Acronym

Usually I gather links over the course of a week, but I've been a procrastinator this week when it comes to reading, so I caught up on everything this morning. Happily, I found a lot of great ideas out there to link to, including one, in fact, about procrastination. Go figure.

Innovation. Jeffrey Cufaude takes on Jedi master Yoda: "Yoda had it wrong. When it comes to innovation there is only try. Try often. Listen. Revise. Try again."

Planning for exceptions. Wes Trochlil argues that, when it comes to exceptions, it's better to just manage them as they come rather than trying to build a system to prevent them. He writes about this in the context of data management, but I'd argue the same principle applies to all aspects of organizational management.

Speaker selection. The prolific Jeff Hurt offers a primer on the jargon you'll run into when hiring a professional speaker for your association's conference. Two parts: A-M and N-Z.

Social media hiring. On the SocialFish blog, Maggie McGary recommends associations look for both "talkers" and "listeners" when hiring for social media.

Content strategy. Valeria Maltoni explains how curating information as a content strategy can work for your association, particularly if you don't have the resources to produce high volumes of content yourself.

Website improvement. David Gammel has a suggestion for making simple improvements to your website where it counts, with a minimal time commitment.

Collaboration. It came up several times this week:

• Jamie Notter explained that we have to work hard at it because it clashes with our tendencies toward competition.
• Jamie posted this at almost the exact same time I posted a somewhat opposite view here on Acronym. (I wouldn't normally link to an Acronym post in Quick Clicks, but I wanted to provide some context.)
• Tony Rossell responded on his blog with a proverb that we should all hang on our desk walls.
• Then Jeffrey Cufaude (on a roll this week) wrote that innovation requires diversity, part of which means you have to "connect with different people."

Online customer relations. Slate's Farhad Manjoo writes about how organizations should respond to bad reviews on the web. His advice is one of the most clear-headed explanations of how a business should navigate social media that I've ever read. His context is that of hotel managers and TripAdvisor, but the principles can apply anywhere (and it actually relates a lot to Wes's post, too).

Procrastination. The You Are Not So Smart blog gives an in-depth explanation of why humans tend to procrastinate and why some people are better at beating it than others. If you're a procrastinator like me, it will make you feel guilty, but it also will give you some ideas on how to be more productive.