All associations are "self-forming groups"

I'm increasingly puzzled by the term "self-forming groups". And even more puzzled by the threats that many association executives seem to see in them. You know what I'm talking about: The groups that seem to arise out of nothing from listservs, bulletin boards, and -- increasingly -- social networking sites.

Truth be told, all associations are self-forming groups. It's not as if God himself spoke them into being. They organized by themselves.

I say, "Bring on the self-forming groups!" They might need an executive director one day!

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Traveling tips for dudes

I'm packing for my fourth trip in four weeks and I'm getting to the point where I feel like I'm an expert on this. I am a hyper-efficient business traveler: People are always amazed that I can show up for week-long events with just a carry-on sized bag and a laptop case. So, for all of you guys who want to make travel easy on yourself, just follow these tips. (I'm sure some will work for the females, too)

1. Never, ever check a bag. Waiting for a bag to arrive on the carousel after a long day of travel is like death. Here's how to downsize your luggage...
   
2. Best way to cut down on the size of the bag you need to carry is to bring as few pairs of shoes as possible. For most trips, I bring one pair of jogging shoes and wear a pair of business casual shoes on the plane. In warmer climes, I'll bring flip flops. I stuff my shoes with socks to maximize use of the space.
3. Bring no more than two pairs of slacks. Wear one pair on the plane.
4. If you have to bring a jacket, wear it on the plane. I've found that a black jacket is the most versatile. You can wear it with black slacks and have something that looks like a suit, if necessary. It'll also go with stone and tan khakis.
   
5. Especially if you travel often, keep a separate toiletries kit stocked at all times and just leave it in your bag. I always keep my two ounce or smaller liquids in the TSA-requisite quart sized bag inside the kit. It gets packed at the top of my bag, so I can grab it quickly in security.
   
6. I own four black belts because I kept forgetting them at home, forcing me to purchase another on the road. Now I just keep a reversible (black/brown) belt in my travel bag at all times.
7. TSA recommends this, but I always see people fumbling with electronics at the security area: Put all metal/electronic objects into your carry-on before you enter the security line.
   
8. For heaven's sake, buy yourself a wheelie bag if you don't already have one.
9. Take the time to fold shirts and slacks nicely before you pack them. Occasionally this will eliminate the need to iron them, if you also hang them up as soon as you arrive.
   
10. Pack a power strip. Power outlets at airports are always at a premium. You will make friends by expanding capacity.

Here are some airport/airline tips:

1. In my experience, Continental Airlines seems to have the worst on-time record, especially for east coast flights. I was burned twice in one month back in 2007. I will never fly with them again.
   
2. On the other end of the spectrum, JetBlue has the DirecTV consoles in the seats. I like this because everyone zones out watching TV and I can read a book or type on the laptop.
   
3. All other airlines are about the same.
   
4. Don't hate on regional jets like Embraer and Canadair. Yes, they're small, but they load and unload very quickly compared to the big Airbus, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas planes. However, stay away from prop planes at all costs. They are slow, loud and bumpy.
   
5. Flying from or into small markets often means connecting. Try to connect through smaller airports to improve your chances of making connections if your first flight is running late. Some of the smaller hubs I really like are Charlotte (US Air), Memphis (Northwest), and Cincinnati (Delta).
   
6. Found that your connecting flight is delayed? Check the departure board to see if an earlier flight with the same airline to your city was also delayed. Run, do not walk, to that gate and ask to fly standby on the earlier flight. I once shaved three hours off of a connection in Newark doing this.
7. Scope out the lines leading to the metal detectors and X-ray machines. If the lines are turning to the right as you approach the metal detectors, take the line farthest to the right. It will be the shortest. If the lines turn left, take the line farthest to the left.
   
8. FAA regs allow you to turn on your cell phone as soon as your plane touches down.

Any other tips to share?

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

The Blog Watchdog is back

You can get this column and others from the expert consultants at McKinley Marketing by subscribing to their monthly newsletter. Customary disclosure: I'm a paid freelance writer for McKinley.

Great marketing starts with a great service or product, which can only come from a culture of innovation. Last week at Digital Now, a cutting-edge technology and strategy conference for associations, TrendHunter.com's Jeremy Gutsche appeared as one of the keynote speakers. Jeremy spoke at length about recognizing trends early, creating products and services to address the trends through innovation and getting people to spread the word about them. Check out these two summaries of Jeremy's speech at Acronym and at the Digital Now blog.

Frank Eliason is an employee with Philadelphia based Comcast. Comcast has a reputation for burning money on glitzy multi-million dollar ad campaigns while basic customer service goes horribly wrong and technicians sleep on customers' couches. Eliason is trying to change the company's image. By monitoring the text-messaging micro-blogging site Twitter and replying to frustrated customers using the handle ComcastCares, Frank is converting Comcast haters into advocates. ReadWriteWeb covers the story along with the Houston Chronicle.

Here's some practical advice: Try sending dues invoices (or any kind of invoices) with nothing but a return envelope. Kevin Holland's experience is that letters get filed; invoices get paid.

It's not enough to just have Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds on your association website or blog. You have to explain this most useful and time-saving technology to ensure that it gains wide adoption among your constituency. "It’s time for marketing people to step up and save everyone on the planet a boatload of time by making RSS digestible for the 98% of people that don’t spend their days drowning in techie acronyms and buzzwords." This post on Mashable will inspire you to take that step.

If your association is planning social media initiatives, how will you get started? How will you measure success? What should you do if someone leaves a negative comment? Jeremiah Owyang's social media FAQ area at Web Strategist is the perfect place to get the answers to those questions. As always, if you have feedback or a tip for Ben, e-mail him at bkmcae at gmail dot com.

I'm okay

I've been receiving many phone calls and e-mails today from friends and colleagues checking in on me after hearing about the tornadoes that ripped through Richmond and southeast Virginia yesterday. Yes, I am in one piece.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Demo #2

Mobile post sent by bkmcae using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

Handout and slides from my presentation at Digital Now today

Head on over to the Digital Now blog for slides and handouts of my Cool Tools presentation.

Some photos from Digital Now on Flickr. The photo in this post is of Chris Anderson describing the long tail.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Digital Now mobile backchannel

If you want to eavesdrop on the Digital Now mobile backchannel, you can! Compose a text message to 35350 and put the following text into the body of the message: connect dn08 dn. Thanks to Josh Goldman for setting it up.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Here Comes Everybody is the association industry's must-read book of the year

Association professionals: Put Clay Shirky's new book at the top of your reading list. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations is a thoroughly considered, articulate demonstration of the revolutionary change social media is imposing on our society. Never before have I dog-eared a book like I did with this one - I've bent and marked up over 100 pages in this book.

From the title, you might consider this book a naked threat to associations (Steven Colbert felt threatened 50 seconds in). Associations are at risk because of the social web phenomenon, but not in the sense that a single social networking site or online community will directly challenge, and ultimately unseat them. However, wave after wave of ad hoc groups that organize with ridiculous ease have the real potential to eventually erode the power and influence historically enjoyed by associations.

Shirky scarcely mentions the not-for-profit sector specifically, but the writing is on the wall. Towards the end of the book, though, he does bring up membership associations. Here is the most eye-popping passage from this practicing association professional's perspective:

"The jury is still out on whether any of the current interest in reforming the US health care system will change anything, but if I had to pick between MoveOn and groups like the self-organized strangers in Dallas for having the more profound effect, I'd bet on the ad hoc groups. These kinds of efforts are unlikely to be long-lived or self-sustaining--no office in DC, no budget from donations--but the unpredictability of that kind of effort makes it a signal of a kind of commitment that is hard for any ordinary membership organization to produce effectively." -pages 301-302

Check out Jeff De Cagna's podcast with Clay, and get this book.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Twitter as a get out of jail free card

Those who "get it" get out.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Twitter for proactive customer service

Caution: Twitter post.

For all those who don't care or don't get it, this post from ReadWriteWeb is a must-read. Anyone who uses Twitter knows that it's instinctual to tweet about frustrating customer experiences. Why not use Twitter to fix those problems right when they crop up? That's what Comcast is doing.

Side note: Association executive Helen Mosher gets a link in the ReadWriteWeb post.

Who is Frank Elias?

Comcast, the company known for glitzy multi-million dollar ad campaigns backed up by horrendous customer service and dozing technicians now has an online advocate tweeting and getting mentioned in blogs. His email address and phone number are even popping up online.

Has Comcast caught the cluetrain, or is this just another mega marketing campaign with some social media tactics thrown in?

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Thank you! Milestone: 300 RSS subscribers

I've been flirting with 300 subscribers to my primary RSS feed for about the last three weeks and finally crossed that threshold yesterday. I am honored that 300 people actually care enough about what I think to subscribe to my blog. Thank you.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

All quiet on the Certified Association Executive blog front

From now through April 26 or so, I'll be entering my association-themed blog posts on the Digital Now blog. Digital Now is a premier conference for association executives, April 23-26, developed by Fusion Productions, a client.

Here are two recent posts:

• Turds Terms of Use
• Assume everyone is a blogger
  

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Slides and handouts from today's AEI session

Thanks to those who attended my session today at AEI! Please feel free to download the handouts and review the PowerPoint slides. If you have questions, leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.

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Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Blog Watchdog March 2008 is doggone good!

I've outdone myself. The March 2008 Blog Watchdog sniffs out two resources to better understand internet marketing, one quasi-organization to help association professionals learn how to do word of mouth marketing better, and a new book that is sure to cause a stir in the association community.

Has your association decided that social media is going to be a part of its member engagement or marketing strategy? If so, I highly recommend Lee Aase's Social Media University, Global blog (SMUG, for short). At SMUG, you can learn the basics about Twitter, get an Intro to Social Networking, or get advanced class on Facebook concepts like applications and security features. Lee is not only a social media guru, but a nonprofit professional to boot.

ASAE's latest research project, The Decision to Join, offered up a number significant findings. One of the most compelling revelations was the finding that word of mouth is by far the number one means by which association members first hear about their membership organization. The Society for Word of Mouth (SWOM) is a social networking site for students of word of mouth marketing created by Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell, ringleaders of the influential Church of the Customer blog. This is a great place to sharpen your WOM marketing acumen.

The technology-heavy South by Southwest Interactive Conference (SXSW) took place earlier this month in Austin. I have been watching SXSW coverage with a keen eye for at least the last two years, because for some associations, what happens at SXSW might be considered an harbinger of things to come to association conferences in five to 10 (or perhaps more) years. One of the biggest stories to come out of SXSW was an interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that turned just a tad uncomfortable (or downright riotous, depending on whose blog you read or which video you watch). The moderator was overpowered by an audience that became increasingly rowdy throughout the presentation, and eventually demanded that she open the floor to Q&A time. The scuttle is that Twitter, the micro-blogging text-messaging web application, facilitated the crowd's frenzy. Here is a collection of association-industry reactions to the incident from Face2Face, GetMeJamieNotter, and Certified Association Executive.

There's a new book out called "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations" by Clay Shirky, one of the most respected thinkers and writers about the social web. This book is sure to set the association industry ablaze, including some dire warnings from the Chicken Littles predicting the inevitable demise of associations. Shirky has a new blog to promote the book, and has been making the public speaking rounds. Here you can watch a video of a presentation about the book he made at Harvard Law earlier this month.