Have you heard about this year’s American Associations Day? According to ASAE:

American Associations Day 2011 is the only legislative fly-in where association professionals like you can meet your members of Congress and advocate for association issues, such as health care reform, tax-exemption issues, and charitable giving. Join us as we honor a member of Congress with the 2011 Sentinel Award the evening of March 29, as well as have the opportunity to network with executives from across the country. The next day (March 30) you will be prepared in the morning to visit your members of Congress throughout the day with fellow association professionals from your state and advocate for the association management legislative agenda.

The event is open to any association executive, staff member, or leadership volunteer that is passionate about association issues and wants to make a difference, as well as meet and network with fellow advocates from across the country.

This event is a great opportunity to meet fellow association executives and leadership volunteers, as well as influential members of Congress. Associations do so much good in this country, and the purpose of American Associations Day is to keep it that way.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your issue is – if you association wants to affect change among its constituents and the association community at large, this event is a great opportunity to do so!

Additionally, out-of-area association professionals could be eligible to receive a $300 scholarship for travel expenses if you meet with members of Congress. For more information, check out ASAE’s site and be sure to start thinking about how you can institute changes!

Happy Friday! Short workweeks are fun, but you know what’s NOT fun? Cramming five days worth of work into four. I’m definitely ready for the weekend!

Before you hit the (proverbial) road, though, be sure to check out this week’s Friday Top Five — five blog posts from around the association community that were extra-special to me this week.

1. The Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology blog questioned whether or not cloud computing is good for the environment. Although many in the association community (including, of course, those of us here at MemberClicks) are big advocates of cloud computing, it may not be so environmentally sound. Read on for more info.

2. Jamie Notter discussed conflict this week, and why we should be moving toward the conflict rather than avoiding it. I’m the first to admit I can be passive-aggressive, so actively engaging in conflict isn’t exactly my favorite thing. But sometimes, moving toward conflict and confronting it can be beneficial; you can resolve small issues before the become big problems.

3. In a post for the Nonprofit Conversation blog, Nancy Schwartz shared nine keys for nonprofit organizations to utilize online video. One of my favorites? Online video is an expectation, not an option, for members under age 25. Additionally, remember that short and sweet is so important when it comes to videos. Attention spans for online video are minuscule.

4. According to a survey cited at the Association Management Group blog, demand for association management services is up. Bruce Wardle interviewed a few association execs and asked readers why thought demand for AMCs has increased. What do you think?

5. Conor McNulty at the Acronym blog asked a few insightful questions this week: What would you have done differently in your association management career? The post garnered lots of great comments, and I encourage everyone – no matter how far along in your career you are – to take a look.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Thursday! It’s almost the weekend – who’s pumped? If you had a short week (thanks to Presidents Day) and are trying to cram five days of work into just four days, I feel you. It’s been go go go all week, but if you have a few minutes, I definitely recommend checking out this video about the convergence of IT and marketing.

Marketing and technology truly go hand in hand; one can make the other more efficient and vice versa. But don’t let your technology become a crutch — it can certainly make your life easier but it shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all solution. There’s tons of research out there to support the fact that the best marketing strategy is word of mouth and member recommendation. Create positive relationships with and meaningful experiences for your members, and they’ll give you all the good PR you could ever want.

It’s not too late to sign up forASAE’s free webinar, Managing an Association’s Social Media Risks and Coverage Exposures. If you have some free time at 2 p.m. ET today, dial in to learn from your peers about how to respond to social media crises within your organization or industry. (For one example, check out what happened to the American Red Cross’ Twitter account last week.)

Here’s what ASAE has to say about the program:

U.S. courts have expanded the definition of commercial speech, and the litigation over copyrights and trademarks is exploding. Most non-media organizations like associations rely on their general liability insurance policies for advertising coverage.

But, these general liability policies are shrinking. Do you know if your association is being left exposed?

This webinar will provide a dialogue of:

• An association’s overall strategy in executing their social media usage
• Methods of associations applying social media to their websites
• Benefits, risks, and risk prevention in an association’s engagement with social media
• Implementing an organizational social media policy before risk arises

If that sounds like something your small staff association could benefit from, be sure to sign up now!

Image source

Do you use Google Docs? I think the free Docs is one of the greatest things out there for small staff associations. Staffers can give others access to docs and they can easily be viewed from any computer with an Internet connection since they’re stored “in the cloud.”

If you don’t use Google docs, though, news from late last week might just change your mind. Google announced big changes regarding the types of files it now supports. Instead of just PDF, .doc and .ppt files, Google Docs will support the following file types:

• Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX — before, only .ppt and .pps were supported)
• Apple Pages (.PAGES)
• Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
• Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
• Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
• Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
• PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
• TrueType (.TTF)
• XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Reminder, though: You can’t create these types of documents in Google Docs — you can only work off of them. I think these changes add a whole new dimension to Google Docs as a viable free document sharing software small staff associations can use. There are a plethora of ways to use these free collaborative programs. Just being able to access documents from any computer is a major plus in and of itself! But imagine you have computer issues (it’s been known to happen!) and your computer has to be sent away to get fixed. Although everyone should have their files backed up, knowing that there are other versions in the cloud can be immensely comforting.

Does your small staff association use Google Documents?