Acronym

As always, I am proud to report that many associations have already sprung into action in response to the serious threat of Hurricane Gustav, now a Category 4 hurricane heading toward New Orleans, and the potential threat of Tropical Storm Hannah coming toward the Florida coast. Here are some of the actions associations are already taking:

· The Air Transit Association of America (ATA) has released a statement explaining evacuation processes for residents in the New Orleans area. You can read it here.

· The Humane Association, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, local and national food banks, and numerous faith-based community organizations have partnered in Nashville, Tennessee, to open shelters, distribute meals, and support evacuees from the hurricane.

· The American Red Cross is urging people in the potentially affected areas to register themselves its new Safe and Well Web site at www.redcross.org, or call a loved one and ask them to register you. This online tool helps families and individuals notify loved ones that they are safe during an emergency. You also can read and link to the organization’s advice to evacuating families by going here.

· The Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants is urging people in the affected areas to “financially prepare” for the hurricane, using its tip list, which includes the need for having plentiful cash on hand, documenting household goods and valuables, and gathering important documents.

· The National Association for Amateur Radio (ham radio folks) has developed guidelines for potential volunteers interested in responding to the hurricane emergency, warning them not to “self-deploy” and noting that the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition has been relaying reports online since Friday.

· The Texas Hotel & Lodging Association sent an alert to members last Thursday, repeating a local government estimate that 45,000 evacuees could arrive if Gustav hits Louisiana. Local restaurant associations and members have been stocking up as well.

· Social media also is coming into significant play in terms of sharing storm information, relaying community/government emergency operations, organizing nonprofit relief and assistance responses, checking on association members, monitoring local chapters/components, and rallying volunteers on standby.

· Bossier City Firefighters Association is working with the International Association of Fire Fighters to find housing for IAFF members evacuating the area. Like the response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago, many local associations have turned to their national associations and leaders for help—and emergency housing is just one such request. Others I’ve seen relate to transportation advice, pet care in the region, and reinforcing communication strategies.

· The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is actively tracking the storms on the Hurricane Preparedness section of its web site and has the latest NOAA and other weather updates, the status of various airports, an emergency preparedness checklist, and many more resources available to help members and the public stay abreast of rapidly changing weather conditions.

· Various electrical power associations are urging the public and businesses in the potential hurricane zones to review their virtual brochures on preparing for power outages and surges as a result of poor weather. Here’s one example from Coast Electric Power Association.

· A number of associations also are encouraging members to access the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s (FEMA) Hurricane Preparedness page, which contains emergency plans for businesses and families, emergency supply lists, and background on hurricanes in general.

Thanks, y’all, for once again stepping up to make a real difference in the lives of both your members and the larger public. Please know that ASAE & The Center stand ready to assist you in your efforts!

So many associations and nonprofits are considering or expanding their employee volunteer programs that I thought I’d share when many are doing all of this community giveback: on 9/11, in honor of the victims of the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. They’ve heard about a growing initiative called MyGoodDeed.org that wants to designate 9/11 as an annual national day of charitable service.

The effort got a big boost today when ServiceNation, a new coalition of more than 600 nonprofit organizations, backed the idea, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation added its official support. Even presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are in on deal, agreeing both to appear in a forum on civic engagement on 9/11 in New York and to suspend nasty campaign ads and indeed all campaigning for that day.

Since its 2003 founding by friends and family of 9/11 victims, MyGoodDeed.org has attracted involvement by a range of prominent leaders from the nonprofit, corporate, and government sectors. These include Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Citizen Corps, Youth Service America, Points of Light & Hands on Network, and every major 9/11 family and support organization. Last year, more than 300,000 good deeds were posted on the MyGoodDeed.org Web site by participants from every state and 150 different countries and territories.

And, honestly, if you’re have a blue moment when all that is bad in the world seems overwhelming, you’ll certainly get a lift from perusing even a few of the thousands of posts, which capture through personal stories the details and spirit of volunteerism in America today. You’ll feel better, I promise.

That personalization and easy interaction are among the strength’s of the organization’s Web site. It invites visitors to “plant a cause tree” that allows logging (no pun intended) and tracking of “good deeds” you or your organization have done for the community, planting of a “cause garden” to identify your pet causes to others, and use of free social media outreach tools to “grow your garden” with the addition of invited friends, find-like-minded-friends opportunities, and even a personal blog.

You can meet up with those pals and make new ones if you decide to join the expected 500 delegates from nonprofit organizations who will be advocating for positive social change and increased volunteerism during a September 11-12 summit on national service, parts of which will be televised to encourage a larger nationwide discussion. The New York City event, hosted by ServiceNation and its many nonprofit members, is being co-chaired by Caroline Kennedy and Alma Powell.

The editors of Associations Now want to get our readers thinking--but every now and then an article gets an even stronger reaction than we had expected. In August, that article was "The Perils of Strategic Planning" by James Hollan. Here's how the story begins:

"Most strategic plans don't work. They involve too much paper, too much time, too many nodding heads, and far too many poorly informed so-called experts. I know that many association CEOs believe the same, but we exist in an environment where it is anathema to even question the validity of the strategic planning process. You might just as well stand up at the next board meeting and suggest everyone strip down to his or her underwear as question the usefulness of the strategic plan you have in place.

"It's all right to discuss ways to improve the plan or actualize the plan or even modify the plan. You can certainly pay consultants or facilitators to help set up a strategic plan or improve the one you already have in place, but the nonprofit sector currently has little room for questioning the usefulness of the strategic planning process itself. It's time to challenge that reality."

Since the August issue came out, we've heard some vehement (but thoughtful) reactions from strategic planning supporters. (One factor that probably increased interest was the fact than article on strategic planning also appeared in the latest issue of the Journal of Association Leadership, which also came out in August: "The Development of Consensus Guidelines for Strategic Planning in Associations," by Michael Gallery and Susan Waters).

From what I've heard, it seems that there are two main camps responding to James Hollan's article:

1. Those who think strategic planning is a powerful and important tool; sometimes it is used poorly or improperly, but the fact that some groups use the tool incorrectly doesn't mean that it should be tossed out.

2. Those who think strategic planning is so misguided that using it at all is a mistake.

I'd be very interested in hearing from both camps here. Feel free to lay out your strongest arguments for or against strategic planning. Should strategic planning be part of our organizational toolboxes--or should we find a new tool to work with?

Mary Bowie, VP of Finance for the American Association of Museums, says software is no where near good enough at supplanting people in building relationships with her members. Give her a good transaction system built by people who know what associations do and that evolves as association needs evolve, and let staff and volunteers handle the business of analyzing and using member data. See the video on This Week in Associations:

Here, in no particular order, are a few of the things we learned as a team at ASAE & The Center’s 2008 Annual Meeting and how we are going to apply them at The American Ceramic Society:

• We learned that while social media has enormous potential for changing the way associations build community and facilitate learning, the trick is managing implementation within the particular cultural context of your organization. We are exploring new ways to use blogs, collaborative learning tools, forums, videocasts and podcasts, and other media within the context of a community that is not as particularly accustomed to these tools.

• We learned that our newest members are probably the best people to tell us how to make for joining our Society. We are exploring ways to systematically ask new members why they joined and what they expect from their membership.

• We learned that, as Patti Digh said, you must “change the structure of the land” within your organization to create an environment that facilitates diversity. At ACerS, our first steps will be convening groups of women engineers, young professionals, and international members to ask what the new landscape should look like and what we need to do to get there.

• We learned that structures used to promote hierarchy, maintain order, and retain control are things of the past. Collaborative technologies are changing the way knowledge is created and connections are made, allowing people to bypass control-based structures. This is a difficult but necessary lesson to apply within an academic and scientific organization where rewards are based on a much more proprietary view of knowledge (patents, copyrights, the first to publish, the first to present).

• On the marketing front, we learned that contacting the same audience 5-plus times can increase response by up to 82 percent. We also heard that “brochures don’t sell.” As a result, Megan and her team just revised our corporate membership marketing plan to include more “touches” and take out the costly brochures.

• We learned (or perhaps, relearned) that a good way to achieve out of the box results is to gather feedback and ideas from those already outside your box. Laura is putting together a plan to use ACerS network of vendors, member companies, and others to come up with solutions to some specific challenges we face.

• We learned that coaching people and managing people are different skill sets. Coaching is about BEING (vs. doing) … BEING more curious; BEING more understanding; BEING more encouraging; BEING more empowering. It is about focusing on the WHO rather than the what. Both are necessary to get the most out of your people.

All of this, of course, just scratches the surface, but it is a start. Perhaps most of all, we learned that learning together is important and that being forced to write about it like this has helped to clarify our thinking. It has been a pleasure sharing it with you.

ACerS Team…Out.

- Laura, Liz, Megan, Peter, & Scott

One week after arriving home from ASAE & The Center’s Annual Meeting in San Diego, we are just beginning to process the things we learned and how we might apply it here at the American Ceramic Society.

For those of us who have attended more than one of these meetings, the 2008 Meeting seemed like a much more personal experience than 2007. Scott, who has a wide network of association friends and colleagues, was in hog heaven. But all of us seemed to meet more people and connect with each other more deeply. We think that the design and setting of this meeting really contributed to building a sense of community – the lounges in the member experience area, the multiple seating areas (including the outdoor lounge!), the close proximity of many of the hotels, the wonderful social events, and the beauty of San Diego all seemed to work together to get people to interact.

All of us came back buzzing about the experience, but we are also committed to applying what we learned. The day after we arrived back in Columbus, we had a full staff retreat, so those of us who attended the meeting were able to share many of the ideas in the context of our planning process for the coming year. We also started conversations within our departments about how the things we learned might be applied to specific challenges we are facing.

Clearly, for us, bringing a team to a meeting like this makes a lot of sense. We had a representative from each department, which allowed us were able to spread out to cover far more sessions, compare what we learned, and build on our shared experiences. We were also able to use the expo as a resource better than we ever have. We are already in touch with some of the companies we encountered about products and services that could enhance our annual meeting in October. We solicited proposals for upcoming meetings from more than half a dozen CVBs (we brought spec sheets with us). In addition, we are exploring specific social networking tools we saw on the expo floor that might provide good solutions for initiatives already on the drawing board.

In our next (and last) post, we will share some of the many specific things we learned at the meeting and what we are planning to do as a result.

- The ACerS Team (Scott, Laura, Liz, Megan, and Peter)

Ben Martin at the Certified Association Executive blog beat me to it, but I've been meaning to post a welcome for some new association bloggers who recently threw their hats into the digital ring:

- Peggy Hoffman, at the Idea Center blog

- Caron Mason, at the Musings of a New CAE blog (Caron has blogged at Acronym before--we're really pleased that she's launched her own blog as well!)

- Renato Sogueco, at RenatoSogueco.com

- Stuart Meyer, at the Associations 2020 blog

I hope you'll stop by and say hi to each of these new bloggers--and I hope all of them have fun blogging!

The hospitality sector has long been community-minded, and now many of them are including the planet in their “community,” with special programs, services, and operational practices and goals to lighten the environmental footprints of hotels and other accommodations. I heard about some of these actions from annual meeting attendees staying at the 15 official hotels in San Diego at the recent Annual Meeting & Expo.

Among the variety of sustainable amenities and practices—not all of which were available at each hotel--were the following:

· Reusable towel and linen options
· Biking and walking maps that help you avoid driving
· Water conservation measures such as low-flow faucets and showerheads
· Solar film on certain guestroom windows to reduce heat and UV rays
· Energy efficiency fixtures and light bulbs
· Recycling (sometimes in-room is available now)
· Wellness kits for travelers
· Organic or locally produced food and beverages
· Eco-messaging on hotel television channels
· Organic or sustainability-certified flowers and plants
· Donations to associations and nonprofits operating sustainability-oriented programs such as diversity initiatives, natural resource conservation projects, supply chain management assistance, and more

Other hotels by these leading brands are experimenting with additional options, such as retrofitting facilities for increased energy efficiencies and reduced carbon emissions, preferred parking for low-emitting vehicles and carpools, nonprofit partnerships to offset emissions or help obtain green or sustainability-oriented certifications, organic cotton linens and toiletries, grants for “volunteer vacations,” and employee/guest community engagement programs.

Attendees at the annual meeting were already been asking our staff about such practices in Toronto and Los Angeles, sites of the next two ASAE & The Center annual meetings. Please consider asking those questions at the front desks or concierge stands at hotels during your future business travels as well. Vocal customers, such as meeting planners, will help accelerate the move of hotels toward even greater social responsibility.

Meanwhile, congrats go to our partnering hotels at the meeting for communicating greener and more socially responsible options to recent attendees!

Now that most people have returned from Annual Meeting and caught up on sleep, I'm seeing some great posts sharing takeaways from education sessions and other parts of the conference:

- Elizabeth Weaver Engel has a great post that begins with the "Meet the Association Community Bloggers" Learning Laband a more informal discussion among association bloggers, but moves on from there to tackle bigger issues. Her post ends with a great question for all of us in associations: "What would your organization look like if your individual staff members didn't focus specifically and exclusively on your journal, or getting out the renewal notices on time, or managing the membership database, or creating press releases, or your legislative fly in day, but instead worked as fluid team of engagement specialists on increasing engagement in your organization, your industry, your profession, for your entire universe of constituents? What would that world be like?"

Elizabeth also posted some thoughts on the Expo, a conversation she had about travel to and from meetings, and her experience as a volunteer during the meeting.

- Kevin Holland shared five things he liked and five things he didn't like at Annual.

- Peter Turner posted the slides from two Learning Labs he participated in, one on crowdsourcing and one on open innovation.

- Matt Baehr lists what he saw as the good, the bad, and the ugly in San Diego, as well as his thoughts on the importance of the social aspects of the conference.

- Caron Mason talks about the ideas she got out of the conference.

- Cindy Butts uses the "secret session" at Annual as a case study on building buzz through social media.

- Tammy Hailey shares what she learned at Annual in her association's blog.

- Peggy Hoffman shared a summary of a Learning Lab she participated in on "Chapter and National Databases: Do They or Don't They Interface?"

- Ben Martin has a detailed summary of what he saw at Annual and his thoughts on what worked and what didn't.

- Mickie Rops recapped a Learning Lab she facilitated on "Knowledge Strategies for Better Meetings."

- Renato Sogueco shares a summary of and the handout from of the Learning Lab he participated in on "Technology Trends: What Association Leaders Need to Know Now."

During the Annual Meeting, ASAE & The Center's Knowledge Initiatives team sat down with a few of this year's speakers and asked them to share a few additional thoughts on various topics. Thanks to each of them for being kind enough to participate!

Patti Digh, a member of the opening general session panel, shares some additional thoughts on diversity.

Rohit Talwar, author of Designing Your Future, talks about competition in the global market.

Amy Smith, a presenter in the Social Media Laboratory, has a few things to say about virtual worlds.

(If you liked these videos, you can find more on ASAE & The Center's website.)

Association bloggers are still writing thoughtful stuff about the Annual Meeting:

- Kevin Holland was disappointed in the closing keynote, but happy with the conference overall.

- Peggy Hoffman shares a bunch of things that she learned at Annual.

- David Gammel has some thoughts on associations and the status quo, based on Thought Leader James Gilmore's remarks.

- Sue Pelletier posted about what she saw on the Expo floor, what she learned during a marketing session, and how she was inspired by a session on getting record attendance for an event. She also shared some thoughts on online gaming and associations and on the closing session.

While this post isn't at all comprehensive for everything that took place on the last day of Annual Meeting, here are a few photos to give you some of the flavor of the conference and San Diego:

Riding in the Huff and Puff Lounge.

Connecting at the Convention Center.

A class in the Social Media Laboratory--specifically, mine and Maddie Grant's. If there was audio to go with the picture, you'd be able to tell that we're shouting to be heard over the train going by outside!

Entering the closing night block party.

The stage at the closing night block party.

A place to relax at the block party.

This little guy was at the opening night party, not the closing party. But isn't he cute?

We're looking forward to seeing you next year!

The full Annual Meeting Flickr pool is here.

Following up on a post I did on the Association Marketing Springboard, here is a short video from the Annual Meeting of Frank Fortin, communications director for the Massachusetts Medical Society, explaining how he is using Forrester's Social Technographic Survey to better understand his association's social media successes and failures. Over the next six months, Frank and his team intend to apply the lessons they've learned from Groundswell and their own experience to transform the Massachusetts Medical Society's social spaces online.

Trouble viewing the video? Click here.

Here's one interesting point Frank made that didn't make it into the video. It's not just the question, it's how you ask it. For example, Some of your members might not be familiar with RSS, but they might be using it on sites like iGoogle, Google Reader, Bloglines, NetNewsWire or some other aggregator. Are we making assumptions about our members' social media aptitude simply because we're asking the wrong questions--or the right questions in the wrong way? It's something to think about.

On Twitter this morning someone said "ASAE was great but I'm glad it's over" and I half agree. Maybe part of it has been dipping a toe in the water with the event-driven social media, or for treating myself to actually staying through Tuesday night, but it felt as if the Annual Meeting this year had much more 'event-ness.' (Ending the general session yesterday afternoon with a reprise of the "Association Happy Dance" video made me wish that someone would leak this onto YouTube.) But not only was this a great conference, it exceeded what for me were already heightened expectations.

Yesterday two programs stood out in my mind. I decided to check out Ron Rosenberg's regular marketing session and enjoyed it immensely from a front-row seat. Whereas a few years ago I almost resented the incursion of speakers with a slicker stage presence (Ron is a part-time magician) and the more self-promotional, packaged DVD instructional approach, I have definitely come around to thinking everybody benefits--obviously the room is packed, and people learn while being entertained. I suspect many of us who speak could benefit from watching folks like Ron to learn how to impart a better learning experience--more content, more direct analysis, more grounded examples. So many of Ron's examples reflected the experiences of SMALL associations, far outside the Beltway, with small staff lurching from deadline to deadline. It resonated very well. (I wonder how often our association staff and consultant speakers presenting case studies and lessons learned from large well-funded associations inadvertently make their examples feel irrelevant to the types of associations that comprise the majority of ASAE membership.)

His approaches to marketing were simple and profound, comprehensive and jam-packed into the session: the magic marker and 'so what?' approach to critiquing existing copy, refocusing the messaging from I to you, evocative testimonials, varying letters to match a single brochure, listing a series of must-haves in any marketing piece ('with no deadline you have no offer'), and emphasizing the importance of a money-back guarantee. Many in the audience clearly had seen him at past state society meetings and/or ASAE and I hope they are at least part of the way on a journey of practicing as he preaches. (In style he also reminds me a bit of HG Lewis, a famous commercial copywriter who still speaks at DMA events and who also had a side career as an infamous pioneer in the early years of horror movies. Apparently directing "Buckets of Blood" and writing Colgate toothpaste ads are transferrable skills!)

As Ron (and HG) point out, these marketing tips are free to implement--especially in the sense that doing a bad job in marketing takes just as long or longer than doing a good job! And of course, any association that experiences near-100% growth in revenue or a 1500% increase in attendance by implementing these ideas was also previously incurring a huge opportunity cost through bad marketing. The program also did a great job of overcoming the 'sales objections' many associations have in making their marketing effective. Whereas someone might have done an entire session on 'defining and overcoming the barriers to your marketing culture,' Ron included it in his program as a nice, well-covered five minute 'bonus round' inside a very tight and well-packaged talk. Definitely the best and most applied session I attended, particularly compared to the blue ocean strategy closing session which, based on hall talk later, either you got into or tuned out on immediately.

The second program that hit home for far more personal reasons was the session on community-building. It featured DC and Chicago staff and volunteers who have formed and managed regular programs/communities of association execs. As an occasional attendee of Talisa's Old Town Brown Bag, a frequent attendee of the free Greater Washington Network Idea Swaps, and a participant and leader within the GWN's Member Action Team, none of the DC case studies were news to me, although learning about the scope and sophistication of the Assn Forum of Chicagoland was. We heard from the group of state society association executives present that the real challenges exist in creating community in settings where distance and population density simply don't allow groups to cluster and form easily. DC has 8,500 or 9,000 members from Frederick to Fredericksburg. The Forum has 4,000. What can and should you do when you have 250 members mostly clustered around a smaller state capital and scattered elsewhere?

It definitely helps promote the necessity of having a viable online community. Most of us are well on the way of converting communications from print to online, education from podiums to distance learning; now we see more movement from networking in-person to online. In all cases we are near or have passed a tipping point. As Greg Fine noted, you can reasonably expect 10% of your members will participate in the communities that were described in the session, maybe 1% will be avid users of the more leading edge technology. Would we normally build new services knowing we will reach 1%, or 10%? No, but these people represent the early adopters and influentials that consumer marketers seek to influence. And we would meet and do social media anyway--through our association or on our own. Either way, there is a great change in management thinking accompanying this, accepting that in this area the market is unpredictable, fast moving, hard to 'manage.' It's great to see such flexible thinking, acceptance and promotion of the newer wave of activities.

It's been wonderful to take a break, see everyone again, and to see things with a broader perspective than most of us get in our own offices. Now, back to work!

As always, we want to make sure to connect you to the great Annual Meeting discussion that's going on outside of Acronym. Here's what I found today:

- Lindy Dreyer shared some thoughts on social media strategy based on conversations here in San Diego.

- Kevin Holland overheard some interesting things at the Food and Wine Classic and saw some interesting trends on the tradeshow floor.

- Sue Pelletier shared her impressions of her second day at Annual, as well as her thoughts on a video used in the celebration breakfast.

- Cynthia D'Amour had an interesting experience (and wonders how it relates to working with volunteers).

- Rick Johnston posted in reaction to questions about the legal risks involved in social media.

- Jeff Cobb commented on the social media buzz he heard at the conference.

I attended the Common Mistakes People Make when Writing…and How to Fix Them! learning lab this afternoon. It was great! Bonnie Budzowski was energetic and really engaged the audience. She outlined 6 criteria for effective professional writing I thought I’d share with you:

• Create simple visual appeal
• Be immediately relevant
• Provide clear, easy-to-grasp points
• Recognize the power of emotion
• Answer all the reader’s questions
• Provide clear next steps

The most important one to me was answering all the reader’s questions. Why make a member, fellow colleague, or customer email a second or third time to get all of their questions answered if they were asked in the first email?

--Liz Roehl

Trying to be the good networker, I had a couple fruitful discussions, while walking around the floor.

Niagara Falls exhibitor knew my former private sector building manager.
Holland representative's father worked for same company/division as I did.
Interel principal worked with Brussels sister association while at previous company.
Maryland CVB people knew convention "house" I used for external scientific board retreat.
Saw life insurance vendor where our daughter worked.
May have found 2 job leads for our daughter.
Learned close hotels and one "connected" to convention center in Toronto.
Referred two "green" vendors to sister association planning fall workshop on sustainability.
Found possible meeting site - to be open in 2010 - in Loudoun County, VA.

Not earth-shattering perhaps, but connections nonetheless.

In today's Learning Lab "The Paradox of Success: Learning From Failure," presenter Kerry Stackpole used a very interesting exercise: He offered to auction off a $20 bill. Anyone in the room could bid, with one twist--the second-place bidder would have to pay the winner's bid.

The auction started off slowly, but rapidly gained momentum. In the end, the second place finisher paid $26 for the $20 bill (proceeds went to charity). Kerry said that he's used this exercise many times, and the all-time high he's reached was $240. For a $20 bill.

He used this exercise to illustrate the dangers of competitive escalation--when you, or a group (like your board) makes irrational decisions because they feel like they're trapped in a particular course of action and must keep moving forward. The auction Kerry ran created a situation where the second-place bidder might have continued to escalate his or her bids, in order to get out of second place and hopefully avoid paying for the $20 bill. Your association could get into a similar situation where you could continue to double-down your investment in a particular project or program in an effort to make it successful--and hopefully to avoid losing the investment already made.

The question I'd like to learn more about is: How do you pull a group out of a competitive escalation tailspin?

One question that came up in the social media session I contributed to yesterday was "What uses could an association have for Twitter?" There's a good example going on among various Twitterers right now; they're sharing new things they learned at this year's Annual Meeting. So far, the association Twitterers I follow have said:

- "get lists of reporters and media types at www.cision.com"
- "personal branding is becoming singularly important in career development"
- "loyalty is more important than satisfaction"

I'm really interested to see what other learnings are shared--and I hope commenters will feel free to share here as well. What new things have you learned here in San Diego?

(Post edited to add quote marks for clarity. Thank you!)

APAC is running a straw poll in the Connection Central area at this year's Annual Meeting, asking attendees who they think will win the presidential election (McCain, Obama, or another candidate--write-ins accepted). They've had hundreds of votes cast so far, and the poll isn't closing until this afternoon.

I pass this along not as a promotional item (although I'm sure APAC would love to have your vote as well ... vote early, vote often!) but to point it out as a tool other associations might use in their own conferences. It's a great way to draw in politically-interested members and bring them together with information on your government affairs activities or PAC. And I wonder if a straw poll could work just as well for a non-political topic--maybe a straw poll related to trends in your industry could bring together members with an interest in environmental scanning, or a poll related to your magazine could bring together potential contributors. I love to hear about new ways to connect with members with an interest in contributing who may not have found a way to make themselves known through the "official" channels in an association.

Today is the last day for most of us in San Diego…what a great, GREAT venue! Here are the ups and downs of the conference through my lens…

Sunday, I was unable to get to my first or second choice learning lab (no room!). I settled for number three but it ended up not having relevance to my society nor my position. Then because I am a Circle Club member, I did not know that I had to register for Thought Leader Sessions in advance and by the time I got my tickets, they were full. I have tried to get into one, unsuccessfully the last couple days. HOWEVER, I grabbed six other people (two I knew, four I didn’t) and asked them if they wanted to do a renegade session with me out in the beautiful sunshine near the air hockey table. All I can say is…WOW! With ideas flying, solutions spilling over and an exchange of business cards….this is what ASAE Annual Conference is all about. Meeting people, connecting, sharing and solving. And on a personal note, it didn’t hurt that two of us are horse girls and afterwards, exchanged tips and techniques on our riding habits.

The ideas that I have gotten at the conference have exceeded my expectations. Chicago was great but San Diego truly brought the WOW factor. At a party hosted by San Diego Sunday night, I saw things that were so amazing that I never could have dreamed them up. Wooly go-go boot dancers spinning lighted hula hoops, electric bands and laser light shows, ladies suspended in mid air doing acrobatics that would give a daredevil a run for his money. San Diego, as one of my teammate, Laura, put it is truly “a destination city with a homey, Midwest feel.”

The wine and food classic last night was incredible. I had the pleasure of attending the classic with some of the most hospitable people in town, the representatives from Louisville. I have been to Louisville a few times for conferences and it is also a great venue. Easy to get around, great for entertaining and there is a wonderful brick street area right by the convention center which highlights restaurants, street bands and performers and my favorite, good shopping!

And yes, I admit, I am a “Diamond Girl”…I have heard rumors of a Neil Diamond Cover band playing tonight…if the rumors are true…be sure to see me close to the stage…”Forever in Blue Jeans.”

Finally, let me just comment on how important and effective it has been to come to the conference as a team. As a staff, most of us have met everyday and shared sessions, built upon each others observations and helped each other to expand our network in the association world. We will be meeting to debrief early next week and share with each other and our staffs. One other tip that I found helpful, we sent a list of conference vendors out to our staff before we came and coordinated on which booths were of great interest. I am armed with lots of information for people back home so many more than just the five of us who came to ASAE will continue to benefit from the information that we have gotten here.

I ‘m off to practice “Sweet Caroline” and “I am I Said” just in case I get to hear some Diamond tonight. I’ll see you tonight in the Gaslamp district where I’ll Have my “Heartlights” turned on! :-)

-Megan Mahan

We had a great session yesterday, extending the "idea swap" structure we regularly use in the Greater Washington Network to Annual. In contrast to our normal sessions back at headquarters or the Marriott learning center in the Reagan Building (depending on whatever is available that day), we had the opportunity to meet outside, overlooking the bay and the Embarcadero. In addition to our table on marketing, other tables covered technology, membership, communications, other key disciplines. To me one leading indicator of a good session is how many people vote with their feet and I think we lost one person out of perhaps 60 (including stragglers). It was great to see such a good turnout and to have a great opportunity for give and take that is often missing in the sessions themselves. It made me think of the session that Lori Ropa, Sue Bowman & Christy Jones did on Sunday and probably many of your experiences as well--once we get started with the interactive, roundtable portion, it's hard to get us to start. With the Idea Swap format the programming begins and ends with facilitated discussion--everyone at our table came armed with at least 2-3 questions and they left with them answered to at least some degree.

Given the fact that our discussions ran the entire session length and then some, I wonder if we shouldn't have more programming in the form of roundtables to supplement the amazing range of concurrent sessions that feature traditional podium speakers. The interactive roundtable format certainly works for those of us who belong to ASAE in the DC area, and it works well for some of the state societies that I know.

Who could resist a Monday night disco party? Organized by YAP (Young Association Professionals), the young - and young at heart - came to dance to 80's "classics".

YAPster queen bees Lindy Dreyer and Maddie Grant.

The still photo simply does not do justice to Ben Martin's 360 spin move.

Jamie Notter commands the center of the action.

Lots of hand waving during the Beastie Boys.

The Whisky Girl was packed from end to end!

Thanks to everyone who came to today's session on "Leveraging the Power of Real-Time Communications"! Maddie and I appreciate your time and engagement. I promised to put together a list of the links we discussed during the session; I hope these are helpful to you. Feel free to add others in the comments as well.

The session handouts

The Twitterfountain

Technorati, to help you find blogs related to your industry or profession.

Alerts to let you know when items related to your association are posted online: Google Alerts

Commoncraft videos that explain social technologies (scroll down to see the "Most Viewed" and "Most Popular")

Wiki platforms: Wikispaces, PB Wiki

Blogging platforms: Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress

Last but not least, Associapedia, ASAE & The Center's wiki, has a good entry on Web 2.0 tools.

Lots of great commentary about the Annual Meeting today:

- Peggy Hoffman was inspired by the 10 commandments for volunteer management.

- Sue Pelletier posted several times, about her arrival in San Diego, the opening general session, and the rest of her first day at the meeting, as well as Susan Sarfati's new position,.

- Kevin Holland learned about planning for failure today.

- Rick Johnston shares an insight into what makes great nonprofits great.

- Greg Hill has some kind words about the social media sessions at Annual.

- Maddie Grant, my amazing partner from one of the social media lab sessions, gathered up a lot of insights from the "Meet the Association Community Bloggers" Learning Lab.

- Cynthia D'Amour comments on the importance of making members feel welcome.

This morning, I attended Dale Paulson's session "Increasing First-Year Retention with Target Marketing." I got some very interesting ideas from this session, but I would have liked to discuss more about new members. I'll get to that in a moment.

Some of the takeaways are very helpful for overall recruitment and retention. I appreciated Dale's statement about the importance of creating resonance in communications, and how we, as association staff, need to ask our members what they want from us, rather than just assuming we know what their membership expectations are. Sometimes, during the recruitment process, we're lucky enough to have extended conversations with our members, so we know what the specific ROI will be, and we can service them accordingly. But what about the impromptu and proactive joiners? They may need just as much customized service as the members we worked weeks to recruit. Find out what they want and how they want it.

As I mentioned above, I would have loved to hear more about what you need to do in the first year to ensure you have a lifelong member. Making sure you are delivering on benefits and communicating in a targeted fashion is indeed crucial. But what steps should you take to make your newest members engaged, satisfied, and active from the moment they make the decision to join? How do you move them from signing a check to an active user and volunteer? Granted, those who have worked with me know that this is one of my favorite tasks as a membership director. I touched on this a bit in the Engaging Young Professionals presentation I participated in at the 2008 Marketing and Membership Conference. Does your organization have a welcome message to new members that they get within 24 hours of joining? Is there a new member welcome section on your website? Do you facilitate small group interactions between new members and member leaders at your meetings? Do you have special materials designed to orient your newest members to volunteer oppportunities? Do you have a schedule for outreach efforts so that new members receive content and value prior to that first renewal notice?

Capitalize on the positive momentum a member starts with the action of joining. As Dale said, once a member renews for the first year, they will most likely remain a member for the next three to four. Ensuring that new members renew at their anniversary is essential. Getting that same new member to be a passionate advocate for your association is essential as well. You're not going to make everyone a champion, but by reaching out to all of your new members when they're excited and eager about membership, you'll find champions who might otherwise get lost in the shuffle. Do everything you can to keep that first year member, and do everything you can to make them a positive voice for your association and the industry.

I've been hearing plenty of kudos for the exhibits in the Expo here in San Diego, especially those with those awesome Wii set-ups where you can jam like Santana on a multi-lit guitar to high-score your rock concert. Don't worry, y'all--we won't be posting any of THOSE videos on YouTube any time soon!

I've also witnessed some impressive "speed Sudoko," rapid poker, magic, stuffed animals (Those crabs are great!), rubber ducks, myriad stess relieving gadgets, spa items, a Harley-Davidson "ride" and tattoo, mega regional food specialties, and prize sweepstakes galore.

Oh, yeah, plenty of great info is around the joint as well....

Informal programs and chats in the Social Responsibility lounges have produced some wonderful stories of what associations and business partners are doing to move their organizations forward toward greater social responsibility (SR). Here are some snippets:
“How do we move from being successful to being significant?” That’s what a woman from the Project Management Institute said her organization began asking recently, eventually developing a program that moves from caring just about test passing metrics to caring about the whole child.

Richard Moore of the Texas Community College Teachers Association shared that his organization is focusing on four social responsibility (SR) endeavors—community involvement, democracy building, incorporation of SR in educational content, and greening of educational facilities and operations. In addition, since first embracing ASAE & The Center’s SR Initiative a year ago, the association has launched the theme “Community Colleges—Building a Better Texas.”

“This Social Responsibility Initiative fits in completely with what we’re trying to do,” he said.
The Society of Neuroscience had to review its supply chain management after leaders were questioned about whether the copywriters to whom some of its many journals were outsourced in India were being treated and paid appropriately. They then had to give a presentation that showed such outsourcing “validated enhancing of social values,” according to the society’s Marty Saggese. The huge organization also adopted an element in its strategic plan that requires all three SR elements—environmental, social, and economic—to be considered in operational decisions.

Look for Marty’s cool handout at today’s session on greening your organization’s culture: a flash drive made of bamboo.

Other items prompting discussion are two tools being distributed in both SR lounges: a how-to piece on creating a multicultural board, and a checklist/guide for developing a more socially responsibility family lifestyle.

San Diego is a photogenic city, and a lot of photographers here at Annual Meeting are taking advantage of it: