As a small staff association professional, you’re likely constantly bombarded with information that should be relayed to your members. They are probably inundated with information too. In our 24-hour news cycle of a world, it can be nearly impossible to stay on top of things. But it’s extremely important for associations to be reliable content curators for their members, weeding out what’s not important and what is so your members have the most up-to-date information possible. I do the same thing for associations.

So, what are my favorite tools for content curation?

1. Google Reader. I could not survive without this. It feeds a constant stream of information to one convenient location, and I can sort by topic and tag things. I can also star blog posts and news articles for later. In addition, I have Google Alerts filtered to my Reader as well.

2. Alltop. Alltop is a great site which organizes blogs by category. For example, the association management page has a great feed of awesome blogs all on one page. You can filter by topic and create your own personalized page with different topics combined.

3. Delicious. My personal favorite social bookmarking site, you can search blog posts and news articles that others have bookmarked. Pages are organized by tag and you can search multiple tags at a time to find the combination you’re looking for.

What are your favorite content curation tools?

Did anyone happen to catch this Mashable article from a few days ago: Why the Cloud is the Safest Place for Your Data? There was a lot of good info there, and it definitely touched on subjects that we support.

Obviously it’s important to keep your information as secure as possible. After all, it’s not just your information — it’s your members’ too. With almost-constant news of security breaches, you may be tempted to pull back from the “cloud” — storing your information online — and start using a good old-fashioned hard drive. However, as Simon Crosby points out, that’s not always a smart idea.

When you keep your data in the cloud, any of your staff members can access it — provided you want them to. This keeps the data fluid and constantly updated, and you don’t have to  e-mail attachments of hard copies around. With a richer user experience, you’ll find that your staffers are probably more likely to keep information fresh and new, simply because it will be easier for them to do so.

And when it comes to credit card information, you want to make sure whatever vendor you’re using is PCI Compliant. This is a set of measures that merchants must adhere to, but it really is all about security.The security measures put forth by the Payment Card Industry apply to all organizations, regardless of size of number of transactions.

Unfortunately, just because the vendor you use is PCI Compliant doesn’t mean your organization is. It’s extremely important to be familiar with your merchant account agreement, which should discuss the security measures it has taken. Keeping your organization’s information in cloud can be safe, but only if you take the right precautions.

Happy American Associations Day!

Today is the only legislative fly-in day in which association professionals meet with members of Congress to advocate for their membership and causes. The event is open to any and all association professionals, and you don’t have to be a member of ASAE to participate. Issues to discuss include health care reform, tax-exemption and charitable giving — all things that directly affect nonprofit organizations.

Although the actual event is taking place on Capitol Hill, we think today is the perfect day to acknowledge associations and all of the good they do. Nonprofit organizations and small staff associations do so much that goes unsung and we think it’s so important to recognize them. So, thank you!

MemberClicks wants to take this opportunity to say “thanks” and recognize all the hard-working associations out there. Like us on Facebook and wish us a “Happy American Associations Day” from your organization on 3/29 or 3/30 and we’ll send the first 100 respondents a free drink from Starbucks! Already a fan?  Just post a message to our wall mentioning the day.

Are you participating in American Associations Day?

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You never know how far you’ll go until you try.

I ran my second half-marathon this past weekend, and sometimes I’m convinced running is just one big metaphor for life. I was the kid who hated running, despite having two (former) runners as parents. But somewhere along the line (coincidentally, when I didn’t want to pay for a gym membership), I just started running. I’m slow and I take walking breaks, but I’m still a runner.

The same principles apply to our professional lives. If you just keep plugging away, you’ll succeed. Just setting a lofty goal can be motivation enough. And it doesn’t matter if you’re the first one or the last one to cross the metaphorical finish line.

Whatever your big, scary career goals are, sometimes you just have to go for it. Whether it’s increasing your membership by a certain percentage, organizing a big conference without a hitch or getting a promotion, the first step is the most important one. Because if you never take that first step, you won’t even have a shot at crossing the finish line.

What first step can you take today to reach your goals?

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Happy Friday! I hope everyone has exciting weekends planned with their family and friends! I’m headed to Washington, D.C. to run my second half-marathon, and I’m hoping it’ll be a better experience than my first. Running past all the monuments will be so exciting!

Before I head out, though, I’ve got a few awesome association posts to share from the blog community from this past week.

1. Wes Trochlil shared a recent experience he had in which he received three — three! — letters from the same association. His name was slightly different on each one, leading him to ask association if they’re de-duping their lists. Although it can be a mundane task, it’s important to show your members that you’re organized.

2. Guest-posting for the Acronym blog this week, Jeffrey Cufaude wrote about innovation and culture. In this case, “if you build [a culture of innovation], they will come” is usually true. Jeffrey writes, Culture is learned through what we do and what we say, so simply start talking the innovation talk better and walking it in every incremental way you can. Over time, looking to create new value will become the way things get done.

3. Jamie Notter had a great post about how to make our jobs easier — and it all starts with our own behavior. Stop complaining, stop enabling and stop being afraid. Easier said than done, right? Well, if you organization is at all slightly dysfunctional, the only thing you can truly change is your own behavior, so starting there is a good way to start fixing things.

4. Are you open to new ideas? Elizabeth Engel pointed out this week that you don’t necessarily have to be the only one coming up with innovation ideas — you just have to be open to others’ ideas as well. As the “producer,” do you listen to your “users” — your members when it comes to innovation? Great post!

5. Is your association stuck in a Catch-22 of innovation? That’s what Eric Lanke asked this week, as he pointed out that the whole goal of innovation is to change patterns drastically, so even if you ask your members incessantly what they want, it’ll be difficult to get out of the pattern you’re trying to break.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!