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As you may have seen, there's a great conversation with word-of-mouth expert (and three-time association CEO) Andy Sernovitz of GasPedal in this month's issue of Associations Now. (Thanks are due to Lindy Dreyer for proposing the article and doing excellent work on it.)

While we were putting the issue together, I asked Andy if he might be willing to share some additional advice with our readers: If you have only five minutes today to get people talking about your association, what can you do? Andy kindly provided a few ideas:

"1. Email tip sheet. Nothing forwards faster than an email. Create a new newsletter with a single tip of the day. Keep it to three sentences. People will talk about you every day--and forward it to their friends.

"2. Make it easy. Get rid of every way you stop members from sharing. Are your emails unreadable when they get forwarded, do too many pages require passwords? Do your downloads have complicated forms?

"3. Turn everything viral. Dig out all those old reports, PowerPoints, and PDFs and turn them into viral communications. Post one every week on your web site and encourage people to share.

"4. Create after-event sites. When a conference is over, create a Facebook page where people can share photos, stories, and re-connect. Get them there by posting all the presentations and audio.

"5. Have fun. Your mission and message are important--but not fun to forward. Give people something silly, cool, and simple to share with their friends."

Could you find five minutes in your schedule to try one of these ideas out today?

(For more of Andy's insights into word of mouth, you can read his blog, Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That, or his book Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking.)