August 15, 2005
Your name here...
In case you always wanted to see your name in lights (or even digital ink), here's your chance. Become a contributor to the XtremeASAE Blog effort simply by e-mailing your impressions of educational sessions, events, hallway conversations or the meeting as a whole to xtremeasaeblog@gmail.com. Your colleagues here in Nashville, as well as association professionals around the country and the world, want to hear your perspectives and insights on the Annual Meeting. Please share them!
Posted by X-Blog Contributor at 07:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2005
Association BloggerCon Reminder
Just a reminder that we are going to hold our informal Association BloggerCon this evening from 8 pm-9:30 pm in the Hermitage D Room on Level M of Opryland. Our conversation on social media, including blogging, podcasting etc., is open to all. Please join us!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 06:14 PM | Comments (0)
The blog needs you!
The XtremeASAE Blog needs your contributions! Please e-mail us at XtremeASAEblog@gmail.com with your perspectives on sessions, events and the meeting as a whole. You can also call us at 1-206-222-1606 and we'll post your thoughts in an audio format.
We want to capture many different views of this Annual Meeting. Be a part of the action and blog with us!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2005
A message to IOM graduates
Karin Soyster of NAIOP, one of our X-Blog Contributors, asked us to post the following "shout out" to IOM participants.
Let's get together!
I've just returned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Organization Management program for my 13th year. (No, I’m not a slow learner. I can’t get enough of the program and have been giving back as an advisor, faculty member and board member.) I'm really looking forward to catching up with current and former students - particularly those that graduated from the Northeast Institute in 1998! You can reach me on my Blackberry. Safe travels everyone!
Posted by X-Blog Contributor at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)
August 06, 2005
Announcing The XtremeASAE Blog iPod Shuffle contest!
OK everybody, it's the news you've all been waiting for. Today, we're happy to announce the XtremeASAE Blog Shuffle Contest! That's right: Simply by commenting on this blog over the next two weeks, you have a chance to win a 1 GB Apple iPod Shuffle, courtesy of Associations Unorthodox, the world's first podcast for association leaders...listen carefully.
We hope you'll agree that we've provided a pretty good incentive for your active participation in commenting on this blog. Whether you're with us in Nashville, on a business trip, or sitting in front of your home or officer computer, we look forward to reading your brilliant insights. And who knows -- maybe we'll be sending you the iPod Shuffle!
The contest rules and requirements can be found by clicking the "Continue reading" link below. Please read them carefully.
+We encourage you to subscribe to The XtremeASAE Blog (either by e-mail or RSS) or visit the site (www.XtremeASAEblog.org) regularly to follow the posts as the association world prepares to descend on Nashville for the ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership Annual Meeting beginning one week from today! (Subscribing to the blog either by e-mail or RSS is not required to win.)
+The contest starts this coming Monday, August 8 at 12:01 am EDT. Every eligible person who posts a comment on or after this date and time will be entered in a random drawing to win the iPod Shuffle. Each comment is an entry and increases your chances of winning, so please comment often.
+So who is eligible? Well, pretty much anybody in the association community has a chance to win, even if you won't be present in Nashville. (We will verify that the winner is connected in some manner to the association community before awarding the prize.) The ASAE & The Center staff, the XtremeASAE Bloggers, and their families are not eligible.
+When posting a comment to The XtremeASAE Blog, you are already required to provide your name and e-mail address. For your comment to be included as an iPodShuffle drawing entry, please provide your actual name or nickname (rather than an alias), e-mail address, AND the Web site URL for your organization. Of course, not all of your comments need to follow these requirements; only those that you want us to count as entries to the drawing MUST HAVE all of this information. Only comments posted directly to the blog will be included in the drawing; neither e-mail nor audio comments are eligible. In addition, ASAE & The Center reserves the right to determine which comments are properly formatted and thus eligible for inclusion in the drawing.
+We also ask that you use your comments to contribute to the conversation taking place on the blog, rather than simply as metaphorical business cards dropped into a virtual drawing box. We leave up to you, however, to exercise your best judgment in deciding how to comment on a given post.
+The contest ends on Monday, August 22 at 11:59 pm EDT. The blog will remain live after that date and time but only properly formatted comments posted to the blog on or before the ending date above will be included in the drawing, which will take place later that week. The selected recipient will be contacted and his or her information will be verified before the prize is officially awarded.
+If you have any questions about the contest, please send an e-mail using this link.
We hope you have fun with this contest. We're really looking forward to reading your comments!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 03:12 PM | Comments (9)
August 05, 2005
Thought leader interview poll winner: Jim Gilmore
Thanks one all for voting in our thought leader interview poll. We're pleased to announce that Jim Gilmore, co-author of The Experience Economy, was chosen by XtremeASAE Blog readers as the thought leader session speaker you want us to interview. Congratulations, Jim!
Jim's session will take place on Monday, August 15 from 3 pm-4 pm. We are going to attempt a brief recorded interview that will be posted as an audioblog to the XtremeASAE Blog on Monday evening.
Don't forget to vote in our general session extended blogger coverage poll that is currently going on, and stay tuned for more information on how you can win an Apple iPod Shuffle. We're coming down to the wire and the fun has just begun!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2005
Another poll...
Okay friends, we'll be announcing the results of our first poll on Friday, but in the meantime, we've got another poll for you to complete. Here is our next question for you:
For which of the three general sessions would you most want extended coverage (e.g., multiple extended posts by several bloggers)?
You can learn more about the three general sessions here and then cast your vote here. Please vote no later than Tuesday, August 9th at 12 midnight PDT. We will announce the poll results on Wednesday, August 10th. Keep in mind that you can only vote once per day in the poll, so you'll want to check back each day to support your preferred session. Thanks for being a part of it!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2005
Want to win one of these?
Watch the XtremeASAE Blog in the next few days for more details...
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 07:56 PM | Comments (1)
July 29, 2005
Judy Woodruff to speak on Sunday in Nashville
Former CNN anchor Judy Woodruff will be the first general session speaker at the Annual Meeting, on Sunday, August 14 at 8:30 am. Ms. Woodruff recently left CNN after a 12-year run that included serving as host of the show Inside Politics. An experienced observer of the American political scene, she previously covered the White House for NBC News and also served as chief Washington correspondent for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.
The title of this first general session is "Leading Associations in an Extreme World." No word yet on precisely how Ms. Woodruff will address this subject in her remarks. Any comments on what you'd like to hear from her?
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2005
Time to vote...
Okay, everybody, it's time to cast your vote on the first XtremeASAE Blog Poll. Here is your question:
Among the Thought Leader session speakers, who would you most like us to interview during the Annual Meeting?
Visit the ASAE & The Center Annual Meeting website to learn more about the thought leader session speakers. You may cast your vote here no later than 12 midnight PDT next Tuesday, August 2th. We will announce the results of the vote on Thursday, August 4th. You can vote once a day on this poll, so please return often to make sure the speaker who most interests you is selected. (We have also added a link to the poll to the right sidebar of the blog, just below the Talk Back info.) Thanks for your participation!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2005
Association BloggerCon
Okay, everybody, it's the moment you've all been waiting for: We are going to hold our informal Association BloggerCon on Sunday, August 14 from 8 pm-9:30 pm in the Hermitage D Room on Level M of Opryland. (Please consult our floorplan link for more details.) Our meeting will be one of several "dessert conversations" taking place in the room during this time.
.gif){kind=link}
Anyone who is currently blogging, as well as anyone who is interested in the whole blogging thing, is invited to participate in our meeting. The XtremeASAE Bloggers will be there and you can continue to let us know if you're able to participate by sending an e-mail to xtremeasaeblog@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 02:46 AM | Comments (3)
Check it out...
Check out the nifty new callout box for the blog that is on the main Annual Meeting site. Personally, I think it is very cool!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 02:07 AM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2005
Get involved...
We're less than three weeks out from the Annual Meeting and we need your help. The XtremeASAE Blog wants to cover as many educational sessions as possible, but we can't do it by ourselves. So we're asking Annual Meeting attendees who are willing to e-mail us a couple of paragraphs on the sessions they attend to be in touch, so we can begin building our contributors' network.
If getting involved in this way interests you, all you need to do is drop us a line at xtremeasaeblog@gmail.com and we will follow up before the Annual Meeting with specifics. It's going to be a great meeting, and you can help us share it with the whole of the association community. Please join us!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2005
Navigating Opryland
In the next three weeks before we begin to arrive in Nashville, the XtremeASAE Blog will be promoting a variety of sessions and events taking place during the Annual Meeting. We thought it would be a good idea, then, to provide a floor plan of Opryland so we can all begin to familiarize ourselves with the venue for our gathering.
You can visit the Opryland Web site to find additional floorplans if you need more details. Let us know if there is other information we can provide to help you navigate your way around Opryland.
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 08:06 AM | Comments (1)
July 20, 2005
Blog in the news
Many thanks to Blair St. Amand and Association Trends for writing a great article about the blog in the July 22 issue of the publication. Since Trends is a subscription publication, I've cut and pasted the article into the blog. You can read it by clicking on the link below.
Assn hopes to take blogging to the 'Xtreme'
Annual meeting participants can help contribute to blog
Assn professionals attending the American Society of Assn Executives and the Center for Assn Leadership Annual Meeting, Aug. 13-16 in Nashville TN, are being encouraged to contribute to the new XtremeASAE Blog.
Based on the annual meeting theme, "Assn Performance to the Xtreme," bloggers hope to make the resource "Xtreme" by "engaging its readers in new and different ways, and through a provocative yet playful tone," said Principled Innovation chief strategist Jeff De Cagna, who is also one of the main contributors to the blog.
Other primary contributors are Scott Briscoe, editor in chief of ASAE & the Center's new flagship magazine; David Gammel, CAE, High Context Consulting LLC; Kevin Holland, communication and membership VP, Air Conditioning Contractors of America; Shawn Lea, communications director, Mississippi Hospital Assn; Benjamin Martin, member relations team leader, Virginia Society of CPAs; and Jamie Notter, president, Notter Consulting.
"We're delighted that these enthusiastic assn community volunteers are leading the contribution of contest to the blog," ASAE & the Center publications VP and editorial director Keith Skillman, CAE said. De Cagna said the authors would post new comments at least several times per week leading up the meeting, and each day during the meeting.
In addition to the main bloggers, ASAE & the Center are looking for other contributors to report on sessions and events at the meeting. Those interested in helping out can contact xtremeasaeblog@gmail.com. Users are also able to post replies to topics raised by the primary authors.
Skillman said the blog had been set up around the annual meeting, but would continue to be updated for as long as the conversation lasted after the meeting was finished.
Posts have already been made on general session speaker Philip Kotler, tips for first-time attenders, and requests for reader questions.
Other features of the blog this year include onsite polls, ability to add user photos, and a Del.icio.us page where users can add Web-based resources.
"The goal of the XtremeASAE Blog is to create a valuable resource for both annual meeting attenders and members of the assn community who are not able to make it to Nashville," De Cagna said.
This is the second year (the first was last year) a blog has been developed around the annual meeting.
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)
We have a winner!
It's our pleasure to announce that Karin Soyster, CMP, CAE, vice president, education for the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) was the 100th e-mail subscriber to the XtremeASAE Blog. Karin is very excited about receiving her prize and about next month's Annual Meeting, at which she will be leading a session. Good for you, Karin. We'll see you there.
Please continue to check in with the blog for regular updates and for your next chance to win free stuff. There's definitely more to come...
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)
XtremeASAE Blog in ASAE Weekly Bulletin
In case you have seen it yet, the XtremeASAE Blog is mentioned in the most recent ASAE Weekly Bulletin. This is excellent exposure for the blog, so be sure to mention it to your office colleagues and encourage them to join you as XtremeASAE Blog subscribers and participants. This blog is for the whole association community as we prepare to gather in Nashville next month. Thanks for being a part of it.
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2005
We are so close...
Yesterday, I announced a prize for our 100th subscriber. We are so very close to reaching this first milestone, so please join our list as soon as you can to get your chance at winning the $10 Amazon.com gift certificate. We hope to post an announcement about lucky subscriber #100 soon. And don't worry -- there will be other opportunities to win in the weeks ahead.
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)
Share Your Nashville photos
In addition to the del.icio.us tag for sharing annual meeting related bookmarks (asae2005), we have also set up a way to share photos from Nashville.
We have created a group on the photo sharing site Flickr. Go to the group site and join the group! Once you have joined (after registering with Flickr if necessary; basic accounts are free) you can begin adding photos to the group from your own collection on Flickr. Here are the steps on how to add a photo to the group:
- Go to Flickr and create an account if you haven't already.
- Go to the Flickr group for the Nashville Meeting.
- Join the group.
- Upload photos you took from the meeting to your Flickr account.
- View the photo you want to add to the group and click on 'Send to Group' button above the photo.
You may also want to use the same "asae2005" tag for your photo as well when you add it to Flickr.
Right now we only have a couple of placeholder images in place. Look for more activity in the Flickr group once the meeting actually gets rolling. In the interim, you could add your own photo to the group if you are planning to attend the meeting, creating sort of a "face book" for the event.
A note on using Flickr: Photos you dsignate for public viewing only show up for others after Flickr staff have reviewed your account. This review is triggered after you have uploaded five or six publicly viewable photos to your account. So, if you plan to share photos from the meeting, I would suggest uploading some early pics just to trigger the review. That way your pics will show up immediately when you are on site in Nashville.
Posted by David Gammel at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 18, 2005
Let's get to 100!
Great job everybody! We're only on our first day, and already we're approaching 50 e-mail subscriptions to the blog. That's fantastic! So now let's make it really fun...and double that number at the same time!
Subscriber #100 will receive a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate courtesy of the XtremeASAE Bloggers!
You can subscribe over on the right side of the blog. Just enter your e-mail address and hit subscribe! Encourage your colleagues, customers, and clients to join us as well. We'll post the name of our lucky winner right here on the blog.
Please note that ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership staff members and their relatives are not eligible to win. (Sorry guys!)
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 05:30 PM | Comments (0)
Informal gathering: association bloggercon
Curious about blogging? There will be an informal gathering of association bloggers in Nashville on the evening of Sunday, August 14. Exact time and location are yet to be determined. Current and future bloggers are encouraged to attend. Send an e-mail to xtremeasaeblog@gmail.com to RSVP.
Posted by Ben Martin at 03:19 PM | Comments (1)
July 16, 2005
Calling all speakers: Make your sessions del.icio.us!
If you're speaking at the ASAE & The Center Annual Meeting in Nashville, we need your help! The XtremeASAE Bloggers are trying to create a set of valuable resource links using the social bookmarking site Del.icio.us, and we want you to contribute suggested articles, books, and Web sites relevant to your Annual Meeting session to the list. You can do this in one of three ways:
1. If you're already familiar with Del.icio.us and have an account, add things to the list using the tag "asae2005." (No quotations around it by the way.)
2. If you're not familiar with Del.icio.us but would like to learn about it and perhaps start adding resources directly, you can visit the site to find out how to set up an account and begin creating bookmarks. Remember that asae2005 is the tag!
3. If you would find it easier to submit your resources to us for posting, you can email them directly to the XtremeASAE Bloggers at xtremeasaeblog@gmail.com. Please include the following as you format your submission:
a. The URL (resources on Del.icio.us must be accessible on the Web);
b. A one sentence description of the link's content;
c. The title of your Annual Meeting session and your name; and
d. The keywords you would assign to the link.
If you have any questions about how to contribute to the Del.icio.us site, please email us. Thanks for participating in this effort!
Posted by Jeff De Cagna at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
Tips for first-time attendees
If you're a first time attendee to ASAE & the Center's Annual Meeting, you might be feeling a little apprehension about going to a strange city to meet with 4,000 strangers. Last year was my first ASAE annual meeting, so here is some advice from someone who recently went through the same thing.
1. Act like the host. Introduce yourself to people and say, "Welcome to Nashville!" The easiest people to approach are those who are standing or sitting by themselves. What's the worst that can happen?
2. Don't look too busy. Instead of burying your nose in the conference guide or staring at your cell phone or PDA, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and observe with a smile. You might be surprised how many people approach you.
3. Admire your surroundings. Find the most interesting feature in the room face it, and stand right in front of it. Other people will want to have a peek, too, and it will be easy to strike up a conversation.
4. Pick out the sessions you want to attend in advance. All the sessions are available for your viewing pleasure at www.ASAEannualmeeting.org. Knowing where you're going next will make it easier to mingle between sessions.
5. Use the IntroNetworks system that ASAE & the Center have set up. It is simply an amazing tool. Read my earlier post on it, if you want more information.
Posted by Ben Martin at 07:37 AM | Comments (0)