Acronym

One of the great things about blogging is that if you admit enough of your quirks and foibles, you sometimes find out you're not quite as weird as you thought - there are others out there just as weird as you. This is probably not one of those times.

I work in a fairly small state association. I love my job. I love my association. But I don't get to do the traveling of some of my peers on the national level - or at least not for educational purposes. We have a small budget set aside for continuing education which generally pays for a trip to the national meeting of our trade association, a few local meetings and, most years, the ASAE annual meeting.

Throughout the year, I get brochures for many more meetings. Many more meetings with interesting agendas and great speakers that I would love to attend - but know I can't. For example, ASAE's great ideas conference is coming up Jan. 27-30. It promises fresh ideas and to pump my garden full of seeds of potential growth. And my mental garden so needs that right now - creative fertilizer, cranial MiracleGro. But I still can't go.

So here's what I do. I save the brochures - even though I can't go. I read the brochures. I make myself think about how I could make my garden grow right here at home. (Hey, plain old tap water can make things grow too.) I call it my Really Un- Unconference. I close my door. I escape (just not to Florida, unfortunately).

For example, Dan Heath, author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, is the opening general session speaker. He promises to tell you about the six hooks to get your ideas to stick. (Close your eyes now if you're going to Florida.) Well, here they are, straight from a review in Publisher's Weekly: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions and stories. (The initial letters spell out "success"—well, almost.)

You can read the article in Time magazine about the book. Read an excerpt from the book here. Read their blog. (Dan wrote the book with his brother, Chip.) E-mail Chip and ask him why he's not coming to the conference too. (Maybe he doesn't have the budget either. Or maybe he figures California's just as sunny as Florida.) ;)

Read an interview with both of the brothers here. See their interview on the Today show. Read this article in Inc. magazine about their stickiness. Or just type in Dan Heath Made to Stick in Google like I did and spend the rest of your afternoon stuck in stickiness.

Is this the same as attending the conference and finding some sticky ideas of my own to take home - along with some new friends and some Florida sunshine? No. But it's better than throwing the brochure in the trash can and going on about my day.

It's my very own, personalized, made-to-order, bespoke really un- unconference!