Good morning and happy Friday! I’m off to enjoy a nice long weekend but there were so many awesome posts in the association world this week – perhaps because it was a week after the holiday – that it was hard to choose just five posts to feature here! Read on for awesome tips, insights and comments from fellow association professionals.

1. What does “interactive” mean? David M. Patt follows up on a blog post by Jeff Hurt and reminds association professionals to be specific about what kind of participation you’re looking for. There’s no one best way to structure an event, and not all learning experiences should be the same.

2. It’s getting to be that time of year when people travel a lot (I’ve already been on planes several times in the past few months!) and Jeffrey Cufuaude’s post has tons of great tips for traveling at airports and staying in hotels. Great reminders.

3. Creating a culture of collaboration and innovation is hard. That’s why there’s so many blog posts and books written about it. Maggie McGary summarizes a recent article about innovation with a few key points. The most important one? Trust your staff. Listen to your team. They know what’s going on.

4. Mark Athitakis shares insights he gleaned from a documentary about The New York Times – one organization with two very different ideas about innovation. Reporters are pushing boundaries while leadership is a little slower to react. Definitely also read the comments here.

5. Joseph Sapp discusses challenges he faced when taking on a new role and responsibilities. Change is hard – I don’t think anyone can argue with that. But it’s how you handle it that matters in the end.

Happy Friday! It’s been an interesting week in the association blogosphere, and I’m definitely almost in “weekend mode,” but here are a few of my favorite posts from around the community this week.

1. Wes Trochlil asks us how we can be bold in our associations. Have you been sitting on some crazy, untested ideas because of a fear of failure? Often we get so used to “the way things are” that we forget that changes can be easier than expected sometimes. How can you be bold today?

2. At the Midcourse Corrections blog, Jeff Hurt reminds us that learning is a lifelong process and we must continue to learn if we want to pursue our dreams. Conference learning can be difficult, so Jeff points out that the conference models can be altered to better fit our learning methods. This post is definitely worth a read.

3. Jeffrey Cufaude had a great post this week about recalibrating boards’ reflexes to increase efficiency. Helping them recalibrate the reflexes that serve them so well professionally should be a discussion item during board orientation, as well as subsequent meetings. Definitely check out the comments, as well.

4. In keeping with the board theme, Eric Lanke had a great post about how to tell if you have a bad board. There are some great questions every association professional should ask themselves about their board of directors. Fresh thinking should flow in both directions, Eric points out.

5. David M. Patt had a great post about sharing office spaces, which can be extremely beneficial for small staff associations. Smaller organizations can save tons of money by sharing office space and other resources. Does this apply to your small staff?

Happy Friday! How are things in your area of the world? Cold? Warm? Busy? Laidback? Wherever you are, I hope things are going smoothly for you and your association. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that there were tons of great posts in the association community this week, and as usual, I’m sharing five of my favorites. Feel free to share your own favorites in the comments!

1. Lindy Dreyer wrote an insightful post counteracting what many people (myself included) have said about mobile applications. She argues that they’re a waste of time for associations, as most people use applications to play games, get the news and weather and as navigation tools. There’s often a huge barrier to entry with mobile applications and many members just aren’t interested. What do you think?

2. At ASAE’s Acronym blog, Joe Rominiecki points to a post by Brian X. Chen and my Monday post (thanks!) to ask, why wait until a crisis to reflect on what your organization could be doing better. He’s right, of course – if you wait until your circumstances force you to change, it may already be too late.

3. Jeffrey Cufaude had a great post that pointed out something we all probably realize is true, but can be difficult to be put into practice. If you act like a situation is a big deal, it becomes a big deal by nature. However, if you stay calm under pressure, others around you will stay calm too.

4. I always enjoy Wes Trochlil’s blog because he’s able to accurately discuss technology for associations in “layman’s” terms. This week, he discussed the necessity for a translator of sorts during a new technology’s implementation. The association’s staff and vendors may not always be quite on the same page, so sometimes, communicating can be tough.

5. If you’re an executive director, how do you manage others? Do you manage other people’s expertises, or do you try to force yourself to be the expert at everything? (Hopefully, it’s the former.) Erik Lanke discussed management by collaboration at The Hourglass Blog this week and it provided some great ideas about how younger people need to rise to this challenge.

Wherever you are, have a great weekend!

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Happy Friday! I hope everyone’s had a fantastic week and is looking forward to a fun or productive weekend (or perhaps both?)

As usual, there was some awesome content around the association world this week, and it’s all making me more and more excited for ASAE’s Annual Meeting and Expo in Los Angeles! If you’re going to be there, be sure to stop by Booth 332 to say hi to the team!

Now, without further ado, five of my favorite posts from this week…

1. Joe Flowers has been writing  a great series about his association’s Web redesign. With part three this week, he discussed how the organization went about narrowing the choice down between two vendors. It’s definitely worth taking a look at this series to see one example of how a small staff organization goes about redesigning one of the most important aspects of its presence: its website.

2. I loved Lisa Junker’s post at the Acronym blog about lessons to be learned from Pixar. Encourage unplanned collaboration, have reminders of the central purpose and see challenges as inspiration are all lessons Lisa gleaned from a documentary about the animation company. Rather than cutting corners, Lisa wrote, the Pixar team always saw challenges as inspirations to be better.

3. Jeff Hurt had a great post this week about organizational transparency, with a handy checklist for associations to learn from. For example, does your organization offer open board meetings? annual audits? financial disclosure statements? disclosed partnerships? Members — and those who donate to the organization — may want to have this information readily available. Transparency will never stop being important to associations.

4. We can do better, wrote Jamie Notter this week. Taking an example from Apple, who has to deal with many of its devices (which contain toxic components) end up in landfills, Jamie wrote about changing the culture of improvement to promote more value among everyone. Rather than just looking at benchmarks that improve the organization, how can your organization promote good in the culture at large?

5. One of my favorite posts at the new AssociationTECH blog this week was about the tip-a-day alerts program by association members from the American Evaluation Association. The benefits of the program — such as sharing ideas and expertise, engaging a variety of members and collaborating with other groups — are great, and so are the lessons learned. Definitely a great post for those looking to engage members.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a fantastic weekend!

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Since I didn’t get the opportunity to share a few of my favorite blog posts from last week, I thought I’d take today to do so. As always there were some great blog posts around the association community. Perhaps you missed a few, or maybe you just need some extra reading material today. Either way, enjoy!

No money, mo' problems?

1. There were a few posts on ASAE’s Acronym blog specifically geared toward small staff associations, which I loved. Sue Bowman summarized a few tips for organizations that are involved in marketing on a “shoestring budget.” Some key points? Promote the members-only benefit your organization offers, and make it a priority to understand your metrics and what defines your success.

2. Jeffrey Cufuade has started a new series on his blog called Facilitation Friday. Last week’s discussed how associations can make their communities more connected. Just allowing people to convene isn’t enough. There has be additional value. All the choices organization leaders make should involve community and allowing people to connect more. After all, that’s what associations are all about.

3. As the community manager at ASHA, Maggie McGary knows a thing or two about social media and associations. And that’s why she said associations and community managers go together like PB&J — both are all about connecting people. (Sense a theme this week?) Every association is already a community. Maybe they’re not all active online yet, but who from your organization greets them when they arrive?

4. In a fantastic post on SmartBlog Insights, Shelly Alcorn wrote about governance and the problems that surround this aspect of association management. Shelly admits that governance gets a bad rap, but she writes that governance is more leadership than management — and shares how governance can become more authentic. Don’t get caught up in the politics of it all.

5. I absolutely loved Brian Reuwee’s post at the Drake Co’s blog about futbol, football and association collaboration. He discussed how countries across the world collaborate to make the World Cup an unforgettable event (although many Americans seem to forget it exists for three years at a time), while American college football conferences are in disarray due to television revenue issues. If associations look to FIFA as an example of good collaboration, it would seem that almost anything is possible.

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