Confession: I’m a consistent lurker of Association Chat, the chat that takes place on Twitter each week at 2 p.m. ET. Something often catches my eye so I go back later and check out the transcript.

This week was no different. The first half of this week’s chat focused on podcasts, specifically, whether they garner enough attention to continue producing.

Jeff De Cagna, the moderator of #assnchat, hosts podcasts that include discussions with thought leaders and pertain to innovation and associations. To gauge interest, he asked #assnchat participants how they felt about podcasts in general.

The responses were pretty varied.

Some people prefer to receive information visually and like to read. Others like podcasts, but often don’t have the time to listen to them. And some were avid podcast listeners.

I think, in many cases, podcasts can be extremely useful.

I recently moved within 3 miles of the office, so needless to say, my commute isn’t too long. But for awhile, I was driving 25 miles one-way to work five days a week. And in Atlanta traffic, that meant I spent at least 10 hours each week in my car.

Podcasts saved my sanity. I listened to all kinds – NPR, This American Life, sports-focused ones, marketing-centric ones, media-centered ones. For some reason, I found them easier to digest than audiobooks.

I did a little digging and found a few podcasts association and nonprofit professionals might be interested in.

Idealist.org produces podcasts about people making connections in their communities, along with interviews with nonprofit professionals.

Of course, Jeff De Cagna’s podcasts are geared specifically toward association professionals. He’s featured Charlene Li, Clay Shirky and Dan Pink, among numerous other thought leaders.

And Jeff Cobb’s podcasts aren’t specifically aimed at association professionals, but I think they’re valuable regardless. The author of the Mission to Learn blog, Jeff talked to thought leaders and authors about all kinds of topics that any professional can benefit from.

Perhaps your commute isn’t as long as mine was. Consider listening to them while you cook dinner or work. What about while you get ready in the mornings? Maybe they’re not your style. That’s OK. Podcasts can benefit lots of people; some prefer the more conversational style over blog posts.

If there were interest among your association’s members, would you ever consider producing your own podcast? The APTA’s podcast showed up in the iTunes store when I searched for “association” and narrowed it down to podcasts. They’re not very long in length; the ones I saw were all less than 20 minutes, and most were around 10 or 12. Just another way to share news and information with your members!

Of course, I’m not suggesting podcasts be your only source of communication. I think Shelly Alcorn said it best during #assnchat: “Capitalizing on learning styles could mean podcasting needs to be integrated with other pieces to be truly successful.”

Check out Audacity, a free tool that helps you edit audio files, if you’re interested in producing a podcast.

Do you listen to podcasts? Which ones?

If you work for a small-staff association, your to-do list is probably miles long. And the smaller the staff, the longer the list usually is! It’s probably hard to take an hour out of your schedule each week to participate in #assnchat. I’ve discussed #assnchat before; it’s a discussion held each Tuesday via Twitter.

Transcript screencap via WTHashtag

But, if you can’t find the time to participate in #assnchat, or if you’re not on the Twitter bandwagon, I have good news! Jeff De Cagna (@pinnovation), the founder of #assnchat, has just started the Association Chat blog on the Posterous platform.

The blog is still in its infancy, but I definitely recommend checking out the post with KiKi L’Italien’s video if you’re unsure how to participate in the chat. If you’re too busy to chat, hopefully following the blog won’t be as time-consuming. I’ve seen the camaraderie this group has, and I think it’s a great learning platform. Check it out — it’s a fantastic way to interact with other association professionals and swap ideas, stories and frustrations.

“I uh, I don’t like my job, and, uh, I don’t think I’m gonna go anymore.”

“Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.”

You might recognize the above quotes from the 1999 movie Office Space. Hopefully these aren’t the real thoughts of people in your own office. But to many people, I’m sure the sentiment still rings true sometimes.

Not everyone is cut out for working in an office every day. But many jobs that follow a college diploma involve an office in some way or another. Why? Because that’s how it’s always been.

Tuesday’s #assnchat, led by Kiki L’Italien, focused on telecommuting for associations and the issues involved. I read the chat’s transcript (available here) Wednesday morning and found the topic especially relevant for 2009 (almost 2010!), especially with the widespread availability of technology that allows employees to work remotely.

Granted, offices are essential for interacting with your coworkers and conducting in-person meetings. But office space costs a lot of money, and allowing employees to telecommute can be an effective way to save cash. Small-staff associations could especially benefit from working remotely — since there are fewer staffers, it would require less coordination. For example, in Tuesday’s #assnchat, Debra Helwig said her entire association (a staff of six) works remotely.

The main issue employers generally have with telecommuting involves trust. Not every employee will thrive in a remote location. Many people need the structure of an office to stay productive — although it’s no secret many employees are not 100 percent productive all day, every day. Slacking can occur in the office almost as easily as it can occur at home!

You, as the employer, can’t control productivity no matter where your employees work. But here are some tips for those working with telecommuters:

1. Set clear expectations. If you, as the boss, are constantly worried about your telecommuting employees, set performance metrics. They can give you a clear sense of how much work is being accomplished and you’ll get some peace of mind, as well.
2. Don’t micromanage your telecommuters. If your remote employees thrive in an unstructured environment, let them work on their own time, as long as they meet deadlines.
3. Communication is crucial – even more so than having all employees work in an office. Use tools such as Skype (a free chat, phone and video service), instant messaging, GoToMeeting and Wikis to keep everyone updated.
4. Above all, trust your employees. Sure, maybe you won’t let your brand new hire telecommute right away. There has to be mutual trust established between employer and employee.

And for those employees who work remotely, I think Bruce Hammond said it best during Tuesday’s #assnchat:

“Four D’s of telecommuting that an employee must have: Discipline, Determination, Diligence, ability to deal with Distractions.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Explore telecommuting if you have the opportunity — even if it’s just one or two days a week. Don’t be like The Office’s Peter Gibbons: “I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it.”

(Image via Flickr.)

I was innocently checking my Google Reader subscriptions (I have waaaaay too many, and should probably scale back), when I saw the latest post from ASAE & The Center’s Acronym blog: “RIP: Membership?,” the title read.

Basically, the post said (with surprise?) that associations’ membership model of old is either evolving or dying.

I thought that was kind of a no-brainer. I sort of thought the model had already died.

I guess if there are people out there still willing to pay dues, you can’t proclaim the model 100 percent dead.

But our world in 2009 is very different from our world in 1999. The ways people congregate, share information and even meet one another are totally different than they were 10 years ago.

I don’t disagree with the post’s author, Scott Briscoe, that the death of the model has serious implications for associations. I’m also not sure what the answer is, either. In my opinion, social media is just part of the solution. I think people have just gotten so used to the “free” culture — why should we pay for information when we can get it for free?

There’s been some discussion in #assnchat (every Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET) about how associations can better disseminate information to their members.

In order for the association to be as valuable as possible (i.e. to keep giving members a reason to pay dues), I think the entire body — staff, execs, members — has to be involved in gathering and sharing information. It can’t necessarily fall just to the staff to collect and curate beneficial information.

This topic and variations of it have been popular in #assnchat lately. I’ve shared some key takeaways below. (Please note these are not all my ideas. A transcript of the chat is available here.)

• Thanks to Web 2.0, members can be content creators and gatherers
• The association’s staff should provide the platform for sharing information and should also play a role in curating content
• Collect news feeds from different sources and send a daily e-mail update to members
• Implement a leaderboard, where members earn points for making contributions (see iremfirst.org). Should there be some sort of reward or prize for being a top contributor?
• Associations could create a Twitter hashtag for content or link submissions
• Use e-mail as a contribution system and submit the feed via RSS
• Use Twebevent to embed video and host a Twitter chat around it
• Use a specific Delicious tag to collect content
• Have a topic of the month and take guest blog submissions from members. If needed, host a webinar to teach members how to write a blog post
• Publish Web 2.0 content highlights and give recognition in the association’s magazine

One note: I don’t think it’s necessarily wise to rely solely on a tool such as Twitter to achieve your goals. Twitter hasn’t proven itself to be stable enough to be sustainable for conversation (heck, practically every other #assnchat has problems). I like Delicious, even if sites such as Digg are actually more popular.

Social media can help bring an association closer to its goals — which should not include preserving the old membership model. Rather, embrace a new, more collaborative environment. With a little innovation (OK, that’s quite the buzzword lately, but it is so applicable), an association can redefine the membership model — members will still be willing to pay dues, but they’ll also get a more fulfilling experience.