Happy Memorial Day from all of us at MemberClicks. We’re proud to honor our veterans today, and in honor of the holiday, I wanted to spotlight the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association.

With more than 500 members, AVVBA promotes patriotism and sponsors patriotic activities for the Atlanta business community. Of course, it recognizes those who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, and a big goal is to erect memorial plaques in different Atlanta locations.

We’re proud to serve such a fantastic organization, and we hope that whatever your plans today, you keep in mind the millions of veterans who served for the United States.

Happy Friday! Who’s excited for the long weekend? It’s supposed to rain here in Atlanta, which is a bit of a bummer, but I’m sure it will still be a great weekend. I hope everyone has exciting plans with their family and friends!

As per usual, there were some great posts in the association blogosphere this weekend. Feel free to share your favorites in the comments if I didn’t mention them!

1. Deirdre Reid had a fantastic post at SmartBlog Insights on upward-facing associations. She discusses the innovative company Lululemon (love their yoga clothes!) and how they pay for athletic and yoga classes for employees to encourage their mission and allow them to grow both personally and professionally. She writes, We do annual performance evaluations based on job-related goals; why not ask them to set goals for their whole life? A Ford Foundation study found that people who write out their goals achieve them 89% of the time. Why not help our staff do this? Does your organization truly live and breathe its mission?

2. At Association Subculture, Shelly Alcorn wrote a wonderful, thoughtful post about Generation X leaders in associations, sharing a moving background story that applies not only to her, but to a lot of Gen Xers. As Generation X association professionals continue to hold more leadership positions, consider the environment in which many of them grew up as you handle the dynamics of your organization.

3. A promoter in Colorado got the attention of Cynthia D’Amour last week — his dancing in the streets made the morning rush hour a bit more enjoyable. Cynthia asks chapter leaders what kind of innovative strategies they’re plotting to get the attention of members. Sometimes even the most offbeat antics are the ones that get our attention.

4. I loved Elizabeth Weaver Engel’s post which asked association professionals to consider how their organization appears to outsiders: is it welcoming or exclusive? She compares a hip bar in Washington D.C. and a cool jazz club in New Orleans. Does your organization appear “groovy or snotty” to people who have no connection whatsoever to it?

5. David M. Patt wrote what was probably my favorite post this week, titled When smaller is better. He succinctly describes several benefits to working for a smaller association: there are fewer silos, the executive director is often more directly involved in staff issues and there’s less bureaucracy. Staff is often able to respond quickly to organizational or industry surprises. (Small staff associations rule!)

Whatever your plans are for this Memorial Day weekend, we hope you have a great one!

Take a look at some of these awesome events that will take place this summer! Some are geared specifically toward small staff association professionals, but I think all of them are worth considering, no matter how small your organization. Social media isn’t the only hot topic this summer — these events and sessions are fantastic resources for any association professionals who aspire to be lifelong learners.

Young Professional Lunchtime Learning: Got Ethics?, Thursday, June 3: A free!, virtual program geared toward young professionals and asking tough ethical questions and discuss how to come to a clear decision when given an ethically gray situation. ASAE’s Young Professionals and Ethics committees will come together to decide upon the best actions to take when confronted with an ethics dilemma.

Association New Media Summit, Tuesday, June 8: In just a few weeks, the folks at Peach New Media will host a daylong event and you can attend in-person in Arlington, Va. or watch the live webcast. Take a look at some of the questions that will be addressed!

- What’s hot now in online learning and what are the upcoming trends?
- What are the hurdles and resolutions for associations getting into social media?
- How does new media change our role from “educator” to “curator”?
- What revenue generating opportunities are available via online learning programs?

Buzz 2010: Social Media for Associations, June 16 / July 20 / August 18: Brought to us by the lovely SocialFish and Smartbrief, this year’s event will be a three-part breakfast series featuring amazing speakers Charlene Li, Mark Storey, Wendy Harman, Alexandra Levit and Olivier Blanchard. The series is geared toward association professionals who steer their organization’s social media strategy and policies. Last year’s event was a great success, so try and attend one (or all three) of the 2010 events!

Small Staff Idea Swap – Principles of Good Governance, Wednesday, June 30: A free, in-person event in Washington, D.C. geared toward small staff association professionals! Advancing good governance is crucial for all associations, but can be especially challenging for smaller organizations. Take a look at these great talking points:

- Determining the governance needs of the association, i.e. What does the association and its staff need from the governing body.
- Addressing the “principles of good governance” – what are they and where are the models.
- Getting your Board’s attention and engaging them in improving governance.
- What is the best process and sequence of steps in getting to effective governance policies, process and structure.
- How does the maturation stage and size of the association affect the role and function of governance?

Creating the 24/7 Small Staff Association: An Online Conference, Tuesday, July 13: In our world of constant communication, it can be difficult for organizations (especially those with fewer staff members) to actively engage and connect with members. This three-day audio/web event will cover free and low-cost online tools, how to write copy for the Web, mobile technology essentials and more – all geared toward small staff associations. This one isn’t free, but after looking at the awesome full schedule here (PDF), I definitely think it’s worth attending.

This definitely isn’t a complete list of events, just a few noteworthy ones. If you know of any others, especially for small staff association professionals, feel free to share them with us!

So after discussing why passion transforms a good leader into a great leader last week, I wanted to discuss one more important quality: humility. Case in point: the recent Facebook privacy situation. Obviously, Facebook is a huge company with millions of users, but it doesn’t matter how big or small your organization is – every leader needs a healthy dose of humble.

Some background: After a lot of backlash involving its latest privacy changes, Facebook has responded by saying that the company made mistakes and will overhaul privacy features to make them simpler and easier to understand.

(I first wrote about Facebook’s new privacy settings a few weeks ago.)

In a column for the Washington Post, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg clarified some user concerns and said the company would work on simplifying its privacy settings.

Although it took a little bit of time to elicit an official response from Facebook, it’s difficult to admit to the world that you made a mistake, as Zuckerberg did. Perhaps the company could have responded quicker, but I think the statement served a good purpose.

So, in addition to humility, I think organizations and leaders can learn a few lessons from this incident.

Ask members for input. It’s important to take members’ opinions into consideration before implementing sweeping changes. It’s better to be up front with members and ask for input to avoid backlash than to deal with a possible public relations headache that could easily have been avoided.

Respond quickly. Zuckerberg and Facebook took a few weeks to respond, which is a fairly long time in the digital world. A more immediate response demonstrates that you’re invested in the wants and needs of your members, and that you’re listening to them.

Be transparent. It’s vital to be transparent and approachable, especially as you begin to integrate social media tools into your communications.

If you make a mistake, admit it humbly so everyone can move past it. And by “everyone,” I mean everyone – members, staffers, board members and volunteers. Owning up to making a mistake is professional, courteous and should earn you some respect.

No matter how big or small your organization is, everyone makes mistakes from time to time and part of being a leader is admitting it and taking responsibility for your actions.

Just a reminder that I’m hosting a few webinars on social media for small-staff associations today (Tuesday, May 25) and tomorrow. So many organizations are strapped for time and other resources, and social media is a fairly easy (and cost-effective!) way to engage your members. Although it does require some upkeep and maintenance (just like everything else), I think it will be crucial for associations to take advantage of these tools going forward.

So, what am I going to discuss?

- A few basics: Why social media is important and how you can listen to conversations taking place online.
- How to discover which social media platforms your members already use
- Why it’s OK to give up “control” of your online message
- The importance of staying up-to-date with social media trends

…And of course, any questions that attendees may have!

So head on over here to sign up for today‘s and here to sign up for Wednesday’s! Each one will take place at 3 p.m. ET, and they’ll cover the same topics, so there’s no need to sign up for both! (And did I mention each one is free?)