot.” Every day, the app features a new cause, and gives users the opportunity to find out about that cause and donate $1 (or more). You can also share that donation with your circle of contacts, thus encouraging them to give as well.
YourMembership
OCTOBER 2, 2013
'Improving communication with your members can improve member relations, help with loyalty, increase word-of-mouth referrals, bolster renewals, and even improve your standing as a first, and only stop, shop for information. It’s obvious why you’d want to improve your communications with members but how do you go about doing it? For those readers who want [.] ( Read more. ) The post 7 Ways to Improve Communication with Your Members appeared first on YourMembership.com.
Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Want to raise awareness of your non-profit or your cause? Try newsjacking.
Aaron Wolowiec
OCTOBER 8, 2013
'An info graphic by InternMatch, listing quick facts about intern compensation. After posting on Sept. 24 about unpaid vs. paid internships , I heard from the founder of InternMatch , an online platform that matches interns with employers. In September, InternMatch gained some attention by proposing the “ Intern Bill of Rights ,” which aims to set some common standards for intern employers.
Speaker: Radhika Samant and Todd Wuestenberg
Employee recognition has often been deemed a "feel-good" initiative, tied closely to rewards. While we understand its importance, we tend to associate recognition with intangible outcomes like engagement and sentiment, rather than direct impacts on retention and high performance. In today’s workplace, the true ROI of recognition lies in its ability to regenerate tangible, business-driven results.
Virtual
OCTOBER 16, 2013
'Your professional association has met and surpassed all of its original goals. Now you’re operating on cruise control, right? Not so fast…. Sometimes success can bring about unforeseen challenges. An organization that accomplishes its main mission is often faced with the “what now?” syndrome. Is your work actually done? Are their secondary or tertiary goals that could be accomplished?
Jamie Notter
OCTOBER 2, 2013
'Today I am delivering a pilot version of a workshop on strategic risk and decision making for management teams, co-delivered with Elizabeth Engel and Leslie White. Leslie is leading the discussion on risk and Elizabeth is digging into how strategic thinking (as opposed to strategic planning) connects to risk, both in terms of protecting against threats and seizing opportunities.
Spark Consulting
OCTOBER 24, 2013
'Fix your pitch (aka “don’t be creepy”). We hear about disruptive tech all the time, but which ones will have particular impact on associations? Associations Now clues us in. (Larky sounds cool – anyone using it?). Twitter’s experimenting with ways to help you manage your feed. “ Save people, not associations.” TRUTH.
Eric Lanke
OCTOBER 28, 2013
'image source Two weeks ago, in The Preamble , I continued writing about the process I used to create my association''s values statement, despite some misgivings about the value of values statements I''ve previously shared and still hold. From the flipchart paper on which we had recorded the output of a staff retreat on the subject, I had created an initial draft of a full values statement.
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Wild Apricot
OCTOBER 2, 2013
'This guest post by by Doreen Ashton Wagner and Jeff Chabot of Greenfield Services offers six tips to guide your journey as you improve your website’s appeal.
Aaron Wolowiec
OCTOBER 1, 2013
'Aerial of downtown Detroit Riverfront Photo Credit: Vito Palmissano. On Oct. 3, I’ll have the opportunity to speak at the seventh annual NACEDA (National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations) Summit. Hosted by the Greektown Casino-Hotel in Detroit, the theme is “What’s Working?” Considering the NACEDA Summit is taking a road trip for the first time in seven years, it’s only appropriate the group decided to convene in the Motor City.
Virtual
OCTOBER 9, 2013
'Today’s remote conferencing tools and virtual events are great for going green and reducing travel spend—particularly if your working groups, association executives, or Board members are geographically dispersed. But there’s no real substitute for in-person gatherings. When you need to unite key people in your association—for training, strategizing, or promoting new initiatives—professional conference services can help.
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