Wild Apricot
APRIL 28, 2014
'Here''s our free non-profit webinar round-up for May. Topics include: mobile impact; finding and keeping donors; telling your stories on social media; volunteer interview strategies; and much more.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 1, 2014
'At CalSAE’s ELEVATE Conference last week, I attended a session on association trend spotting led by Shelly and Mark Alcorn. My team was assigned the mindfulness trend. After some discussion about information overload, the pressure of always being connected and what that does to face to face personal connection, and what is the appropriate role for an association in a member’s life (hint: you are not the most important thing in your members’ lives), the innovative idea we came
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Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 1, 2014
'ASAE held its annual Great Ideas Conference in Orlando, FL last month. During that conference, Scott Oser and I had the pleasure of presenting a session titled, “Under Pressure: Navigating Extreme Association Trends.”. More than 50 association executives hailing from across the country attended our session. We were pleased so many of our colleagues were willing to take the plunge, as this session required an extensive amount of audience participation.
Association Leaders
APRIL 22, 2014
'There have been many great military leaders throughout history. Some of them have gone on to become leaders in other arenas as well – political, business, media, etc. Being in the association business, we often see professional speakers who talk about management, change, people, leadership, and more. So when I saw this article today it caught my attention.
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Jamie Notter
APRIL 29, 2014
'That title is actually the polite version of some advice that Brian Chesky, the CEO of AirBnB, got from someone who had just given him $150 million in startup funding. What the VC actually said, was “ Don’t f**k up the culture.” Chesky suggests that the culture will set his company apart and what the culture will be remembered for in years to come.
Association Universe brings together the best content for association members and organizers from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Wild Apricot
APRIL 2, 2014
'How can you ensure an active, engaged board? In this guest post, Lamees Abourahma outlines three creative ideas that associations have implemented that have been effective.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 28, 2014
'I’m excited to share the launch of the fifth whitepaper in the ongoing Spark whitepaper series, Getting to the “Good Stuff”: Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations. . Co-authored with Peter Houstle ( Mariner Management ), the whitepaper tackles the question: how can associations use data to start asking meaningful, mission-driven questions and to inform our decision-making processes around them?
Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 15, 2014
'Last week’s post focused on the economy, and here I am writing again about it. But I want to foster discussion on Nonprofit Finance Fund’s 2014 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey , the results of which it released on April 7. NFF is a community development financial institution. Leaders from more than 5,000 organizations participated in the sixth annual survey.
Association Leaders
APRIL 15, 2014
'I like to read but don’t make enough time for it. In particular I like to read biographies. I suppose I like biographies because they give me insights into what makes leaders tick – as you know that’s something in which I am very interested. Currently I’m reading David McCullough’s “Truman” So far, an excellent book – like all of McCullough’s works.
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
APRIL 15, 2014
'One of my favorite quotes was when Eric Shinseki, then the Army Chief of Staff, now Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs, said “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”. I love that. But boy, is it tough for a lot of associations to heed this advice. Many organizations are well on their way to irrelevance. If you’re a leader of an organization that feels like it is headed that way, here are a few ideas: Revamp your Board.
YourMembership
APRIL 17, 2014
The Xperience2014 Customer Conference, held March 31 – April 1, 2014, at the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, FL, provided an Xcellent platform for YourMembership.com customers, employees and industry thought leaders to connect, engage, and grow. Throughout the show our guests had the opportunity to attend sessions focused on business, marketing and association management best practices.
Wild Apricot
APRIL 14, 2014
'Is it time to do a little spring cleaning on your website? Here''s a preview of a resource in our Membership Knowledge Hub: Website Spring Cleaning To Do List.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 29, 2014
'From the new Spark whitepaper, Getting to the “Good Stuff”: Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations , written with Peter Houstle: Ultimately, Big Data supports innovation and allows us to do predictive marketing. Why is that? With Big Data: More data is easily available to relevant stakeholders. Accurate data helps you experiment in an organized way.
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Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 8, 2014
'Things were humming along pretty well a few years ago. Gas was, well, relatively affordable, grocery bills were somewhat manageable and people were working. And then 2007 hit. As the economy came crashing down, many of us lost jobs, houses and much more. Stocks and investments plummeted. Luxuries fell by the wayside. Fast forward seven years, and the U.S. is slowly coming back, experts say.
Association Subculture
APRIL 23, 2014
'I think it''s safe to say there is an entire America that a lot of us, particularly those association professionals in the largest hubs - Washington DC, Chicago and Sacramento don''t see. Maybe our affiliates and chapters see it. Maybe our members and potential members see it. Fast Company blogger Adele Peters did a fabulous blog post - " Eerie Photos of Abandoned Shopping Malls Show the Changing Face of Suburbia " and highlighted an upcoming photo essay from Seph Lawless called "Black Friday.
Eric Lanke
APRIL 7, 2014
'WSAE is hosting an education session in Green Bay this Monday and Tuesday, and our speakers are the co-authors of Humanize , Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant. In preparing for the session, I decided to go back and review the blog posts I wrote that summarized some of my major takeaways from the book. They include: Stop Calling It Strategic Planning Inspired by a take-down of strategic planning in Humanize , I pledge to stop using that term to describe the messy, constantly evolving process my asso
YourMembership
APRIL 10, 2014
It’s easy and more than a little tempting following a successful conference to spend just a little time patting yourself on the back. After all, we all like to celebrate our victories, especially when our customers (or members) are pleased with our efforts. You meeting planners out there know exactly what I am talking about. When you’re a company, or organization, with a 15-year history like YourMembership.com, you can sometimes overlook the important moments while you rush on to the next big th
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Wild Apricot
APRIL 11, 2014
'Here''s a preview of a new article in our Membership Knowledge Hub (by Tobi Johnson) that provides insight into and tips for managing and supporting offsite and virtual volunteers.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 30, 2014
'From the new Spark whitepaper, Getting to the “Good Stuff”: Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations , written with Peter Houstle: What are the things you need to do to get ready to use your data? Address your data quality issues. Measure what matters, not just what’s easy to measure. Find your internal data sources. Consider external data sources you might want to add.
Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 29, 2014
'Mark Athitakis, contributing editor, Associations Now. This month’s guest blog post is by Mark Athitakis , a contributing editor for Associations Now. It was originally printed on April 28 , so it’s hot off the press. This is a topic that seems to intrigue our readers, so thanks to Mark for sharing it with us! As a reminder, if you’re interested in submitting a guest post for our blog, please contact Kristen Parker at Kristen@eventgarde.com.
Virtual
APRIL 14, 2014
'One of my favorite quotes was when Eric Shinseki, then the Army Chief of Staff, now Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs, said “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” I love that. But boy, is it tough for a lot of associations to heed this advice. Many organizations are well on their way to irrelevance.
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.
Eric Lanke
APRIL 28, 2014
'image source I''ve been spending a lot of time on the road lately. Lately, as in the past decade or so. It''s part of the life of most association executives. But lately, it''s gotten me thinking about the three kinds of meetings I find myself at. First, there are the meetings our associations plan themselves. Our conferences and trade shows and Board meetings.
Mariner
APRIL 6, 2014
'We talk a lot about how we’re working more and more virtually. And there is a lot of conversation around how to improve how we work with each other in a virtual environment. Yes it’s going to take us time to crack this nut.
Wild Apricot
APRIL 4, 2014
'This week''s link round-up offers good news about “Association Membership Growth”; tips for “Disrupting the Nonprofit Sector”, “Building Staff Writing Teams” and “Unlocking Hidden Fundraisers”.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 21, 2014
'Peter Houstle (Mariner Management) and I are just about to release a NEW whitepaper on Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations. It will formally drop next week, but you can get a preview this week via the YourMembership.com FREE webinar series. Peter and I will be talking about the whitepaper THIS Thursday, April 24 from noon – 1 pm ET.
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Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 22, 2014
'As some of you may know, in addition to my role with Event Garde , I work for Michigan State University’s central communications office. I love working with students. They’re brilliant. They’re ambitious. They’re overachievers. And some of them are old, well, older. I’m amazed by the nontraditional students I encounter on campus. Some are undergrads and some are grad students.
Virtual
APRIL 2, 2014
'Well, for many Board members, “fading away” means unceremoniously dropping them off the Board. That’s why former Board members are often a trouble spot for organizations—someone goes from being “in the know” to “out in the cold.” The result: a one time key member—and often still influential one—becomes disenfranchised. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Eric Lanke
APRIL 21, 2014
'image source I do a fair amount of reading on leadership issues. And in doing so, I encounter the following sentiment--most recently in this Corner Office column --again and again. I have learned that leadership is all about demonstrating and exuding confidence. One of my former bosses used to say: “There will always be uncertainty in your life, doubts about yourself, about the decision you’re about to make.
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