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The first day of Ideas kicked off with napkins and learning where the start of most great ideas come from…on the back of cocktail napkins and this is true. For example the Opening Session showed that this is how Southwest Airlines got its start just a simple drawing on the back of a napkin, many great bands have written huge number one hits that started on the back of cocktail napkins, songs we know and love today. The speaker had all of us draw on a napkin with a symbol representing ourselves and the other representing “our problem”. Then within the problem shape he had us divide it between the who, what, when, where, and why of our problem. Now, I am no artist nor do I even claim to be but I was really encouraged when I thought large companies have been founded on this principle and it sort of opened my eyes to not forget the basics. The problem may not be solved on the back of a napkin but we can at least get an analytical view of the issue. Separating all of the issues surrounding the problem might be the first step to overcoming that problem. He showed the how our mind deals with each of the questions, how for the “where” our mind will locate an object and if not moving simply disregard it but then if it begins to move the “where” mindset spots the object and tells our brain how to react…is it coming at me? Is the object walking away from me? Is it moving in a threatening or friendly manner?

Then I decided to venture into the 15 strategies for Legally Hiring, Motivating, and Retaining Only the Best Employees. This session was a HUGE EYE OPENER! Just when you think your experiences are the craziest that could be out there, someone walks in and tops it immediately. We learned of people who “fudge” entire resumes and experience…even fake references with friends posing as former employers/employees. Jeffrey Pargament outlined several methods to keep your association safe from potential legal situations. Methods the interviewer should use or be trained in as well as some red flags to look for, the room held a somewhat of a group therapy vibe where if you think your problem was bad…listen to these examples an excellent session by far!

With Social Media being one of the main buzzwords at the moment and wanting to learn more about using them on a professional level since I’m well versed in how to use them on a social level I decided to attend the Social Media Lab: Leveraging the Power of Real Time Communications with Lindy Dreyer as well as the representative from ASAE & The Center Social Media content. The session mainly focused on two very specific aspects of Social Media blogging as well as “Twitter”. Lindy Dreyer the resident Twitter expert was incredibly animated to follow during the session, now knowing Twitter I had more specific concerns with a professional use of the software. We have started a Twitter feed for my association and because I use Twitter personally am suddenly in charge of the Association Tweets. I learned a great deal of things to try and things to keep in mind when using Twitter as a tool for the association. There was hesitation in my association about losing some of the branding if we had too many twitter feeds, but listening to Lindy and ASAE I think it is a GREAT idea to get the twitter pages to feed into each other, having separate ones for the larger conference and one for the association as a whole that sort of guides visitors to those pages for the most up to date information.

There was a book mentioned about Being a Purple Cow? This book sort of helps drive you or your organization to be extraordinary and with these times we all want to stand out and be extraordinary not only to our members but to our industries we service. I’m anxious to get back and start putting as much effort into these Twitter pages as I do my own. Hearing that others have had to sort of help their associations buy-in to the program was a huge relief! I truly thought I was the only one that had to convince anyone of the potential possibilities this could hold for associations.

All of this JUST from Day #1! I’ll post another tomorrow with all of the buckets of ideas I’m carrying around from today’s session. Happy Napkin Drawing, Happy Employing, and Happy Tweeting until then.