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.
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.
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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.
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.
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
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Ever wonder why brands like Apple, LEGO, and Sephora are going all-in on branded communities? It’s because online community building is the secret sauce to connecting with audiences in ways that ads and emails simply can’t. But here's the best part—it’s not just for big corporations. Associations can create thriving online communities too. GrowthZone’s eBook, "The Power of Community," breaks down exactly why a branded online community can be a game-changer for your association.
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.
Association Adviser
APRIL 21, 2014
'Kelly Donovan, Naylor. While Earth Day has been celebrated worldwide since 1970, many of your members (and employees) may not know what it’s all about. This year’s Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22. Here are some easy ways to go green that will help you do your part and raise awareness about this important global initiative. . Be environmentally friendly: use online communications for events and programs instead of paper.
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.
Jamie Notter
APRIL 21, 2014
'I read a good article online about the founder’s role in setting the culture of a startup company. The article talks a lot about Facebook and Zuckerberg as an example, but I’ve seen this one first hand, and it’s been documented by other core writers about corporate culture, like Ed Schein (pp. 91 to 99 in the Corporate Culture Survival Guide ).
Idea Architects
APRIL 18, 2014
'You divided into small groups and had a great conversation. Energy in the room was high and everyone was engaged. Get ready for all the passion and enthusiasm to get sucked out of the room as the reporting out begins. One by one, report by report, attention and interest will diminish. It doesn''t have to be this way , and it shouldn''t be this way if you simply tweak the traditional small group reporting process.
Association Adviser
APRIL 15, 2014
'Elsbeth Russell, Naylor. Networking and education. If you were to ask your members why they attend your association events—and possibly why they are members of your association in the first place—those benefits would likely be the top two. While most associations have the educational component down-pat, the networking aspect is a little less tangible.
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.
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.
Vanguard Tech
APRIL 24, 2014
'When was the last time you logged into your Google Analytics account? If you’re like me and wear multiple hats with “Analytics Guru” being hat number 8 or 9, probably not in a while. So when I logged in earlier this week to check out the fuss about “Universal Analytics” I did a double take. ( More on “Universal Analytics” in a minute. ).
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.
Jamie Notter
APRIL 24, 2014
'I participated in a Twitter chat about generations this week, and I will say that I was pleased with the level of the conversation. There wasn’t a lot of hype or “kids these days” statements thrown around, and while people were sensitive to the dangers of stereotyping, they didn’t throw the baby out with the bath water and adopt the “this generations stuff is useless” position either.
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Associations Now
APRIL 8, 2014
'Sunday marked the beginning of National Volunteer Week, a 40-year tradition of honoring the work and service of U.S. volunteers. Here’s how several associations are both saluting their volunteers and fostering the volunteer spirit this week. This week marks the 40th anniversary of National Volunteer Week in the United States. Across our country, volunteers open doors of opportunity, pave avenues of success, fortify their communities, and lay the foundation for tomorrow’s growth and prospe
Association Adviser
APRIL 15, 2014
'Hank Berkowitz, Editor-in-Chief. Budgets are tight. Travel’s a hassle. Can’t justify the time out of the office, we tell ourselves. But again and again we return to our favorite annual conferences and events. Even in this hyper-connected, social, mobile, digital age—or maybe because of it—associations and their members still like to meet, network and learn face-to-face.
Wild Apricot
APRIL 25, 2014
'This week''s link round-up offers 5 posts with ideas and tips on: membership engagement; volunteer recognition; small meeting reporting; writing like a human and non-profit blogs.
Velvet Chainsaw
APRIL 11, 2014
'Share this Image On Your Site. Please include attribution to [link] with this graphic. The 2013 Speaker Report: The Use of Professional and Industry Speakers In the Meetings Market (Free PDF download. No contact information required.). Related Stories Conference Audiences To Speakers: It Is All About Me, Not You! The Job Of A Speaker Must Drastically Change For Successful Conferences Today Your Conference Speakers’ Skills Gap Is Causing You To Lose Money.
Speaker: Joe Sharpe and James Carlson
Payroll optimization can be one of the most time-consuming and complex factors of small business management. Yet, organizations that crack the code on streamlining employee compensation often discover innovative avenues for growth. With the right strategies in place, outsourcing and streamlining payroll processes can result in substantial time and resource savings.
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.
Jamie Notter
APRIL 22, 2014
'I hear very few leaders in organizations argue against the IDEA of innovation. It’s cool. It’s progressive. All the cool tech companies are doing it. It’s about creating new value, after all, so who could be against creating new value?! Well, incumbents, it turns out, are not big fans of innovation. It’s disruptive, and incumbents don’t like disruption.
Associations Now
APRIL 2, 2014
'In a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the association is asking the online retailer to update its customer review policy to protect authors and publishers from harassment. To help protect authors and publishers from online bullying, the Horror Writers Association is asking Amazon to strengthen its customer review policy. Readers and purchasers are Amazon’s market but, if content is king and if Amazon’s published policies are to mean anything, then the authors who create the content
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