Tech Conference takeaways
Anyone who participated ASAE & The Center’s Technology Conference knows that it wasn’t just about technology. Yeah, we talked about AMS systems, storage area networks, routers, and the like, but the real buzz was around the web. Specifically around Web 2.0. Folks, this isn’t just some passing fad. This ain’t dotcom all over again! The very nature of how people “associate” is changing. I looked up the word associate and found:
1. To join in or form a league, union, or association.2. To spend time socially; keep company.
3. To join as a partner, ally, or friend.
4. To connect or join together; combine.
5. To connect in the mind or imagination
In the opening general session we learned from Anthony Williams, author of Wikinomics, that in 2006, Blooger.com had more traffic than CNN.com and that MySpace.com has 250 million users “associating.” In the preconference town hall meeting we surveyed the attendees (pdf). When asked “What is the most important technology issue facing your organization,” 20 percent of the respondents indicated web 2.0 technologies. This was second only to AMSs. When asked “Which web‐based apps do you use” 17 percent of CEOs and 37 percent of senior staffs indicated they use blogs, and 17 percent of CEOs and 21 percent of senior staffs indicated they use wikis. As Mr. Williams asked, what are we doing to harness the power of mass collaboration? In the ensuing conversation about blogs and wikis from outside the association community, someone in the audience opined that this was a question of whether or not we focus on our tent or their tent. What if there is just one big tent? How do associations operate in this environment?
In the second general session, Erica Driver of Forrester Research spoke about the information worker and how providing context is critical. Increasingly that context is outside of our organizations—in wikis, blogs, newsfeeds, etc. What are we doing to create a work environment that provides the context our employees, and equally important, our members need? If our job is to give our members the tools they need to be productive in their jobs everyday (and I believe it is), when are our websites going to transform from glorified direct mail posters to collaborative work environments?
So here is what I’m thinking about. How can I expand my AMS to become an IMS, an idea management system? One that captures the richness found in nonstructured conversations that happen in nontraditional spaces. Now that would be “business intelligence!” While I am accounting for dues and fees, how do I begin to “account” for blog postings, wiki contributions, and other nontraditional ways members show engagement? And finally, while I need to be sure my organization’s infrastructure is sound, how do I build an “out-frastructure” that ensures that my staff, and my members, have the tools they need to be productive information workers? Your thoughts?
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Hi Reggie. You can use BrightIdea.com for Idea and Innovation Management. Utilizing web 2.0 technologies to allow mass collaboration on ideas, tagging, categorizing, and ranking. All the top ranked ideas float to the top where they are made into reality. BrightIdea.com is delivered through a SaaS model.
Posted by: Paul Tran | February 6, 2008 12:28 AM
Associations are very interesting groups to work with. They are networks of networks, and depending on their structures, they are more or less easy to work with to put in place a functioning system.
The real problem is not technology, but management and user adoption of technology. Anyone can build a Web 2.0 application. Getting people to use it effectively is a completely different story.
IT conferences are littered with collaborative technlogies that never got used, despite the hype. What about Discussion Boards? Lotus Notes databases? SharePoint servers? Exchange Public Folders? Push Systems? The list is endless - and will continue to be endless until the IT industry, and those who try to gain value from what IT can genuinely bring, focus on real, genuine user adoption.
Now, I'll be honest and plug my company, because I love my company, what we do, and what our clients have done. My company is Imaginatik and we have been working on Collaborative Innovation & Problem Solving programs for over 100 firms for the last 10 years. Yes, we have a fab system and process. But, most importantly for someone like yourself, we have cracked the User Adoption problem, and know how to crack it for associations too.
Final plug - I recommend everyone users Google Alerts or something similar. I found this post by using Google Alerts and it is brilliant!
Yours,
Mark Turrell
Posted by: Mark Turrell - CEO, Imaginatik | February 11, 2008 12:35 PM
Reggie, here is a recap of a conversation I had at the tech conference. It has become all too common.
I was wandering the halls during a break at the ASAE Tech conference last week at the Washington Convention Center and I overheard a couple of Association folks commiserating over their website and their plans for a total re-design. I was immediately overwhelmed and unexplainably sucked into the conversation by a force more powerful than I had ever encountered. After an awkward introduction to Denise and Andy and an apology for my eavesdropping, I jumped right into the conversation.
Here is an overview of the exchange:
KJ ”Did I just hear you say that you were in the middle of website re-design Denise?
Denise "We just finished our RFP process and we selected our vendor. We are spending some big dollars on a total overhaul."
KJ “What was wrong with your old site? Why the overhaul?”
Andy "Denise is having the same problems we are, "Andy chimed in. "Nobody visits our sites. Our web traffic is way down. We are going through the same process and it has been painstaking.”
KJ What makes you think that a re-design is going to increase traffic and what new elements are you adding to your site?”
Denise “Our web consultant is going to provide us a whole new look and feel and they know a great deal about Search engines so when people are looking for us on the web they’ll be able to find us easier. We are also adding video and some podcasts.”
KJ “Sounds great!” “Are those the things your members said they were interested in? Did your members let you know that if you made changes to your site then they would come to your site more often?”
Andy “Not exactly. We had a small focus group and our web guru insisted we needed to upgrade the site. And” (I interrupted Andy)
KJ Excuse me for cutting you off but I have to call a timeout here. In good conscience I cannot listen to this story unfold one more time. I’ve heard this same story countless times and I want to save you some heartache. I’m going to let you in on a number of secrets that will change your outlook on your web strategy for today and tomorrow. Here are some basics:
1. You have to unconditionally accept the fact that people’s web habits have changed. People do not visit websites like they used to. (including yours)
2. Your members used to rely on your organization heavily for information and content. Now content is available to everyone and it can come from many sources.
3. Your members want to be engaged and they want to participate with your organization, your content and other members.
4. Socially enabling your web sites will provide your members the same experience they are most likely experiencing on other sites. For the first time you can provide an on-line platform that is more representative of your organization.
5. You need to develop a long-term phased approach to social media for your organizations so that you can introduce new tools and features in an easy to understand and digest method.
6. And remember, from the organization’s standpoint, “Social media is not about talking, it is about listening.”
Denise (jumping in) “We have been talking about a lot of those things but we are really not sure if our members are ready for social media yet. We have a page on MYSPACE, if that means anything?”
Andy “We have a page on Facebook and from what we have learned so do most of our members.”
KJ “Are you saying your organization is not ready for social media or are you saying your members are not ready?” I continued, “Because what I am hearing is that your organization has made an initial step by setting up pages on platforms and you feel your members are using the popular social networking sites. Right?”
Andy/Denise – (in unison) “Yeah, I guess.”
KJ So, let’s recap.
1. Your web site traffic is down.
2. Your organization has set up pages on Facebook and MYSPACE
3. Your members are using the popular social media sites.
Andy “Ok, now things are getting clearer.” “Are you saying that we should put the breaks on our web site re-design plans?”
KJ “No, not at all”, I interjected. “I am saying that while you are in the process of rethinking your web presence, it is vital to start incorporating social media tools because that is the experience your members will be ultimately looking for from you or someone else. Defensively or offensively, your organization has to get into the game. You want your members socializing, collaborating and participating on your platform under your brand. You know your organization better than anyone and you can best determine how and when you’ll introduce social media tools to your members.”
Denise “Well, that all makes a great deal of sense and gives me a number of things to think about. I have to run to the next session and ironically it is on social media.”
Andy “Me too, but thanks for interrupting. We are going to make some immediate changes to our plans. It all makes much better sense now. Enjoy the conference.
KJ “I’ll do that, it has already been worthwhile.”
Posted by: Kevin Jerge | February 13, 2008 4:44 PM