Jamie Notter has a great line on strategic planning in his blog today:
Talk about planning. Talk about strategy. Do NOT talk about strategic planning.
Beautiful summation. I’ve always had some discomfort with the declaration that strategic planning is dead, in that it was never clear what exactly you’re supposed to do instead. The answer that feels best to me so far is that you divorce the two, as Jamie so clearly put it.
Jeff De Cagna and I are partnering up on a presentation for ASAE’s Great Ideas conferences where we will introduce podcasting and discuss its possible use by associations. The fun part is that we will actually record and assemble a podcast during the session by recording interviews with some of the attendees.
The Distance Learning Coalition was kind enough to invite Jeff and I to present to their group on Thursday, which was a wonderful opportunity for us to make a dry run through our material and the process of recording with a live group. Here is the podcast if you would like to listen to it. Two of the attendees decided to hijack our podcast and record their own mini show within ours, which was a lot of fun.
Jeff and I pre-recorded some sections of the podcast via a Skype call. As you can tell, I need to get a much better microphone for these things.
Kevin Holland shares his best tips in 5 Things I’ve Learned About Email Marketing for Associations:
This week, the 100th issue of our organization’s free e-newsletter will hit the streets. It’s very different from when it started because we didn’t know anything 100 issues ago! I probably still don’t, but having now generated hundreds of new members through email newsletters and sold tens of thousands of books, I think I’ve picked up a few things. (And yes, to the blog-faithful out there, I still am a huge proponent of email marketing, even over blogs.)
Great tips in that post, check it out! Pretty consistent with the article I posted last week.
I’ll be attending N-TEN’s DC meeting next Tuesday, Oct 11. The theme of the conference is data integration. Who ever has issues with that? 😉
If you’ll be there and want to say hi, just drop me a note.
Here is a nice piece from CMS Newswire on how web professionals often have to take on a leadership role: Why Web Managers are Leaders.
You’re in a delicate situation. You need to show leadership for your website, while at the same time not being seen to usurp the leadership of your senior managers. How do you bring them along? How do you make them feel that they are still the ‘real’ leaders?
This is a common theme in association management to begin with: how to lead while appearing to be led. Usually it is about working with volunteer leadership but the same techniques can be used internally by mid-level web leaders who are trying to get their execs to get behind the best ideas for the site.
I have just posted an article I wrote that went out in ASAE’s Technoscope newsletter a while ago: The Association Web Job Description. The article identifies the major areas that should be considered when designing positions to support an association web site, including sample language.
You may also want to see the sample interview questions for content management positions that I posted a while ago.
So there were about 10 people who attended the Idea Swap last night. Roughly equal mix of association staff and vendor/consultant types. I didn’t hear any revolutionary ideas but I did hear something interesting about what associations think about as they consider an online directory.
The biggest factors for associations creating online directories seemed to fall into one of two areas: preserving print-based advertising revenue or cutting costs by ceasing printing of the dead tree directory. What was missing from the conversation was discussion about creating value for members via an online directory. Revenue and cost are valid concerns but shouldn’t they really be secondary to what will create the most value for the association’s members?
Creating crippled online directories just to preserve some existing revenue streams doesn’t tell your members that you are keeping their interest front and center. Once they get that perception, you renewals will drop and then those other revenue streams will go away too. Then what?
I think associations are really going to have to get back to basics as the web continues to disrupt existing revenue models. It won’t be easy but they have to address value for members if they want to remain healthy organizations.
I’ll be heading down to the Center today to attend the technology idea swap about online directories. This is my first Idea Swap, looking forward to seeing how it goes.
I’ll post any good ideas I pick up from the event.
Associations often make their online dues payment processes hard to navigate for their members. Given that dues still form a significant chunk of any association’s revenue, it’s shocking how hard some of them make it for their members to give them money. These five tips focus on how to make your online dues payment system ridiculously easy in order to gather as much dues online as possible.
The point of all these tips is to make it as easy as possible for your members to do the one action your renewal notice should spur: paying dues.
Sue Pelletier of MeetingsNet is doing a great job of posting updates on the impact of Katrina on meetings and events scheduled for New Orleans and how the association and event community is responding. Thanks, Sue!
C. David Gammel, CAE 