Road to ReInvention - Part Deux

If we're doing life right, we travel the road to reinvention in our personal and professional careers. The last year, I have recommitted to being a leaner and healthier person via a multi-tiered strategy.  

Perhaps the most important step in making the choice to be healthier is to decide your WHY.  Why do you want to lose weight? Is it for a special family occasion, health reasons, or maybe it's just plain vanity and you want to look better.  My WHY was a hurricane of these reasons: my boyfriend's family was going to gather to celebrate their parents' 50th wedding anniversary, I tested pre-diabetic, and I wanted to look and feel better.  

It wasn't long after I established my WHY when I moved on to the actual execution or the WHO. How was I going to navigate this personal road to reinvention and who was going to be on my team. Last year at ASAE, I met a personal trainer who was based out Jacksonville, Florida.  Her husband is an association rock star and author and every year she tags along with him.  When I met her, she described to me kind of a new approach to personal training where she'd send her clients virtual workouts.  It took me almost 7 months to decide to officially hire her and make her my Chief Energy Officer.  Every month she sends me 1 - 2 new workouts and we Skype 2 x per month.  This format works great for me because I can literally workout anywhere in the world on my own time.  My significant other was also on board because since we've been together we had put on the weight of a teenager and we needed to make a change for the better of health. 

Anyone who has begun a road to reinventing their own personal health knows that it's not without limitations.  You have to fully commit, and embrace a new lifestyle of working out and eating better. This is the HOW.  How was I going to lose weight with a busy schedule? I had figured out my WHY, selected my WHO, now I just needed to pick a lifestyle that was relatively easy to follow.  As a person who has struggled with her weight her entire life, I can tell you I am fairly familiar with just about every "diet" or diet program.  I have belonged to and successfully lost weight via Weight Watchers, attempted the South Beach Diet, tried to do the Atkins Diet too.  So why would this go round be any different and how could I set myself up for success.  After reading up on many lifestyles that people have embraced to be healthier, I ultimately decided we'd try to eat Paleo.  It was the least restrictive that I found and seemed to be doable. As a young adult, I discovered I was lactose intolerant.  Despite this, I still continued to eat cheese.  After eating paleo-like for almost 7 months, I can tell you I really don't miss cheese that much.  Do I still eat it? YES.  I haven't been able to give up yogurt, but all other dairy aside from eggs have been eliminated.  

To put together the most successful weight loss plan, I needed to decide WHEN.  After reading about Paleo, investing in the virtual personal trainer it was time to get in gear.  On a Thursday in February, I got all the final pieces of the plan together.  Monday, I would start an Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Grocery shopping is essential for weight loss because you can plan your meals and ensure that you will be set up to make great choices for eating.  The 24 Day Challenge is split up into two parts: the cleanse and the max phase.  It's not my first challenge, so I typically just do the cleanse about once every three months to help keep my health on track.  For me personally, I find the MAX phase to be too many pills.  

My personal road to reinvention is not complete, but I have experienced some success.  The last weigh in, I was down 35 lbs, and more than 15 overall inches.  I have another 15 lbs to go, but I am going to stay eager to continue my success.  Recently I read an article about an entrepreneur who puts his health as his TOP priority.  His reason, without his health literally everything else falls apart. I am adopting this mantra in my road to reinvention because without my health.  All aspects of my life will fall apart if my health is not in place.  If you look back on challenging times in your life, and you correlate that with your health (mental and physical) what would that say about you? 

Here's a picture of my progress! 

Road to Reinvention - Personal Journey

The 2015 ASAE Annual Meeting wrapped up it's closing general session was a few weeks ago and my brain has been in overdrive since then. This professional development conference for association professionals provided an opportunity to empower, engage and ignite it's members and prospective members.  The atmosphere was full of ideas, networking, and so much more.  This is only my second opportunity to attend this world-class meeting, but I will try to summarize highlights from the keynote general session and the overall atmosphere.

Last year at the closing general session Detroit created a presentation about the comeback motor city.  Selected of God choir's music piped through the meeting room as the video about Detroit played.  The lights dimmed, and raised and chills ran up and down my spine.  This incredibly talented choir was there, in person, singing the music they had been singing on the video.  I should have expected it, but I didn't.  This experience, made me look forward to this year's meeting in Detroit.  As they begin the 2015 show, I was hoping the choir would return, and they did.  The whole general session at ASAE were on their feet, including myself.  Have I mentioned how amazing this was? And so, with this theme, the 2015 general sessions kicked off.

Josh Linkner, a native of the host city of Detroit gave the keynote presentation.  He provided a road map for the association industry to stay humble and nimble in the ever changing business world.  The stories that were told were not just of Detroit businesses, but of those across the nation who have succeeded at reinventing their business in some fashion or another.  And so I find myself in the process of evaluating my current career prospects, and status and attempting to reinvent myself.

Selected of God choir sang the song "Lose Yourself" at both the 2014 & 2015 ASAE Annual Meeting.  The entered the meeting room with energy, passion and determination to entertain and inspire the attendees.  Major props to the choir for using their voice to communicate that to everyone in that meeting room.  We may only get one shot to reinvent ourselves or our associations.

The ultimate message from Mr. Linkner's keynote presentation is to be proactive instead of reactive.  Associations need to move towards this mantra to stay top of mind with the next generation. While it's not possible to give each member individual attention, providing them with new ways to engage with your association is going to be key for the future of the association industry.

Josh Linkner reminded us to stay scrappy and to think small.  The association professionals that I have had the pleasure and privilege of knowing have always been successful at this.  In spite of this, there is always room for improvement.  Improving our association, whether it be at the industry level, member level, or experience level can only do one thing - make things better.

ASAE's annual meeting was full of this type of inspiration.  My previous employer allowed me to go this conference for my own personal development as an association professional.  For that, I am incredibly grateful as I travel the road to reinvent myself.

Stay scrappy, humble and nimble my friends.  Toodloo for now.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

While it's not impossible to walk to the majority of airports, it often takes multiple modes of transport.  Baltimore Washington International is my airport of choice to travel anywhere due to the number of flights and the cost is typically $100 or less than other major metropolitan airports.  As 5000+ association professionals prepare to descend on Detroit for the 2015 ASAE Annual Meeting, many of us will take several modes of transportation.  

My journey began at 0 dark thirty, before the sun had risen.  When my alarm went off, I laid in bed wishing for more sleep.  After a few moments of checking email, and petting my fur babies I popped out of bed.  I finished packing and prepared to drive up north to the airport.  This drive can be highly unpredictable due to traffic in the major metropolitan Washington, DC area.  It's roughly a 40 mile drive, and it has taken me up to 3 hours.  The traffic gods were smiling on me and I made it in roughly an hour with no major obstacles.  

Major airports can be a major headache, with their security lines going on for what seems to be miles. It's Saturday, and there are a lot of nonprofits in Washington, DC so I was prepared for a great deal of delay.  When I pulled into the garage, there were open parking spaces close to the door so I could lug my suitcases in to check them.  That's right, I said suitcases.  Prepare yourself for unicorns and rainbows of swag, or as I affectionately refer to it as "Swagtopia."  These giveaways range from something small and delightful like a Starbucks gift card, iPhone portable chargers, Build-a-Bears and so much more!  In light of the impending Swagtopia, I have packed accordingly, by bringing an extra suitcase. Thank you Southwest Airlines for allowing me to check two bags for free. If at all possible, I never fly anything other than Southwest.  The customer experience is much better than that of other airlines, in my humble biased opinion.  It's all about the rewards baby! As a Southwest Rapid Rewards Member and frequent flyer, I have achieved A list status.  This means I get to breeze by the line of people waiting to check their bags, and speed through security.  Here's a tip for those of you that fly BWI airport and Southwest, if one security gate is full, chances are there is another one that is not.  You can thank me later for that great travel tip.  

Traveling light has never been my forte, and so I have a large carry on which is loaded up with a lot of Apple electronic products including the computer that I am typing this message on.  So far, I have traveled by Planes, and automobile.  In all probability I will also get a train ride in this evening on Detroit's people mover as I head out to dinner and the opening night ceremony.  

Comment and let me know what your plans are, and what you're most looking forward to about the ASAE Annual Meeting.  My plane hasn't arrived yet, but I am going to sign off for now.  See you in Detroit! 

Professional Development & Getting the Most Out of the ASAE 2015 Conference

Conferences are great for learning new ideas from both your peers and your mentors.  The ASAE Annual Meeting is the place for all nonprofit professionals to learn more about their profession.  This year's meeting has a special place in my heart for two reasons:

1. I am lucky enough to be able to attend.  
2. It's location.  Detroit

Nonprofit professionals are used to doing things on either a shoestring or very limited budget.  This budget is also limited for their own professional development.  I consider myself lucky that my organization is allowing me to go.  An added bonus is that nonprofit professionals are really cool people.  You know these people - they are passionate, driven, and dedicated to the causes they work and volunteer for.  They will stay up late stuffing envelopes, or doing "other" duties as assigned.  The energy and excitement from the learning is nothing short of inspiring.  

Detroit - oh how I love thee.  No, I really do.  True story - a few years ago I met a great man who hails from motor city.  Throughout our relationship we have had the opportunity to visit this great city on several occasions.  The reason: NFL football.  We live in the metro Washington DC area, but my ever loyal boyfriend is a fan and season ticket holder to none other than the Detroit Lions.  This is a team that has NEVER won a SuperBowl.  They have also been to very few playoff games.  As a champion of underdogs, and underserved, I reluctantly also became a fan.

The city of Detroit, much like their football teams has seen better days.  Automobiles were made here from start to finish and were shipped across the country to dealers for sale.  The Detroit Lions are still owned by one of the great automobile families: Ford.  Ford Field is a fantastic indoor stadium with modern amenities.  In case you didn't know, Michigan is cold.  This is why it's great that this stadium is indoors because in the middle of the winter when it's frigid, it's a comfortable 70 degrees inside. When we go to a Lions games, all the fans are on their feet when the opposing team has the ball.  The crowd noise can be deafening and many fans have lost their voice in the hopes that the "12th Man" will help decided the game.  While the season has not started, Ford Field is definitely worth checking out to any and all ASAE attendees.  

Detroit dining options are nothing to sneeze at.  In no order of preference here are some of my favorites and "musts" for every visit in Motor City. 

1. Roast - it's a bit pricey but the meals here are unforgettable.  They also have a delightful craft cocktail menu.  
2. Lafayette Coney Island or American Coney Island either one of these chili dog places are affordable and a delight for your tummy. 
3. PizzaPapalis deep dish pizza that will make people from Chicago envious.  No serious, my boyfriend's brother is from Chicago and he loves this place.  Also they have great wings and other food as well. 
4. New Parthenon Restaurant - large portions and Saganaki - they light your cheese on fire and yell "OPA!" You may feel like an extra in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" but both your belly and your tastebuds will be pleased as punch. 

I hope you're as excited as I am to experience the "D" at ASAE 2015.  Please say hi to me if you see me at the conference.  These conferences are a great way to connect with people in the same industry. 

See you tomorrow Detroit! 

Corporate Relationships & Non Profits

Corporations belong to non profits to gain greater or friendlier access to their customers.  Associations are able to provide captive target audiences to corporations within their industry.  During the hey dey of associations corporations would woo us and we were watching the money coming in.  Today, it's a very different arena.

It used to be you sent out an email and the exhibit contracts came flowing in, simply by virtue of the health of your association's memberships.  With the economic decline, and less people renewing their dues it's become a challenge to continue to deliver value to corporations who provide corporate support.

Here are some things that I have learned this year, while having this as part of my job responsibilities:

1. History matters -- if you have consistently brought a target audience to a conference or event, you should let your corporations know. 
2. Innovation matters -- it's not just about having the booth space, but also sponsoring the wi-fi, printer stands, and other things that attendees require while on site. 
3. Planning matters - not just on your part, but the part of the company.  In order for them to get the most out of your event, they have to have their expectations set. 
4. Relationships matter - talk to your exhibitors not just during the time of year to ask them for their money, but just to find out how they are doing as humans.  

What are some things that you do to keep your corporations satisfied with your events? 

The Wave of the Future

Last month we tackled how we're going to move our organization forward using partnerships at our Board Retreat.  During our time together, board and staff rolled up their sleeves and delighted in their facilitator Mary Beyers.  She is one of the co-authors for the The Race for Relevance where she details the modern day challenges of associations.  She had us brainstorming, drawing pictures, laughing and of course throwing out new ideas.  At nearly two weeks post retreat, we're exploring new projects and initiatives.  It's exciting, and scary all at the same time!

One of the new projects is working to take our existing content and repurpose it for online use.  I have a few questions for my association professionals out there:

1. What e-learning platform do you use? 
2. What is the best and worse feature about it? 
3. If you could do it all over again, what would you do? 

As a former professor, I have started the process looking at simple technology, more advanced technology and the top of the line technology.  When beginning a new project that is not your area of expertise, it poses many challenges!

I look forward to learning more about this aspect of the association world as I am a novice in this arena. 

Resolve, Resolute, Resolutions!

As each year turns over, we contemplate what are we going to fix about ourselves.  Don't just make personal resolutions, also make professional ones.  While I haven't contemplated this extensively, here are a few areas that I can improve on.

1. To continue to put the members of my association first.  The American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy provides a great service to their members, by delivering low cost-continuing medical education that the physician members need.
   
2. Be more organized.  My desk right now is a stack of many different piles of paper.  I can always improve this.
   
3. Actively listen to members concerns and needs. This is kind of a continuation of number one but I think it's an important distinction.  We are in the process of doing a both a data dig, and a needs assessment survey of our members.  Both of these items will help us uncover what our members want, and need from us today and in the future.
   
4. Network with my medical marketing association professionals.  If you're a professional in the medical association space and you have some best practices you can share, I would love to hear from you. 

What do you want to fix professionally? Share your ideas and thoughts here.  

Engaging Members Beyond the Board

Are you lucky enough to have a Board of Directors who are highly engaged? Does that engagement extend into the general membership? In other words, are your volunteers and your board the same people?

I ask these questions because I have worked at non profits where the Board is highly energized and engaged.  They have a passion, mission and vision for the future of the organization, which can be almost infectious.  A recent conversation I had with a client, they told me how excited and engaged their board was, but it's hard to bottle that enthusiasm and translate it into actionable items for both the board and the staff.  So how do we bridge the gap?

Here are some ideas that I have used in the past, in no particular order:

1. Provide your Board members with a script to call 5 members a month and ask them to volunteer, attend an event, renew their dues, sponsor a program.  Realizing that the Board often times have full time jobs that don't relate to their duties for your association's board providing them with the tools that they need build the organization will help your association.
   
2. Create an agenda for each Board meeting so that they can stay on topic and focused on improving the association.  At the start of each meeting agree that while we are all passionate about the association, in order to move the organization forward and stay relevant we need to focus. 
   
3. Create a list of Board/Association priorities.  During your creative brainstorming sessions you may come up with a host of great ideas.  How does this new idea fit into the strategic plan? Is it relevant to your membership, will it provide them a benefit that they cannot get anyplace else?
   
4.  Remember the mission.  At the end of the day, associations exist for one thing and one thing alone to serve their members needs.  By keeping this top-of-mind you will only help both your Board and your association. 

Got any ideas of your own that work? Feel free to share them here. 

Associations Going Mobile

A few weeks ago I attended the ASAE Super Swap at their headquarters in Washington, DC where they combine 6 idea swaps into one day.  The location allows for many association professionals and their trusted partners to meet up and share ideas about various topics.  While all the idea swaps were beneficial one of them truly stood out.  

Associations Going Mobile: When To Use Mobile Apps to Engage Members/Attendees was hosted by Kevin Taylor, Account Executive, AlphaGraphics; John Mills, Web Content/Analytics/On-line Community Manager, Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute.  I have heard from many articles and other content that I have read via ASAE and others that associations are about 1 year behind the technology trends of the corporate world.  The majority of the session discussed what John's experience was going mobile with their conference and expo app.  With little notice or promotion of their new conference app, they had quick adoption.  This year they expect their results to be even greater, by launching the application earlier and providing people ways to interact before they get to the show.  

After three or so weeks, I am still thinking about this session because the technology is SO cool.  Imagine a world where your conference attendees don't have to carry around a full thick brochure of all the conference sessions, the map of the exhibit floor, and more.  Of course it comes with a cost, but you can offset this cost by selling sponsorship ads to your exhibitors.  This will help you recoup some of your initial investment, drive traffic to your exhibitors booth and provide a useful tool for your members to connect.  

Where is the future of association events? Maybe it's in mobile, but it just might be something that we have never heard of.  Either way, I am excited for the innovation ahead and seeing what other association professionals are up to, today, tomorrow and in the future. 

What Has Your Membership Done for Me Lately?

This question is something that comes up with nearly ever association or chamber partner we talk with.  Measuring the true value of what you are providing to your members is a difficult and sometimes daunting task.  The key to uncovering the answer to these questions is to:

Understand Your Unique Value Proposition

What do you provide that your competitors don’t? Don’t reach for the standard answers such as networking, education.  Are you sure they can’t get that information someplace else? With the creation of social media, there is a lot of “free” information out there.  You can uncover this via surveying your members and not just going to the usual suspects such as networking, lobbying, etc.  Your hunch might come true, but it’s great to back those hunches up with data.  Electronic surveys are the way to go, they eliminate paper, and survey tabulation.  Does your Association Management Software (AMS) provide you with the opportunity to survey your members? Use the tools you have available to find the data you need to back up those hunches.

Show Your Members The Value Your Organization Brings

Depending upon your AMS provider this can be accomplished by understanding what you should be asking your database.  With the Weblink Solution this can be accomplished at the click of a few buttons with reports on Member Activity, Member Referrals, just to name a few of our standard 230 reports we provide to our association and chamber partners.  Being able to uncover this information can help you prepare for those difficult conversations when it comes time for their dues renewal. 

Listen to Your Members

Listen to your members, because they are the reason that your organization exists.  Sure, it seems basic but listening to a member who has a concern, no matter how big or small will go a long way in retaining them for more than your initial term.  This listening doesn’t just have to happen at conferences, you can uncover what they think about your educational programs, and other services by participating in the various social media such ask:  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.  By doing a quick search on topics that relate to your organization whether it be a chamber or an association allows you to know what the “chatter” is in these arenas.  It can be accomplished by spending 1 -2 hours per week, or even more if you have an intern or staff member managing this aspect of your chamber or association.  Understanding what’s out there will help you engage members and spark them into action.   

Stay Relevant

In the book, Race for Relevance- 5 Radical Changes for Associations written by Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers, CAE they point out what has changed about associations.  They talk about targeting your membership so that you can really understand what is important to them, along with fighting the status quo.  It’s a great read, and Sarah Sladek writes more about how membership is changing in her book The End of Membership As We Know It: Building the Fortune-Flipping, Must-Have Association of the Next Century.  She was also a recent keynote speaker at the ASAE’s Marketing Membership & Communications Conference where she talked about the changes that our society as a whole have weathered including but not limited to: the .com bust, the 911 attacks, and the Baby Boomer’s impending daily retirement numbers.   Her presentation was thoughtful and gave the audience a lot to think about.  What is your association or chamber doing to stay relevant?

Make sure that you have the right tools in place for managing the relationship with your members.  If your association didn’t exist what would happen? You might be surprised at the answer.  Keep your finger on the pulse of your members with your Association Management Software (AMS) system.  It can provide numerous ways to measure engagement and help you demonstrate what YOUR association or chamber has done for their members. 

I'll Be There For You!

These five words you swear to your members.  When they breathe, you want to be the air for them - or at the very least the one place they go when they need to know about your association's industry.  Did you just head bang? I thought about it when I was writing it, if that makes you feel better. 

Our members are our life blood, but what if we can't be there for them when they need us.  Is this a failure upon our part? As a communications scholar/student we frequently say that it's actually healthy for a couple in a romantic relationship to maintain other relationships outside of that couple.  So where I am going with this? Members are looking for diverse information that may not be your area of expertise.  How can you keep them from going to other places?

• Partner with associations in your space.  They aren't the enemy and you will both be better for an event, a seminar or whatever type of program you can agree on. 
• Invite guest speakers on topics that aren't your association's niche that are relevant to your membership's diverse needs. 
• Read blogs of professionals in the for-profit and non profit industry where your association was born from.

Keeping up with the trends for your members is just one part of your day-to-day job duties.   You do this so your members don't have to look elsewhere for this type of information.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Only you and your members can decide. 

The"Perfect: Organization

When talking to potential association clients, I often ask them what do you think would make your organization "perfect?" They often struggle with their answer, as if they haven't had the time to even ponder what "perfect" would be like.  When I worked at small association, I can tell you to make my organization perfect I would have liked:

• Additional organizational buy-in from senior leadership.  
• A way to track members engagement through an actual membership database.
• A bigger budget. 

My wish list may not be different from some of my clients, but the truth is that each organization is different.  The problem with many associations is that they have done things a certain way for so long and they are reluctant to change.  This was the case with my previous non-profit (trade) association, the president was from the industry.  The key thing that we were missing out on, is not a unique problem to associations -- engaging the younger generation of members.  Each suggestion that wasn't a print ad, press release, or direct mail campaign was met with a great deal of resistance.  If something isn't working do you keep doing it? At this association, yes was the answer.

We've heard it a million times, with the economic crisis members are changing roles more frequently.  Tenure at a company is decreasing and when people move it's hard to keep track of them on something like a Microsoft Access or Excel "database."  Believe it or not, unless your trained to create and manage databases out of Access they probably won't do what you want them to.  There are many databases out there on the market, the key question you have to ask is "how much database do we need?" The company I currently work for creates a relational database so you keep track of their employment history, but more importantly their relationship with your association.  If I had only had a database, maybe things would be different? The association I worked for no longer exists and merged with another to stay relevant. 

As an association we often dream of what we could do if we only had the budget, and this is a curse, but it's also a blessing.  Why? You learn to be creative on limited dollars, so that if/when you do have more budget, you spend it wisely. 

If you really think about it.  What would you like to happen to make your association perfect?

Like it, Tweet It, Pin it -- You decide

Facebook®,  Twitter®, Pinterest® and LinkedIn® are just a few places that you can engage with your members in the social media space.  The true value of being present in these spaces is hard to measure their true return on investment.  Check out a few ways that your association can start tracking your ROI today:

Google Analytics this provides you tools to track how members engage with your association’s website. When you set up your account, you indicate what page you’d like to track.  You can track items like: paid, organic, local, social, etc.  One of my former association clients did a “heat map” showing where they received the most traffic, thereby justifying their premium home page real estate.  In fact, the heat map, showed that their section of the website (career center) was the most viewed and visited page.  This built the business case for both a redesign of this section as well as increasing the prominence on other highly viewed pages. 

bitly makes your link both trackable and searchable.  This allows you to tweet shorter statuses on your association’s twitter account, as well as determine, who is out there listening to you.  This feature also allows you to customize your shortened URL so you can include keywords that you want to appear in search results.  The more you can track the more you can show the value of time(hopefully) well spent. 

Tweet Deck the largest advantage of this feature is the ability to schedule your tweets.  I usually open this up in the morning and after I check email I start crawling the web for stories about things I find interesting.  This could be anything from membership growth strategies, database best practices, interesting stories in the business world, as well as other things.  I spend about 30 minutes every morning finding these stories and then sharing them with the world via twitter. 

Klout helps you understand what the association’s sphere of influence is and how it’s changed.  The interesting thing is you can see who influences you, if you weren’t aware before.  I have a few go to’s in terms of blogs that I follow.  They are:

•  Katya’s Non-Profit Blog
•  Kindergarten Mind
•  Beth’s Blog
• ASAE’s Acronym
•  Harvard Business Review Blogs

With so many different ways to engage with your members out there, I think it’s important for someone to share what they’ve learned.  There may be easier ways to do it, but this is what I have learned.  Hope you find it helpful!

Go it alone or outsource?

What is your association's membership niche? That's the real question, whether it's animals, a professional society or even a trade association.  Your association specializes in your niche.  You may not have gone to school for your association's industry but the amount of years you have spent working as a professional with this organization has made you a fast expert in your industry. 

Association's often outsource because they know that vendors have their niche.  WebLink International, my current employer has a specialized niche in association management software and websites.  My previous employer specialized in career centers for non-profits, while the associations I worked for were trade associations and professional societies.  Throughout my adventures, I have picked up a few skills that I wouldn't have if I had worked other places.  However, I am still faced with the fact that I know that there is a better way to do this, and quicker.

At one of my employers, I was responsible for doing graphic design.  This was not in my immediate skill set, and I made no secret of it.  However, I was willing and eager to figure it out, and take the time to do so.  I learned the very basic elements of graphic design, and could change layouts, and other things quickly.  Starting from scratch without an idea of where to go, now that was a real challenge.  What this made me understand is that sometimes, while it's cost effective it's best to not go it alone and engage experts where your budget and project needs fit.  Often times, the items that I designed from scratch took a long time to produce, and I always thought they could be better if this was in my skill set. 

Budgets Make Dreams Come True

The summer brings a lot of things for associations.  One gift that keeps on giving is your budget planning.  As you prepare your budget for 2013, ask yourself what dreams do I want to come true? Budget season for me was a time to go to the table and ask for things that I didn't think were possible at any other point in the year.  You start with a clean slate, so here are some things that other association professionals are asking for this budget season.

At the ASAE Marketing & Membership conference, they took an informal survey of the room.  Approximately 95% of the room hadn't redesigned their website in three years or more.   I am all about brand consistency, but when new functionality comes out it's important as an association to stay current and not annoy your customers.  At the same conference, it was revealed that a target budget is going to depend on what you want your website to do. 

Here is a list of questions that I would ask a vendor if I were looking for a web site redesign. 

• Open Source? Customized? Off-the Shelf? 
• Do you have any white papers, best practices written on association websites?
• What is included in this price and what is an "add-on" and additional charge? 
• Is hosting extra? 
• Is the content management system (CMS) made for someone without programming experience? 
• What about updates/tweaks? 
• What is your per hour charge if we go over our estimated hours? 
• What is your experience in the association space?
• Do you have references in my industry that I can speak to?
• What integrates with this? database? financials? social networking? 
• Does this include bringing over all my content? 

By asking the right questions up front you make sure that you know what you're getting into before you begin this big project.  

Experience, Curiosity & Questions

I recently read a post by Joe Rominiecki discussing his 5 years experience as an association executive at ASAE.  Coincidentally, I have double the experience of Joe and I have to tell you, I too have many unanswered questions.  For the sake of brevity, I won't dump them all here, instead I will chunk them into five questions.

1. How many people in marketing actually majored in business and or marketing? I spent 10 years doing marketing with or for non-profits, and my education had little to do with marketing.  My B.A is in American Studies, while my M.A is in Communications.  American Studies is based in history and likes to flirt with many other disciplines, it was heavy on reading and writing, which did serve me well.  Communications and marketing seem like they are closely related but if you had asked me 5 years ago which disciple I preferred, I would have told you marketing.  Today, professionals have to have more of a hybrid approach in the non-profit arena because you're dealing with limited resources and if you don't have a skill set you learn it.  Which leads me to my next question...
   
2. Experience or education? It's a follow up question to the one above, but what's more valuable your experience as a non-profit professional or a certificate in non-profit management? Here are some things that I learned on the job but not in school: managing vendors (designers, printers), understanding how to talk to those vendors so that it didn't cost you an arm and leg, politics (make nice with everyone, it makes your life easier, seriously), and try to make your boss look good no matter what.
    
3. Does anyone feel secure in their job? With the great recession, I can tell you I was not immune to being laid-off.  I worked for a small 6 staff association, and I was the last to be hired and the first to go when times got tough.  The association had never had someone do marketing for them, and the board didn't see the value in continuing it.  I spent three months of poorly paid government vacation being laid-off before I found my next gig.  What did it teach me? I shouldn't take my job for granted and I should do the best job that I can each and everyday.  Even with that, their are no guarantees. 
   
4.  Is change that hard? Perhaps it's my age, which isn't very old, but I don't find change to be that hard.  Just because you have always done something a certain way doesn't mean you should keep doing it that way.  However, when I find myself at the crossroads of making a change I am often lingering with doubt.  Is this the right decision? Should I choose this new vendor over the one I already know? What if this change doesn't go the way I want it to? So many follow up questions, and a lot here. 
   
5. How do we stay relevant with our members (customers)?  As former non-profit professional, keeping the association on the top of our member's minds was something that I spent a lot of time working on.  Emails, print, social media, I tried it all.  What did I find, people have so much information, that they rarely engaged with the association, or me.  I keep wondering, what do we as association professionals have to do to provide a service to members that they can't live without.  For your association the answer might be different.  

Basically, I think we all learn from our experience, in the end, my quest for additional knowledge always wins out.  How can I do better? What did I learn today? If I were my member, what would I think? 

Change is good...

In the non-profit world we're often slower to adopt to changes, and the most recent example of this is in social media.  Depending on the size of your association, your membership numbers and overall leadership associations are still thinking about dipping their toes into the social media water. 

Association members are using social media, regardless of the membership type, and believe it or not it is a way for them to engage.  Baby boomers engaged with their association by volunteering and becoming very active in the membership.  However the new generation, is engaging by sitting at their computers and updating their friends one status at a time.  If associations aren't at least listening to the conversation then they are missing out in engaging their future generation of members.  

One of the associations that I worked for is just getting in the social media mix, and when I spoke with my old supervisor over there, I told him that he was very late in the game.  He agreed and knew that the organization needed to supply a full time staff member to engage with their members in the social media stratosphere.  They have done as most associations do, hire a consultant to tell them what they don't know.  I offered my free advice, which was, get into the mix and don't do it "half-hearted." 

In order to be successful in the social media realm you must keep up your engagement.  With so many tools out there to engage members, what are you waiting for? 

Slang Language

If you've ever been at the watercooler, or any public place for that matter you might overhear some type of "slang."  In a recent article by Slate, they discussed this very subject matter.  Your teachers both in your high school, and college probably never thought they'd hear the likes of "GTL" being publicized in newspapers, or any other publication for that matter.  

Language is adaptive and it continues to mutate.  To think of the days that they had to hand copy everything into a book, this was a painstaking process.  However, they were careful to not include random words.  Slang is now in our everyday speech, and writing, it's invaded our language.  "Google" is now a verb in the dictionary.  So what does this mean for our teaching and learning? Do we as educators and even professionals have to stay current with this type of trend to ensure that we're "hipsters?" I think somewhere, the former enlightened person that I used to be is rolling over in her grave.  

What does sitting at a desk to your intellectual capacity? Does it reduce it? I often feel as though I must read additional scholastic publications to enrich my brain.  Is multi-tasking making us dumb? 

The Devils on My Shoulders

Since January, I have been flirting with a career in the education space, this has seemed to be a theme of my life.  I have two great influences in my life, my Aunt and my Mother.  While they are sisters, each of them chose a different career path.  The thing that they have in common is their drive to be successful and a fantastic work ethic.  

My Aunt & Godmother has been working for the same company for more than 25 years, where she's moved around through the ranks.  Despite not having a formal educational background, she has a decent salary, and fantastic benefits.  She's the voice of the "career professional" in my head who motivates me to achieve results in the for profit world where I currently assist my non profit clients in generating non-dues revenue.  

Then there is my dearest Mother.  She's a fantastic educator and has been ever since I can remember.  Her field requires her to stay current and her passion is to teach.  She's lucky because she too has been working for the same college for more than 25 years.  She inspires me as does my aunt. 

Choosing a path to devote myself completely to education is a scary proposition.  On the one hand it potentially provides the "opportunity" for work/life balance.  On the other hand, the hours in the classroom are not as great as those logged in an office.  However, you bring your work home with you, grading papers, responding to emails, student posts and such.  

While I have been flirting with this path in the education space, I have explored also combining these two passions.  This is a quick way to combine both of my interests and continue down the professional path of my career as a successful marketing and communications executive. 

My generation doesn't have the same desire or ability even to stay at the same place of work for more than a few years.  How do we make sense of our career paths and choices in this "economy?" Only time will tell. 

Broadway's Dark Tonight

This past weekend I made my first trip to the great Midwest.  After we rushed to get to our plane with less than an hour to spare to get to our gate, we were greeted by pleasant people.  Growing up in the Northeast, you take for granted when someone is nice to you, and sometimes even look at them with suspicion.  However, the good midwest folks don't feel that way and they are generally nice people with big hearts.

Our trip was to serve two purposes, one to get me to my first professional football game, and two to see where my significant other grew up.  When we checked into the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center we were excited by the location and they put us on the 70th floor.  This is the highest standing hotel in the Western Hemisphere and the home of the GM Headquarters. Our view was amazing, and we unpacked and headed to Greektown.  We enjoyed a meal at the Parthenon, and then hit up the casino where we donated a few dollars to them.

Our entertainment began when we returned to the room and got a full detail of our neighbor's sex life.  It was mildly entertaining for a few minutes.  However, they were fighting until 4 am or later.  They woke up around 10 am (we knew this due to the paper thin walls) and their pleasant loud conversation continued.  They left for someplace and then we went back to sleep.  We slept in till 1 pm, and got up and changed rooms.  We went off to explore the Detroit metro area by car, where I got to see the various places that my significant other had lived.  We even looked at houses which there were plenty.

I think what struck me the most, was that we didn't see many people until Sunday afternoon for the Detroit Lions game.  I was told that the city of Detroit went from one that was 2 million to now only 800,000.  The previous economy was factories, where the good people of Detroit would build American cars for the nation.  The manufacturing economy is gone, and now we're a service economy.  Many buildings sit empty, and the street "broadway" is dark.  It was sad, and what they need, is what most of the country needs... JOBS.  It was sad to see, but underneath the sadness their remains hope.

It's my hope that Detroit, and other cities like it rebound, when our legislators quit their fighting and actually start doing something.  They need to create tax incentives for businesses to set up shop in places like Detroit to make it worth their while.  I am for Obama's job plan, because I want our country to be successful.