Well, tomorrow will start off a little different than my last full day at work. For one thing, I have several pages of notes to download and print out, and meetings to hold to go over them, and numerous good ideas to evaluate in the bright daylight. It's the usual "return-from-a-conference-and-compare-notes-and-see-what-works" kind of thing.

But it's more than that. Isn't it?

I go to ASAE for nuts and bolts concepts and suggestions and this-idea-works and this-idea-failed, no doubt. I'm fairly hard-nosed about it. We spend a lot of money and demand a good ROI. And I already know, we got a good one this year. We already began going over things with our staff during the meeting.

But hard-nosed business thinking aside, there are other, deeper reasons to invest in the ASAE meeting. Like, the difficult-to-quantify-but-oh-so-valuable (wow, I'm really into hyphenated phrases tonight) sensation of "being away" from our association yet at the same time being immersed in associations. As association staff, we spend all of our time deeply immersed in the industry or profession we represent. That's a terrific thing on the one hand, because those are our members, our customers, our markets.

On the other hand, it can be so damned isolating -- and one of the most valuable things about the ASAE annual meeting is that it saves us from that isolation, and we find ourselves suddenly surrounded by people who work for completely different industries or professions, but who understand. We can talk freely about cracks in the overall association business model, membership campaigns that were bad ideas from the start, those precious moments when we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat (and nobody else seemed to notice) --- and everybody else at the table knows just what we're talking about.

I came away from this year's meeting with a full to-do list, some new contacts to add to my Outlook, and most importantly, a renewed sense of energy to tackle the challenges waiting for me tomorrow morning. Some folks seem overly concerned about comparing last year in Nashville to this year in Boston, which to me is silly, because the two venues were so completely different that they made for completely different kinds of events.

You did great, ASAE. This meeting has already made an impact on my organization and I'm looking forward to the dividends I'll get from it all year long. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for Chicago ... and we'll be back.

Here's what the Boston Pops looked like (well, sort of) during Tuesday night's closing concert at the Bank of America Pavilion. A great time was had by all...music of the 60s and 70s sung beautifully by Tony nominee Liz Callaway, rousing patriotic numbers, songs from the Tanglewood Festival Chorus...and sing-alongs!

Conductor Keith Lockhart and the Pops wowed everyone, and the appreciative crowd gave standing ovations to the performers throughout the performance!

What if we looked at member complaints as the seeds of new products and services?

If members are complaining, they're not happy with the way things are. Are you listening to the patterns in customer/member complaints? What are they telling you? Are there ideas for doing things differently that you can explore?

3M invented "Super-Sticky Post-It notes" because of so many customer complaints about "regular" Sticky Notes always falling off the old big-box computer monitors.

Imagine that.

Use the Outlook today view mode of Outlook to preview your day (your appointements, tasks, number of unread e-mails).

Check to see if your cell phone has coverage in the town you're going to at www.deadcellphones.com.

Use www.payloadz.com to start selling digital download on your website.

Experiment with podcasting at www.odeo.com

Jeff just outlined a six-step process for innovation:
Imagine a possibility - encourage everyone (staff and board) to imagine
Ideate the possibility - give people the opportunity to generate ideas (members and staff)
Inquire into the idea - learn more about it, just enough to make a decision
Initiate - create the idea
Implement - put the idea out there, even if it's not perfect (especially if it's not; waiting for perfection may result in a lost opportunity)
Impact - what is the result of the idea and its implementation?

Ideas generated are reviewed by an "innovation council" of middle-level folks (not at most senior level of organization) representing a cross-section of departments (about 10 folks). This group makes decisions about which ideas move forward. Engaging those closest to members sends a very powerful message about the value given to innovation. Besides, the senior folks will have a chance to look at them eventually.

Innovation doesn't have to be only for big projects, either...not everything has to be the new "Google" or the next "Post-It note."

Highly engaging guy with lots of props and gifts -- he has the audience wrapped up. My battery is starting to dwindle so I'll try to post some notes later.

Oh, well, Philly, we promise not to hold it against you ...

• A profound self-confidence
• Empathy -- he understood why others thought the way they did even when he disagreed
• Always shared credit with others
• Repaired injured feelings as soon as possible
• Would take responsibility for his subordinates' failures
• When angry, would write a hot letter, and then put it aside
• Understood his own moods -- so when facing a setback, he would always go to where it happened to boost morale
• Knew how to relax -- went to theater over 100 times during the Civil War
• Made himself accessible to ordinary people -- anyone could get an appointment
]]> http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/lincolns_leadership_qualities.html http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/lincolns_leadership_qualities.html Live Blogging Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:25:23 -0500 ...for equipping the Boston convention center, site of the ASAE & The Center annual meeting, with widely available wireless Internet access - at no charge! I've heard many attendees mention the convenience this has afforded them throughout the meeting, and it certainly allowed those of us blogging the meeting the freedom to blog live during sessions and sit down in any available spot to write a post. As I write this post, I'm sitting in the ballroom, just as the final general session has ended. I've also blogged and checked e-mail from the exhibit floor on the bottom level, from the corridors, and from any of a number of session rooms.

Other convention centers (and hotels!) should consider the example set at BCEC by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority as a wake-up call...complimentary Internet access - wireless or wired - will certainly win you a lot of friends! My hotel, the Courtyard Boston Tremont, has complimentary access; others, however, do not and as I've talked with people throughout this convention I've heard many complaints about hotels that charge a (somewhat hefty) fee.

Face it...more and more convention and meeting goers are expecting connectivity and convenience. Those organizations that make it easy and part of their customer service will be those, I'm guessing, that will inspire loyalty.

]]> http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/kudos_to_bcec_and_mcca.html http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/kudos_to_bcec_and_mcca.html Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:19:39 -0500 Asked why he put all of his rivals for the Republican presidential campaign -- those he surprisingly defeated -- into his cabinet, Lincoln said that they were the best men, and the nation was in peril and needed them. Goodwin says a more likely explanation could be summed up in a phrase favored by her former employer, Lyndon Johnson: "It's better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in."
]]> http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/keep_your_enemies_closer.html http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/keep_your_enemies_closer.html Live Blogging Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:55:35 -0500 Congratulations to the 2006 class of the Diversity Exectuive Leadership Program, just introduced as we continue the Tuesday general session:

Sheila Austria
Susan Boswell
Karen L. Beverly Ducker
Pamela Dorsey
Oleathia Gadsden, CMP
Esther Gonzales Smith
Agatha Davis Johnson, CAE
Roberto Quinones
VR Small
Ching Ping Wei, CAE


]]> http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/2006_delp_scholars.html http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/2006_delp_scholars.html Live Blogging Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:52:03 -0500 I've come across a few other blogs featuring regular posts from the ASAE annual meeting. A few other perspectives to check out:
• Sue Pelletier at Face2Face
• Rick Johnston at CAE Weblog
• Zach Wilson and Fred Simmons at Gulo Solutions Blog

If you know of any others, feel free to leave them in the comments.

]]> http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/other_bloggers_blogging.html http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/other_bloggers_blogging.html Live Blogging Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:36:57 -0500 At this morning's final general session, they've just presented the "Associations Make a Better World" awards, representing the spirit of the association community worldwide:

Rotary International - PolioPlus Program
International Society of Nephrology & National Kidney Foundation – World Kidney Day
Association of Civil Society Support Centers - honest elections program, Kurkistan

Congratulations and kudos to these associations for their wonderful outreach programs that have truly made a difference!


]]> http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/we_make_a_better_world.html http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/we_make_a_better_world.html Live Blogging Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:35:36 -0500 I received Team of Rivals a couple months ago through my Zooba membership, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I suppose this morning I'll get the Cliff's Notes version from Doris Kearns Goodwin, and I'm looking forward to it. Certainly the concept of managing through a group of people with disparate agendas and potential rivalries has a lot of application to the association world.

Former White House chief of staff (and former association exec) Andy Card is talking right now. More later when DKG starts.

]]> http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/tuesday_general_session.html http://blogs.asaecenter.org/BostonBlog/2006/08/tuesday_general_session.html Live Blogging Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:32:54 -0500